Has anyone used aikido in real life situations?

[ryanhall]

Toyoda sensei was attacked while driving. A man came up and stuck a knife into his partially opened window to threaten him. He relaxed completely, kept one-point, kept weight underside, extended ki, rolled up the electric window on uke's arm, and drove down the street.

Extended ki? I wanted to stop here, but morbid curiosity kept me going. I've never seen more stories about defeating knife-weilding attackers in my entire life. I don't want to accuse anyone of being untruthful on the internet of all places, but...

Another story: A friend of mine and a female practice partner--both in karate were walking through Coit Park one night after a seminar. A guy jumps out with a knife demanding their money. The two friends fall over laughing their guts out since they had just spent the entire day practicing anti-knife defenses. The idiot attacker wasn't intelligent enough at that point to get out of there but just stood there continuing to demand their money. My friends collected themselves and discussed who got to practice. My friend decided to be gentlemanly and let the female have the mugger.

I'm sure this is the gods' truth.

A while back a very homophobic guy I know decided to "attack" me in an elevator by bearhugging me with my arms to my sides. I just leaned in and kissed him full on the mouth which has him paralyzed with fear of me now. He can't figure out whether I'm homosexual or not and is afraid I have the hots for him. I get a real kick out of his reactions to me now.

That would've scared me.

[ryanhall]

There were no less than 21 mentions of the word 'knife' in the first piece. Knifers and blade weilders beware, Aikidoists ractice 'knife defenses'--your days are numbered

[Guest]

Perhaps the mysterious Ki power gives you an innate ability to lie. The vidence suggests that this is so...........

[Michael Neal]

hehehe! yeah some of the stories do sound like BS, but I think many of the non-kinife stories are true.

I believe very strongly in the power of the mind. One of the key factors is motivation. If using visualisation or meditation motivates you to train harder, then you will train harder and get correspondingly better results.

According to those who believe in Ki (I am not one of them), that is all that it is, mental focusing. A few few new agy weirdos turn the idea into some kind of mystical jedi power or something. So your criticism of it is relatively uninformed.

I know you guys think you know it all about Aikido after watching some weak Aikido dojos in action but you really should not be so quick to judge. There are plenty of weak dojos in almost all martial arts, but arts like Aikido, Tai Chi, etc happen to attract more of these kinds of people due to the spirtual aspects.

Aikido is not the Ultimate Figthing Art but it has and does work in real life martial situations. And there are dojos that practice pretty intensely. Often in my school if you screw up your technique you will get thrown down, choked , or pinned.

Maybe you should spend more time training in your respective art rather than criticising others and showing how inadequate and vulnerable you feel about your own skills by doing so.

[Nick]

...

Ki exists. And it's easy to use.

First make a fist. Then throw a punch. The same goes for a kick or a throw, etc.

Later...

[ryanhall]

Aikido is not the Ultimate Figthing Art but it has and does work in real life martial situations

It can work in SOME, or more correctly, FEW real life situations. It can be made to work against a semi-resistant opponent in a low stress situation, but that's about it. Under severe pressure, gross motor skills dominate, ruling out wrist locks and such. Large people or those with strong wrists will stop that lock with no trouble at all. They will proceed to do something bad to you. Someone trying to hit you will be pleasantly surprised when you place both of your hands on one of his wrists. Aikido and stuff that resembles it is for drunk or unrully friends and family members. That's it. The entire object behind self-defense is learning something in a relatively short period of time that will work on almost everybody. Aikido falls into neither of those categories.

So your criticism of it is relatively uninformed.

Actually, it's not.

hehehe! yeah some of the stories do sound like BS, but I think many of the non-kinife stories are true.

Speaking of leaps of faith, I could sit here and invent ten stories of supposed 'real life' altercations and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and the truth. Believe none of what you read and half of what you see.

Maybe you should spend more time training in your respective art rather than criticising others and showing how inadequate and vulnerable you feel about your own skills by doing so.

