I…kinda went by the internet and read somewhere that Judo was graceful, but now realizing what I said, it’s not very graceful. But yes, I did take Aikido. I keep saying I was going to do TKD, but never do -_- I have long and strong legs and long arms, so that’ll help me. Wrestling, not really my thing. I’m more into bone-breaking and joint locks (which I’m sure you do in wrestling, of course, which means I contradicted myself in some form).
I heard a story from my Aikido instructor that a woman had her head split open and had to get stitches from something (I think she got hit in the head with a bokken or fell or something). I’m about 6"4 - 6"6 and pretty huge, so wrestling may be good for me. There are many styles I want to take, and Kendo’s the top of my list. The reason why I want to get into tricking was because I was watching a video and saw a woman do those Chun-Li kicks (The Lightning Kicks). Really want to do that.
Kendo is fucking rough man. Niggas used to get their thumbs broken just for holding the sword wrong. I remember my teacher got me a couple of times for not holding my stick right. No homo.
Hahah tell me about it, even with the HEMA I’m doing you gotta be careful lol. And we spar with unsharpened steel swords, one wrong hit and your hands broken >_<
Hahah Dramatix, if you think you have a contradiction check your premises. There’s many wrestling styles that emphasize locks/breaks(Catch wrestling has a term “Ripper” to describe a wrestler who goes into a match intending to break his opponent using locks.)
And yeah, just always keep the gruesome aspect of martial arts in mind, no matter how “graceful” you may think they are. These are martial arts.
I’ve wanted to do some tricking though, but soooo not flexible enough yet :<, gonna pick up yoga soon though
I would definitely say Aiki-jutsu is graceful. There’s a very strong emphasis on both the center of gravity of yourself and the attacker. Usually your manipulate the force of the attacker by using a circle motion that forces them into a position where they will either follow the technique to the ground for a lock or end up with broken or dislocated joints by resisting.
As far as power goes, the art can really be as gentle or brutal as the situation requires. Twisting someone’s wrist into a position where they feel enough pain to go up on their tippy toes is usually enough to deter any further violence, but if you cannot hold down a single attacker you may have to snap something so that you can respond to another. Only a few of the holds are potentially deadly, and these mainly revolve around positioning the neck in such a way that it cuts off the blood flow of the caryatid artery. The purpose here isn’t to kill, but to knock out. The goal is to only use as much force as is required.
In many cases the ‘power’ that is shown is the weight and momentum of the attacker. You’re not creating it yourself, just redirecting it to stop the attack.
Philosophically speaking, you are the yin which brings a peaceful resolution to the energy of the attacker’s yang.
The few strikes that the art does have revolve around striking arteries to disorientate or nerve bundles to cause brief flashes of severe pain, but these attacks are mainly just to distract the attacker for a brief moment so that you can position them for a lock or takedown. Most strikes can be done with fingers or knuckles and are designed to be used when grappling as well. Its kicks aren’t about extending your legs but placing your feet on the attacker in such a way to hyper-extend joints (especially the knee) to aid in a takedown.
‘Ai’ refers to peace, so competition is generally not looked upon favorably. This is because you are taught to respond to violence to give it a peaceful end, not create it. Coincidentally virtually the entire art is banned in competitive venues like UFC because it’s ‘small joint manipulation’. Apparently they don’t like the idea of a little guy using a few fingers to make a big guy tap out.
Traditionally the art is taught with a sword, but because that’s not very practical in the modern world I was taught cane. A simple wooden cane with a curved end can really create some nasty strikes and locks if you know what you’re doing. And the best part is you can carry it virtually anywhere as long as you’re not flailing it around like an idiot. I keep one in my car just in case.
Judo is a sister art that developed from Aiki-jutsu, so I don’t want to disrespect them. But I’ve never seen anything very graceful about Judo…and I think they like it that way. But if you like grabbing people squarely by the scruff of their clothes and throwing them over your hip so hard they slam onto the ground, then you should probably check it out.
speaking of graceful, my instructor trevor, taught us what he calls the “PDA” position. your arm is around their waist, you’re holding their hand, your head is on their heart. its very delicate and elegant.
from there you start kneeing and foot stomping them. forced to respond, you then transition into various favorable takedowns based on how they react. most of it involves using their movement against them. its very brilliant. he makes everything look so simple. he also showed how to gracefully transition from striking to takedowns. of course when actually live rolling i can’t pull any of this simple graceful shit off and get roflstomped badly. which is fun, except when the dude is sweaty and smells bad. then it just sucks and i tap out extra early so i can get a breather.
i’m very sad today because i couldn’t go to class cause i have a bad cold and it would be bad to get snot all over my training buddies. /sigh.
