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Old 04-20-2003, 12:01 AM   #1
AikiWeb System
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AikiWeb Poll for the week of April 20, 2003:

If you had to choose between being either only nage or only uke for the rest of your aikido career, which would you choose?
  • I don't do aikido
  • Nage
  • Uke
Here are the current results.
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Old 04-20-2003, 01:09 AM   #2
jimvance
Dojo: Jiyushinkan
Location: Mesa, AZ
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Quote:
AikiWeb System wrote:
If you had to choose between being either only nage or only uke for the rest of your aikido career, which would you choose?
I would choose nuke (sounds like "nookay"). Okay I know it's a bad joke....

I would have to say uke. If people happen to fall down because they tripped over some part of my body, that doesn't count as being "nage" does it?

Besides ukemi is more fun, or should I say "tastes great" (or was it "less filling"). All the wannabe nage will be saying "less falling".

Okay, bad jokes over. Sorry. Don't hate me.

Jim Vance
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Old 04-20-2003, 08:16 AM   #3
MikeE
 
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As long as I could choose who was my nage, I would gladly be uke for the rest of my life. It would be amazing to take ukemi from the wonderful Aikidoka around the world. I'm sure I would learn volumes.

Mike Ellefson
Midwest Center
For Movement &
Aikido Bukou
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Old 04-20-2003, 11:48 AM   #4
Choku Tsuki
 
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I would choose "I don't do aikido." I mean, that's not much of a choice, even as a hypothetical.

--Chuck
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Old 04-20-2003, 05:13 PM   #5
Hanna B
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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For the next five years or so, I'd say uke. I voted nage, though. Being uke is great when you body allows you to do what you want with it. If you have injuries, are pregnant or simply getting older I believe being nage is easier and takes less adaptation to the circumstance.
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Old 04-20-2003, 06:32 PM   #6
Bogeyman
Dojo: UW-La Crosse Aikido
Location: La Crosse, WI
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Uke definately. If I could be a good uke then I would understand my relationship with nage and be in good shape on the streets.

E
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Old 04-20-2003, 07:18 PM   #7
PeterR
 
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Nage - I'ld rather be the doer than the doee.

Peter Rehse Shodokan Aikido
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Old 04-20-2003, 09:19 PM   #8
Karen Wolek
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Well right now, I'm not allowed to take ukemi due to a &%$*&$# knee injury. So right now, I'd HAVE to pick nage because it's a lot more fun than not falling. Sigh. But normally, I kinda enjoy being uke. I just learned how to roll RIGHT before I hurt my knee and I was really enjoying myself!

Karen
"Try not. Do...or do not. There is no try." - Master Yoda
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Old 04-20-2003, 11:18 PM   #9
n0mad
Dojo: Desert Wind
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Being uke on the street would certainly not help against an attacker; as they wouldn't be throwing you, they'd be striking. It would increase the time a fight takes and you'd be very tired at the end if you kept on trying to roll. It much be much easier and a lot less time to slam an opponent to the ground and pin them and be done with it.

As far as learning 'volumes' from nage by being uke, it wouldn't matter since you'd be uke for the rest of your life, you'd never use the knowledge.

So, I'd take the nage route.
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Old 04-21-2003, 04:58 AM   #10
Roger C. Marks
Dojo: Tetsushinkan London
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Quote:
Chuck Kuske (nyaikido) wrote:
I would choose "I don't do aikido." I mean, that's not much of a choice, even as a hypothetical.

--Chuck
I didn't vote because there was not the choice of 'I do Aikido'

Experience as Tori without being Uke is one hand clapping.
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Old 04-21-2003, 06:13 AM   #11
Ta Kung
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If you had a really great car, what defect would you prefer: It could only turn left, or it could only turn right... ?

The coin has two sides, you can't separate them. If you could, you'd end up with nothing.

