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Old 07-12-2007, 01:26 PM   #55
Paul Sanderson-Cimino
Dojo: Yoshokai; looking into judo
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 434
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Re: Aikido Techniques are Weapons Techniques

I think the story does a good job of expressing a point, though -- that assumptions differ considerably between traditional and sport martial arts.

I agree with you, though, Don, that this would be poor evidence that Takamura's jujutsu skills (or his capacities as a fighter in general) were superior. If he'd stood up and said, "And so you see, I defeated him with greater skill", I'd strongly disagree. Heck, the only "proper" jujutsu demonstrated was a takedown, a transition into mount, and so on -- all by the challenger. Any conclusions about the relative ability, wit, determination, or whatever of the two individuals would be improper, because this was not a good test of ability, or even resourcefulness.

But while it tells us little about the two individuals, it does highlight a difference in their backgrounds. From a sport perspective, this is unfair -- one point of sport competition is to honestly evaluate particular skills through a balanced match -- similar age, weight, equipment, and so on. From a traditional perspective, all of these are variables.

That's not to say that a TMAer would be -better- at dealing with things like a suddenly-introduced weapon than an MMAer; in fact, there's a good case to be made for the opposite.

I'll add that I think you're free to call some wankerism on Takamura's part. It's just that I give him some slack because said wankerism did at least make an interesting point. (If I were the one who'd been choked out, maybe I'd have a stronger negative bias.)

Last edited by Paul Sanderson-Cimino : 07-12-2007 at 01:33 PM.
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