New breed of Aikido

Jerome Cervantes wrote: wow. didn't see anything resembling even jujutsu, let alone aikido but to me, they probably used the name 'aikido' because its popular right now... just like some mcdojos list a whole roster of MAs but teach one ugly hybrid. maybe in the future it will be renamed 'combat mixed martial arts' because of the growing popularity of MMA

I agree completely.

Finally, the opportunity to get this off my chest.

Before Anything else, I am a Filipino, and I've been studying Aikido since 2001. I've studied under a number of different sensei, because I had to move a lot in the last few years. (But just to name a few, I've studied under Ernesto Talag Sensei in 2005, and under the Las Pinas branch of Omar Camar Sensei's Dojo in 2007). But my first Sensei, Victor Lagdar, told me of a story about Tapondo and Combat Aikido.

Sensei was very outspoken about his resentment for Combat Aikido and Tapondo. He mentioned that one of the founders (im not sure which, T or CA) was supposedly trained under Tohei Sensei during the 60's. The said person (Im also not sure if it was Mr. Gavelino) didn't finish the training / or did not meet Tohei Sensei's standards, but went on to create his own version of the art.

They had dojos with the name "Combat Aikido" and went on to teach the art since. They've had strong ties with different military/police groups and during the late 70 - 80's they gained strong ties to the local film industry beacuse of a popular action star (Fernando Poe Jr) who trained under them.

Now Sensei told me that around the late 90's some important people from Japan noticed them and, I dunno gave them a warning or something about the name. So they changed it to Tapondo.

This was my first sensei's account of what happened (he's in his mid 70's). i have heard similar versions of the Story from my other sensei ~ with small differences of course.

I don't know how accurate these accounts are. Different places I've visited on the web tell otherwise. I was initially planning to start a thread about this because just a half hour ago I saw on the news that a new TV Series is featuring Tapondo as its main combat style (Codname: Asero). And they went on to proclaim how "Filipino" the Art was because it originated from "Combat Aikido."

Personally, It saddens me to see that some dojos here have to label the word "Traditional" next to Aikido just so people don't confuse it with "CA" or "T". As an Aikidoka, I believe that Osensei's teachings are integral to the study of Aikido. And without the harmony and love aspect, i just can't accept it as Aikido.

Whew! That was a mouthful. Thanks for putting up the thread!

It is a very low level hapkido/filipino knife fighting hybrid. Basically someones wet dream. Kind of an insult to the very effective knife fighting systems already in place in the Philippines.

Hi Rene. I completely understand. When I tell people I'm doing Aikido they usually assume that its "Combat Aikido".

I just wish that they just used Tapondo from the very beginning.

I remember them being featured in a television show long ago. the founder made the demonstration himself.

There was a rumor that one of the founder's son entered the URCC (a local version of UFC). I heard he got beat up real bad (I'm not sure tho).

Its all about commercial success I guess. Its all about the money.

One-Aiki,

Iking