Ancient Fighting Secrets

As others have said, there are a greater number of options – the same technique can be used to either restrain, or seriously injure the opponent. This flexibility is missing from many other arts.

It’s also very energy efficient. Good Aikidoka use the opponents energy very effectively, to the point that they do very little work to achieve their goal. In comparison to a striking art, this difference can be quite profound. Seagal isn’t in nearly good enough shape to be a Capoeirista, but is certainly in good enough shape for Aikido.

The Kokyo Nage category of techniques is probably the closest you’ll get to an Aikido only technique. It’s a rather broad range of momentum based techniques – that YouTube seems to misidentify with regularity (so be aware of that if you look for examples). Interestingly enough, even these techniques are seen in other arts – for me the most surprising was 14th Century European sword fighting manuals. Bio-mechanics doesn’t change!

Of course, the other point that makes Aikido stand out is the defensive nature of it. Sure, there are techniques that Aikido has that are not defensive – but the great majority of them only work if you are being attacked directly. While some may see this as a weakness of the art, I find it philosophically affects how I approach conflict in a positive way.

I was drawn to Aikido because I had friends who liked to drink and fight. I wanted to know how to break them up without breaking them – for that Aikido works wonderfully. I was pleased to learn later that it works for a much broader range of situations that that, so I kept with it.

On a quick note – some people give Aikido crap because they’ve seen really bad Aikido. I have to agree with them – some of what’s being taught is so God awful that had I been exposed to that first I would be on the Aikido bashing wagon too. I guess what I’m saying is, buyer beware. Whew, I’m serious, there is some God awful stuff out there.

In my opinion the main difference between Aikido and other styles is the “nonviolent” approach to resolving conflict. As far as differentiating it from other styles technique wise, there are tons of other styles which contain similar or identical tactics and strategies. And these other styles do this without limiting your strikes too. The idea behind Aikido sounds great in my opinion (in theory), but it is too incomplete.

I see a previous poster stated that Aikido automatically reverts to Aikijutsu in a fight, and that it contains strikes. If I could find that school I’d be there now instead of in front of this computer. I studied Tomiki for several years and did not find that to be true, but Tomiki is the sporterized version of the style and therefore somewhat watered down.

Aikido is a complete system of self-defense. When utilized in a life or death situation, it is usually applied as Aiki-jitsu.

Aikido teaches weapons usage, and weapons defense. Aikido teaches arm breaking, leg breaking, neck breaking techniques as well as punching and kicking. Aikido teaches a survivor mentality in all its martial applications. An aikidoist is not averse to pull out a 9mm and blow his attacker away (Aiki-jitsu). Aikido has some great small joint manipulations that are lacking in other forms of self-defense which seem to think punching and kicking are all there is (though ‘atemi’ is very important and stressed by Ueshiba sensei).

I find either Chinese kung fu or Japanese aikido, when properly applied, to be the two most effective martial arts in the world.

Subsequently, the security officers at my job are all required to take aikido weekly because it is extremely useful and incapacitating someone without hurting them badly enough to find yoursel on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

The main strength of Aikido for me is the fact that you are less likely to get into fights and therefore less likely to get your head bashed in. Aikido being a purely defensive art means that you can only use the techniques against unprovoked sudden attacks. It also advocates a mindset that promotes avoidance of violent head on confrontations and to find a way to resolve conflicts peacefully. It may not make a lot of sense to most young kids who are full of aggression, but to people who have seen way too much violence and are tired of it and want nothing to do with it, but just need something to defend themselves with while avoiding bloodshed, then Aikido makes a lot of sense.

It is the perfect escape art if that is your only option .Unfortunately like all the arts the further it gets from it’s source over time becomes diluted .

DESK 3B mentions the AIKIJUTSU connection most of which is being left out of modern aikido practice more and more .Even the aikijutsu demos I have seen lately are starting to look like aikido demos.It’s not the aikijutsu I trained in during the 60s which was about 40 to 50% striking.