BJJ Experts Breakdown Videos of Aikido Masters • Moriteru Ueshiba, Gozo Shioda 

I just wanna say that your willingness to learn new stuff made a huge impact on me. I always had very bad grades in math related stuff and, inpired by you, took the steps to end my prejudice and start really learning it. Thank you for this. You are awesome. Cheers from Brazil and sucess on your journey.

I'm impressed by the respect they show and the constructive observations they make. Very interesting video.

A little explanation why there are Aikido techniques on the knees. The ancestor of modern Aikido is Daito ryu jujitsu by the Takeda family. A few 100 years ago, the duty of the Takeda family was to protect the shogun's palace. In the presence of the shogun, you weren't allowed to stand up, so they had to develop techniques starting from the seiza position. Ueshiba, the founder of modern Aikido, was a pupil of Takeda Sokaku, a master in Daito ryu jujitsu.

To be honest, I have questions about just how functional BJJ is in a self-defense scenario. Having attended the Gracie Combatitives Programme and was specifically told by the instructor that you purposely take the fight to the ground (i.e. in a street fight). Without considering whether the attacker may well have friends ready to give you a good kicking. Or considering things such as environment awareness and pre-emption. Or taking into account that the attacker may well gouge eyes, grab your nuts, or pull hair etc and of course grappling and rolling around on the ground is energy consuming. There was no instruction that you need to get back on your feet as quickly as possible if the fight did go to ground. There are times when BJJ skills may be useful in self-defense but it would depend upon the context.

I saw a documentary about a Cook on a warship that single handily took out a small army of terrorists using Aikido. Looked legit to me. Perhaps they should review that.

Living in Japan, I can say that it is absolutely true that people sit in seiza as a form of politeness, and it looks like the kneeling stuff are an artifact from Japanese tradition. However, I'd argue that bjj also has artifacts from traditional Japanese culture, most notably the gi, which is essentially a sturdy stand-in for garments of the time. Many gi attacks and grips don't work in modern clothing.

Reach out to joe rogan and see if he will have you on his podcast. You deserve a lot of respect for what your doing and anything to do with revealing whats true that is how you really develop your martial arts

If I wasn’t already subscribed, this video would’ve gotten you another subscriber. I like how observant and thoughtful you are. However, the clincher is how you find reasonable, experienced people to supplement your honest evaluation. Great video!

Having trained both in BJJ and Aikido, as well as being a professional MMA fighter for many years I am not surprised that most people over look the actual effectiveness of Aikido. Yes, there is a degree of cooperation between Nage and Uke, in training. What art doesn't cooperate while training and learning ? I rarely comment on Aikido videos, especially when people of other arts are doing them (yes I know one of them is an Aikidoist) I say everyone keep underestimating Aikido and for a large part of the Aikido world I agree, not likely to work on the street. But on occasion you find someone who has developed their Aikido for the street. I myself think that many martial art styles breed poor or ill prepared students for the possibility of actual combat as well as creating rude and over confident students. I look less at the art and more at the person using it. I am guilty of grouping people in styles as well, there are many styles I just don't like, yet I am sure that a well trained person, even in an art I don't care for, can be very effective using it, even if I am not. I know of a few arts that believe there droppings don't stink, sort of speaking. Secret : once you spend a bit of time breaking down those arts as well the holes open too. No one art, no matter what anyone thinks, is the beat all / ultimate art for everyone. I like my idea on the topic ... I'm eclectic and gather from many to create what works best for me. Kali for my weapons and hand fighting ranges I use Aikido for my locks and standing grappling and i use Bjj for my ground grappling. combined I have developed an art, for me, that works for me.

Aikido is a philosophical/spiritual form of education personified through physical movement. That is the genius of the founder. It is not intended to be solely self-defense tricks. Concepts are encountered through technique so that they are "realized" by both uke and nage and then extrapolated into life beyond the self-defense scenario. Karatedo is very much the same, where principles are internalized through training that have far reaching applications beyond the utilitarian. In both cases, it is part of "the way" - and that experience is very subtle and often misunderstood by those on the outside or that look only to the direct application. I would not simply say that is "art" but rather a type of sophisticated approach that allows you to progress through life connected in ways beyond the obvious. Yes, there are practical applications, People often say for example that karate would not work as it is traditionally taught yet mae geri, mawashi geri, ushiro geri gyuaku tsuki, kizami tsuki etc. have all been the finishing technique in many mma bouts - and that is what is often confusing, because there is an overlap. But beyond the finishing technique there is life and the act of living it.

I live in the Philippines and was a teenager when I learned Aikido, we were instructed to cooperate until the defender understands and executes the technique properly and we were asked to resist or try to land the hit to the defender once the technique is executed and we did. This helped the students learn possible moves for changing situations like wildly charging or whatever attackers. Both my instructors were Kali and Kickboxing experts so they taught us the value of practicing with real strikes as soon as we learned the technique. I don't really expect to fight a professional fighter or kickboxer or boxer or MMA fighter because true martial artists don't pick streetfights. Most of the time, I'm dealing with an upset or intoxicated stranger or friend and I can't beat them up without any consequences so all I can do is evade, redirect, push and run or pin-down when I can. But Aikido taught me the value of distance and understanding the mechanics of an attack. If I can't catch a punch or kick, I can stay out of range, parry, pick up a weapon I can throw or strike with or run away. But that's the main point it's not designed to win tournaments. If you were to compare aikido to modern weapons, it's probably like a riot shield or a net gun or a fire hose or anything that is considered a Non-Lethal Weapon. Aikido is not a machine gun like boxing, an assault rifle like Muay Thai or a Garote like BJJ. Aikido is it's own thing, a tool in a toolbox not something you use and depend on for everything.

Serious props to Martial Arts Journey. Few people can adapt to new information and change course in such a major part of their lives like he does. Serious respect man.

The uke moves to save themselves, and to place themselves into a position to counter if nage makes a mistake. This happens during kaeshi waza, but this video is not a demonstration of kaeshi waza. They fall beautifully because it hurts to fall ugly, which is what happens when an uke doesn’t know how to ukemi. An inexperienced uke makes it much easier to perform the technique, because it much easier to hurt them. Seeing a video and being in the grip of a master are two totally different things. The first looks beautiful and the second you’re seeing bright lights involuntarily flashing in your eyes, praying that your arm doesn’t get dislocated. Ten years of Aikido and you’re still a beginner. That isn’t true of other martial arts, but it is of Aikido. I’m sorry that your teacher wasn’t able to instill in you a good understanding of the the power of Aikido. Your smirkiness does you no credit, but it’s great that you found something you appreciate better.

This channel is great because the humility it takes to say, I practiced something I thought was effective for many years, but now we're gonna poke fun at it, IS IMMENSE! Good job to you sir. This mindset is what everyone needs to have. #respect. You're a black belt in my book Sir!

Watching those clips was actually kind of enlightening. Those moves would be excellent in stage fighting; they're over the top and beautiful without anyone getting hurt. I think that there is value in that.

Soo... aikido is the more elegant/genteel version of WWE wrestling?

