Aikido is a forgotten Martial Art

Why we should consider improving and re-think our training methods

I wrote the title this way on purpose, to be misleading. In fact, Aikido is NOT a forgotten martial art, but rather, Aikido finds itself at a crossroads that the people at the top refuse to deal with. It is no longer trained as a martial art. It’s my wish for the leaders of all Aikido styles to come together and have some kind of a summit on the direction our art is moving / has moved in.

A screenshot from one of my YouTube videos

A very large sum of Aikido teachers worldwide and practitioners worldwide have forgotten that first and foremost, Aikido is a martial art. Case in point, this gentleman in the video below. There are millions more (Japanese and non Japanese) just like him, and I really do not like to point any singular person out but this video was sent to me recently, and it prompted me (rather, the straw that broke the camels back) to write this piece. My sincere apologies to the shihan in the video who I am sure is an amazing person.

Everything about this demonstration, from a martial arts standpoint, is incredibly wrong. There is absolutely nothing martial about any of the movements being doing in this video and these kind of videos are the reason that other martial artists laugh at us. I take that personally, I don’t like the martial art I love being laughed at. There is only one reason why the comments are turned off of this video.

How did we get to this?

1. It all starts at the top. And that means, our Hombu dojo. Everything we do in the Aikido world is a reflection of what they do.

2. We have an aging Aikido population that is far worse than the current Japanese aging population crisis that engulfs the country (any coincidence perhaps?). Check the crazy graph below for how serious Japan’s problem is.

3. We have an “attitude on the mats” problem, that links back to point 1 above because it’s being tolerated. Be kind, be humble, be happy, but be a martial artist.

Japan's fertility crisis is terrifying and unprecedented. So is the Aikido crisis.

Before I continue I want to let you, the reader know, that I do not think I am the solution to this problem. I do not have my head so far up my ass that I could possibly think so. I am barely treading water daily, trying to improve my own technique, let alone trying to fix the 1st world’s Aikido problems.

Also, this is not a post about “everyone is wrong and I am right!”. Aikido is interpreted differently by everyone, and this is simply my humble take on things. The problem with the world today is that everything is immediately thrown into “that’s wrong, I disagree, and now I am offended”. Bear with me please, I’ll explain as I go.

I don’t want to go into detail about the massive age gap on the mats. There is an excellent article on Aikido Journal that addresses that: https://aikidojournal.com/2018/05/11/aikido-an-aging-art-and-its-future

Aikido worldwide is not being taught to be a martial arts anymore and hence, very few young people are attracted to it. We know this, we have evidence which is right in front of our eyes. Teachers worldwide have forgotten how to train their students in martial arts, and also why their students want to train in martial arts.

I want Aikido be an all inclusive martial art, and this includes serious ass kickers as well as the casual hobbyist and any older people who want to do it for health reasons. The problem we face is that are in dire need of the ability to start thinking about evening out the percentage of serious martial artists in Aikido, and how to attract more younger people. Currently, I would say that 99% of Aikido people on the mats worldwide, including their teachers, are not serious (it’s a fun hobby, they have slow and robotic movement and don’t engage or use their brain when they train), and 1% are serious martial artists. We need to work on getting that number down from 99% to 80/20. Do you think I am speaking out of my ass? Over inflating the numbers? Please leave a comment below, where we can have a nice, adult discussion.

For every 10 people on the mats, two guys or gals should be ass kickers. My definition of an ass kicker is not a bully, nor is it someone who beats people up, rather it should be someone who is the alpha male or female of the dojo. Every dojo needs 2 per 10 people. They should be encouraged to do so on the mats. It certainly used to be this way, my sempai have told me many legendary stories. They lived through those days, and came out the other side better people and better martial artists.

I grew up at Hombu being in the second tier. For every 10 people, there were 2 ass kickers, but 2-3 guys (second tier) who could go hard, but were no match for the top 2. Those top 2, used to be second tier as well, but moved up as they progressed. I have taken many an ass kicking from both tiers. This is how a dojo should be. The other 5 could do as they liked when I was coming up, and nobody cared about anyone else’s training but their own.

Have other martial arts such as Karate or Judo forgotten how to train martially? I can’t answer that and would like to know in the comments below if they have. In catch wrestling and my MMA training, we still train to be extremely martial.

By martial I mean a few things:

1. Martial does NOT mean applied, as in “street” stuff. It’s a state of mind. You practice hard (as hard as you can possibly go, everyone is different) and you work on making your technique mean something.

2. Martial also means, take your empty cup, go to your senior student, and get that damn thing filled up. You can do this at any age or rank. Throw the ego aside, get your cup filled! Then go pour it all over your junior later. You give and you take, and you come out a better person and a better martial artist.

3. Be accepting of ALL kinds of people on the mats. I am. But I feel I am not accepted for the style of Aikido I want to practice. As I was once told by a Japanese person at Hombu, “Rionne san, you are the brack sheep”.

4. For that one hour you are training, you train your heart out. This doesn’t mean you go at one million miles an hour, it means, with a pure heart (no ill intentions) and to the very best of your ability.

