Aikido - the Martial Side group comments

Fascinating comments! Enjoyed them!

Smell my feet please

Hi guys. As some of you may know, I am not on Facebook. This is pure bliss and I recommend everyone to try to take a social detox when possible. Recently, I was sent (by a couple of different people) some screen grabs of comments made on video that one of the admins posted of me from a few years back. As I am trying to build this Substack up, it gives me a great opportunity to reply to the comments whilst also leaving the replies open to the public and easy to access at anytime. Unfortunately, I can’t reply to them all but there are some I’d like to talk about.

PS. I don’t think I ever explained, but Fujiwara is just my wrestling name. My real name is Rionne (rye own) McAvoy. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, a catch and pro wrestling legend, christened me with the name Fujiwara in the ring back in 2013 so I just run with that name online, as a public persona so to speak.

Firstly, the video that was posted:

And the group where the video was posted:

Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426312564098161

Regarding the video itself. This was shot in July, 2020, well into the COVID-19 lockdown. Our catch wrestling dojo was “closed” but secretly open only to members, but I was limiting myself. The Aikikai Hombu was in and out of being closed down to the public. The day this video was shot, I actually shot a 2 hour “instructional” video for Japan Budo Videos, but later found out that the camera man who shot it was so horribly inept at this job, that they had to scrap most of the footage. What was usable, they gave to me and it’s on my YouTube channel. This particular video that the comments were made about, was an off the cuff “demonstration” of some different finishing from Aikido entries that I had been talking to my friends about. Tadgh and Husein very generously and graciously gave me their time on that day so that I could shoot that Japan Budo Videos video (Please check JBV out if you can, they have some great instructional videos on their page: https://japanbudovideos.com).

To basically sum up the video would be to say these points:

1. The movements are a bit clunky and the last 2 years of learning and growth are not reflected in the video. I should indeed make another one to reflect the journey over the past two years. Then show me this new video in 2 years and I’ll think the same of that. Oh the struggle to be a martial artist that is true to himself! Never satisfied.

2. It was not intended to be a life vs. death situational video that some of the comments think it should be (“Nobody ever attacks you shomen!!!”)

3. We were just playing around, in a light hearted manner, to see where we might be able to finish things off a bit differently. Aikido only has standing pins, which to be honest, are rather poorly executed in general. I’d back myself 9 times out of 10 to escape an Aikido pin. The one time I can’t escape, boy has that guy nailed it. This is what we should be aiming for in practice.

I thank each and every one of you for your time and constructive criticism. Happy to have little old me in the two minute spot light for a moment. Tomorrow it’ll be another video of another guy.

Mr. George White says:

Hold him in the highest regard. Will be interesting to view his transition from strength based technique to another plane within the aging process ever forward in the name of the arts.

Thank you very much good sir. Now to be honest with myself, I would not say I am fearing getting old as such, but I guess that my way of practicing kind of suggests that maybe I am. Father Time stops for no man and I will have to indeed, as you suggest, reach over to another plane as time catches up on me. This is a journey that I am very much looking forward to. For the moment, as a 40 year old former (technically not yet retired - only wrestling 4-5 times a year now) pro wrestler, a sport where everything is physical, I am going to push myself and my training in the hard direction, but with one eye on the aging process. As you said, it’s a life long path and we are all on this same path, albeit at different places and in different times. I wish you nothing but the best as you continue along your path!

To the next comment, of a fellow named Jirka.

Sorry, with all respect, I don't know the person. And I don't understand the progression. What makes what is shown in the video special compared to many styles of JuJutsu? What makes it a progression of Aikido, when Aikido evolved from JuJutsu? Please clarify.

As my friend William from Aikido in Japan pointed out, I have never done any form of JuJutsu. Actually, his book of the same name covers a lot of the evolution quite well. Pick it up and enjoy the read!