Gozo Shioda was absolutely legit. For those that do not know, he cross trained regularly with Mas Oyama and the legendary Kimura. The same Kimura that crushed Helio Gracie. Kimura himself had talked about firsthand detail of O Sensei's real combat prowess as well. Gozo shioda himself talked about how he got into Aikido... he thought he could take Morihei Ueshiba down, but he got humbled real quick within a few mins. He trained full time with Morihei after that. So unless Kimura is a liar and a fraud... which we all know he's not... Gozo Shioda is legit.

Love the concept But I would have had the Aikido demos full screen w commentators in inset to better see the techniques being critiqued

In my humble opinion, Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, studied many fighting arts when he was young and also fought in wars as a combatant. Aikido as it is handed down now is his style at old age and having become very religious and anti-violence. While it is extremely valuable by itself, Aikido is more of a Master Class, instead of a complete education in the martial arts, you still need primary school, secondary school, university etc., all stages of training that Eushiba himself had completed but which many current Aikido practitioners lack. Just my 2 cents.

Is there any chance of Rokas having a podcast with Joe Rogan? that would be an amazing conversation I think

Looks like a good hobby to practice meditation and self control, I see this as a spiritual martial art

What I have learnt in my time in martial arts is never to judge anything by video or by simply watching. Go be taught by these guys, find out the deeper principles and concepts...train long enough to understand them, then pass comment.

In my opinion, and as you have mentioned in your video, Aikido can't be separated from its cultural and historical roots. Therefore, if you remember properly, Aikido was studied only with the recommendation given from specialized senseis where their students had previously spent years training and fighting. Thus, we could take for granted that black belts in other martial arts, such as karate and judo (who used to be historically full-contact sports), where studying Aikido in order to purify their moves and improve their understanding of bushido. Aikido is pretty much a conceptual art martial. It gives you a great sense of balance, a great coordination and a very good movement vocabulary. However, as these guys mentioned in the video, fighting is not part of Aikido DNA. Thus, if you don't fight, don't expect yourself to become a fighter. You would be acting under a false premise. However, you are too critical toward Aikido in my opinion. Of course, if your plan was to learn how to fight, well, you had to pick a discipline where you actively fight. But Aikido is not useless in itself. If you think about it, if you can take something extremely complicated and make it look good and easy, it means that you have a perfect mastery of the movement. And notwithstanding the martial art that you are studying (BJJ, Hapkido, Boxing, Wing Chun, Kendo, Tai Chi), mastering something should never be overlooked and dismissed. Because mastering something is a process per se. If you successfully "learned how to learn", then there is pretty much nothing that could stop you re-learning something new. In conclusion, I pity the ones who never did anything out of their lives. Peace and universal love

So, here's what I see as the challenge. Aikido techniques come from jujutsu, which in turn comes from historic japanese warfare. I think the mistake that is constantly made is to judge the practicality of historic Japanese jujutsu techniques (Aikido) in the modern environment of a bjj tournament. I'd love to see some bjj guys put on historic japanese armour, put a couple of swords in their belt and then try to triangle each other.

I've wrestled thru high school, have a 1st dan in Taekwondo, and fancied my self a street fighter. On my first class I was man handled like in the video, even after refusing to first learn how to correctly fall, as I also incorrectly thought it wouldn't work if i didn't know what was coming. It works if and only if one does not anticipate the out come or results, as a wrestler I could maintain balance, but in the striking drills if one punched with out anticipation of being thrown ie a meat head in a bar... it works just as advertised. I felt like a baby deer learning to walk.

I went to a BJJ school and, knowing how to handle my center of gravity, they could not throw me to the ground (nor I to them in that matter) (sparring with rules like not to hit while grappling). The only way they found (starting from grappling) was to hold on to the training clothes with all their strenght and (after struggling for like a minute) sacrifice their position with their full body weight and most of the times I stayed on top of them on a very comfortable position to strike the face or the groin (not mentioning the strong hit they get to their backs, a thing they think twice without tatami). Sorry guys, BJJ is used on MMA because there´s someone watching on you, the rules protect that kind of fighting banning the attacks that counter that way of fighting. In some black belts I found the same troubles that I found on Aikido videos all over the internet and local dojos. People trying to make techniques without hiting or unbalance the opponent. People trying to force a technique when it should be spontaneous and with perfect timing etc. What is funny is that some of those BJJ guys are pretty good and they separate the dojo/tournament practice of the selfdefence practice (that happens in some aikido dojos as well). They don't claime to do those techniques on a street situation. No martial art works if you don't understand their principles and when to apply them. What you are right is that in most aikido dojos they tell their students that to hit is wrong or do not train on real attacks because they don't even know how to throw one. That's the case of the guy making the video, when he made the sparring session with the mma guy, he has no idea of when or how to hit, he tries to grab the hands of his oponnent and twist them wich is really funny by the way. I can see why the Aikido people is mad when they see this guy trying to represent them, but the truth is that what he is putting on the spotlight it's true in most dojos. I look for good aikido content on self defence and you will agree that it is veeeeeeryyyy hard to find, not because aikido is bad or it doesn't work, but because of the way people it's training it in the last decades. There are no bad martial arts, but bad practitioners, sadly there´re a lot in aikido.

I would like to see you add a senior Aikido instructor to your videos on Aikido, someone like Christian Tissier or maybe Guillaume Erard who has done a series of fantastic interviews with some of the greatest teachers (checkout his youtube channel!) I am not surprised by any of your doubts, i think looking for answers with those who committed their whole life to this art would be interesting.

