Takuan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 5:03 amAikido was my first martial art. I trained in it from 1995 until 1999 and earned the rank of ikkyu (brown belt). I was about one month away from my scheduled black belt test when I quit. I originally got into martial arts after seeing Royce Gracie in UFCs 1 and 2, but there was no Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu available in my town, so I trained in the only martial art available on my college campus, which was Aikido. My instructors were great and I learned some good things from them: ukemi (how to fall safely), lots of joint locks, meditation techniques, kiatsu (pressure point therapy similar to shiatsu), etc. I also got to go to Japan for a summer and train there, which was fun.
After I had been training for a couple of years, I had begun to suspect that Aikido wasn’t the most effective martial art for realistic self-defense. About that time, I met a guy who was a brown belt in a non-traditional style of Japanese jujitsu who utterly dominated me in sparring: he could take me down and submit me at will, all without putting a scratch on me (i.e., he was doing exactly what Aikido aims to do, but better). I immediately became his student. Jujitsu led me to take up Jeet Kune Do so that I’d have some kickboxing and weapons skills to go with my grappling. After I had been training jujitsu for a little over a year and JKD for just under a year, I was attacked by a paranoid schizophrenic who had gone off his meds and had a psychotic break. I learned later that he had a long history of criminal violence. Fortunately, I was able to avoid his strikes, get to the clinch, throw him (osoto gari), establish mount, get him to roll face-down, and submit him with a rear naked choke. Even though he was attempting every foul tactic in the book (e.g., groin shots, gouging, biting, etc.), I was able to avoid his attacks and neutralize him without harm to either of us. I asked the judge to commit him to a mental hospital rather than send him to jail so he could get the help he needed.
At the end of the fight, I realized that I hadn’t used one Aikido technique even though I was about one month away from earning my black belt. I had no rank whatsoever in JKD or jujitsu, and those were the arts I depended on when my life was on the line. After some soul-searching, I quit Aikido and focused only on JKD and jujitsu. I finally found a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teacher a few years later after moving to Hawaii. I’m currently a Level 3 Instructor in JKD and a first-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and I also hold a second-degree black belt in judo through USA Judo.
I told you all of that so that I could make this point. I think that Aikido is a wonderful art if your main goal is self-cultivation through the study of a traditional art form. It is not an effective martial art for self-defense if you haven’t had any training in other styles, though. Somebody who is a skilled kickboxer and grappler with a strong MMA background might be able to make some Aikido techniques work (e.g., I wrist lock people on the ground in jiu-jitsu a lot), but Aikido by itself isn’t terribly effective. There are three big problems with the way they train from a self-defense perspective: (1) their main goal is not self-defense, but rather self-cultivation through the study/preservation of a Japanese art, so their training methodologies are designed to promote a different goal than realistic fighting skill; (2) they typically don’t train to be complete fighters in all ranges of combat (kickboxing, clinch, and ground), with an without realistic weapons (guns, knives, and sticks); and (3) they don’t train using progressive resistance (sparring against a skilled, fully resisting opponent). Apparently, Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, only accepted students who had earned dan rank in other styles like judo, jūjutsu, karate, etc. He figured that you needed to get the fighting out of your system first so that you could learn the spiritual lessons he was trying to impart.
I hope this doesn’t offend anyone, since that’s not my goal and I’m coming at this from an insider’s perspective. I just think that martial artists need to be realistic about what is and is not self-defense. For example, I love judo, but it’s not a fighting system; it’s a competitive sport. I’ve had to adapt what I learned there to make it effective for self-defense.
This guy has an interesting YouTube channel about his journey from Aikido to MMA: https://youtu.be/0KUXTC8g_pk. It reminds me a bit of my own journey, though I didn’t train in Aikido nearly as long as he did before getting my wake up call.
Thank you for openly sharing your experiences and viewpoints, Takuan! Much appreciated!
Yes, I have watched several of the Martial Arts Journey videos. I like his openness.
TBH, I think that virtually all martial arts must be adapted for self-defense. Self-defense encompasses SO MANY THINGS, of which physical fighting is only a part.
After training Kenpo in the '70s - early '80s, I can't say I've ever been a 'pure' or 'traditional' martial artist, whatever 'pure' or 'traditional' actually mean. My Kenpo teacher incorporated whatever worked from his background, including boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, some Chinese arts, etc. We also had boxers, professional kickboxers, Tae Kwon Do men, and some street fighter types who trained with us, which was very different from other Kenpo schools I'd seen, which were mostly geared towards tournament point sparring. This shaped my entire viewpoint of what I would want to experience in the future.
For only one example, I also studied "traditional" arts like Shito-ryu, mostly for the experience of training in a highly regimented and somewhat militaristic (at the time) Japanese dojo. But during sparring, I always moved in ways I learned in Kenpo (which I was still training in, approved by my Kenpo teacher and unbeknownst to the Shito-ryu sensei!), although I 'muted' those other skills out of respect. It really confused the higher-belt students. Although some of the black belts, and especially the sensei, were BEASTS, who could easily handle me at the level I was at, at the time. So there are lessons of true value from that, that I carry with me still.
Jim