I don't recall insulting or criticizing anyone. I only made a point about the blatantly obvious fabrications in the page that you posted. Let's get serious for a momemt please. Saying that someone is a liar after they claim to allow their girlfriend the honor of beating a knifer is in what way out of line? Secondly, giving deserved criticism and an analysis of why I think what I think is not a sign of personal insecurity. Those who can't back up what they claim often resort to the 'you only make fun of me because you're insecure' line. Did it ever occur to you that everybody else wasn't wrong? One of the prior posters is a cop. As such, I'm sure he was taught and knows a little about the twisty wristy stuff. I'll leave it up to him to state his own well-known opinion on the value of said training.

[Kingston]

"hahahah fool. Iv spent all day working on knife defence! you dont stand a chance. it would be cruel for me to use you as a practice dummy, so i will let my girlfriend do it. Hey she needs the practice after all."

lol. Im sorry any respect iv had for aikido i just lost. Michael you preach Aikido and give us examples that are so obviously fictional.

"well some of the stuff could be true" .......like ryan said earlier, anyone could make 20 stories WAY more beleavable then that.

All i get from this is: either Aikido teaches people to be complete morons(tuanting a knife wielding crook). OR people have to make up fictional stories about its effectiveness.........for some reason or another. wonder what it could be

[Disciple]

Aikido does work in real fights but I think it depends on the training methods you employ and your skill level. When I first started martial arts I studied under an instructor well versed in throwing arts. He allowed me to spar with him, me all out brawling and him using only throws sweeps, etc. Needless to say he threw me repeated into the walls, the floor, etc. It felt like I was always getting pulled/pushed/tripped/wrist locked from an unexpected or odd angle. The same feeling you would have if someone were to shove you from behind unexpectedly. The thing is that his attributes were extremely high. With these types of arts if you move too fast/slow, lose grip or your timing is just slightly off, your opponent will realize(feel) what you are attempting to do. That is when they are able to resist and you are unable to apply the throw/lock/sweep.

Training slowly with someone with someone sticking out their arm and then going with your lock/throw is a way to learn the technique, but must eventually progress to full speed drilling and sparring if any real fighting ability is to be developed.

I can understand why using Aikido would be difficult against a boxer. Boxers often have very quick hands. An Aikidoka must also be very quick if he is to anticipate a boxers punch, unless that punch is grossly telegraphed. Also, I can't possibly see how you could throw someone who is throwing jabs at you.

Aikido may or may not work against a knife. It depends on the attacker. Most good/experienced knife fighters do not lunge at their opponents. They flick the blade in and out making quick slashes and stabs at your arms, legs, torso, neck. To use aikido, the attacker must make a committed stab/lunge that you are able to anticipate to be able to apply your lock or throw.

[Guest]

I am the afore-mentioned cop. I have been trained in the twisty wristy nonsense, as have all my colleagues. I have had dozens of real fights against men with evil intent.

To date I have NEVER seen Aikido moves used when the punches, kick and hatred really fly. It is only used on the compliant. They let you take their wrist as you move them along, and you have some small insurance in case they decide to get nasty. And, even then, their use is rare.

The funny thing about fighting styles, as opposed to other kinds of physical endeavours, is this. In any other sport you can go out and see if you win. This will confirm or deny the effectiveness of your training. In REAL fighting you might never get the chance. And, if you do but have trained wrongly, then you might never get the chance to do anything again.

So we rely on common sense, the experience of others and hard work. But, in this environment, especially with fighting prowess being so crucial to our culture, people end up WANTING to believe things. So we have twisty wristy Ki and Chi. We believe that we can become invincibe (without having to sweat too much for it, of course), and can take on anyone with our mystical powers.

Personally I go with the advice of Geoff Thompson. Its fairly basic, and there are no impressive claims.

Learn to hit ****ing hard.

[Lizard]

Those pages of aikido stories are pure comedy.

"One day I was walking home when three guys jumped out and demanded that I give them some money. I laughed out loud, just that day I had learned in the dojo how to defeat three big guys. That was lucky. So I grabbed one of them by the wrist and attempted the chi bollocks throw. His two friends started to punch me, I decided not to fight back since it would be too cruel to beat them up. A single successful block would have surely slain all three of them. They contineud to beat the shit out of me until I pretended to be knocked out. Then they took all my money, but that was what I wanted since I had previously put a Chi curse on it. I'm afriad they will be dead by now." - Seymour Butts, BS aikido practitioner. NOW THAT'S A STORY I CAN BELIEVE!