Here I am Rokas and good afternoon to the two masters commenting the video. . I'd like to say that to me it's *obvious* you don't see what you expect or viceversa - especially compared to a realistic BJJ match. I met Aikido in the early '90s and after a few times here and there, I'm attending evening classes with my son ( 7 yrs old ) here where I live. I'm not sure if it's only me seeing the things in this way, yet here's my 2 cents to the discussion. I won't even go into the highly philosophical/theoretical sphere, rather I'd love to focus on a couple of points. As far as I can see, BJJ is a series of techniques for an opponent which is already WAITING for your attack (see feints, grabs) or otherwise expecting you to fight back, or because you hit first for a number of reasons. This is why you have to study how to deal with a situation that's already out of control. And definitely is a very useful martial art. No doubt here. However, Aikido is different in its principle (also not attacking first, if not to unbalance the opponent when he's already willingful to strike you anyway. . Aikido should surprise your opponent when either he's clearly already attacking (carrying his hit/blow) you no matter what (because he's drunk, bad, presumes to be stronger or whatever) or when he's grabbing you to bully, presuming you won't strike back. All my senseis told me the more willingful is an attack toward you, the more powerful is Aikido (if the person receiving it is able to keep his blood cold and react accordingly, of course) - This kind of video you saw is useless to be debated. You should rather discuss this with those masters, because this is the typical field of practical application on the street. > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZVDV_4xDh4o.html (another one similar is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lMiE45OmQNM.html ): look at the first blow he deal with or when one of the bigger guys grabs him on his jacket and he performs a nikyo so that the attacker is out of game (2:35 first video onwards) - of course you may say it's "staged" but basically this is the kind of blows / grabs and the CONTEXT (THIS is the word that you're missing imho) in which they occur. . In either case, Aikido should make you able to deal with an opponent at his/her very first REAL strike, assumed it's done with full force and intention to go til the end. Feints aren't for Aikido, once one of my senseis told me if they don't want to attack you simply go away - at worst it will be them coming back to you to stop: at that point, when their hand is coming clearly toward you - it's when Aikido works. Not when feinting back and forth. This is what often is misunderstood out there. We're not here to fight but to stop a thing on the very moment, and the ability of an Aikidoka is having success the very first time, because you might not be that lucky next one. You are aware of the attack but you don't provoke it - at worst once the attack has been thrown, you "facilitate" your opponent work coming closer and pushing him to grab / do something you're prepared for or to go for an unbalancing atemi at his face (fake or real it's up to you) - Aikido also gives you a practical defence/footwork against any stick/bat/bottle whatever is used against you. Maybe you fail your defence or maybe things won't work exactly as planned, yet's not being scared of anything yelling you with a bat because you're basically dealing with a shomenuchi / yokomenuchi will help for sure. Aikido tries to make void in front of your opponent so that his own force can be redirected safely. Tell it isn't smart or useful. . Aikido should make you able to deal with a bullying opponent already close to you and grabbing you/or willing to quite harshly. Evading or counteracting his/her grabs, unbalancing him/her and taking him safely to the ground is what one should be able to do, with the option "if you don't cooperate I'll break your arm". You seem to forget how painful are those levers: you may need several blows to knock you off but only one nikyo (or whatever else) to break your arm/wrist. Third, the youngest of my senseis is about 20/25 yrs old in Aikido and the oldest (now a 6th dan, going for the 7th) is something around 50th yrs old. Can you imagine 50 yrs practicing on footwork and techniques AND trying to grasp its inner core too? . About Ueshiba and Shioda, did you forget Shioda was able to pin down an US president bodyguard which was twice bigger than him ? that wasn't staged, of course. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9dFbX-PoBGM.html - Not enough, my son performing a perfect technique would be SURELY able to pin down me who am 4x heavier. This is something else that's unique to Aikido. Try a 7 yrs old boxer to knock out an adult if you can ! . Bottom line, we may debate WHICH/WHAT of the Aikido - way of application is entirely useful or effective, and if - once you exit from its purpose - there are other and more effective things / techniques to perform, yet not IF. AIKIDO IS effective, ASSUMED you are skilled to receive a full force attack / first strike / grab and not a series of feints. . Best regards from Italy.

I am not even into martial arts and I enjoy your channel

I liked the commentary - it is indeed beautiful to watch and the feeder indeed has the harder job. It is choreographed fighting. There's nothing wrong with that, unless its marketed as something woo woo that can take down multiple attackers armed with knives. If you gain spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment and fitness from it then great

Rokas, I’ve really enjoyed your videos but I think in your zeal to prove your points (many of which I find valid) that you’ve lost your objectivity. I’m not an Akidoka, although I trained in it for several years decades ago, moving on from it for some of the same reasons you cite. But while I find the training method unrealistic and the techniques idealized, I’ve also discovered many parallel concepts and techniques in other arts, such as Judo, Arnis/Kali, Systema, Karate, Krav Maga, even Boxing and Muay Thai clinch work. Since all martial arts are dealing with the same human body, it shouldn’t be surprising that they share fundamental principles, in this case foot work and redirection, among other elements. So, while I also find the demonstration videos idealized, I don’t see the principals or even the techniques performed as invalid. An attacker isn’t going to always lunge at an opponent fully committed, the most frequent attack in Akido, but its certainly within the realm of possibility. A palm strike to the face that interrupts an attackers momentum can work, and is a technique used in many other art forms. Ducking to the ground as someone rushes you would require considerable skill to execute, but I see American Football players overshoot tackles all the time. Evasive footwork, pivoting or sidestepping that allows one to use an attackers momentum against them is common to other art forms too. I hope you will be as skeptical of BJJ as you are now of Akido. BJJ is a great art, and in many ways more practical than Akido, but it also has limitations. Every art does. Even a master BJJ practitioner like Eddie Bravo stated that striking arts are more practical in a street fight, which is simply a concession that while BJJ has tools that are valuable for self defense its not a perfect solution. Don’t let your newfound love of BJJ (again, an excellent martial art) blind you to its weaknesses. What has made your channel interesting is your open mindedness, positivity and willingness to question. But if you are just trading your obsession with one martial for another, its simply not going to be as compelling. I do look forward to your continued journey with BJJ, but I hope you allow yourself to look beyond it.

He says that with a newcomer it wouldn't look elegant etc and it is emphasis on the art not the martial which is a fair point to a degree. Speaking personally when I was a newcomer because I didn't know how to cooperate as they call it I had my wrist and elbow broken! There is a reason it is coreographed and cooperative and that is so you don't get hurt the techniques look gentle and ineffective because of that admittedly but you try kotegeashi against a person without explaining to them how to fall or go with it and watch what happens to their arm! Aikido takes directly from Jujitsu and other well proven arts it is what you make of it like any martial art!

12:00 this guy is just quoting the people who come to this channel to trash Rokas. "If he did *my* style of aikido it would have worked!"

The first attacker (uke) Toshio Suzuki Shihan) one of the most powerful and skillful young masters of this time. After being thrown by him once you would change your view on the effectiveness of Aikido.

G R E A T video!!!! I admire their humble approach while criticizing what they were watching. Such a martial artist attitude, very... Aikido (?) 😵 For some time now I have this idea in my mind - and this won't be the first time someone says this by no means, but I tend to be careful with such affirmations - but after watching the video and hearing their insights (and Doshu's speech), I feel safe saying that martial efficiency is not the purpose of Aikido. Maybe even for O'Sensei... but definitely not for the post war Aikido. And, if Aikido had martial efficiency as a core concept in some point of it's history, it some how got lost together with it's functionality...

Very astute and spot-on comments by the Judoka. As a former Aikido student myself, I couldnt put it more suscinctly ... the style suffers from a practicality standpoint because many of the moves are compromised to varying degrees by reliance on the feeder cooperating with the defender, and the defender knowing and relying on same ... they're both just dancing a set of pre-arranged moves. Replace the cooperation with opposition and most moves have a vastly lower success rate, esp with an attacker that knows what to expect from the defender. Thank you for vids like this, and a truer commitment to honesy self discovery than most. Many of us start there, but rapidly tend to go astray over time. Familiarity breeds self deluding assumptions.

Waste of time. The instructors were respectful.

I liked how the two BJJ guys are actually very respectful of Aikido and describing what they see as a cooperative event. Despite what they are probably thinking in their heads. What I don't like is the other dude who looks like he's trying to find a reason to smirk, laugh, and perhaps justify his choice.

Judo, Aikido, BJJ...has the same origin in Japanese Jujutsu arts, I believe instead of making videos to criticize their differences and that aikido is not good for sports like MMA and that BBJ is not good for multiple attackers or armed attackers and overemphasize ground grappling... We must focus on the virtues of each fighting style to develop modern tools of survival in this more and more violent world. Sorry people l live in a third world violent country. Oss !

Always had this statement in the dojo I trained, "Blending and cooperation". It was why, in the senior class, we then started pulling techniques apart by being resistant as hell. We always found issues with strict traditional application. The BJJ guys are great. They point out practical issues, discuss evolution of techniques and the need for active resistance to truly test application. This is what Aikido needs, a big shake up......... or an acceptance ( publicly) of the nature of the art. That being it is not directly practical for self defence.

