| This essay is from Richard player, who has been a long standing member of the club from the early days. |
| Can anyone do aikido as a means of self defence? The answer is slightly complex, in that yes anyone can make the movements of aikido- they can learn the choreographed Kata’s that aikido practices and they can call themselves a member of a club. This is only half the story. In order to do aikido effectively, there Is a large mental aspect- not just physical… those who just learn the basic movements and rely on them solely will have a tough time training and a difficult situation if they are ever confronted by an aggressor in real life. Aikido is a dynamic martial art and way of defence- no technique will ever present itself to you in reality- you must look for it. In order to look for openings in your opponent and how they can be exploited, you must first know what to look for, which by definition requires understanding of the technique. Aikido requires this understanding in order to be effective and as such is most likely one of the more technical and complex martial arts. Here is an example of my points that I am trying to convey. In order to repair a car- you must first understand what part does what, and how it relates to the functioning of the engine system. Without this understanding of what part does what function, what hope do you have? There is no way of knowing weather you have fixed your car or not unless you try it. The only way you will be able to fix your car is to start a process of elimination method and try different combinations of tinkering. In a confrontation with an aggressor- you may not have a second chance to try something new- you may only get that one shot opening. If however, you understand your car and you have an understanding of what part does what and how it relates to your engine function- fixing it is much simpler- The same is true for aikido. Many martial arts will advertise “suitable for all ages and all people”. This I’m afraid is only a Half truth at best. Aikido, like any other study, requires proper instruction, practice and patients before any progress can be made properly. On the first few sessions of an aikido class you will most likely practice rolling and break falling- along with one or two very abstract forms of technique. Many at this point will believe “aikido to be ineffective as nobody will grab your hand in this way”. True- nobody will. But the hand garb simulates a punch, Knife or even a bottle attack. Before we start throwing punches at you- its considered a good idea to give you SOME clue as to how to deal with it. Once this has been learned to a competent level, next follows over head strikes like shomen-uchi (show- men oo-chi [Direct Karate chop to the head] ) and yokomen uchi (yo-ko men oo-chi [Direct karate chop to the side of the neck]). Again after these attacks are familiarised we move on to Tsuki (Ski [Direct punch to the head, stomach or groin usually specified before hand]). Again after this is learned we add weapons to the mix. Wooden daggers (Tanto), 4ft poles (Jo) and baseball bats (bokken or wooden swords) are placed in the once empty hand and you will be expected as an Aikidoka to not only get yourself out of danger, but disarm your opponent, throw him to the ground, pin them in place, without hurting them all in one smooth and no stop movement. As such- we start with abstracts… to prevent injury. Now, this process takes time- quite a long time. Most people of what we call 1st Kyu (brown belts) should be able to do what I have stated above- no matter the size of opponent, strength or speed of the attack with whatever melee weapon they are carrying at the time. After you can do this- you may be considered for black belt grading- in which you have an approximately 50% chance of failure. For your reference, I am entering my 6th year of training and I take my 1st Kyu grading on November 11th 2007 and again there is no guarantee that I will pass the high standards put before me. Many people take longer than 6 years, some do it faster- but I would say to take my time of training (based on approximately 4-6 hours per week) as an average. To answer the question put to me of “Can anyone do aikido as a means of self defence?” I am afraid my answer must be “No, not unless you are willing to learn to a point of understanding aikido- not just going through the motions”. Any trained monkey can go through techniques, but they cannot make them effective. Effectiveness of technique comes from a development of power, confidence, regular physical practice and understanding Construed |
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