Aikido (japanese martial art description) - General Background
January 22nd, 2008
More info…
History: Aikido in its present form is a relatively recent innovation within the martial arts tradition. It was developed in Japan in the early 20th century by Morihei Ueshiba (1883 - 1969), who was introduced to the classical martial arts as a boy by his father, Yoroku. He is known to have studied some martial arts, such as various styles of Ju-jitsu as well as Kenjutsu and the art of the spear. Philosophy: If we are attacked by a force and we apply force ourselves, a collision of energies ensues which results in disharmony. Thus, accordingly the stronger force wins. If, however, we meet the force with an absorbing movement and then exhaust it to the point of imbalance before applying a force of our own (the Aikido way), we are in fact restoring harmony or redressing an imbalance. This is the basic logic and underlying philosophy of Aikido. Training: Aikido is a discipline that seeks not to meet violence with violence, but instead looks towards harmonising with and restraining and opponent. Aikido is, in many ways, unique among the martial arts, in that the majority of techniques are based on the aggressor making the first move. Therefore, Aikido techniques are usually aimed at joint immobilisation and throws which utilise an opponent’s energy, momentum and aggression. Many body movements have been taken from Japanese sword and spear fighting arts, and the use of the bokken (a replica sword) and jo (a stick) is intended to build the practitioner’s understanding and skill. Aikido teaches one-on-one and multiple attack defence. It incorporates knife-taking, sword-taking and stick-taking, and even defence from a kneeling position. Differences in size, weight, strength or age negated as we learn to use our inner ki (flow of energy). Weapon training with a bokken and jo indicates the ancestry of the discipline as well as helping to improve our body movements. It should be emphasised that Aikido is a budo (literally a martial way). We practise each technique with total commitment, as if our life depended on its success, for only in this way is it possible to bring about the true spirit of budo. This is not to say that training has to be hard or violent. It is possible to be physically soft and still generate the power to control a confrontational encounter. Styles of Aikido: In reality, there are several major styles of Aikido today. As Ueshiba was continually refining and modifying the art he had created, some of his students at various stages left to pursue their own ideals. Thus, Master Gozo Shioda created the yoshinkan style, characterised by short and sharp movements and powerful joint applications; Kenji Tomiki developed sport Aikido, as it is widely known, characterised by competitions in which rubber knives are used; Minoru Mochizuki successfully amalgamated Aikido with other martial arts within the International Martial Arts Federation; and Koichi Tohei created shin-shin toitsu Aikido, which concentrates on the ki aspect of Aikido. All of these men trained with and listened to Ueshiba and yet each came away with a different idea of the discipline.
- Thanaseelan, click on <a target="_new" href="http://www.worthofwordplay.blogspot.com">http://www.worthofwordplay.blogspot.com</a> to view his main blog. Don't forget to check out the categories on his blog.
Learn how to put boxing gloves
Your hands might get damaged or broken if you dont properly take care of it for boxing. This process initiates by wrapping your hands with lengthy strips of cloth called hand wraps; this is followed by digging the hands into the boxing gloves. Here are few steps mentioned below which one should follow before putting on the boxing gloves. First of all fasten the hand wrap hook in the region of your thumb, and then enfold the wrapper in the region of your wrist three or four times. Enfold the wrapper in the region near knuckled four to five times (dont include the thumb). Keep your fingers stretch away from each other to permit for suppleness when making a fist. Continue this wrapping process the region at the base of your thumb, the thumb must be in such a position that it shouldnt touch the rest of your hand, following this take the cloth wrapping the out portion of your hand, just next to your pinkie. Continue wrapping the cloth at the back of your hand. Following the above steps the cloth wrapping process must continue across your palm and the inside of your hand, in-between the thumb and index finger. The cloth should be again taken to the pinkie side (i.e. back of your hand). Dont forget to make X pattern over the hand by crisscrossing amid the in and exterior parts of your hand, and then wrap the surplus in the region of your wrist. The end of the cloth wrapper should be tied at your wrist. Many of the wrappers have fabric fastening straps that can be protected at the wrist for a comfortable and tight feel. The completely wrapped hands must be placed in the gloves to completely feel relaxed and secure. The wrappers which have the fabric fastener should be strapped on the gloves for complete fitness. If appropriate, lace can be tied on each glove. Dont wrap the cloth very tightly, it should make your fingers movement easy going and not stuck.
