What are your thoughts on Tomiki Aikido?

I would like to know more about this style of Aikido. There is a dojo near my home that offers it and I am considering training there. Any information that you can give me would be most appreciated.

Since this is your first post, it might be a good idea to check the archives as this has been discussed on many different levels.

Welcome to the AikiWeb.

Old school aikido with judo mixed in, well kind of. The tanto stuff is fun but so tricky.

I really admire the systems mix of kata and randori as well as its clear codification of principles and techniques.

Zoli Elo

Zoli Elo wrote: Old school aikido with judo mixed in...

Really?

Exactly which part of the Tomiki Aikido that you've seen has Judo mixed in? All of the techniques I've seen have appeared in some other form of Aikido.

Sounds interesting.

James: Like Chuck said. Doing a search using the words "tomiki" or "shodokan", "fugakukai" or "jiyushinkan (i?)" can work.

LC

Easiest example would be Gedan ate or Ushiro ate which comes from Kodokan Judo's 'koshiki no kata'.

However, I have "seen everything in everything" as well...

Zoli Elo

Zoli Elo wrote: Easiest example would be Gedan ate or Ushiro ate which comes from Kodokan Judo's 'koshiki no kata'.

I see your point.

Even though they show up in the koshiki and itsutsu no kata of Kodokan does not mean that they are not Aikido techniques however. I've done a version of both Ushiro Ate and Gedan Ate while training in Aikikai. Their version was just slightly different technically to what we do in the junanahon no kata.

To me, the only difference between Tomiki Aikido and the rest is the way we train randori and the extremes we take it to. And oh yeah, that "competition" thing.

Technically though I think they are all fundamentally the same, its just the training methodologies and what the different schools choose to focus on. The techs though are basically the same. The Judo influence on Tomiki Aikido has more to do with the aspects of randori and competition than the actual techniques imho. The basic technical principles of both arts are essentially the same imo.

Just my 2 cents.

LC

Thanks for the info guys. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a waste of time.

Definately not a waste of time.

Zoli - Tomiki K.made a point of keeping his Judo and Aikido techniques seperate when training but of course there is a similarity when you look across the whole spectrum. The distinction is most clear when you watch the randori.

In the description of the techniques on the Honbu website you do see reference to various Koryu styles, some of which have been incorporated into Judo kata. In these cases he has modified kata from these sources to kata demonstrating Ueshiba M.'s waza. There really is not addittion of waza.

Hi James;

I also meant to point out that several groups define what they do as Tomiki but not all of them would be classed as Shodokan Aikido (what Tomiki called his style). All sorts of reasons for this up to and including the incorporation of shia. We could help more if we knew which dojo you were interested in and what the lineage is between Tomiki and the current instructor.

I wont say good or bad based on your information unless I personally know the instructor and can give a good recomendation but we might be able to give you a better idead what to expect.

Peter, I think he is referring to the shodokan club in Fayettesville, AR which is linked on the JAA (tomiki) website. So I believe it's pretty safe to say that they're shodokan.

Chad Sloman wrote: Peter, I think he is referring to the shodokan club in Fayettesville, AR which is linked on the JAA (tomiki) website. So I believe it's pretty safe to say that they're shodokan.

I don't know the teacher but JAA (USA) follow the Shodokan curriculum and do Shiai.

I acutally personally know only a few of the JAA( USA) instructors so don't let my ignorance of the man deter you James.

You are right Chad. He is listed on the JAA website. Sensei Ed Mink.

So I can assume that he is not a phony then?

James - the JAA (USA) is quite discriminating. I personally know the chief instructor of the organization - I first met him when he trained for a time in Japan. The organization is pretty loosely organized but from what I've seen the instructors tend to be competent and relatively laid back. I encourage you to at least try them out. If they list the man then he has credentials to back him up.

Thanks a lot Peter. Your info was very helpful.