[Lizard]

Whoever wrote those things has put me against aikido for life. It has a negative effect on anyone who knows anything.

[Lizard]

During a christmas party, a local youth who was the wife's ex boy friend started to flirt with her. She was very uncomfortable and sensei asked him to stop. Words exchanged and the youth pushed the 'our' Aikidoka. According to him, he simply performed a sankyo, seeing the youth's two friends were also coming, he changed into sankyo tenkan thus tripped the two. Within seconds, the three youths were on the floor, and the families stopped the fight.

The next moring, at the breakfast table, the father in law (only heard of the story, he wasn't at the party) asked sensei

What was that stuff that you did last night ? Japanese Karate chops or something ?
No dad, actually it is American.
Hmm, what's called ?
It's called 'beat the crap out of anyone who touches my wife'.
There were laughters at the table, and he felt comfortable with the family for the first time.

Now, that's aiki.

Now thats Bull-Shitsu. See if you do aikido you will suddenly become a comedy genious. All through the power of Chi. These are fairy tales. I wish I hadn't read that. Oh but another story couldn't hurt... could it?

[Lizard]

Anyway, Eric said that these words suddenly went through his mind "Christ! Why did I pick him?!". This man had tree trunks for wrists! Anyway, the sandan attacked at lightening speed. Eric turned Tenkan, barely touched the Karateka's wrist, and, *whoosh*... no more karateka! Unfortunately, the Karate Sandan hadn't learned much ukemi and so was a little "confused" upon landing. Eric was as pleased as punch (eek! sorry!), and the other Karateka thought it was great!!

We never saw any of them again.

We never saw any of them again? But if aikido was so effective why didn't they come back and learn it. If someone threw me effortlessly I would want to learn more, I wouldn't leave unless I felt that he cheated or something. Besides if "the other Karateka thought it was great!! " why didn't HE come back?

[Lizard]

He's 5'8" and barely fits into a size 5 gi; but not an ounce of fat. He had to cut the sleeves off at the elbow, as the fabric was so tight he couldn't raise his arms.

Yes, but the reason he is good at fighting isn't that he is a giant. It's because he does aikido. Yeah right. See how I'm reading through ever story and commenting on the best/worst bits. I need to express the anger I feel: THIS IS SO FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!

A few of them start to s******. There's an occassional chortle. And the guy with the knife begins to look very worried...

The Aikidoka's hands stay at his side, and he raises his eyebrows at the eager crowd...

The other gentleman decides to surrender the knife rather than find out what everybody's so gleeful about.

A triumph of brain over brawn certainly. But if the knife wielding maniac had attacked... He would have been defeated... wouldn't he?

Another little story I remember hearing was about high ranking calligraphy teacher that lived in Japan during some of the more turbulent times. As he was working on a scroll, a person attacked him with a sword with the intent to kill. The teacher deftly dispatched the attacker with the brush he was holding by painting some character on the guy's face with the brush ending up in the guy's eye--instant frontal lobotomy. According to legends, the character was like the character for death or something. The point of the story, though, is that the teacher responded with something totally within character. He did what was simplest, quickest, and most effective--for him.

Like all japanese martial arts legends this is not true. Why did he bother writing the character instead of just stabbing him in the eye straight away?

(my daughter's Aikido is getting crappier as she grows older since she is learning to use her muscles more)

I can't even comment.

Aikido works on the basis of a lot of natural movements (at least natural for Japanese).

I see, the japanese are one of the few races with the "natural movements" gene. I have to stop, I'm only a quarter of the way through and I've wasted a lot of space on this forum. I'll stop for now.

[Lizard]

Bonking a person on the head as a lesson to be careful with sword ettiquette is not so bad. It's a better lesson than having your head or hand cut off.

Last one I promise. "Yeah I beat that guy up for standing on my sword by mistake but at least I didn't kill him (which was what he deserved)".