Aikido vs Judo - Real Sparring 

5 martial arts RU-vidrs. 7 self-defense challenges. 1 winner. The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship is officially happening! Learn more about it here: www.indiegogo.com/projects/ultimate-self-defense-championship

That was an amazing experience, thank you Rokas 🙇🏻‍♂️

FINALLY!!! An Aikidoka who engages in pressure testing with a non-compliant opponent and is completely, 100% honest about the results.

I studied aikido for a bit as a kid and have picked up various different fighting skills through the military I can say one thing for sure: no matter how good you are, there is always someone better. Don’t ever get cocky because you will never know the skill of the other guy ahead of time. Best to avoid confrontation if possible and when that isn’t possible then fight like your life depends on it….because it does.

This shows multiple lessons - for me one of the main ones is studying multiple disciplines. Knowing what your opponent is trying to do because you’ve studied the same art gives you the benefit. Brilliant video and thank you for sharing this 🙏🙏🙏

This is the part of the martial arts journey I’ve been waiting for, as at this point you’re kind of on the way to rediscovering what old aikido may have looked like. I’m very excited to see how thisngoes

Check out the full version of the Aikido vs Judo sparring here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WyWUqHZGHcE.html Check out Chadi's channel here: ru-vid.com

You’re definitely much further along with applying aikido to more practical use than you were before. Keep improving! Can’t wait to see where you end up!

This judo guy is pretty bad... lol

The wrist of a judo player is very solid like a gymnast.. very difficult to use aikido proficiently against such a foe. Well done sir

I haven't really been the biggest fan of Aikido, but seeing you on your martial arts journey and how you apply certain techniques kinda gives me hope for that martial art. hopefully more people taking Aikido get the interest to apply those skills in a more functional setting

Chadi is by far my favorite grappling youtuber. I love his breakdowns of other grappling styles comparing them to judo.

You've improved so much, man! It's so nice to see how you analyze and explain the techniques you use. Also, I remember your first videos and, duuude, you're a much more complete fighter now! Cheers, bro!

Ueshiba Morihei had a tremendous knowledge of martial arts and Ju Jitsu, in forms that we don't practice anymore. This came at the end of an era when Ju-Jitsu were survival techniques that could allow you to live another Day. Both Kano and Morihei developed their Do from those techniques, purging what they deemed too dangerous to stay. The overall knowledge by Morihei of many technique made him a more effective practitioner to any modern aikidoka, as he was, by his own choice, applying only a minimal part of what he knew, but with a comprehensive awareness of what his adversary could apply.

Hey Rokas, Been Following your Journey since 2017 and I Absolutely Love seeing where it's taken you. At the end of your video you left off wondering what Kano saw in Morihei Ueshiba's art that made him send some of his students to learn from him. At that time, Ueshiba was still teaching mainly Daito Ryu as it was during the pre-WWII period in Japan. In the same way that grappling has clearly shown better mechanics to make Aikido more applicable, have you ever considered looking to the parent art (Daito Ryu) to see what mechanics are still present there that may be missing in modern Aikido? Just a thought. Absolutely love seeing your journey and thank you for making this channel! Do you still do any BJJ competitions or solely MMA at this moment? Sorry your teacher discouraged you taking up other arts (especially when you showed prowess at BJJ) but glad to see you weren't deterred. You've become a more well-rounded martial artist and individual as a result.

Wow Rokas did great here, I was surprised. It was nice that Chadi accepted doing it too, I watch his videos too. It was very interesting to watch.

I love how you have come from (for a lack of better words) bashing aikido to analysing why things do and don't work, and understanding that the art it self isn't the problem, but the way people train it. That's good progress in your own budo journey 😊

as a judoka myself this video was VERY interesting for me. i'm along for your journey man keep doing what you're doing, much love!

Judoka for twenty years then tried Akido, I was so disappointed that it wasn’t as applicable in self defence as it looked. Ended up taking up Muay Thai and I instantly realized that I now had a much better match by combining those two. All this before the end the 1990’s.

I think what your videos have showed me is that Aikido is not an inherently bad martial art, it's just taught in a poor way. I hope in the future Aikido becomes a martial art practiced with real sparring and pressure testing so we can see it actually live up to it's potential

Chadi is quite knowledgeable and familiar with traditional techniques that's why he was able to see it coming. That two handed grab set up for shihonage was also very obvious. I think it would have been better tried from a mona dori position.