Dear sir, Thank you for your thoughts and visions of your journey. I cannot however escape the feeling that you are trying to prove that aikido does not work? Is that really the question? I fully agree with you that anybody who claims that aikido works as a Martial art, should step into the ring and show that it works. Full stop. Aikido people should stop shouting that it does without stepping into reality. But to me (currently a Yon dan) that was never the point. The basics of aikido are stemming from other traditional martial arts. So there must have been a point in time that those techniques worked. The founder specifically focussed on non-radoori practice in order to free the mind. I am not sure whether he actually wanted his techniques to work in combat. And maybe, with his background in other martial arts and his training he could make aikido work. But current training in aikido is not focussed on actual fighting techniques. Most Ukes do not know how to throw a punch or a strike. But training an art like aikido has its own merits, similar to other traditional martial arts, like learning respect and discipline, soupleness, mind conditioning and all those things. Enjoy your practice and your journey. Focus on your own path. And if aikido was not your path for 10 years, I am sure you did learn something valuable during that time. It is not essential if aikido works or not. Leave it to the other people who claim that aikido is effective, to prove that it is. I would love to see a video from you where you show the similarities between BJJ and Aikido and maybe find things that do work, because I do really enjoy your trains of thought. 🙏🏼 Erik

The guy in blue gets it, definitely someone with experience and understanding. Enough to show the proper respect and open-mindedness to give a proper analysis. What you should discuss with them is the principle of Aiki, not Aikido. Being high-level BJJ practitioners, they should have a good idea. Some have called it the Rickson connection principle, it's the same as Aiki.

I understand their skepticism at Shioda Sensei's old demos. However, even though they're just demos and his students are not fully resisting, they're not just falling down either. He really was that strong, and yes it does look almost unreal, but he was strong. He was very respected by one of Judo's top competitors too. Here's an interview Shioda Sensei did with Kimura Sensei. www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aikido-judo-gozo-shioda-masahiko-kimura/ Shioda Sensei was strong, but yes, in a real fight it doesn't look fancy. His demos were for fun and to show a bit of his power, but he personally didn't care for full on competition. They are demos. BJJ demos of their self-defense techniques don't look like anything special either, nor do anyone's demos, because they're just demos. I love all martial arts, but really in the end it's all for fun. No one looks that great in a real survival situation, regardless of their art.

Presentation of kneeling attacks is what I was taught in aikido. Cooperative really sums up aiki training

After reading the comments all I can say is; So much for peace, love , and harmony.

It is good to finally see objectivity and observation instead of free bashing. Very mature from everybody.

This is the first part of a two part video. In the second video take a look at one of the demonstrated techniques on the mat and try to make it functional with pressure testing. Check the next part here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bnkwhkQQ7vI.html

very respectful critiques, no disrespect given and well made points.

I love how the professor in the white gi elegantly dissed aikido loll

Before stressing any further point my personal story involves Karate, Judo, Boxing, Kickboxing and of course now Aikido (didactics based on Tissier works..., so let's say quite less "elegant" and more concise). Aikido is a traditional martial art. Based on traditional way to attack coming from chivalry rules dated back to Edo period. Like my master always stresses, it is not a functional martial art the same way Kyudo is not a functional way to hunting with a bow. You practice Aikido because you want to research a better handling of your position, body, concentration. You don't go for Aikido for street fighting the same way you don't go to a course for cutting fish for Sushi and expect you are able to overcome a navy seal in a knife fight. : ) If someone sells Aikido as a defence martial art (or even worse a street fighting martial art) in my humble opinion is misunderstrading the entire world of Aikido (and even worse, again, O Sensei teaching). In a street fight I'd probably run away ...quite fast ... or in case no easy way out I'd go for sparce Boxing and Kickboxing techniques. I hardly see myself in a Irimi Nage. You do Aikido because you like; the same way you play guitar because you enjoy. My couple of eurocents...

rokas. pls quit apologizing for aikido and non-practical people. what you guys did here was beautiful and way overdue. sandai doshu (moriteru) dedicated a whole thing to it in blackbelt magazine. think it was during some big anniversary seminar in hawaii couple years ago. something about the practical people in aikido (military and law enforcement) vs the religious people in aikido (elegant, dance, whatever). everyone needs to respect everyone - if for nothing else for showing up. and yeh, i've had my share of religious folk bragging when they shouldn't. practical people do that too sometimes. usually the more practical they are the less they do that. i agree with you and love what you're doing and am working through the same process. meanwhile i know from friends before me who have done like dean and bookman and you and alot of cops and military that when you're a bit further in this process, you're gonna pull off an aikido move (probably nikkyo) on an unwilling person and surprise both of ya. i suggest ya be nice. they're gonna think you tore their arm off. probably for hours if not days afterward. and they will change all their attacks so that nikkyo is impossible to get from then on. i've had it with kotagaeshi and sankyo too. as ever there are stories. a friend trains corrections, emt's, leo and military. he's worked corrections and emt. he changed their sop's and cut workman's comp claims by 95%. he finished the booking process with a sankyo on a repeat customer who routinely damaged officers. the uncooperative prisoner fought the pin 30 min. both arms. by the time he was released, his tendons were so overstretched it took 45 min for his arms to work again. he was face down with arms that didn't work screaming the whole time. gotta know that hurt. pin was gradual and extreme. next day he was fine and a little sore and infinitely grateful to the aikidoka. granted, that friend came from shotokan karate to aikijiujutsu to aikido. and he has infinite experience. just the same, i think anyone in the room who claims aikido is impractical has never trained with someone like this. keep on and quit apologizing to the religious indignant aikidoka and to the practical students from all walks of life. looking forward to the day when you teach a class like roy dean did on how to improve pins. thank you zdb

All three are genuinely respectful and open-minded. I once had a BJJ taxi driver in Rio whose ears were like cauliflowers and neck like an elephant's leg, but he was the sweetest man in the world, and we had a great martial arts conversation. His attitude was like that of any real martial artist, funny and wise and kind. It made me always respect BJJ after that, since you can train for those reasons. It's interesting that they think it's choreographed, since it's not really- the uke often doesn't know what throw or pin is coming. But the sensitivity is at such a high level they can respond simultaneously really, and so they are perfectly blended.

Let's keep in mind that these are public demonstrations. While training it is not necessarily this graceful or cooperative.

