View Single Post
Old 10-05-2012, 05:14 AM   #4
Alex Megann
Dojo: Southampton Aikikai
Location: Southampton
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 401
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: The House of Pain

Excellent article, Niall. I agree with you firstly that pain has no place in a teaching situation, and also that aikido techniques should never be dependent on pain (though it could well be an added extra for real situations).

Just one comment:

Good teachers mostly do not use pain. I have trained with many teachers in Japan and I can only think of one good teacher who regularly used pain as a weapon. Masatake Fujita Sensei was an excellent teacher. Even though he used pain frequently. He would instantly put on a fast jujutsu wristlock or armlock. The uke would have tears in his eyes and would be frantically slapping his hand in submission. But I never saw Fujita Sensei cause damage.

I really enjoyed Fujita Sensei's classes - I loved the simplicity and directness of his movement, and also his no-frills teaching (his limited English didn't actually seem to detract much). I remember one class in particular where he used me exclusively as uke for an hour and a half, and I had complete faith that his techniques, even though intensely powerful and quick, would not injure me if I kept mindful and responsive.

All the same, I know of two cases where he injured his partner. He sent Matthew Holland to hospital once with a separated shoulder, and I also remember Kobayashi Sensei from Aikikai Hombu Dojo saying in a class that Fujita Sensei had recently injured his wrist (he only used one hand for the whole warmup routine all week). I can't comment beyond that observation, as I was not present during either incident, and am not aware of the circumstances in each case.

Alex

Last edited by Alex Megann : 10-05-2012 at 05:24 AM.
  Reply With Quote