It appears that Aiki-jutsu is beauty and strength…now I have to take it. I usually practice being graceful by dancing and being relaxed. Whenever I play Just Dance, I only got graceful once; I keep getting energetic.
Fucking picturing Dramatix playing Kinect Dance games with two day old stubble and spandex is a scary fucking image. More so than any fighting technique that Kenshiro ever dreamed up.
This was another martial art I was highly interested in, but kinda hard to get in-depth information on(language barrier)
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Anyone who’s ever watched Grappler Baki recognizes this technique, yet I’ve never seen it anywhere else in popular media, seems to be a rather obscure martial art.
Would also love to take up Niten-Ichi Ryu kenjutsu, but no schools in the nearby area, and few schools nationwide :< Was looking into Yagyu Shinkage-Ryu, but after a rather “colorful” experience with the teacher in the area I decided to forego that.
Because it doesn’t rely on strength it’s a very intellectual art. It’s a combination of anatomy, physics, and keeping a calm and focused mental state to properly respond to attacks. Meditation, especially Zen, is encouraged and sometimes done in class. Don’t let that deter you though, keeping focus is very important when you’re practicing an art that depends on responding to attacks by reading an opponent’s center of gravity.
There’s a lot of precision in the locks. Twisting in certain ways will do nothing, but altering the motion ever so slightly can be the difference between nothing and severe pain. So in this way it can be very frustrating for beginners. They’ll often get nothing from a lock or put way too much force into a technique when it requires very little. One of the most difficult habits for beginners is to let go of just trying to muscle their way through a technique.
Oh yeah…and if you want to take it, I would highly recommend you start stretching out your wrists. You’re going to feel a lot of pain when the techniques are demonstrated on you. But my sensei always told me there is a difference between ‘pain’ and ‘harm’, so never say you are hurt unless there is some bodily injury. Just be ready for a good bit of pain. It’s part of learning the art. Knowing how it feels on yourself will help you perfect your techniques when you attempt to use them on others.
After some practice you’ll get to the point where you can ‘feel’ what kind of joints a person has and how to move them to create an appropriate amount of pain or incapacitation. Good luck!
You’d be better off just finding an Aikido school instead of hunting that down since it encompasses all those locks and holds anyway. All those Okinawan arts are all pretty beastly though. I for one would love to take up western fencing.
^I’ve thought about it before too, though it seems I"m more inclined towards “Hard” styles. So head on styles like Boxing(I’ll fight anyone to the death that tells me that isn’t a martial art), Kyokushin-Kai, Catch Wrestling, Muay Thai, so on. Not to say anything about the efficacy of those styles(as was my point with the girl’s aikido throw demonstration earlier), just seems the philosophy of head on conflict until you or the other person is beaten down is more suited to me.
edit: Though I’m curious since I have never really followed Aikido or Aiki-Jutsu, is there a strong connection there with Okinawan Martial Arts as there is with some forms of Karate?
A second degree black belt of Tao Kwon Do and am starting combat jujitsu in the upcoming weeks. Gonna see how I feel about it but so far I’m kinda stoked! Also soon I plan to take on a bit of Hapkito for the hell of it.
I don’t really believe there is but then again you can probably trace the lineage for back enough find something. I do know that the Takeda Sokaku’s family crest (the founder of Daito Ryo Aiki Jujutsu) looks VERY familar though.
As a kid, my uncle taught me Okinawan Karate. I did TKD/karate or whatever the hell they wanted to call it in high school for about a month and got bored with the school and teaching. I want to get back into martial arts. I’m looking at three karate schools. One is a Shorin-Ryu school, the second is a mixture of different styles of karate and the third is an Enshin style which is an offshoot of Kyokushin.
There’s a guy at my fencing club that has been teaching the military self defence for 20 years, I’m gonna have to check out his class, nobody does hardcore training like the SEALS. I’d be proud of myself if I survive.
