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Old 08-04-2010, 06:40 PM   #62
Ketsan
Dojo: Zanshin Kai
Location: Birmingham
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 865
United Kingdom
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Re: Aikido: more than a martial art?

Quote:
Graham Jenkins wrote: View Post
As I previously said: your technique has to be commensurate with the situation; killing a man for grabbing your shoulder to tell you you've dropped something is not.
If you choose to break somebody's wrist instead of killing them (when they were trying to kill you), then you are showing them compassion - not to mention the fact that the essence of aikido is to yield to this person.

The purpose of budo in O'Sensei's thought, to the best of my knowledge at least, is to protect people - not to hurt or kill needlessly, or for its own sake: you take up a martial art to help people/society, not to harm people.
And again Judo fits that much better than Aikido does. In Judo the goal is to improve yourself to better society as a whole and the techniques are such that you can defend yourself without the need for any fancy ukemi on your attackers part.

Judo fits Aikido's mission statement better.
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