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Old 07-17-2002, 08:50 AM   #1
virginia_kyu
Dojo: Aikido of Northern Virginia
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Best Video for Demonstration

I would appreciate any recommendations of good Aikido videos. I have a couple of friends that are interested in Aikido and I would like to show them good techniques at full speed and such. I want to give them a great first or second impression of the art.

I would prefer something that has alot of action and is as far away from dull as possible. I have Saotome Sensei's "Principles of Aikido" but it is geared towards instruction and is slow paced.

If you can help thanks!

-- Michael Neal
-- http://www.theaikidolink.dnsdyn.net/
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Old 07-17-2002, 08:57 AM   #2
rachmass
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There are some demos available on the website for Aikido Online

http://www.aikidoonline.com/

that feature the various USAF shihan. It could be a good place to start....
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Old 07-17-2002, 09:40 AM   #3
Brian Vickery
Dojo: Aiki-Buken Aikido
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Aikido Today Magazine's 'Portland Expo' video is pretty good!

It definitely shows a variety of aikido styles, with some pretty

good demos in there. It's pretty cheap too, only $15.00!

(www.aiki.com)

Regards,

Brian Vickery

"The highest level of technique to achieve is that of having NO technique!"
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Old 07-17-2002, 09:51 AM   #4
akiy
 
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Although I haven't seen the videos yet, I've heard good things about the Aiki Expo tapes that were just released. I think the tapes show a wide variety of aikido approaches as well as a wide spectrum of aikido demonstration quality. (Yes, I thought some were better than others...)

I just got the set as a gift from my teacher a couple of days ago and haven't had time to watch them yet. Anyone who have watched the tapes have any thoughts?

-- Jun

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Old 07-17-2002, 12:33 PM   #5
shihonage
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Quote:
Jun Akiyama (akiy) wrote:
Anyone who have watched the tapes have any thoughts?
Yes, if you're about to buy the set, consider only buying "Demo tape 2" (technically tape #3).

It will save you money and time.

The first tape is a disjointed mishmash of fragments of the seminar, which is although interesting to look at once, does not seem to contain any "replay" value.

Second tape (Demo tape #1) starts with a "founder of Aikibojitsu", an out of shape old man who rotates with a stick over and over...and over... while making an odd squeaking noise.

That pretty much sets tone for the entire tape.

The only worthy moment on "Demo tape #1" is Molly Hale, and not because of her particularly outstanding technique but because of the fact that she is in a wheelchair and is practicing anyway.

That's got to take a tremendous strength.

She got a standing ovation, and I found that to be very touching, and the only redeeming point of this tape.

"Demo tape #2" on the other hand managed to partially restore my faith in humanity due to better quality of the demos overall.

The only really worthy point of it however is Matsuoka Sensei's randori... it's as good as Aikido randori goes.

Also some of the "Aiki jitsu" stuff was energetic and seemingly martial.

An interesting point was Ken Good (?) of "Surefire institute" who did very flowery movements as his ukes pretended to be 5 year old kids on thorazine who are sort of considering taking his weapons from him but haven't quite made up their minds yet.

I don't know... it's a demo... so demonstrate ! Why go so slow, and why have uke's attack like they're sedated mental patients ?

If you've a high level instructor, then show what you got ! Add some excitement !

Unfortunately most of the footage on the tapes IS in fact

"When sedates ukes attack !"

They all attack without spirit, expecting to be "defeated" by their mighty instructor.

Also, there's too much effort on wrist grabbing techniques. Okay let's face it, that is NOT a common attack.

Really, it's not.

If you're a high level instructor, you've moved beyond these clutches and can do something better. How about demonstrations against punching opponents ? Not "sedated" punching, either.

I mean, you're a 5th dan. You're going to go home and your wife is assaulted by a drunk neighbor. What are you gonna do ? Can you handle a non-rehearsed, non-stylized attack ? If you can handle it, why not show it on the Expo ?

