homeikigai shop and ebooksmartial artsinterviewsaboutcontact
«
»

Real Aikido in Action

December 17, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: Martial Arts, Philisophical, mindset

Recently I got to talking about Compassion in the Martial Arts. In my previous post I gave some examples of people expressing their ideas about life protection and compassion, and how those ideas can be misconstrued as weak or inappropriate in the realm of martial arts.

Facebook group member Brian Zitzow astutely pointed out that in that article I didn’t mention anything about Aikido. He’s right, and the reason why is because I was lacking a good concrete example like that of Shaka Zulu or Oyata Sensei. Luckily Brian provided me with something to fix that.

The following is a story about real Aikido in action. It is written by Terry Dobson, a very well known Aikido practitioner who also happened to study directly under Morihei Ueshiba. Enjoy!

“THE TRAIN CLANKED and rattled through the suburbs of Tokyo on a drowsy spring afternoon. Our car was comparatively empty – a few housewives with their kids in tow, some old folks going shopping. I gazed absently at the drab houses and dusty hedgerows.

At one station the doors opened, and suddenly the afternoon quiet was shattered by a man bellowing violent, incomprehensible curses. The man staggered into our car. He wore laborer’s clothing, and he was big, drunk, and dirty. Screaming, he swung at a woman holding a baby. The blow sent her spinning into the laps of an elderly couple. It was a miracle that she was unharmed. Terrified, the couple jumped up and scrambled toward the other end of the car.

The laborer aimed a kick at the retreating back of the old woman but missed as she scuttled to safety. This so enraged the drunk that he grabbed the metal pole in the center of the car and tried to wrench it out of its stanchion. I could see that one of his hands was cut and bleeding. The train lurched ahead, the passengers frozen with fear. I stood up…Continue Reading

Share This (Good Karma Guaranteed):
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • StumbleUpon
  • Digg
  • Technorati

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 and is filed under Martial Arts, Philisophical, mindset. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

xygoxen
  • 1humbledragon
    What a great story; and very inspirational. I just started reading the book “The Art of Peace,” and the words of Morihei Ueshiba rain true throughout this entire story.
  • This is a really powerful story. It represents the highest level of mastery in any martial art, not just Aikido. At its core, martial arts is really a practice of learning about one's self and one's connectedness with others and the universe.
  • I agree Nhan, I think this story really expresses the deepest values of the martial arts. Thanks for your visit and comment!
  • I remember reading somewhere that Aikido is the only martial art allowed to be taught in the US federal penitentiary system for its emphasis on non-agression.

    Nice story, especially for this time of the year.
  • Ann
    Common sense before self defense.
  • great stroy
  • Nate B
    very nice
  • Stan
    I use this story when I teach my conflict resolution class at the community college. The point isn't that this technique will always work. The point IS to be able and willing to use it, to keep it in your "arsenal" of techniques, to be willing to risk yourself to help someone who is in pain, rather than jumping to the assumption that aggressive action is always required (or will even help).
    As one of my favorite authors penned, "You lose points if you have to thump 'em!"
  • Remo1366
    :) him and I both,one on top of the other.
  • good on ya both.
  • Remo1366
    ...and you too for having such a sharp eye.
  • Remo1366
    Well actually,YOU didn't mention Aikido but it was indeed mentioned.Compassion is the main reason I switched from Karate training to Aikido 15 years back.The karate training I received, though very useful, left me no real alternative then to seriously damage my opponent.Aikido also can damage and kill should the need arise but at it's heart is the belief that one has neither the need nor the right to injure another in defense of oneself.Been a fan of Terry's for awhile, and this story shows the essence of what ALL martial artists should attempt to achieve in their training ,the need to never raise a hand to diffuse a violent situation.Thank you.
  • That's what I said Remo - I didn't mention it but Brian did.
  • aaronsher
    Thank you for the great post, and the wonderful story. At one time, I practiced aikido, and I can absolutely see myself in the role of the young man itching for a fight. Now, to work on doing it the right way.

    Incidentally, that light-blue text is still light blue in an RSS reader, which makes it illegible on the white background. You might want to use a different color or style.
  • Thanks for that heads up aaron - I had neglected to think about that!
  • Terry Dobson's story WAS phenominal... But, the older man who calmed the drunk would-be attacker took an enormous risk. I am in no way detracting from the compassion he showed or his wisdom in reading the situation well enough to resolve it how he did. However, I can't get behind it as a "standard" for others to try to live up to due to the fact I believe the old man's success would be the great exception...not the rule. I think he hit the 1 in 1000 shot that the assailant was calmable and he guessed right in how to do it. Once again...my deepest respect for his caring and wisdom...but, not sure if it would be a good standard go-to move.

    I go alot deeper into my thoughts on this here:
    http://actionkaratearts.com/self-defense-karate...
  • I agree - sorta - but not quite.

    I like the story and have used it often as an example of compassionate aiki. The old man took a risk, but apparently he was already at risk with a drunk crazy guy escalating to a rampage right next to him. The old man might have become a victim by acting but he just as well might have become a victim by not acting. He had nothing to lose by acting.

    I don't know that everybody should act every time in situations like this, but I generally think more people should be willing to act more often.

    For more on my ideas surrounding this, see these old posts of mine...

    http://www.mokurendojo.com/2007/02/heroes.html

    http://www.mokurendojo.com/2009/05/universal-hu...
  • I would agree Marc - I think this is more of a "moral of the story" type of tale rather than a prescription for how to handle self defense and life protection.
  • dougis
    That is why I love this art. (now I just need to work on actually being able to practice it that way :-) )
  • Unbelievable.
blog comments powered by Disqus