I applaud 👏 your journey Rokas! I too as an Aikido blackbelt (among a few other blackbelts in other more combat oriented arts) have worked very hard with my students to push traditional Aikido techniques to work under pressure. One trick we found essential with live sparring is you have to end up binding both the attackers arms or else you get punched 👊 repeatedly while working to execute the Aikido techniques. Once we trained that piece in many techniques started to work under pressure.

Nice to see you both sharing knowledge! That been said. Somehow I got the feeling that Chadi hold back. A lot of Judo throw can be 'forced' even though the timing or kuzushi is off. Hence not being the 'perfect throw without force. He opted for the more cooperative and productive way which is good in training and productive for oneself in the long run. I would be interested to see how Aikido would come out under a more 'stressful situation.

I used to watch you when you were training aikido and started training jiu jitsu. I forgot about this channel for years and now it just hit me like hey what’s the aikido guy up to and I can really see you channel blowing up. Keep it up mate 🤙🏽🤙🏽

3:45 actual sparring starts here

It's so nice seeing someone take on a bunch of styles and analyse their differences. Although it's "Aikido vs Judo" it feels like more than that, like two guys testing their styles to find what works and what doesn't. Regardless this mentality has been a huge inspiration to me and my martial arts journey and I think it should be embraced. It's also interesting to hear about how young judo is a martial art that focuses so heavily on philosophy. It makes sense being that the world at that time was becoming more social-based and less hierarchical, but, oddly, it seems that there's a preconceived notion about the virtues being old and stuff. Please keep up the amazing work!

Hi, Rokas! It's super exciting to see your hard work on improving Aikido gives you some positive feedback! I believe you have already made kote-gaeshi a legit technique for real grappling situations. So what's the next technique you would try to improve? I guess it's shiho-nage? (I saw you try to pull it off at least 3 times in this video) Maybe all Aikido techniques that seem not functional only need better entries to make them work. You are doing a remarkable thing, please continue your journey! 👍

Amazing! Been waiting for this forever. Watching you spar, that Kote Gaeshi looks like a very mean, and effective move to do against someone doing a lapel grab! I love your insight about training to execute Aikido techniques during contexts where there's spontaneity and resistance. It seems to be the best method to learn techniques. Kickboxing/Boxing/Sanda/MuaiThai/combat sports all train their techniques that way, in addition to training the form of the technique in isolation (kata). It seems to be a faster way to learn how to apply said technique in more realistic circumstances. I've observed that Aikido practices techniques in "perfect" or "ideal" situations, and to me that seems to be a very Japanese thing. Just look at their traditional archery. Their traditional archery doesn't even consider hitting the target when you practice it. Instead, you get judged by how well you execute the technique of shooting the arrow properly in isolation, hit or miss. And then they make the assumption that if you perfect the technique, you can perfect hitting the target. They have that mentality so ingrained that it shows up in their kata, when they cut tatami with a katana, in their craftsmanship, in their art, in the way they make videogames... etc. They tend to chase perfection in absence of context.

That’s amazing to see, how judo, aikido and brazilian jiu jitsu are familiar. They all come from the same martial art, and they were developed almost at the same time.

I think the judo guy wasn't really going for throws...to be honest, aikido can't be used in real fights or even in MMA. Jigoro Kano was just trying to understand the Aikido concept that's why he sends his two best students to understand the aikido concept so that he can develop more Judo offensive/defensive and counter attack techniques etc, that's why he was impressed because this new style is far more deferent in form from even jujitsu. No offense to aikido practioners but in the real world only Judo and jujitsu has proven their worth. Aikido only looks good in movies and for entertainment purposes only.

As a Japanese Jujutsu practitioner, this has been a fascinating journey to watch - particularly as Nintai-ryu is conceived a modern synthesis style, that goes a bit full circle and incorporates elements of Shotoakan Karate, Kano Judo and Aikido into an integrated self-defense system with a modular structure. One of the things we tried to impress upon our students, was that self-defense, and a street fight are VERY different from kumite or randori, and ANYONE can have a bad day.

I am a Sumo practitioner and I would really love to see Aikido vs Sumo! You may already be aware, but Sumo is actually a complete martial art and has always been full contact. I believe it doesn’t have any moves that can’t work, and even has uses for self defense. It even can be used by people who aren’t huge. I think it would be a really cool video!