5. Being a robotic android and unaware of the possibilities made available when you train, is not martial. Keep an open mind, be responsive and flexible with your thoughts and your training.

6. If you try to be a dick on the Aikido mats and stop people, go and train with someone who knows how to deal with this. You’ll soon realise that this is stupid.

7. Realise that ukemi is not just for taking techniques beautifully. It also includes things like improving your physical condition and working on natural reactions to your partner’s movement.

How about other styles of Aikido? How about other countries doing Aikido? Do you think it is 99% and 1% that I mentioned above?

I am doing Aikikai Aikido, otherwise thought of as Ueshiba Kisshomaru Ryu Aikido. On top of that, I am doing it in Japan, one of the motherlands of modern day martial arts, and a country that has no need for any kind of self defense training due to its incredibly peaceful society.

I can’t speak for Iwama, Yoshinkan, or Shodokan (Tomiki) Aikido but from watching their YouTube videos, I highly doubt they are any different to us over here on this side of the fence. I do not wish to blanket everything together so if you feel offended that your Aikido is not in this category, then you have my apologies in advance. Don’t get offended, just train harder.

Moving on forward to the reason I wrote this piece.

Anyone who knows me well, knows how much love I have for my Aikido teacher, Yoshiaki Yokota sensei, who is simply the greatest living Aikido shihan in the business today. I don’t need to tell you why, nor do you have to care why. You follow your own guy, I follow mine. That’s cool.

The boys with our Aikido teacher

I sit here in my office in my Tokyo home, pondering whether or not to get off my ass and go to the Aikikai Hombu dojo for training tonight. It’s Monday night, and that means Yokota sensei is teaching the two regular classes tonight (two hours: 5:30pm to 6:30pm and 7pm to 8pm). If you know me, you know that I train hard. Yokota sensei calls me an animal, and once held me back for taking my 4th dan for being too “rough”… Which I didn’t agree with, but learnt a very good lesson from.

In my opinion, hard training brings great rewards and how hard you train is all down to you and of course, your teacher. Yokota sensei lets me go at my pace, and doesn’t frown when we explore. How hard you go entirely depends on how you can physically move. We are not all built the same and are not all expected to move the same.

Yokota sensei has been teaching Monday nights at Hombu since 2008, when he was promoted to take over the class from Yasuno shihan, whom I have zero time nor love for. Good bye, so long, go home, and bring on Yokota Sensei, I thought, back in 2008. I had a terrible direct encounter with Yasuno shihan in 2007 and quite frankly, would love to choke him out. He belittled and embarrassed me as a second dan in front of 300 people because I didn’t know how to take ukemi (receiving the technique) for his magic show.

ANYWAY.

I was chatting to one of my friends about my half hearted attempt to go tonight. He quit Aikido about a year and a half ago and wrote to me:

“Honestly, the reason I quit Hombu (and Aikido) is that it was really hard to find decent partners to train with. I will admit, I used to try to book people before class because I couldn't be bothered dealing with most of the people at Hombu. I think that's kind of missing the point of Aikido but sometimes I just couldn’t really be bothered. I am much happier now without that stress and I have moved on.

This is the exact reason that I cannot be assed going 90 minutes one way. I have my kohai (junior) to train with for the first hour (we book each other every Monday at 5:30pm), but two things worry me about tonight:

1. He said he’s not feeling well and might not make it (you definitely should not come to the dojo when you are ill, so good call on his behalf), so I am worried that I will get lumped with an old lady, or even worse, either an old man who cannot bend his knees let alone move for 1 hour, or someone who wants to slow things down to snail pace and work on moving me off my centre line. I’m just not interested in any of this, and that is one of my biggest flaws as a martial artist, but also one of my strong points. I am a 40 year old male, I am only just past my physical peak but still able to go pretty damn hard (as a professional wrestler, I was paid to only train and have wrestling matches for a long time, so my physical peak was 30-38 years old when I was a full time wrestler).

   I should be able to walk into Hombu dojo and find 1 or 2 guys to randomly train with and feel good about it afterwards. I want to sweat together, bleed together, and then go eat and drink together. In a global society where a real man is barely allowed or able to express himself as a real man, I still want to, at least when I am on the mats, which should be hard and uncomfortable, but also extremely fun and enjoyable.

2. For the second hour, ditto to above. It’s a lottery as to who you’ll get lumped with for the hour.

The thing is, it is REALLY nice that these people I mentioned above have found something they can do. Aikido is for everyone, and that’s the reason I love it so much. I will be one of those old men who can’t bend his legs or move very well, I know it. But for now, I want to maximize my youth. I’m not getting any younger, only wiser (possibly not this either).

Aikido is for everyone, just not anyone who wants to do this stuff.

My problem is simple, and my questions are pretty simple too:

1. Why are there barely any people in our Hombu dojo that want to put their foot to the floor and train hard for 60 minutes? I do not want to fight, if I did I would do more MMA training (with my schedule of work, Catch Wrestling, Aikido, and weightlifting, so doing MMA training once a week is more than enough.)