That would impress me a hell of a lot more than having 2 uke's grab your wrists and then throwing them.

Imagine a pilot who's starting to learn his stuff by using a computerized flight simulator.
Eventually he moves on and starts flying real planes, doesn't he ?

Or is he going to sit in the simulator in the next 15 years, and drag his simulator with him to the flying exhibitions to show just how GOOD he's gotten at the simulator during the last 10 years ?

I am not saying that everyone should go ahead and subject themselves to unnecessary injury on daily basis.

But during a demo... give it all you got. It's a rare thing, so invest some effort.

Those are my uh, thoughts... on the matter.

Last edited by shihonage : 07-17-2002 at 12:47 PM.
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Old 07-17-2002, 08:58 PM   #6
jk
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Thanks for the frank review, shihonage...now I absolutely MUST buy the whole set.
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Old 07-18-2002, 09:14 AM   #7
SeiserL
 
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I haven't seen the Aiki Expo tapes yet. But, I was there and believe that the demonstrations showed a wide variety of applications and styles.

Until again,

Lynn

Lynn Seiser PhD
Yondan Aikido & FMA/JKD
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, but fall to the level of our training. Train well. KWATZ!
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Old 07-18-2002, 09:20 PM   #8
Abasan
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So are there any tapes that you would recommend shihonage?

Draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting. And never underestimate a samurai cat.
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Old 07-19-2002, 12:29 AM   #9
shihonage
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Quote:
ahmad abas (Abasan) wrote:
So are there any tapes that you would recommend shihonage?
I'm not in any kind of position to recommend, but I do like the tape "Path Beyond Thought" from www.stevenseagal.com .

True, it suffers from the same "a mishmash of cuts put together" syndrome, but in overall it's unique because the Aikido shown is always energetic...and somehow... frank.

Also I like the "Rendezvous with adventure" tape, which shows O'Sensei's dojo and the most interesting encounter of a significantly larger man sincerely trying to put one of his top students down (a part of that clip used to be available on www.aikidojournal.com).
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Old 07-19-2002, 04:12 AM   #10
andrew
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If you search hard enough you'll find a fair amount of aikido clips on the internet. I downloaded a load of demonstration clips and a little program for joining mpegs together. Somewhere at home I've got about 40 clips of Christian Tissier (French 7th dan) doing a demonstration, I think it was the "nuit des arts martial" in Paris a few years back. That was pretty high speed.

andrew
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Old 07-19-2002, 11:52 PM   #11
Abasan
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Rendevous with adventure huh? Sounds smashing, but totally un-aikido like. Where can I get it and how much?

I already have Path beyond thought, and the only thing I like there was the randori... i.e. Seagal senseis. His students, well...

Andrew, do you think I can buy a copy out of you? That is if you don't mind having the mpgs copied into a CD and as long as they are not illegal.

Lastly, on the subject of tapes. I don't really intend to learn anything from them cause it'll probably be just a mimic form of training. But I seriously need to learn how to improve my ukemi, something like those silent breakfalls that everyone has been talking about. There's this tape for sale by Sensei Waite or something. Its expensive, but if its really helpful (i.e. we can actually learn something from it that we can't elsewhere) and someone recommends it, I would buy it. I would appreciate suggestions.

Thanks.

Draw strength from stillness. Learn to act without acting. And never underestimate a samurai cat.
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Old 07-20-2002, 01:34 AM   #12
Kami
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Cool UKEMI TAPES

Quote:
ahmad abas (Abasan) wrote:
But I seriously need to learn how to improve my ukemi, something like those silent breakfalls that everyone has been talking about. There's this tape for sale by Sensei Waite or something. Its expensive, but if its really helpful (i.e. we can actually learn something from it that we can't elsewhere) and someone recommends it, I would buy it. I would appreciate suggestions.

Thanks.
KAMI : I heartily recommend DONOVAN WAITE's tape UKEMI. I believe it's exactly what you are looking for.