/Patrik (who vaules both sides of Aikido, nage AND uke)
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Old 04-21-2003, 07:08 PM   #12
Bronson
 
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Kinda like asking if you'd rather lose your sight or your hearing.

Bronson

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."
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Old 04-22-2003, 09:40 AM   #13
Ron Tisdale
Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
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This is a tough one. I pretty much agree with those who said the two things make one whole. But to be honest, I get so much pleasure from both that I'd really miss either. I had some physicall problems not too long ago where the doc said lay off the ukemi for a while. I think I held out three weeks...but I did take it easy (mostly ushiro ukemi) for a while longer.

I also spent a lot of time working on improving my ukemi so my 41 year old body could deal with the keiko better. Seems to be working for now, so I don't have to make that choice yet. I hope I never do have to choose. That would stink. My thanks to Ellis Amdur and Gary Ohama on the help they gave me.

Ron Tisdale

Ron Tisdale
-----------------------
"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
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Old 04-24-2003, 12:23 AM   #14
Andrew Wilson
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I think that if you did uke for the rest of your aiki career, you are bound to be one of the best aikidoka around.

If you spend 10 years falling, and you cant feel and understand everything that tori is doing to you than you have some serious problems I would imagine.

as for self defense, what better thing can you take from aikido than falling? if someone pushes you down and you fall perfectly... so what? yeah yeah, if there is more than one person blalbhabl, but the question asked in my "aikido career" not, if you had to save your wife could would you rather be uke or tori.

I chose uke, I learn more about whats going on that way.

- a

"The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice." - Tzu Lu
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Old 04-24-2003, 01:04 AM   #15
otto
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Couldnt agree more with Andrew..

the basics self-preserving reflexes you develop by being uke sink deeply in your system faster than the ones asociated with doing proper technique and since you're statiscally more susceptible to die falling from your bike than being attacked in the street , i would favor my ability to do safe ukemi over my developing of technique if i had to make the choice. (my background in aikido is 3+ years only , so it's gonna be a long time ukeing )

Fall nine times , rise ten , they say...

It only matter that you stand again.

"Perfection is a Process"
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Old 04-24-2003, 01:58 AM   #16
Bussho
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I would want to be nage.

/Bussho
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Old 04-24-2003, 04:26 AM   #17
acot
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Exclamation

On Monday being Uke isn't too bad, but by Wednesday Nage is preferred.
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Old 04-25-2003, 05:17 AM   #18
jss
Location: Rotterdam
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I chose to be uke.

Somehow I get the feeling I deserve the right of being nage only by being uke. (If you're physically not able to be uke, it's a different matter of course.)

But everyone seems to be talking about what would be the most fun, the most endurable, the most practicle, etc. but isn't there some ethical (lacking a better word) side to this question?
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Old 04-25-2003, 07:25 AM   #19
Amelia Smith
 
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Finally, it's letting me post.

So, my first impulse was to say uke, which is what I chose, because ukemi is so much fun. It's also, I think, more practical (as noted above by Otta and Andrew). Ukemi can save your life, literally. I know someone who was hit by a car. Bystanders said she went 2 stories high. She landed in a breakfall, and yes, she had some serious injuries, but she recovered (and came back to practice).

Then I thought, gee, I dunno, it depends on who's throwing me, and as I get older maybe I'd rather throw more. I most like to take ukemi from people who are really good, generally higher ranked than me. As you practices more, the proportions shift, you moves up in the ranks, etc, until suddenly one day you're not a beginner, then you're a relatively senior student, and so on..... in light of all that, and aging, maybe nage would be better.
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Old 04-26-2003, 06:28 AM   #20
Kelly Allen
Dojo: Friends Dojo
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Quote:
Bronson Diffin (Bronson) wrote:
Kinda like asking if you'd rather lose your sight or your hearing.

Bronson
Eh!?
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Old 04-26-2003, 10:26 AM   #21
mike lee
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ukemi animal

Nage is where it's at, but uke is where the action is!
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