Basics: Aikido is MA for use with sword (at least in backup). Aikido guy is wearing hakama (black pants) which means he is at least a black belt. Judo guy is no name brown belt. Also sports judo (99.9% judo trained today) is a tamed down version where you are not allowed to use bars on any other joint than elbow. Especialy you are not allowed to use ant therefore not thought how to defend from wrist bars. Thtat was a bargain made to make judo an olimpic sport - wrists, shoulders and so on just breahke to easily.

very interesting videos :) I did Judo for 15 years (basically grew up with it) and then switched to Karate as I felt I should do a more practical martial art regarding real life fighting situations. At first I was really irritated by the fact that most Karate practitioners seem to do Karate as a religion, meaning that they do what is supposed to be right and just believe it without pressure testing it in sparring. I think the more "theoretical" martial arts like Aikido or Karate should always be combined with a more practical one like Judo where you actually use what you learned.

I appreciate you partnering with Chadi for this. I’ve learned a lot about the history of judo from his channel and love his use of archived footage. You made some good points about the importance of training against a resisting opponent. Our training Judo training group cross trains in Aikido a bit and we occasionally do mixed Judo+Aikido randori. We do a lighter randori, striving to capture the spirit you see in the old Mifune videos, and we allow atemi waza and joint locks, standing chokes, etc. If you have the opportunity to partner with Chadi again I’d love to see randori where both participants can use aikido alongside other grappling techniques with polite atemi waza allowed.

5:18 That must be the smoothest sprawl I have ever seen. Amazing

Koichi Tohei (10th Dan Aikido) once had a free sparring with a Judoka and Tohei sensei won! He was then the chief instructor in the Aikikai Hombu. This match too place in the 50s'!

I love your humble outlook & open mindedness to learning. Refreshing to see your take on things in a martial arts world of inflated egos.

"If I want to apply other aikido techniques, knowing them will not be enough" So I used to take guitar lessons with an incredible player. I wanted to get more into jazz improvisation and so I took on learning 'Donna Lee' by Charlie Parker. After hours of working at it I could eventually play the chords and the melody in time with the music. I came back to our next lesson and he asked me "so you know Donna Lee now?" And I said "yes", to which he responded "no you don't." We then proceeded to play the chord tones in different orders on every chord change, we look for ways of playing the chords and melody at the same time, we would play arpeggios off the third tone of each chord on a change, and so on. Just really drilled down. I realized that he had a different definition for "knowing" a song and that be able to *play* something and being able to *perform* something are two different things. I think about that all the time in martial arts.

WOW, I WAS DREAMING ABOUT THIS MEETING!!!

He is so static and passive, a real judo fighter would not last even 30 seconds, this is a classic demonstration and not a fight.

Wow, someone actually gathering real data on what works and what doesn't. It's very refreshing.

You're giving me hope for the future of aikido in particular, and traditional martial arts in general. I hope to see more people like you, not just in aikido, but in every other TMA :)

Nice vid. Won some, lost some. While I still have doubts about using aikido in any real world situation, this was a really good no BS video showing it in a practical application. I dig it.

That "Leg in your guts, over my head you go" Judo throws brings back memories of first time stepping in to spar with a Judo-Guy as a very young Kung-Fu Guy. I shaped up, he grabbed my lapels, rolled back with his foot in my stomach & chucked me about 12' across the room behind him.. I remember thinking "Blimey..." as I soared through the air. Things went downhill from there and I realised I needed to take some Aikido or judo classes to avoid getting chucked about willy-nilly.

not bad for Aikido. Aikido usually get's wrecked in a fight. It just goes to show what some sparring experience can do. the Aikido wouldn't have worked once if he went into the sparring session without any previous sparring experience. however, I would encourage striking as it's easy to just be calm and grab each other's arms and clothes when you know a massive left hook isn't coming. it would be a completely different story if you could punch each other as then you wouldn't be so confident committing both hands to the techniques and not protecting your head. but pretty good for Aikido. I expected Aikido to lose every single time in this footage so the fact it worked at least once or twice against a trained Judo practitioner is pretty good. maybe there is still hope for the style.

That has to be the worst Judo I have seen.

bro you both are kinda weak... im a judoka and you would have to be way faster and stronger than that to defend yourself... Why is the judoka only trying for footsweeps?

Aikido is just Judo’s little brother that watches too much anime

you know , you are making really important work . This is exactly how the Humanity's understanding of the martial arts developes. You are a hero.