There are also some well praised tapes from Bruce Bookman about this topic. It seems they will be also helpful.

Best

"We are all teachers, and what we teach is what we need to learn, and so we teach it over and over again until we learn it".
Unknown author

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Old 08-10-2002, 03:36 PM   #13
31n13
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anyone know any aikido DVDs?
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Old 08-11-2002, 07:34 PM   #14
batemanb
 
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I have a DVD of Gozo Shioda at home with some interesting demo`s on it, sorry, can`t remember the title or the maker off the top of my head (haven`t watched it for a while). Got it at Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku, downtown Tokyo. There was also a DVD compendium set of his Total Aikido (I think that was the name), a 5 DVD set copy of the big video course. Great info I know, I`ll post the details of the DVD I have tomorrow.

A difficult problem is easily solved by asking yourself the question, "Just how would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
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Old 08-11-2002, 08:09 PM   #15
Steven
 
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My personal favorite is the Gozo Shioda Sensei anthology tape. Timeline is 1962-1990. The tape can be ordered online at http://www.queststation.com/quest-e/aikido.html. You want tape SPA-8019 KAMIWAZA GOZO SHIODA, ALL REOCRDS 1962`1990(Japanese) 40min.$83

There's no holding back on this tape. Shioda Sensei at his best.

Cheers ...
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Old 08-12-2002, 07:25 AM   #16
virginia_kyu
Dojo: Aikido of Northern Virginia
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Quote:
Steven Miranda (Steven) wrote:
My personal favorite is the Gozo Shioda Sensei anthology tape. Timeline is 1962-1990. The tape can be ordered online at http://www.queststation.com/quest-e/aikido.html. You want tape SPA-8019 KAMIWAZA GOZO SHIODA, ALL REOCRDS 1962`1990(Japanese) 40min.$83

There's no holding back on this tape. Shioda Sensei at his best.

Cheers ...
It looks great but $83 is way too much for a 40 minute video, at least in my view. I will try the $15 Portland Expo tape first, thanks.

-- Michael Neal
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Old 08-12-2002, 09:53 AM   #17
Steven
 
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Quote:
Michael Neal (virginia_kyu) wrote:
It looks great but $83 is way too much for a 40 minute video, at least in my view. I will try the $15 Portland Expo tape first, thanks.
Yea .. I thought so too. Now I find myself needing a new copy because I've worn it out. But that's just me.

Good luck ..
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Old 08-12-2002, 07:44 PM   #18
batemanb
 
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Quote:
Steven Miranda (Steven) wrote:
My personal favorite is the Gozo Shioda Sensei anthology tape. Timeline is 1962-1990. The tape can be ordered online at http://www.queststation.com/quest-e/aikido.html. You want tape SPA-8019 KAMIWAZA GOZO SHIODA, ALL REOCRDS 1962`1990(Japanese) 40min.$83

There's no holding back on this tape. Shioda Sensei at his best.

Cheers ...
These are the same tapes that I was talking about, the one I have at home on DVD is the Kamiwaza tape. I have had a look through the Quest DVD corner and can`t find the Kamiwaza disc for you, but then my Japanese reading ability is not that great.

http://www.queststation.com/catalogue/dvd_03.html

A difficult problem is easily solved by asking yourself the question, "Just how would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
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Old 08-16-2002, 08:57 PM   #19
virginia_kyu
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I got the Portland expo tape and I have to say I am rather disappointed. There were some pretty bad demonstrations.


Last edited by virginia_kyu : 08-16-2002 at 10:09 PM.

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Old 08-16-2002, 09:23 PM   #20
Matt Ashley
 
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demo tapes

I seem to remember some good randori on Kanai Shihan's tape entitled "Technical Aikido". There is also instruction, but I especially enjoyed the vintage free practice with various koshi nage at fast speed. There is also some high-flyin' solo breakfalling/rolling.

find it here:

http://www.neaikikai.org/videos.html

Matt
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