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Hagen Seibert · 04-26-2001, 02:53 AM

A few years ago I went to a Seminar of JuJitsu. I was already Shodan that time, but nevertheless my impression was that any green belt there would "beat me up" easily.

I am convinced the principles below the Techniques of Aikido are working and effective. But the techniques were not suitable for appropriate self defence. They were working when someone grabs your hand, but who in the mood of punching your face does grab your hand? Is seems due to concentrating on all that ki and harmony stuff, Aikido nowadays has somewhat developed away from the original purpose of martial arts.Thus there is the difficulty of teaching that "mind for fighting" a n d "feel of harmony". And as a third point, people seem to be quite happy with being thaugt nice movements, they are not very critic about effectiveness. And another point: Teaching seems to stop after the basics, as basic are difficult enough, but for effictivness it´s got to go further.

Now these are some possible reasons. My question is what to do about it? This is an important point, because Aikido claims to deal aggression in a non-aggressive manner. But if it fails to handle real, physical aggression properly, the whole concept was a failure.

Do you share that kind of experience? What to do about it?

04-26-2001, 02:53 AM	#1
Hagen Seibert Dojo: Kamai Location: Freiburg Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 124 Offline	teaching effectiveness A few years ago I went to a Seminar of JuJitsu. I was already Shodan that time, but nevertheless my impression was that any green belt there would "beat me up" easily. I am convinced the principles below the Techniques of Aikido are working and effective. But the techniques were not suitable for appropriate self defence. They were working when someone grabs your hand, but who in the mood of punching your face does grab your hand? Is seems due to concentrating on all that ki and harmony stuff, Aikido nowadays has somewhat developed away from the original purpose of martial arts.Thus there is the difficulty of teaching that "mind for fighting" a n d "feel of harmony". And as a third point, people seem to be quite happy with being thaugt nice movements, they are not very critic about effectiveness. And another point: Teaching seems to stop after the basics, as basic are difficult enough, but for effictivness it´s got to go further. Now these are some possible reasons. My question is what to do about it? This is an important point, because Aikido claims to deal aggression in a non-aggressive manner. But if it fails to handle real, physical aggression properly, the whole concept was a failure. Do you share that kind of experience? What to do about it?