I began Judo in 1967. I taught it off and on for forty years. I've read some of Kano's own works.Your presentation re; Judo's beginnings was very good. I had a slightly different impression echoed by my generation of Judoka. Born in 1860 Kano was there at the beginning of the Meiji restoration. The martial arts disciplines available to a non samurai were a response to the many ronin samurai roaming unattended, armed, members of a class that could be judge, jury and executioner in a split second, with impunity. Jujutsu dojos were therefore brutal places based on self defense in that split second. Students got maimed and killed on a regular basis in class. Kano saw a need with the changing times for an effective martial art absent the ronin. Like now, the police agencies of the time were not the be all when it came to self defense but you didn't need to be injured to learn to defend yourself! Thus was born a form of self defense that could be practiced using most of the techniques at full speed expecting to return to the dojo tomorrow. (There is Atemi waza in Judo but many Judoka never see it.) As I understand it, Ueshiba, born in 1883, had a similar idea. (I wonder if those schools they both attended were still injuring people so many years later). I lost my taste for Shiai long ago. Kano actually never had it and I believe would be appalled by today's contest Judo. Kano was however an educator throughout and desirous of his message expanding throughout the world. I applaud Aikido for sticking to its guns as it were, and staying out of the realm of sport.

It's rare to see sparring with such clean technique. It's evident that neither of you let your egos get in the way.

Bad judo guy.

I love aikido. I practiced it for many years and I can tell you… as the smallest guy in high school, it helped a great deal with escapes

Man, you will become famous I think if you discover something about Aikido that no one knew.

My main takeaway from this video: the main difference between compliant and non-compliant opponent is footwork. The non-compliant opponent will not stand there so you can get your throw set up.

This has taught me that Aikido is a real martial art, it's just that (modern) Steven Seagal is its worst advocate. This was awesome and I thank you

Judo is way better

This was very fun to watch guys! Nice work! Reminds me of my own full circle journey back around to sparring with Aikido. The experimental Aikido / Aiki-JiuJitsu sparring videos on our channel may be helpful to revisit!

Man Muaythai Clinch work, works so well in these situations. I see your MMA training has helped boat loads to be more effective with Aikido.

Did you find a random dude and just give him a brown belt? You might as well have fought a youth brown belt.

Little known fact about Aikido. It was the only martial art that the occupying forces allowed to be practiced in Japan following WWII. Because it was considered 'defensive' it was considered harmless. Little did they know....

It would be interesting to see with a judoka that isn't an Aikido black belt. Still it was educational. Thank you for sharing.

This was FAKE

Hi Rokas, one point that you might want to research is Ueshiba's response to the violence of the second world war. He was, as far as I have been able to learn, freaked out because Japan lost, not because of the violence. He was actually certain that Japan would win, and all the ways it went about it, were fine, by him. He was basically depressed that he wasn't a p[art of the grand superior conquerors. When are you going to try Shodokan competitive style?

Hi, i am from Brazil and I'm learning English and Martial Arts, and I'm really enjoying your content and I'm learning a lot from you

Aikido + Judo + Jiu Jitsu = Real Aikido (IRAF) 😎🥋

As an Aikidoka, I’m puzzled by why you would limit or hesitate to strike using atemi or even in some instances kiai whenever appropriate. Kind of like the ‘jab’ of a boxer if you will… Both were always part of my training in ‘Classical Aikido,’ as many times being the primary lead into a technique. If you watch any footage of Ueshiba O’Sensei, it is the start of almost, if not every application. It has always been the balance & unification between the Kokoro mind heart & spirit of an engagement. In application these, first control the mind or attention of not only the Nage (person applying the technique) but also the Uke (receiving) & thus allowing for or in some instances creating a physical opening following a mental opening. One common misconception is that the atemi or strike is one that always makes contact. This is also true for physical application as some end up without physical contact in what often occur in free form ukemi. In reality there is not always a need, much like a person playing a sport uses a ‘body or head’ ‘fake’ to unbalance or misdirect a persons oncoming energetic. ‘Control the head & you control the body.’ In other words Katsu manifestation prior to & in eventual application though mental & physical unification. Controlling oneself & others energetic engagement whether making contact or not. Thus the connection of mind, body, spirit first in oneself then others. This allows for fluid transitioning from one technique into another repeatedly without hesitation & does not actually imply that the body is to be immovable but rather the intent of flow though the engagement is without giving into the opponent’s taking control of lead in the engagement, even when it may appear they have control, or actually physically do. Not doing such is kind of akin to a ‘stand up’ fighter allowing a grappler to ‘take it to the ground…’ In reality sparring as an aikidoka is exactly that & is why you will hear Aikidoka’s state that ‘there is no sparring in Aikido.’ Only demonstrating immovable intent & outcome… Eventually, at least in my experience, the process becomes somewhat intuitive without having to think or to be ‘forced’ physically & actually occurs without direct conscious effort ,but, rather becomes reflexive in flow coming from & then blending with the opponents energetic alignment & intent at the onset of blending energetics or physical engagement. For anyone that’s spent some time on the matts, hopefully, I’ve articulated this in a way that makes sense… Kind of like ‘receiving vs. taking’ a punch. One is potentially manageable where the other may not be.