I agree with these gentlemen's assessment of the aikido demos in this clip. In both situations, the uke ("feeder") is anticipating the demonstrator's technique and is flowing with it, rather than affected by it. These are demos for "public consumption," and as such the participants are putting on a show. However, there is a huge difference between the two demonstrators and the reasons why their uke are being complicit or cooperative. In the first demonstrator's situation, his uke truly are timing their ukemi (taking of the throws) to coincide with their teacher's movements, and it is like a dance in their cooperative synchrony. But in the case of the second demonstrator, Gozo Shioda, he actually has a lot of power in his techniques, and his demo partners are "tanking" largely to avoid receiving the full brunt of his power and getting hurt. The underlying reason for these differences is in the body methods of the demonstrators themselves. Moriteru Ueshiba's aikido relies on centripedal force and "psychological leading" of his partners. In essence, in a "real life" application of this form of aikido, the practitioner causes his opponent to over-extend and overreach himself so that he takes himself off balance, making it easy for the practitioner to exploit it. The attacker basically drops himself into a hole. In Shioda's form of aikido (which is really not aikido, but its predecessor, Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu), he is using a different methodology that takes the opponent's center of gravity or balance (doesn't trick him into overextending and losing his balance; but actually TAKING his structure). This is kuzushi. Unfortunately, because Shioda's demo partners have to "tank" to avoid injuiry, it makes his work look fake. It's not. To give you a better idea of what pre-WWII aikido (i.e. Daito Ryu) looks like, more realistically, here is an old film from Sen. Robert Kennedy's 1962 visit to Japan. Gozo Shioda was brought in to do a demo of his art for Kennedy and his wife. Sen. Kennedy' was skeptical of what Shioda was doing, and wanted to have one of his burly bodyguards feel Shioda for himself. Shioda effortlessly pinned the man, who was much larger, heavier and stronger than Shioda. It's just a brief demonstration, but it's more realistic because the "opponent" is resisting and non-cooperative. if the link doesn't come up live on this page, you can cut and paste it into your browser window to view it. Enjoy! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4KBbf-xAM38.html

next time you do a segment like this, you should have them critique your aikido instructional videos. that way you could get some direct first hand expert criticism and feedback to help you begin to understand that it is you that sucks, not aikido.

Interesting and fair & respectful comments from the BJJ people. Aikido is great for connection and a lot more bedsides. Some people do martial arts with an emphasis on martial and fighting. I loved doing aikido as it helped every other movement activity I've done and the principles in conversation, stragey and change etc where a tangible experience of connection and flow is so important. The sensei I studied with emphasised that kneeling was for technique development. Standing up you can adjust to make up for technique using strength etc. Kneeling gives a different perspective. Much like sitting qigong is complementary to standing qigong (though some other differences). Shioda reputablely went out regularly looking for people to fight to try out techniques.

I see a logical fallacy in this: the BJJ are criticizing demonstrations in terms of combat effectiveness, which is "comparing apples and oranges". What is actually needed is footage of people who train Aikido in a properly martial fashion who are either doing that training, or better, engaged in a fight or self-defense situation. Demonstrations of martial arts are performance art in truth, not the same as either training or combat application of the art in question. There's still value in such critiques as this, but essentially, they're using a standard that's inappropriate for what they're looking at. Despite all that, the coaches do actually identify the main weakness in most aikido training, which is the lack of resistance. In effect, most people seem to continually train as if either raw beginners, or doing demos: never incorporating resistance and reactions into their practice. Interestingly, many books on the art that I've seen tell students that should agree with their partners on whether to train with resistance or not, according to their mutual progress and training needs... in other words, the teachers who wrote the books think that students should intensify their practice after learning the shape of a waza through non-resistant practice. In that light, if/when you return to teaching, you could doubtless adjust training methods to these conditions, and make sure that students understand the benefit of changing practice

The aikido founder fought professional boxers, karate men, judo men, wrestles and so on and went undefeated.

The disrespect to Gozo shioda...he saw that he those techniques had realism. 😂😂😂 He couldn’t even fully deny it.

I have trained in Motobu Ha Shito Ryu which in the United States, later became Kuniba Ha Shito Ryu. But our founder, Kuniba Soke also trained in Judo, and Aikido. His Aikido Sensei was Gozo Shioda. Kuniba Soke's successor in the United States was William (Bill) H. Price Soke, who Kuniba Soke awarded Soke Diako, of Kuniba Ha Shito Ryu, and Kuniba Ha Goshin Budo (Goshin Do). Price Soke always said... Aikido today is only good if your partner is also doing Aikido. He also said, the principals of Aikido are good and work well. BTW, Price Soke was in law enforcement all of his life. He was a Sheriff, and Chief of Police at different times in the state of VA. He was also the lead defensive tacktive instructor for the VA state police, and the VA department of corrections along with other law enforcement agencies. He taught, you never try to control someone with a wrist, or joint lock. That's not what they were originally intended for. Rather, those techniques were to destroy the joint, only as a step towards the finish of a fight. So many people try to use Aikido to try to control an opponent. That's where it fails. Yes, it works very well if your opponent is also doing Aikdo,. But the true pre World War 2 application was Budo. Destroy the joint, to only move on to the final finish. That's where the Post World War 2 Aikdo failed. It took out the Budo. It tried to teach, one could control an opponent without hurting him. That only works if the opponent is weaker, or doesn't resist. The real original application was to destroy the joint and move on the kill. That's why if fails in practical application so often today.

What few if any really talk about in traditional martial arts not Brazilian Ju-Jitsu (BJJ) is how the Traditional Art assumes is attacking in from the Same form of art; a straight arm punch, overhead knife attack; including various chops, and then the assorted traditional kicks - these work in competition against the same martial art - and, all the while by staying up on your feet to score points or punch, chop, or kick someone down. However, even I knew back in the 80s that in order for me to be a better (real) martial artist, I would need to learn the basic of at least three disciplines; Karate (Shotokan, Kempo, Tae kwon do, etc, and Aikido, Jujitsu, or Aikijujutsu, and then Judo, and or, any three combination of martial arts that dealt with punching (strikes), blocking, kicking, and grappling, in a multi-discipline martial arts form to gain an advantage of any average adversary and attacker, or more importantly, attackers... ...similar to, but not exactly, like the Multiple Discipline form that Stephen Hayes taught and for dealing with 'Multiple Attackers' in the form of Togakure-ryū Ninjutsu... I still stand by this today. Another thing that I don't see from the few BJJ fighters I watched and don't talk about is their fighting style dealing with, Multiple Attackers. Now that BJJ is so well appreciated as a very dominant one-on-one form of fighting and today's go-to style of martial art, it still only teaches single fighter techniques of 'ground fighting.' Even the best BJJ is going to find it difficult to defend him or herself against a multi-person or mob attack, even on the ground. However, in a one-on-one situation, the BJJ form of MA is still the most effective discipline today for real street fighting. However, what I would like to see is first, the teaching of Respect for Martial Arts in general - all of them; regardless of discipline.. and, why it is important to learn Traditional Martial Arts and Technique through a tradition of discipline - it is an art that students develop a sense of respect for tradition that helps the art to be appreciated and preserved; even today. However, I do encourage others who wish to learn how to learn to 'street fight' is to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a basis for today's real-world fighting... but this is to say, you will be either fighting professionally or just happen to be a person who is prone to be placed in positions of attack or violence; again, I encourage the art of avoidance. But if I were to suggest that you will never get into a real street fight with multiple attackers, you may want to also train for that reality too; it is likely that someone will be put in this position and avoidance will be no option, and some technique in BJJ will help. But, please keep in mind; BJJ works well for just you and one opponent, but in life, it is often one against one other and backed up by his brah's in a street fight - with sucker punches - because in the real world Street Punk's & Brahs Don't Fight Fair. I would first rather encourage children to learn a Traditional form of Martial Arts in order to learn about self-respect and self-discipline of the importance of avoiding a fight... to brush of bruised egos and to just walk away -- to walk away from any fight before it starts is a good fight - to learn about 'conflict resolution' is a very important discipline to teach and for students to learn; teach about personal character building and about developing a sense of responsibility around personal respect. It is important to learn about self-defense, but avoiding an unnecessary fight is a form of self-defense. Personal Egos often get into the way of good judgment and self-control, and sadly this is missing in today's world - too much pent up hostility and too bruised egos looking to fight over the most trivial of matters. Children need to learn to first respect one another and to learn to resolve conflict without fighting, especially refrain from the use of a deadly martial art that in the hands of some children; where they lack real emotional discipline called, 'emotional regulation,' from calm and peaceful self-control - failing to comprehend the consequences of their actions that may result in serious and permanent injury, or in some cases, result in someone else's death. Martial Arts is supposed to teach these forms of discipline - to avoid a fight at all cost and to use only the amount of force necessary to end a fight without unnecessary & excessive use of force. BJJ in the hands of the wrong children and teens is a lethal martial art that needs critical care in good judgment in both the teaching and guidance of the student and from the student who has learned these very dangerous and lethal forms of martial arts. My suggestion is for martial arts instructors to go back and look at any Martial Arts 'Creed' for a reminder and for daily instruction and guidance to the student... and build Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and All other forms, of Martial Arts strictly around these principles.

