Aikido

Always interested. What specifically do you want to talk about?

Lynn Tenshinkai Aikido/Lucaylucay Kali

'We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.' Train well. KWATZ!

Informative pages at http://members.aol.com/SeiserL/index.html 'Change is Natural & Inevitable'

By avoiding kickers.

Pretty much the same way as against punches, avoid/deflect and enter or avoid/deflect and tenkan, it depends on the type of kick.

Sometime to deflect them and go into irimi-nage. Other times, just tenkan past them and pull down from behind, kokyo-nage. Other times, treat it much like the arm adn throw or lock it. IMHO, many schools do ot practice against kicks enough.

Good question, compliments and appreciation.

Lynn Tenshinkia Aikido/Lucaylucay Kali

'We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.' Train well. KWATZ!

Informative pages at http://members.aol.com/SeiserL/index.html 'Change is Natural & Inevitable'

Do you mean what technique or how well? There are kick defenses in Aikido, but they are very jujitsu like in that the possibility of damaging your uke (attacker) is quite high. I am one of the few people in my dojo that is comfortable with demonstrating a kick defense. If done properly a kick defense will not harm your uke but your uke must also be providing you a good on balanced powerful kick other wise he/she risks being hurt while trying to take a very high and hard fall. As far as a description of an Aikido kick defense it will follow the same lines as any other Aikido throw. It will (should) work something like this; Step off the line of attack, blend with your attacker, allow his/her energy to continue along the line of attack, guide your uke by helping him to extend along the path of least resistance, be alert and prepare for another attack. I don't think I can explain it much better than that, with out being able to 'show' you what I mean, I simply do not have the terminology. Well let me know if this helps to answer your question, anything else you would like to know about?

Despair Bear

The attack is unimportant. The same principles work for kicks as do for punches.

Tenkan and Irimi.

Hi, I practice Shotokan Karate for 7 years now. Last year I had a few Aikido lessons, and I would really like to practice it regulary, unfortunately, I have no avaialable time now

One of the things I really like in Aikido, is that it teaches you to defend yourself without hurting your attaker. That's not very easy for karatekas.

Anyway being a karateka, I know how fast and powerfull a strike may be. It seemed to me that most akidokas there, wouldn't be able to apply the techniques they were learning. I read somewhere that when aikido was first developed only students with other martial arts background were accepted.

Do you think that Aikido by itself is enough to develop high self-defense skills.

This is no flame. I do think that aikido can be very effective, and as I said, I would like to practice aikido, myself.

J. A.

Hi Jorge

I would very much like to spend some time training with (and talking to) an experienced and open-minded karateka (or any practical boxing art practitioner) but I think it would have to be done carefully and with great trust and it would be necessary to go through a cautious, very slow and probably quite long approach before it was possible to get to grips with 'advanced' levels of the two arts.

One problem with aikido is that the more powerful the attack, the more devastating the consequences on the attacker. Thus, for example, if a karateka sends in a full-blooded punch there could be one of two unfortunate results. Firstly the aikidoka might not cope with the attack and get *badly* whacked. Or - the aikidoka might avoid the attack and apply a technique and the attacker would inevitably take a *really* bad fall. As I said - caution and trust.

However, I'd still like to do it. Both arts have a lot to offer one another.

If you have the time and a decent aikido class nearby why don't you give it a go for a few months and let us know what you think?

Best wishes

Roger Taylor

You've just hit on the reason for Aikido being so concerned with breakfalls. My instructor has among other things qualifications in Aikido. Once he is sure we can take the falls we learn some Aikido. The main art we study is a striking art thus you get real attacks. Thus you get real good falls. We train real hard on the breakfalls too! It's the only way. If you do this make sure that your karateka really knows how to fall. Not all do and if he/she doesn't injuries WILL happen.

Take care.........Tom..........

I will echo what Roger said.

I have trained with karate dan grades and boxers, and it is different and can be quite hard. The dificulty lies in, as Roger says, not damaging each other (well not too much).

The problem with this type of training is controlling the distance. An Aikidoka will not normally want to get to close to an opponent (not a normal term to use in reference to Aikido, but I use it anyway), we like to keep a fighting distance (Ma-ai). Boxers like to get inside and hit fast, hard and multiple punches. Softer schools cannot cope with this. The Karateka distance is easier to contend with and maintain Ma-ai.

The training with boxers and kick boxers has great advantages, in that it brings down the distance at which one can 'spar'.

I would say that Aikido dan grades (black belts for the un-initiated) who do not have a background in another art would definitely benifit from training in one, but not kyu grades, as you can only climb one mountain at a time.

Best Wishes

Quite probably not, Dustin. Like many other basically worthwhile activities, martial arts can draw in people ranging from the saintly to the fiendish and aikido can be practised by closed-minded, testosterone- led morons as much as any other art. It is also, perhaps more than most, open to many interpretations/misunderstandings, ideas about which can be held both sincerely and strongly - even, sometimes, (yecch!), evangelically.

It sounds as though you've been a touch unlucky in the aikidoka you've met but if they cling blindly, (defensively?), to their art then that's their loss, not yours. They're the ones shutting doors in their lives. I prefer to open them and see what's going on. (I *love* common factors - relaxation, for example, touches so many things). The very fact that you've taken the trouble to put finger(s) to keyboard and offer a pleasantry to a complete stranger X thousand miles away shows you know more about aikido than you realize.

Best wishes. Keep smiling,