Is Aikido a Martial Art?
Sensei Henry Ellis - 2005.
Author of the new book Positive Aikido.
Henry Ellis ([email protected]) a direct
student of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe sensei from 1957.
PART 2
In my previous article, I attempted to
establish the hard style of Aikido that was first introduced to the West
in the 1950's. I would like to emphasize the fact that I get no
satisfaction from publicly criticizing Aikido and I get a great deal less
satisfaction when I see Aikido being brought into ridicule.
To continue from part one.....
Hard training
The training in and exercises in those
early days were very hard and physical, with karate style kicking and
punching a very integral part of our warm up, followed by 200 press ups on
the backs of the wrists, with fingers pointing both inwards and outwards,
very often while you were in the raised position Abbe Sensei would
instruct another student to sit on your back, as we were the only group of
five Dan grades in the UK and all in the same dojo then this was the
training in all the Aikido dojos in the UK and today we are the only
organization in Aikido still doing these press ups.
The purists say "these press ups are bad
for you" what they really mean is they can't do them, this is all part of
the watering down of traditional Aikido.
Choreography
Aikidoists are often accused of practicing
" Choreographed Aikido" and to be honest I must admit that these claims
are very often justified, with Uke (attacker) preparing to break fall long
before he makes his attack, and most of them attack off balance ,
therefore making any multiples of techniques possible with the minimum of
effort and of course this makes Tori (defender) look "fantastic".
What is really sad is that these people
believe that this is good Aikido.
Kenshiro Abbe Sensei would always say to us that "two" students are
training at the same time, one is Uke who is learning and improving his
attacking techniques and his
opponent Tori is also learning and improving his defensive techniques,
whilst we were training with Abbe Sensei if Uke's foot or heel came off
the mat as he attacked Abbe Sensei would give the offending leg a good
whack with a shinai (bamboo sword) he would then say " My English is very
bad but my shinai speaks fluently!".
If Uke attacks on balance then it is
obvious that Tori's technique must be good and strong to throw him, and as
Abbe Sensei said so many times " two students are training" .
Mark Eastman a strong young Dan grade with me went on a seminar recently
where there was a 6th Dan. The 6th Dan refused to use him as Uke stating "
I can not use you as you do not harmonize with me", he was not being
awkward or difficult just attacking on balance.
Diluted training
Today all of these traditional exercises
and training methods have now changed to a simple warm up routine with
jumping up and down on the spot and lots of deep spiritual discussion.
Hard exercise is now considered to be aggressive and not in harmony with
the true spirit of Aikido.
Abbe Sensei said that hard training
developed the spirit, he also referred to Ki during those early days as he
demonstrated the power of his technique, when asked to explain the meaning
of Ki, he said not to worry about Ki as that would be a part of our
training and development.
He then said "Only when you reach first Dan
will you be able to understand the true concept of Ki as a further
extension of your Aikido."
I still believe that line of thought, and the instructors in our dojo's
very rarely speak of Ki although it is taught as a important and integral
part of our training and study.
Ki Aikido
Although Ki is generally recognized as the
spirit and breathing during the application of technique, every teacher
and student will offer a very wide and varied and sometimes bizarre
interpretation of the meaning of this much abused word.
The main problems arise and are created by the teachers themselves, who
very often mislead their students to the extent that they almost believe
that Ki is a form of magic. The following is one prime example from a very
prominent Aikido magazines letters section.
Title: The Spirit of Protection
I am a carpenter and 2nd kyu in Aikido. I
was working in a large new home doing repair work, I had finished my job
and was heading for a long staircase when I noticed the owners two year
old son was heading for the same stairs from the opposite direction.
As he approached the top of the stair he was watching me and not where he
was going. I was too far away to grab him, so I shot to him (irimi) and
stuck my arm straight out to him, my "Ki" went through the little boys'
face and out the back of his head, he fell backwards and started crying.
His mother heard the crying and came up the stairs, when I told her what
had happened, she thanked me,
I said "Don't thank me, Thank Aikido".
That poor child may well now be as
disturbed as the writer.
Harry Potter Ryu
There are many such misguided examples
which I will refer to in future articles, it is this kind of nonsense that
brings Aikidos credibility into doubt I am fully aware that every martial
art has its own version of " Harry Potter" in their ranks, what I fail to
understand is that there are more of them in Aikido than all the other
martial arts combined.
The reason that I am so critical and
vociferous about Aikido is that every day I see these people watering down
this great martial art that I have spent most of my life studying,
teaching and promoting for the past 46 years. I am often asked "Sensei,
which do you think is the best and worst martial art".
I always make the same reply " All the
martial arts are good, if there is a problem with any martial art, then it
can only be the people who represent that particular art who misrepresent
their art