View Single Post
Old 10-14-2004, 05:28 AM   #7
drDalek
 
drDalek's Avatar
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 155
Offline
Re: More than the sum of its parts

The only way to settle the debate of whether Aikido works in a fight or not is to use it in a fight. If this means bumping shoulders with your friendly neighborhood streetgang or entering into a widly televised UFC then so be it. I dont understand the moral objections people have against doing this. Its not competing, its silencing the uninformed objectors.

If you manage to alleviate this constant, bloody itch about effectivity with one altercation then that is worth it. If you get killed then the rest of the Aikido world can point at you and bring out that old chestnut about it being the martial artist not the art and how one person's lack of skill should not be representative of the entire community.

If you succeed and manage to win then the entire rest of the Aikido world will look at you fondly and remember you for years as that guy that silenced the bjj ruffians and the mma-is-better-than-everything crowds.

The moral objections people give are often along the line of: but osensei said not to compete! Yes sure, but he also accepted challengers to his dojo and gleefully allowed his students to beat the snot out of them (according to Gozo Shioda's Aikido Shugyo)

Its the same issue here, our dojo just happens to be the worldwide community of practioners and every day, uninformed idiots and macho-bullyboys challenge us and we just shrug and go on with our holier-than-thou schtick. If Aikido Shugyo is to be believed, bones would have been broken by now.

A few other cliches that get brought up alot is that old one about how Aikido should be practiced for the side benefits of good health and fitness, nonsense, if your chosen MARTIAL art does not give you MARTIAL prowess through the sincere and diligent practice thereof, then it cant be called a MARTIAL art anymore.

In a few short years, I will feel qualified enough to open my own dojo and I will gladly accept challengers and gleefully break faces to silence the detractors. I can afford to do that because litigation is neither cheap nor easy down here so the risks to me and my business will be greatly reduced.
  Reply With Quote