Okay so Lets get straight to the point. I am from the United States and MOST(actually all) aikido guys I've seen here are all about spinning and more spinning and then jumping. They also wear big japanese pants that Tom cruise wore in Last Samurai. Also they never sweat.

However I met a Morrocan who claimed to train in Aikido before he moved to the U.S. (he has since went back) I met him way b4 becoming a member here.

About this guy, he had some really hard strikes and was for the most part a striker, i NEVER seen him do a wrist lock. Furthermore when he sparred it looked like a hybrid of Kyokushin Karate and TKD, however he claimed Aikido so Imma assume he did do Aikido. FURTHERMORE he didn't wear big aikido pants.

In addition to the above I also think this guy was crazy. And he told me all the harsh conditioning he went through (which honestly I believe was completely useless conditioning and all it really did was HURT your body...for example I BELIEVE there is no reasons to punch walls full force..he had some BAD knuckles) However if the conditioning was useful or not it was harsh and borderlined craziness and the reason I bring up ANY form of conditioning is because my observation in Aikido in the U.S. has NO conditioning whatsoever.

Furthermore (alil off the topic of Aikido) I have seen TKD in Pakistan. and what is taught int he major cities in pakistan is very watered down while what is taught in the rural areas is very HARSH. In addition to that, in my HS wrestling days on average the southern HS wrestlers (from rural areas) were better than the upper east coast wrestlers (from urban areas, like me).

Now the point of this post is to ask other people outside of the U.S. (or even inside) if they have seen aikido being taught differently than the round spinny stuff with big pants?
And if anyone has made the observation if MA in general change depending on the type of Area?

THANK YOU

P.S. the second question is more interesting. If we get good empirical data it can open the door to a nice social science case study.

P.S.S. I have not proof read this post because I have class soon and I am in a rush. So sorry about errors and if I was incoherent

Asume something different:
1) Aikido is all over the world the same, no kicking, no striking ONLY spinning wristlocks and jumping.

2) A) Differences in one style depends more of the instructor than of the area.
Differences in styles of one TMA depends nowadays more on wanting to have a 10th dan
than to improve the original art

B) in MMA there are a lot of variations because you can train anything to add to your MMA but people mostly start with Muay Thai + BJJ, only the competition rules stay the same

In my aikido practice, the big pants are very important. Nothing else matters. Please don't be afraid of the big pants.

Okay so Lets get straight to the point. I am from the United States and MOST(actually all) aikido guys I've seen here are all about spinning and more spinning and then jumping. They also wear big japanese pants that Tom cruise wore in Last Samurai. Also they never sweat.Go visit Chiba Kazuo Sensei at the San Diego Aikikai, then come back.

If he didn't practice locks, and almost exclusively used striking he wasn't doing aikido. This isn't an interpretation or difference of instruction thing. Aikido is not about striking, PERIOD. Aikido is about the redirection of your opponents momentum.

There's a dozen different styles of Aikido. Some practice differently from others. Even in the U.S. there are differences; Yoshinkia and Tomiki being very, very different from others, as an example.

Some don't wear the Hakama (japanese koolats) and have resistant competitions, such as Tomiki. Some have lots and lots of strikes, such as Yoshinkia.

As a general rule, most Aikido focuses too much on a very narrow segment of the fighting spectrum. What it does, it does well, but it misses a lot of the larger picture. In general, Aikido should automatically reject new students who don't have a good base in some other art(s) which would adequately cover the fuller range (such as Boxing+Judo).

No useful results can be confirmed based on anecdotal accounts of two people you have met.

Okay so Lets get straight to the point. I am from the United States and MOST(actually all) aikido guys I've seen here are all about spinning and more spinning and then jumping. They also wear big japanese pants that Tom cruise wore in Last Samurai. Also they never sweat.

There's a dozen different styles of Aikido. Some practice differently from others. Even in the U.S. there are differences; Yoshinkia and Tomiki being very, very different from others, as an example.

Some don't wear the Hakama (japanese koolats) and have resistant competitions, such as Tomiki. Some have lots and lots of strikes, such as Yoshinkia.

As a general rule, most Aikido focuses too much on a very narrow segment of the fighting spectrum. What it does, it does well, but it misses a lot of the larger picture. In general, Aikido should automatically reject new students who don't have a good base in some other art(s) which would adequately cover the fuller range (such as Boxing+Judo).

If he didn't practice locks, and almost exclusively used striking he wasn't doing aikido. This isn't an interpretation or difference of instruction thing. Aikido is not about striking, PERIOD. Aikido is about the redirection of your opponents momentum.How much aikido have you done mate because I can assure you, in Iwama Ryu we strike before waza and spend a considerable amount of time learning how to generate/create movement (thus opportunity) in our supposed attacker long before we rely on them to 'give' that momentum.

yes, some aikidoka practice with strikes. doesn't make them "good" strikers. yay! another aikido thread! yay!

If he didn't practice locks, and almost exclusively used striking he wasn't doing aikido. This isn't an interpretation or difference of instruction thing. Aikido is not about striking, PERIOD. Aikido is about the redirection of your opponents momentum.

You and Zendokan have your data wrong. PERIOD.


How much aikido have you done mate because I can assure you, in Iwama Ryu we strike before waza and spend a considerable amount of time learning how to generate/create movement (thus opportunity) in our supposed attacker long before we rely on them to 'give' that momentum.

Strike before technique, strike while doing technique and strike after technique. Aikido is irimi (entering) and atemi (striking).

And to the OP:

Yes, there are various styles of Aikido and the rural vs. urban issue you pointed (as the blue collar vs. white collar or third world vs first world) is an element to take in account.

Aikido schools are starting to realize that something has been missing from their practice, namely the solo tanren (body building exercises) taught in aikido's root art, Daitoryu. This is why you see guys like Ushiro Kenji and others being invited in to teach what "aiki" really is supposed to be.

Ask yourself why Kano, founder of judo, supposedly held daitoryu in high regard (http://www.judoinfo.com/tomiki2.htm).

Aikido schools are starting to realize that something has been missing from their practice, namely the solo tanren (body building exercises) taught in aikido's root art, Daitoryu. This is why you see guys like Ushiro Kenji and others being invited in to teach what "aiki" really is supposed to be.

Can of worms.

:)

The problem with Aikido striking, evene hard striking - i.e Yoshinkai is that it's a limited Japanese style of striking not western boxing style

We have seen with the Aiki boxing videos that the western boxing style makes ti a lot harder.

My belief has always been you need to counter that type of striking with that type of striking ( counter a jab with a slip and a jab of your own) and wait until a moment comes where and Aikido like attack can fit in.

I call it an aiki moment.

It is however an organic thing and can't be forced IMO.

Can of worms.

:)

True, but plenty of discussion on it has been held over on aikiweb. Suffices to say the guys who have felt/been to one of those seminars all report back that this is what "aiki" is supposed to be (and Ueshiba's teachings start to make sense, despite the fact that he seems to refer to his internal skills as being possession by kami, though it makes sense in a way if you don't have training in western science/engineering). Its a moot point since so few here have aikido experience, and even fewer have felt one of the guys who supposedly "have the goods". Its also why the translations of Ueshibas stuff get all mumbled up as the translators didn't have an understanding of the physical skills referred to.

I doubt there would be much productive discussion on the topic.

I think it will take another generation before people learning this stuff today will get it and be able to teach others.

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