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Old 10-21-2002, 08:21 AM   #24
paw
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 768
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This will probably be too long, and a bit of a divergence. Well, here goes:

There seem to be some topics that come up in aikido that rarely come up in other martial arts, or are understood differently in other martial arts. Attacking seems one of them. If I were to ask "what is an effective attack?" The answer would be one that works. In boxing that would mean my punch landed. In muay thai, that would mean my punch, kick, elbow or knee landed. In judo it would mean I threw my partner/opponent onto their back with a good amount of force. In bjj it would mean that I was successful in choking or joint locking my partner/opponent.

Yet, for aikido, the question of "effectiveness" is often asked in the context (or explained in the context) of "would someone do that outside of the dojo?". Which appears to me what the original question was when Hagen started this thread, and what some people mentioned in their reply. I'm not sure why there's a unique twist on attacks for aikido, but I honestly believe it's there. (Perhaps another issue?)

If an effective attack is one that works, then my answer to Opher's question:
Quote:
'How well does AiKiDo teach us to attack' is a new and interesting question and I'd love to hear more views about it.
I guess I would answer poorly....The grabs, strikes, chokes, etc... begun by uke nearly always end with uke being thrown or pinned, which isn't successful (the grabs do not control nage, the punches no not land, etc...) Sure, there are exceptions, we've all gotten stuck by a grab, or hit by a punch, but the majority of the time, we stumble our way through the technique and uke is thrown, pinned or both. (Maybe that's the point?)

*dons flame retardant suit*

Regards,

Paul
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