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Old 01-04-2007, 09:51 AM   #9
mriehle
 
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Dojo: New School Aikido
Location: Stockton, CA
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 320
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Re: So What Is a Fight Anyway?

A long time ago, one of my Aikido teachers said to me, "No technique goes as planned".

Would this be the kind of thing you guys are getting at?

FWIW, IME using Aikido a few times against people who were at least semi-serious about beating me into submission (at least) it did, indeed, look like Aikido. Okay, yes, I wasn't actually watching because I was busy dealing at the time, but when I reviewed the events in my mind later I was confident that someone watching would have recognized it as Aikido.

But it wasn't pretty Aikido. It was sloppy and improvised. No pretty kokyu nage throws (though, there were kokyu nage throws, just not pretty ones). The one sankyo was decidedly less friendly than I'm used to in the dojo (and needed to be!).

Now, okay, these kids had no training to speak of, but they were used to fighting for high stakes. People who lost fights in their neighborhoods sometimes died. So when they decided it was time to prove they could "beat up the black belt" they weren't kidding (actually, sometimes they were and then it was just cheap entertainment; it's amazing how well some of these techniques work against someone who knows how to attack, does so sincerely, but on some level is actually motivated to have you throw them). They meant to "win", which meant pinning me to the mat and beating on my face. Not your typical compliant uke scenario. I don't believe any of them actually meant to kill or injure me, but in the situation I wouldn't have assumed that.

So, it definitely looked like Aikido, but it wasn't pretty.

I rather think most confrontations would either be like that or the Aikidoist would get beat up.

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