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Old 09-12-2012, 11:18 AM   #132
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Re: Don't waste your time practicing AIKIDO

Quote:
Philip Zeplin-Frederiksen wrote: View Post
I'm a little curious about this, so I hope you'll indulge me a little

Gozo Shioda explains several times that Aikido used in actual combat requires punches and kicks (surely that's "resistance"?), and also has the famous "Aikido in a fight is 70% atemi". You also have offsprings such as Yoseikan and Tomiki Aikido.

Isn't it a bit much labelling ALL Aikido as "pure non-resistance"? Certainly I believe there are styles where that is the main goal, but surely that can't be said about all Aikido in general, can it?
I think there should be some clarification here.

1. Gozo Shioda studied Daito ryu under Morihei Ueshiba. Later, when there was a possibility (along with other Daito ryu students) of coming back "to the fold", so to speak, he chose other options. Morihei was retired, Kisshomaru ran Tokyo. These things must be taken into account.

2. That quote, "Aikido in a fight is 70% atemi", was what Shioda said Morihei Ueshiba told him *about fighting*. Remember that Ueshiba flew into a rage when Ohba actually attacked him for real in a demonstration. Of course, Ueshiba handled Ohba easily, but it was not what Ueshiba wanted to present. There is a difference between the vision of aikido and the realistic application of aikido.

3. Aiki is non-resistance, just not in the manner that Modern Aikido teaches it. NOT saying right, wrong, good, bad. The two versions (Ueshiba's aiki and Modern Aikido) of "non-resistance" are not the same. Ueshiba's aikido can have punches that are non-resistance. In fact, if you watch Ueshiba in his later years, you can still see him deliver atemi to an uke. The founder himself is showing that punches can be non-resistance.

4. Both Modern Aikido and Ueshiba's aikido can be worthy goals in training. At times, those goals are similar while at other times, diametrically opposed. Depends on what you're looking for.
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