Explaining Aikido

Hi all!
A few days ago at our dojo a few visitors came by and as a protocal for our dojo i asked if they had any questions. Then i realized that wrapping up what aikido is all about and explaining it to someone with no expirience in martial arts in one short discussion is quite a difficult task! Does anyone have any suggestions? If you do i would love to hear them. Thanx for your time!

Cheers!
-Ben

I don't think it can really be explained well - you need some common concepts, and most people don't know what you mean by 'blending'. I often say its like a cross between judo and jujitsu, but completely different - then they ask, "whats jujitsu?"

Ian

Originally posted by ian I don't think it can really be explained well - you need some common concepts, and most people don't know what you mean by 'blending'. I often say its like a cross between judo and jujitsu, but completely different - then they ask, "whats jujitsu?"

Aikido like Judo was derived from the ancient Jujitsu styles of Japan. Generally the emphasis of Aikido is on the Atemi (striking) and Kansetsu (joint) techniques whilst in the case of Judo the Nage (throwing) and Katame (grappling) techniques are emphasized.

What's jujitsu? - Japanese unarmed fighting.

What's Japanese unarmed fighting? Walk away they are plying with your head.

Originally posted by Lenocinari Hi all! A few days ago at our dojo a few visitors came by and as a protocal for our dojo i asked if they had any questions. Then i realized that wrapping up what aikido is all about and explaining it to someone with no expirience in martial arts in one short discussion is quite a difficult task! Does anyone have any suggestions? If you do i would love to hear them. Thanx for your time! Cheers! -Ben

Hi,

Ben, I agree with you. It is difficult to explain what is Aikido.
When someone asks me what the Aikido is, I have some difficulties to explain it. I could say that Aikido contains technics with arm lock and projection in response to attacks performed with unarmed hand or with weapons like Jo, bokken, tanto, and so on. But it is not enough for explaining the Aikido sense. Many martial art are based on the same technical point. The philosophy behind the technics is a great part of the Aikido.
And explain the Aikido philosophy to people who don't know others martial arts and theirs concepts, is very very difficult. How explain the Harmony term? I doesn't want to explain it because I think it is something that you feel in your mind and your body. It is a long research. I am at the beginning of the way, I can't explain it if myself I search what it is.

In conclusion, when someone asks me what Aikido is, I say him that the best way for knowing Aikido is to come on the mats, practice with others. Aikido is not only technics, it is also a way of life, a philosophy which can't be explain with words.


Bye

Best description i've heard is "Human Origami"
Have fun

From C.M Schifflet's book AIKIDO Exercises for Teaching and Training: Aikido is...

"walking 10 steps down a flight ofstairs when there are only 9
Puching a door just as someone opens it form the other side.
Recahing out to shake someones hand just as they step back"

or

Did you ever ...

Pull a chair out from under someone jusrt as they were going to sit down?
Try and kiss a girl on the lips just to have her head turn at the last moment so the kiss landed on her cheek?
Hold something out to someone and snatch it away?"

or


The art of hitting people with planets

In my opinion, Go climb a mountian it would be easier....

Armando - great quotes, I may have to go out and buy Shifflett's book.

Ben - I have visited a lot of martial arts schools over the years due to a combination of moving around a lot & my own curiosity about different styles & arts.

I would suggest that rather than trying to "wrap up what aikido is all about" you try to explain what your specific dojo is all about. It might sound the like the same thing, but I don't think it is.

What Aikido principles does your school emphasize most ? What makes your school unique ? What do you think are your strengths ? The answers to these questions will not be the same from dojo to dojo even though both are doing "Aikido". Then maybe have a few simple demos that you can do to demonstrate some of the main principles.

Brian

I like to emphazie, that we have no competion. It is usually a very important piece of information, since some people (like me) are drawn to this fact, and some concidere any physical acitivity without the element of competition to be ridiculous.

Otherwise I try to adapt the description to the person asking. If they seem to have an 'alternative' and sensitive mindset, it can be okay to say something along the lines of 'Aikido is love', but if they are more focused on the martial application I start there. I guess in a way adapting to the other person is sort of an 'aikido-ish' way of explaining aikido...

Mind you - I don't intent to 'sell' Aikido to anybody who asks. I just want to answer in a way that would be interesting to them.

Finally I must agree, that it is impossible to sum up Aikido in one sentence, without seriously oversimplyfing, and usually when I start talking I find it hard to stop talking withing the first couple of hours. If I had a dollar for every time I see that 'glazed' look in an other persons eyes while I talk of the benefits and outstanding qualitites of Aikido.....