Part of the problem is that we blend with other's atemi. When someone's not providing a directed, committed attack, we just keep distance - as you were doing well. Ripping on kotegaeshi to control a standing opponent is a brute force approach. Working with an experienced judoka, who is also aikidoka is not really a fair experiment in the arts. Still, enjoyable to watch. Had you dealt with the tomonage (stomach throw) as a kick and parried it, you may have landed on top of him. I started in Judo as a teen and wish I'd continued as well as taking up Wing Chun and then Aikido. Thanks guys.

Kotegaishi is the only technique I really remember from Aikido, it's very efficient if you can place it. I once used it in a street fight and even though I couldn't get a grip on his hands cause he was taking them away frantically from me, it really destabilised him and I pushed him to the ground after that. I also demonstrated that technique on tall strong friends and really hurt them cause they were trying to resist it with their strength, but you can easily break that strength and completely bend their arm. People need to learn how efficient Aikido is in real situations, cause most of the time, a good Aikido can simply convince the person not to fight with just a glance, with the famous aikijujutsu eyes, and it happened to me many times; in that regard it is such an efficient way to resolve violent situations with aggressors, as no fight happens, or very little of it.

I am actually doing Aikido and ı have a blue belt but there is one thing i can say for sure:no matter how much your opponent is stronger than you if you practice aikido your techniques will always work for him.

I also heard that Ueshiba did sumo and was quite good at it. The low gravity stance is purely from sumo, very efficient too !

I've not heard the word, "Aiki-jutsu", or even, "Aiki-jujutsu" being used. Aiki-jutsu was the forerunner or ancestor of Aikido. Like Jujutsu, Aiki-jutsu was combat-oriented. There were hand strikes and low kicks. Headbutts and elbow strikes were included. All of this were greatly de-emphasized in modern Judo and Aikido. I've heard of a small movement to re-introduce early, combat judo from the time that Jigoro Kano invented Judo when it was close to its jujutsu roots. I have a copy of a 1944 book on Judo. It was published at the height of WW2 by surprisingly, an American and a Japanese American man, who partnered in the book. The book is Judo with a strong self-defense emphasis, including a chapter on Atemi-waza hand strikes, and katas for defense against a boxer, against a knife, and against a pistol.

This is actually MMA, Boxing and Aikido vs Judo, as the Aikido has done all three.

In order for Aikido to really work, it needs to be practiced a lot quicker... but of course, then the sparring partner would get hurt in the training.

Chadi is famous for his great Judo Programs. Didnt knew he also practiced Aikido. Amazing video! hope to practice with you some day Sensei

I'm a ninjutsu teacher in Brasil and i've been saing that there's a gap in traditional trainning, not only in ninjutsu, but aikido, jujtsu and others, we need to add a pressure trainning, like sparring, kumite and randori in our daily trainning, cause of that i do sparrings and shadows in my dojo. ´Cause of that I realize a tripod to use techniques in Martial arts like ninjutsu and aikido: size of the attacked area (bigger spots are easier that small spots) X Distance (near its easiar than far) X level of attention to the attacked area. I could see it in your video, you shortened the distance, but focused only in the "kote gaeshi" (omote gyaku in bujinkan) and forgot attacks on bigger areas, like arms, and it pull all the atencion the adversary to the kote and make the technique more dificult... But i really loved the video, and just tell this to try point a possible way to improve your aikido techniques. PS: sorry, my english is rust.

Without atemi (initiated first by the aikidoka) there is no Aikido! It's not attacking, it's creating something, a movement, a dynamic in order to break the intention of uke and taking his/her center

it's not the martial art , it's the fighter

Aikido Is the most spiritual AND peaceful Martial art

if you didn't already in the video, i suggest you suggest to people they may also watch this without your backsounding voice.. it may make easier for them to focus on and understand the fight, nothing against your explanations of it during (throughout) the video, for who wishes to listen to, anyways.. but the remembrance to viewers that they don't need to listen to you is important as a possible measure.

I enjoyed watching it because it makes everyone progress without any ego involved

I know women that could mop the floor with this fool. That was extremely weak.