Shijina is a seo copywriter for <a href="http://www.proboxinggear.com/">Boxing gear</a>.Boxing provides detailed information on Boxing, <a href="http://www.proboxinggear.com/">boxing gloves</a>, Kick Boxing, boxing ring, boxing equipment and more. For further details you can visit the site <a href="http://proboxinggear.com/marartraineq.html">Boxing</a> .Contact her through mail at shijinaseo@gmail.com.</a>
Martial Arts Book Review: Real Fighting by Peyton Quinn
Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it’s definitely worth owning. One such book is Peyton Quinn’s, “Real Fighting.”
On a personal note, I found it quite interesting how certain people?s paths can cross without either one knowing about the other. A case in point, Peyton relates a story about a massive brawl which took place at a very prestigious bare-knuckle karate tournament in Denver, Colorado. Which just so happened to be the very same tournament that I competed in and also had the misfortune to witness the very disgusting behavior of a certain so called martial artist and his friends. I often wondered if he recalled seeing me compete.
I found Peyton’s book to be a very good “reality check” for those of you out there that think that your “martial art” is superior to everyone else’s. Well guess what, its not! As every person who has more than a passing resemblance to a human being will tell you, there are no superior martial arts, just superior martial artists. One particular quote that I really had to agree with was, ?Concepts are more important than specific techniques.? Boy did Peyton hit the nail right on the head with this one. From that one quote alone, I knew that he definitely knew what he was talking about.
The most important thing to remember when reading this, or any book dealing with self-defense techniques, is that the principles behind the technique are far more important than the technique itself. Peyton does a great job of this, and you would do well to sit down and read this book from cover to cover several times in order to grasp what he is trying to teach you.
Another important point that is brought out in this book is your need to develop your own personal awareness of yourself and your surroundings. By being aware of what is going on around you, you can avoid a lot of potential problems and be able to spot the preliminary signals that are always present before the first blow is actually thrown.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed what Peyton had to teach in his book, I must admit that I am not a big fan of the generalization that seems to take place when people compare “real fighting” to the martial arts. It seems that a lot of the martial arts are pigeonholed into the prevalent “McDojo’s” that seem to be so popular these days. That simply is not the case.
Peyton is one of the few “self-defense” authors out there that seems to realize this. He not only respects the teachings of the martial arts, but also understands their overall purpose and the benefits derived from them for those of us that study and live the martial way.
Peyton does do a really good job in differentiating between the ?sport? mentality that seems to be so prevalent in many martial arts these days, and the ?self-defense? mentality that has all put disappeared from all, but a few martial arts schools in existence today.
I am a traditionally trained martial artist in both Karate and Tae Kwon Do, as well as being ranked in several other disciplines. However, unlike a lot of schools that seem to have degenerated down to teaching a diluted “sport” version of these arts, I was fortunate enough to be taught the practical version of each technique alongside the traditional version.
A lot of traditional martial artists may find the information contained in this book a little disheartening, but take it from me, if you have one ounce of sense you will buy this book and study it. And when you think you?re finished and have learned everything in this book, take it off the shelf and read it again.
Finally, this book gives you a great overview on Peyton?s scenario based training principles in which he utilizes his Bulletman? suits and instructors. Although you will never get the full effect of this type of training from this book, you will get that which is most important, the concepts behind it.
I think we would all do well to remember that the most important element that the martial arts teach you is not technique, but respect, self-control and self-discipline!
Popularity: unranked [?]
