Thread: Aikido for MMA?
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Old 10-15-2011, 09:43 PM   #14
Gorgeous George
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Re: Aikido for MMA?

Quote:
Mark Murray wrote: View Post
Not specific to you, but the overall point that you brought up.

When boxers encountered Ueshiba, they found something very different than what they'd experienced. These people trained to move, hit, jab, generate power, etc. But Ueshiba was not the same.

When Kisshomaru was studying sword, Ueshiba would later say, with aiki it would be like this. Not kata, not technique, but aiki.

When highly ranked kendo people studied with Ueshiba, they wanted to know how he used his body so differently than everyone else. These kendo people had been around for quite a while and had trained with a lot of people and knew how kendo people moved.

When Tenryu, who was highly respected in sumo, met Ueshiba, he found something completely different. Sumo people trained very hard, yet, Tenryu knew that Ueshiba was unlike anyone he had ever experienced.

These are just basic overviews. But, put them together. Boxers, wrestlers, and swordsmen who tested Ueshiba came away wondering what in the world Ueshiba was doing and really wanted to know how he was doing it. Ueshiba did not move, act, respond, or feel like anyone they'd trained with.

Now, if we take modern aikido training and find that hip generated power is very similar to boxing/MMA hip generated power, then shouldn't we be wondering why? If what Ueshiba was doing was vastly different, why is it that hip generated power in Modern Aikido is similar to boxing/MMA? Brings up the question, is Modern Aikido doing the same thing as Morihei Ueshiba ...
I absolutely agree that aikido is something different - something internal/subtle; that's why I said that the external techniques in BJJ are a relief - they are manifest.

They are, however, helping me to understand, and work on, things I believe are an essential part of aikido - such as opening your hips, relaxing your body, and body alignment, as stressed in Yoshinkan/pre-war aikido...these are all things i've struggled with in aikido training, and my forays into other martial arts have helped me to understand why judoka etc took up aikido, and how it could have helped them to understand/take to it.

FWIW: I (try to) learn aikido as exemplified by Yamaguchi sensei, and his students Endo, and Yamashima senseis, as I believe what they teach is something truly beyond 'the norm', and close to what O'sensei possessed.
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