2. When trying out other teacher’s Hombu classes, why do I feel so intimidated to try variations of techniques when our set pattern of techniques suddenly go off script? Yokota sensei just looks at me and laughs when he sees me training. This is a man who throws sidekicks, front kicks, throws on arm bars, knees to the stomach, headbutts to show correct use of distance, uses the sword like a samurai master, but also smiles, laughs, and can hug you when you are down, as well as ramp down the pace and go soft when showing a technique with someone of lower rank or ability. The real definition of a master.

Here are some common solutions I get given by various people around me:

Solution 1: Go train with a deshi (live in student).

Problem: They’d rather train with their friends and go slow and steady. They wake up at 5am to clean toilets, by the night time (despite only training once in the morning) they are probably too sleepy. Our next generation of Aikido shihan don’t know hard training. The older shihan from Hombu have said it themselves. I’ve also trained with them too, it’s true. I am scared for the future.

Solution 2: You need to train with all kinds of people, get over yourself and just train with them.

Problem: I travel 90 minutes ONE WAY to Hombu, once a week, at a cost of almost $50 USD per round trip (trains, visitor training fee). Why should I be happy with that? What possible satisfaction can I get from that? I’d like to go more, but the things written in this blog post are the reasons I usually don’t bother. Plus, like I said, I am a Yokota guy and he only teaches on Monday’s and Saturday’s (when I have catch wrestling training)

Solution: Well, go ahead of time and pick your partner

Problem: You haven’t read the above. Plus, there is no spontaneity in this. The true birth of a technique comes from both your ability to do it correctly as well as the unknown factors your partner brings to the table. Training with the same people over and over again breeds comfort. It’s great to train with your friends but it’s too comfortable. You should mix it up as often as you can. The real problem is, we cannot. We are not allowed.

A Japanese Aikido friend of mine told me this a few days ago:

“You have to understand that people doing Aikido in Japan do it because they want to tell their friends they have a hobby and that it is Aikido. They do not want to get out of their comfort zone. You can’t expect them to want any kind of reality, just teach them the basic movements, take their money, and go home.”

That makes me sad. The truth is, yes, these people make up the bread and butter of the monthly payments to keep the dojo running. Teach them barely enough to keep them coming back again because a business is a business, but also, you need those few who can go the extra mile. You need a good mix of talent.

There is only ONE minor tweak/solution (well, it’s actually pretty major) that the Aikikai Hombu Dojo could perhaps do that I think is necessary to attract younger, fitter, eager to train hard, men and women, back to the art. If Hombu do it, the world will follow.

Here goes….

They should start a REAL advanced class. This new class should be:

1. The class should not diverge off course, away from Aikido. Aikido is the core of what the class should be. However, the class should reintroduce some of the old Daito Ryu and old school jujutsu techniques that Aikido was derived from. We have gone so far from our roots and we need a balance readjustment. Who is going to teach that? Well that is the million dollar question.

2. The goal of the class is to create new shihan who know BOTH ways of Aikido. The roots of where it came from, and the modern day version. The true martial artist, like Yokota shihan, who can be both kind and tough. He/she needs to be a revered but loving ass kicker (when necessary).

3. Aikido ukemi needs to be retaught to the students of this new class. Humble but real pressure when necessary, as well as real reactions to real movements. Teach students to keep their feet light (none of this heavy stomping of the feet that you see often) and to keep their head up. Good footwork and a smart brain. Teach MARTIAL ARTS.

4. 2nd dan and above only, but an introduction required to get in. The inflation of Aikido dan grades and shihan certificates means that rank alone is not enough to get you in. Sorry to be exclusive, but you gotta earn your place in this world kiddo.

5. Have an age limit on it. 18-65. If you’re older, show that you can keep up physically (a lot of people can!). This is after all, a different kind of class to regular training.

6. The techniques should be completely different to both the 2nd floor (beginner class) and 3rd floor (regular class) classes. Truth be told, these two floors are doing the same stuff, at the same pace. There are no differences, other than the color of the belts.

7. Encourage proper learning and talk during class. None of this “monkey see, monkey do” stuff. It’s ok to talk to your partner if you are both working on a common goal of getting better. If you’re talking because you can’t keep up and want a rest, you leave the class.

8. Let everyone training know that it is OK to make a mistake. No waza (technique) is perfect, and it should never be. If someone makes a mistake, stop the class, show EVERYONE how to fix it, and then go again.

9. Like the old Hombu used to do, encourage bringing in other martial artists every now and then. In the old days, Hombu used to teach Kendo in the same building, and Judo players often came over to train. All the post war greats had other formal martial arts training, and that is what made their Aikido so good. You cannot run from this fact.

In a perfect Aikido world, these techniques would be taught properly. They are currently scrapped, and history has been rewritten to exclude them.

I am definitely not the guy to teach this class, but I am the guy who wants to train in this class. When I get past my used by date, I hope there will be a young, exciting crop of amazing martial artists shining the torch brightly for Aikido. I want Hombu Dojo to return to being the Aikido Mecca it once was.