*To Rokas and any other aikidoka that wonders where they are left after they realize aikido is not very effective:* Rokas, when you first started your "Aikido Campaign" to find out if it was effective, I started disliking Aikido. Then as you continued, something strange happened, the more you disproved its functionality, the more I actually learned to love it again. When I was less concerned that what I was doing was functionally useless (because you showed that it more or less was), it allowed me step back and really look at and enjoy Aikido for what it was and what it is today. I was from the first day I did aikido rather unsure of its practicality, you proved my suspicions, but I kept doing it because I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the people that did it with me. Today I recognize how incredibly impractical it is, and I have done military martial arts, bjj, etc. since, but I still practice aikido and it is still my absolute favorite. Rokas, I thank you for that. I don't really care if it works in a fight or not, because that isn't why I do it. I do it because it makes me a happier person, and the skills I have built in it help me in my life, relationships, and (nonphysical) conflicts. I think the real god save of martial arts like aikido, is that they save people not by giving them a street effective skillset, but by giving them a good reason to get up in the morning and go through their day. Sometime the thing that keeps you alive isn't a double leg takedown followed by mount and submission, but it is a lifestyle that keeps you going. I think aikido provides that for a lot of people, and in that saves more people than techniques ever could. Bjj can do the same, so can boxing, tai chi, etc., but aikido just matches certain people and their personalities/philosophies better. I don't think O'Sensei really ever even intended aikido for fighting, that is just how he convinced people to commit to it, and when they did commit to it is when it really started to change their lives. They might have passed down the technical skills they learned from him, but the real beauty of it is the life style. O'Sensei heavily stressed Budo and compassion over everything else in his teachings, but we are still arguing about which way to turn a wrist is most effective. So thank you Rokas for helping me and so many other people get past our insecurities about the effectiveness of aikido, and to all my fellow aikidoka, don't get to discouraged if you can't do an irimi nage on a boxer, because that isn't the point. Appreciate the art for how it helps you live. I would rather train for several hours a week in order to be happier with life, than train the same amount of time for an attack on me that statistically isn't likely of ever happening (maybe do a little bjj just for the hell of it though, just in case, plus it is fun). If you love aikido, don't stop doing it because it isn't great for fighting and don't do it to try and prove it is. Do it because you love it. Thanks --

Really enjoying following your journey, great stuff! And, makes me think I should probably be doing something document mine :) -- Jason Wright, W2W Montana Series 1 Competitor, SBG!!

16:20 - Great timing syncing the clapping with the fall

So nothing works in Aikido, it's all choreographed. But in BJJ, everything works so well like when they are teaching techniques without opponent resistance, that most fights end in point, not submission. It's funny when they say things like this about Aikido, when BJJ is choreographed as well. The reason is to not hurt your partner. If the attacker do not move like that, he probably will break something. I, as a Krav Maga practitioner may watch an BJJ video and say "Here I can stick a finger in his eyes" or "Well, in this position I can punch his balls 5 times and he wouldn't be able to even breathe". BJJ works as a sport, with rules, you can easy kick his balls, twist his finger, grab his hair, OR SIMPLY PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE MANY TIMES when you are in a Montada or Cadeado position! It's like a french watching an asian cooking and saying "This will not work, this will not have flavour, I can do it very easy with another technique ". You can not compare a martial art to a sport, since they have different applications. If you go to a point that you need to use BJJ in street, and win, your enemy made everything wrong to a point he falls in the ground, unarmed, lost his both arms and can't punch back. BJJ only works with very umprepared enemys.

I’ve trained Aikido for approx 5 years and I’ve been learning Gracie Jiu Jitsu for about 8 months now and just got my jr. blue belt. I went back and trained with a couple friends who are black belts in Aikido and I got them to the ground and took mount on them using white belt mount controls and they could not escape. I was very respectful to them, but it was very interesting to see.

I don't think aikido was ever meant for combat especially looking at the videos of the creator. I think a dance is quiet accurate, its a more spiritual version jujitsu to promote peace between people spaaring/fighters with the defense aspect a secondary goal. If you think of it more in the form of Tai chi it makes more sense , people claim you can use that too for defense but that's not the real goal.

Let’s not froget that BJJ came from Judo but yet the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano actually had a lot of respect for Aikido. He actually asked Ueshiba to teach at the Kodokan but the latter refused. Kano then sent some of his top students to learn from Ueshiba. Fast forward to today, a bjj black belt and his brown belt student are criticizing the art and seeing so many things that the old masters didn’t see. Add hundreds of youtubers who think they know everything about the martial arts because they watch UFC and youtube videos. Truly amazing.

Aikido isn't really a martial art, it's just a movement practice that has generalized lots basic patterns that pop up in other martial arts in particular. For example, you can see the general principles that are in Aikido when you watch Monday night football. It's not that big of a deal. I practiced Aikido for a long time, then later got into muay thai. At that point in time I was able to apply the general things I learned from Aikido. I got especially good in the clinch, because I had already learned how to listen and be sensitive to how the other person was moving, and understand their intent. And I could use it to really frustrate, fatigue and bang up the other guy. I'd put them thru a real meatgrinder.

Most people dont know this but Aikido comes from Daito Ryu Jujitsu. It was practiced by the security detail of the Japanese emperor. In the presence of the Japanese emperor in that time you could not stand you would have to kneel and the Security forces would practice martial arts techniques from their knee's. This is why Aikido does this. The founder of Aikido came from Daito Ryu, this is why it is practiced in Aikido. Aikido is nothing more than a softer version of Daito Ryu which is based on killing not restraining. Aikido is more about peace, health, harmony and spirituality. It's not about sport or combat engagements. It has very useful tools for self defense but when you try to modify it for combat it turns into jujitsu and that not what its founder wanted it for. It was originally only taught to masters of other arts, not newbies into Martial Arts by its founder with a heavy emphasis on spirituality.

