I was just looking around the sports clubs available at ANU and I came across this site. http://www.aikido.net.au/anu/art.html It is sort of interesting, I have no interest in joining up but reading some of the stuff there did get me thinking. Any comments ?
One time I remember having cake one day. The Founder, who was lying on his side, then said "Get me a cake too." I then reached up to get another cake to give the Founder in response to his request, at which point he suddenly said in a loud voice "You fool! Do you even know why you are being yelled at? I'll tell you: you need to think about what would have happened if I had hidden a knife under my cushion and used it to slice your leg while you were reaching up there with both hands to get me that cake!". Then realising what he was saying, I then began to weep with thanks for my teacher who wasted no opportunity to instruct his students in the essence of Aikido without a single opening for attack. This later became an important lesson for me in the Founder's teaching "Aikido is to impart joy to others, and is also a means of obtaining joy oneself." this says so much to me that well i'm going to pass on reading the rest. it was the first thing i clicked on to read. there are so many ways to make fun of this that i am going to let it's absurdity stand on it's own.
Aikido is not a bad martial art, in fact, it is quite good and teaches you how to relax in situations when most people would be very tense. I would definitely recommend it, but not if your goal was mma.
http://www.aikido.net.au/anu/articles/profile.html The profile of the sensei at the club is interesting. He moved from boxing/wrestling to aikido, which I suppose is the opposite people here do.
Aikido is not totally useless. Those years of manipulating people's arms ard in almost any range of motion will make u know the arm n how it bends frm the back of ya head. Then it bcomes freakin easy 4 u if u r trying to learn bjj submissions[arm].
The founder of the art was an expert boxer and wrestler and had many violent encounters in his life. This guy was not a pussy, he was supposedly walking around 200 lbs. and used to duel a lot in his times... After seeing a lot of war and destruction he later on moved on to develop his peaceful philosophy and art. Maybe this art suited him well because he had an intimate knowledge of basic fighting already. He understood punching, kicking and submissions because he used it himself extensevly in his past (15 years of experience). But for a fool who never threw a punch in his life to walk in an Aikido dojo and believe he will become a great fighter is a travesty. Unless you take the founder's path of understanding the fundamentals of fighting by practicing contant fighting for a long time I don't think you can reach the next plateu which Aikido represents.