I think Kano saw potential in the concept of attacking the opponent's limbs instead of interlocking with their entire body. Having witnessed gang violence since his childhood, he most likely understood the value of mobility in a fight against multiple attackers - which is seriously hampered when you glue yourself to a single assailant. I imagine techniques like Yubi Dori would also really come in handy against grappling attempts, seeing as how shooting in provides all the Aiki-Fuel you need to execute the technique successfully. (I'm totally coining the phrase 'Aiki-Fuel' btw. That's mine now) This was a really good learning experience. Great work, guys!

Maybe the problem is that so many people think that Aikido is just about certain techniques? It isn't, it's about state of mind and about movement. Which includes atemi, and improvisation that you never see in these videos. If you have no choice but to kick a bloke in the nadgers, that's fine, do so. Aim higher, but if you have to go low in order to be able to walk away...that's Aikido.

That was cool to see. Aikido really needs this kind of "reality check". In judo, you practice the techniques. But then, when you spar, you get an instant check : can I apply the technique, or not, and why ? For exemple in judo, nobody really cares of you are good at a technique during training with a complacent partner. Everybody can train and learn those techniques rather fast. When it comes to applying those techniques, sooooo many new parameters pop up ! Because in truth, ( that is a big secret ) the opponent won't let you do what you intend to do! Damn opponent !

I'm not a fan of the philosophy behind Aikido, or how this martial art is usually presented by its practitioners, but the techniques of Aikido, and the abilities which this school develops, in combination with Wrestling, is a prefect formula for a clinch, especially against an opponent who is not familiar with Aikido.

What killed Aikido, like other martial arts, was the excessive cooperation of its practitioners with the master, and that, over the decades, gave these martial arts an incredible separation from reality. And in this video I can see that there is a cooperation (or lack of talent) to put the Aikido master in trouble. Let's not fool ourselves, that later in real life the practitioners of these arts run serious risks.

It looks like the judoka doesn't go very hard compared with a clasical judo sparring. Nice work!

There is a great story and forgive me I don't recall the source reference. But O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba allowed women to train at the Dojo. Kano and Ueshiba would actually send students to visit and train each others Dojo's. Apparently the men from Kano wer'e sparring with the women when suddenly taken by suprise at how effective shionage throw was. You can imagine a small woman grabbing a wrist and looking as though she was turning away and it turns into a throw, thus it became a shared technique. In this specific instance of course you were sparring against another Aikido / Judo pracitioner and he knew how to defend. I had a similar experience against one of my best friends who was a Greco Roman Wrestler, I suprised him with a wrist lock and then he never let me do that ever again. lol Just a cool story to add to the mix. I love that Kano and Ueshiba were contemporaries and to me it puts Aikido, Judo and Karate in perspective. Thank you for sharing, love to see the sparring.

i noticed that akido seems to be a sytem built upon people trying to hold each others hands. Although the throw moves and such are impressive. Nobody walks up and calmly holds each others hands the way this presents itself.

As other martial arts develops further, so should Aikido.

Hey chadi is the frenchman who makes judo video on youtube right? Big fan

A judo master will destroy an Aikido clown 10 out of 10 times.

I am not an Aikido expert like you Sensei. I only know the basics, but everytime I see Ushiba performing his techniques (not at exhibitions), I have the feeling he hid many of his principles and movements. That's exactly the part that you were missing all the time. Really pay attention, at the dojo Ushiba hardly moves, he does everything inside of a one square/circle meter. The same with Jigoro Kano. They didn't teach their art 100%.

You are holding your opponents hand with your both hands and that opponent doesn't put a hard punch on your beautiful face. Yeah.

Although I prefer arts that train with resistance for all of the usual reasons (I’m a BJJ guy), I do think the argument that you absolutely need need need to train with resistance is *slightly* overblown. I say this because certain moves that you would dismiss as “not working” in a sparring context can still be effective against an untrained person who isn’t familiar with what you’re trying to do and doesn’t know how to counter it.

Yet another great video. Only flaw I see is you have absorb the combatant mindset. If you had not engaged but forced the judoka to chase then more kokyu techniques would naturally be possible due to high center of gravity from higher mobility requirements ti close a larger gap.

Some martial arts are more applicable than others but all have lessons to apply

You made the mistake of trying to initiate grabs on him. I also didn't see you using his movement/intent/momentum in any way. There were opportunities to quickly make use of his movement "against him" many times. But fun content. Keep it up!