It's actually disturbing how much gleeful is rokas at shitting something he's been doing 14 years. That being said, i honestly believe aikido to be next to useless, but seeing bjj guys criticizing on that is ridiculous. Their martial art is very popular, but it is sport, 1vs1 with rules. Good luck defending a punch in self defence. Rokas is a bandwagon for starting to do that, of all things. Also, probably other people are right. Aikido is supposed to be taught to other people already competent at something else, and then they could find the way to apply it

Fun stuff. Liked and shared. The difference in philosophy from my perspective is: Aikido is a dance art. Nothing wrong with that. Why? You guys laid it out pretty well. No one fears being hurt in Aikido. Every other fighting art is trying to hurt you. Not Aikido. To more fully explain; Journey, you'll probably understand me when I say I am a dancer who has trained in both Shorin Ryu karate (with an accredited USKA sensei) and boxing (taught to be a pug by the local police chief who wanted newbs to feed his Golden Gloves hopefuls). Alone, therefore, I have worked as I could, using my scant knowledge, along with some research, to better train my reflexes to the standard expected by my ex-S.E.A.L. sensei. I am not a fighter. I am a dancer with some fighting chops. I picked up a dai-katana on the way and began to examine the moves used to contact with an opponent. Turns out I'm a terrible swordsman (I have high level instructor friends, Vince and Brendan), but, to my view, a sword is the most effective single exercise tool ever created. With one, anyone can learn physical self-restraint, how to judge a space in 3 dimensions, and how to be exaggeratedly polite to superiors. And it's killer easy to put it away when you're done. And you get to read Musashi with new interest. But I don't want someone to school me with three centimeters of kissaki in my guts, or club me about the Men or punch me in the Do, just to make sure I know how untalented I am. So I don't fight it; I dance it. It's the same with karate. I'm (or was, I am old now) light built, sort of medium willowy tall. Over the years I gradually figured out that using my piano playing fists as clubs and spears and my forearms as shields has not served me altogether well. I worked out into my early sixties, mostly alone, but sometimes with a couple guys who were legitimate dojo heavies (both in Tai Kwan Do: Mick with Isshin Ryu and fencing, Dom with twenty years both training and teaching Tang Soo Do at a Young Bros dojo*), but they were gentle with me, knowing well my limitations from decades of friendship and friendly competition. I asked questions, and we practiced approaches and exits. Thereby was their mastery apparent, for they were able to easily cross the line between application of the competitive spirit and the application of formidable restraint. I know experts. I'm not one. So I don't fight it; I dance it. Mick and Dom don't get it-even though both are formidably creative fine artists when the mood strikes. But I want to dance it. I don't want to fight it. As for the ground . . . I've been in a bar melee. So has one of my old friends, a guy who'd boxed in the Navy. In mine, I escaped without damage, mostly because I saw it coming. In his . . . poor Gonzo. Love ya bud. He was kicked half to death in the parking lot of a local blues bar by four to six guys. He never recovered and died young in result. So I was trained by life to expect any fight that goes to the ground will end up in me getting stomped to death by a crowd of laughing drunks. I have experienced the ground as a training environment, however. Big Boy, 6'3" and 320lb (his biker days weight) used to love to ambush me as I left the house. He's another guy who had really fought (including being thrown across the bar by a trained orangutan), and knew restraint. He was also married to a 4'11" girl. That probably helped a lot. But I learned from Big Boy that my speed and agility on the ground were not so great as I'd hoped. Why all this rambling? I hope to make a point. BJJ is for fighters. Aikido is for dancers. See where I'm coming from? I probably would've loved Aikido in ways I did not love karate or wrestling. But my influences were all fighter types. So I never found my way there. Everything about Aikido, philosophically speaking, is poetry to my mind. I instantly "got it" the first time I watched a workout. "Damn! Those are samurai inside a castle, where you can't draw your sword!" But, as the folklore suggests, the unarmed courtier wasn't always protected from that fate. Your standing among the elites was important in such a situation. If you were low in favor at court your lord might allow a base attack to be perpetrated on you and then you'd be dead. Except for Aikido. Aikido teaches the genius swordsman (and that's the only guy who can benefit from it) how to fight when he is unarmed, but his enemies are armed. For that man, alone, every single motion is meant to deceive an oncoming swordsman. In fact, Aikido cannot be mastered unless the student is first a swordsman. Ah, if I had only discovered Aikido when I was a lad . . . I never would've learned how it feels when the champ in training's uppercut shot my head backward so hard it bounced off my back. I came up m--ing the guy and went for him . . .and the police chief who had taken me as a student (this was my first time in the ring) stepped in, saying, "no no . . . that's all I needed from you." My neck, of course, sounds like a joint of beef when I torque it. To this day. I learned a lot that day. I bet you guys have been there, too. The difference it, I realized, after a great deal of soul searching that I don't want to get hit. Or crushed. Or stomped. Or blinded. I wasn't a fighter. A little more experience taught me that I was a dancer. And I'm not even a good dancer. But, I can see what Aikido is for; it's for training dancers; folks who want to work out without getting punched or kicked or their vital organs otherwise rearranged. From that perspective, Aikido is the perfect martial flavored art. And, like in any of the many disciplines associated with the fighting arts, an expert, if he or she is talented enough, can become a formidable warrior. To do that, he or she will, of course, lose a lot of the pretty, and pick up a lot of outsystem technique.

Sure, most aikido people cannot do techniques correctly. However that is because they dont know anything else. The aikido master should know this. You need to understand morihei ueshiba. He trained in multiple martial arts and knew how they worked. He didnt want to kill so he made aikido. Some of his students were pure aikido. So they passed that down without knowing how to use them properly.

I have to say the talk of techniques working for certain people in certain times hit home for me based on my experience with traditional martial arts training where they taught for 'apparently' self-defence over traditional art reasons. I basically got taught complicated moves which could work but only after you had them caught by surprise or in a responsive state due to other strikes.

This was great, can you have people breakdown other martial arts, like Sanuces Ryu?

props to you for lack of a better word, seeing the "inadequacies" of your particular discipline. It takes a big man to say i need to further myself in something else. I myself have realized TKD can only get one so far. I mite be looking at BJJ myself.

What I don't get is the assumption that Aikido masters never get challenged. All the time! If I take uke for a shihan, I don't play along beyond the initial attack and I keep looking for ways out, the lowest form of resistance. Every now and then somebody tries something more fancy, and I've yet to see someone succeeding. I also wonder how long a BJJ master could last in the last scenario with four people rushing at them. Even if you don't believe the falls, the master manages to keep moving and to stay out of the way of four attackers who mean it, something which is very hard in itself. The dynamics of something like this is so different from rolling on the mat, I wouldn't assume that a BJJ person has much understanding of what it's like with a single person coming at them quickly.

I did Aikido for a year and have been doing bjj and judo for a few months. In my opinion, I don't think Aikido is completely useless. It just can't be a base martial art. I feel like it helped me catch on quickly to the others, especially judo. I already knew how to fall and how to roll. I've been using irimis and irimi tenkan in randori. Ive managed to do a tenchi nage in judo randori. I also managed to do an aiki otoshi in bjj when we start standing up. Finding wristlocks has helped me on the ground. I feel like a year was enough of Aikido

Take into account that in old school aikido included atemi or striking in the art; it may help to think of Aikido as a striking throwing and pinning art as opposed to a grappling one and many aspects can be used against multiple attacks also, if you look at BJJ self defence techniques they start getting closer to aikido also.

Context is needed here. Moriteru Ueshiba's demonstration routine is almost always a demonstration of the curriculum of the standard Aikikai shōdan (1st degree black belt) exam (actual exams call for each technique shown here to be repeated several times). Since this is a curriculum demonstration, showing the optimal form of the technique is the goal, and there is no need to add excess power to the throws (as to remove the other person from combat), so it looks really fluid. Also, his partners have taken the same falls for these same techniques thousands of times, so they can tell what technique is happening just by feel of the technique, regardless of the order, so their falls are optimized and beautiful, and admittedly adds to the choreographed look. Tactically, being able to control your fall can open up opportunities for counters: you see that effect often enough in judo and BJJ matches, although they tend to shape their falls differently than Aikido.

Rokas, your unbridled glee at attacking and trashing your past is evident...but the need for affirmation from your new mentors is disturbing. Did you sit down with your laptop with Aikido instructors back in the day in order to mock other styles and practitioners? I just love your vids where you seriously present the ups and downs of your training, so the constant bash others shtick is not necessary for you to have a successful channel. Interestingly enough, everything they commented on about what they would change is something I have practiced myself and taught others to do in their training. Yet as a 3rd degree teacher of the art, how is it you never got around to that?

I’m a judoka that does a bit of striking not any kind of aikido expert so take my opinions with a grain of salt. Personally, I find the really basic aikido techniques useful in a practical sense. Getting offline from an attack while staying balanced is a great skill and the basic arm bars and wrist locks (and how to transition between them as an opponent struggles) are great to know and effective even if I look like a caveman when I apply them. That said, after maybe the second component of some flowery aikido technique I’m generally thinking “okay but in real life you’d just punch the guy here or throw him or punch him and then throw him, right?” and yeah that would probably be more effective but less meditative.

For God's sake. Just start sending BJJ practitioners to Aikido dojos and ask for a sparing match. Or a demonstration of technique on a BJJ practitioner. The debate in the comment section is nauseating.

Great 👍🏼 analysis - I’m a GJJ blue belt, but also have a few black belts & a red belt in traditional styles (not Aikido). It’s all choreographed until the throw, wrist lock, arm bar, etc. The moves are legit, just hard to pull off against full resistance. However, I’ve gotten wrist locks & such rolling live. Like we start on knees to avoid injury, they go along with the technique to avoid injuries. But as you say, you need resistance to learn what will & will not work on the streets...

The individual techniques are strong, but the sum of the parts is weak

I have just learnt a new meaning for what a "feeder" is :)

(Having watched 7 min now) I'm disappointed that they never pointed out the obvious question: why would an attacker come at you with a downward chop?

I am not an Aikido practitioner, but it may take a bit of historical context to both masters, to understand why art is this way today, since you have to understand that at the time of its development, swords and knives were common weapons and the focus lies mostly in protection against these weapons, also to point out the fact that the uke "flying" and makes all those elegant movements mainly is to protect his wrist, elbow and shoulder, a normal person without that protection could easily injure himself by putting up resistance to the technique

wow 11:50 escape rear neck choke by just walking forward XD why didn't i try this at bbj

Aikido was taken from a battle proven art and then summarily neutered so as to do NO harm. BJJ started off as Judo and now has evolved into a COMPLETE effective combat art. It BEGAN as a combat art. Comparing BJJ to aikido is like comparing boxing to figure skating. OSU and respect. 🙏🏼🐉🐅

You must be losing students in your dojo with this journey of yours. I know I couldn’t go to a martial arts school that didn’t even believe in their own teachings, Every style has its flaws even BJJ Their focus is training on the ground one on one and its more for tournament With many rules like no small joint manipulations, pressure points or live punches Etc. In a street fight you usually will have more then one guy trying to Attack you because most people don’t feel tough by themselves. So you’ll have multiple opponents good luck trying to grapple two or three people. You have to have good hands and knock them out and or break limbs. The words from Bruce Lee if the fight takes any longer than a minute it took to long. Even Eddy bravo Agrees that you don’t want to go to the ground in a Street fight against multiple attackers stay standing and stay aware. Don’t get tunnel vision thinking that you need to take them to the ground every time. My point is that every style has its flaws the best thing that you could do as a teacher is to fix those flaws and make your stile better and more realistic for your students.

With all due respect, nobody who is a real martial artist and a fighter needs to be listening bjj experts for understanding that all, ALL aikido demonstrations are nothing different than a ballet, perfectly choreographed. However i love you Roka, you're a true warrior in my opinion

I think that these BJJ gentlemen do not realize that this is just a presentation and techniques .. It is obvious that in a real situation the dynamics all change. Ueshiba sensei already said: "Learn the form, keep the form and get out of the form". I think for those who study any martial art you can understand what he really meant.

The BJJ guys are very respectful, I like that.

Aikido is the ballet of self Defense.

I don't if you will read my commentary, but I wanted to post it for you. I am a french aïkidoka since now 3 months. I am in a association named the international school of traditional aïkido, which was created by a french named Alain Peyrache, who is practicing aïkido since he was young, he was trained by Nobuyoshi Tamura himself, who is responsible of the arrival of aïkido in Europe but first in France. He said that the traditional aïkido must not be a club depending of the ministery of sports, because aïkido isn't sport but an art. So he created an independent doko in order to teach aïkido and be away from all this liers who are disforming the real value of aïkido. And by regarding the vision of aïkido here in France and in other countries, I think he's right when he said aïkido is losing his History and philosophy, because some people try to make it commercial, but it is not the way of the Aïkido.

Aikido is dance. Don't get me wrong, dance is an awesome art form but it's a world away from antagonistic, physical combat.

I honestly think it's a mistake to view Aikido as an "effective" martial art. It is rooted in the circular movements of Zen. At best it is a walking meditation. It has much better use as a spiritual tool and way of life than a "fighting style." Most serious students of Aikido are not interested in fighting and do the art for the well-being of mind, body, and soul. This is very hard for most BJJ students to grasp. BJJ isn't mystical, it's practical. It is an effective self defense system. It is measured by its ability to work in a real life combat situation. Practicality means so much to the BJJ practitioner and nothing to the Aikido student. Completely different world views.

Roy Dean is a legit Aikido/ BJJ Jujitsu practioner and would be better in the discussion with Joe Rogan , Rogan would not respect this Guy

Thank you for this video. I really appreciate your chennel for its balanced and respectful views. I agree that aikido practice is typically focused more on the art than the martial. I think that brings up a great point. Why does each individual study any martial art? For many, it is more about the art. For instance, I have a good friend who served in MARSOC in Iraq and Afghanistan who chose Aikido study as a way of managing his PTSD. He already knows how to fight, and has proven his skills in actual life or death combat. Aikido is the right form for him. On the other hand, my 10 year old daughter needs to learn how to defend herself, so she recently enrolled in BHH after about 5 years of studying To Shin Do. Do I think her time in TSD was a waste? Absolutely not. Her studies helped her learn about her body, gave her confidence, and she learned some discipline. But I do not believe she learned many practical self defense skills. So again, what is the student interested in learning. When have the "what is the best/most effective" martial art, I think we should keep in mind that its not just about fighting.