These techniques all just presented themselves to me naturally after many years of cross training, with my base being Aikido. Your comments are somewhat correct though, I am not intending it to be special or to show any kind of Aikido progression. I don’t think I am special and the video was bore from a little bit of frustration with the Aikikai teaching of Aikido rather than trying to progress their art. I do not think of myself so highly as to think I can progress Aikido in its current form, nor do I care too much for helping to build another man’s house whilst getting nothing back in return. I am just happy to practice my own stuff.

It’s not a progression or regression, but an expansion of Aikido. Someone very close to me told me straight up a long time ago:

Aikido needs to be expanded because it’s a shriveled up, zombie corpse of what was a once vibrant martial art. By returning to the roots and by adding (for example) boxing, wrestling, karate is an expansion. Evolve or die.

Martyn’s reply to your comment was interesting:

It is returning aikido to its jujitsu roots. But I see very few gyms complementing aikido with stuff like ankle kicks to take balance, bringing in catch wrestling take downs and following up the ground pins into more effective pins.

These are not in Aikido because Aikido is something that Grandma Jane, Uncle Bob, cousin Sally, nephew Jack, the whole gang can practice. We cater to the lowest skill level in Aikido. This is unfortunate, but martial arts is a business. Having 9/10 people on the mat that are there for a good time socially and to get a bit of fitness is great, and in general it is also great for being inclusive, but it also breeds fake tough guys/bullies and laziness, which we need to be careful of. Have you ever given your wrist to someone freely and compliantly, only to have them crank on it hard to prove they are strong? (Iwama we’ll known for it!). How about when someone who stops you from moving when the movement has been slowed down to snail pace, and they know what technique is coming. This is called being lazy. You don’t have to attack someone with the speed of a Japanese bullet train, but you do have to have a pure heart when you attack them. This means, you attack with the best intentions. A grab is a grab and you go for it, a strike is a strike and you go for it, no matter how fast or slow.

As I have mentioned previously, Aikido dojos should indeed have things such as more effective pins, takedowns, better submissions, a little bit of ground work, some stand up work etc. However the problem is, who is going to teach this? In the eyes of Hombu, it is outlawed because there is no one in the building who could go that extra level and show this stuff (only Yokota Sensei but he is more of a karateka). What is required is a real “advanced” class, where they would either bring in a specialist, or find an Aikido guy with enough cross training experience, to teach their people. But what on earth would Hombu get from doing such? They make so much money on their current model, and their cult numbers are rising day by day. There is no need. The only change can be made at the grass roots level, at your own local dojo. If you don’t want to do that, then don’t do it. Pretty simple.

Martyn’s last follow up comment:

As for the man, maybe biased as I've had many a conversation with him. But he is someone who is quite passionate about aikido and its tradition but also keen to compliment it with his experiences.

We’ve had many great chats before, Martyn is a great guy, and is keen to test himself out on the mats. At the end of the day, this is the natural instinct of a man. Those who do Aikido for reasons other than “does it work” (and there are many legit reasons to do so), still know deep down inside whether their stuff “works” or not. It sits there, deep inside you. I believe that it also festers and controls you. You cannot run, nor can you hide from the “does it work” conundrum but truth be told, this is where delusion may come from. The people who are not interested in “does it work”, yet try to stop you from doing a technique, are usually the ones who know deep down inside that their stuff doesn’t work. Aikido is so very limited in actual techniques, that Aikidoka should really spend the time to make sure they are applying a technique properly or not. It’s also why we believe that cross training can only improve your Aikido. Add more to your bucket. Everything else that is great about Aikido can be found in other martial arts too. It’s the technical side we must work on improving.

I was just telling Tadgh last night after training that at the end of the day, when those basic human instincts kick in and we have to dig deep into our tool bag, it comes down to what you know vs. what I know. That’s why I’m never satisfied with my training, always eager to learn new things. I believe that Martyn and the Martial Facebook gang believe the same.

Mr. Jirka followed up with:

"maybe it is returning aikido to its jujitsu roots." That's a progression? Wouldn't it be quite logical to consider this a degression? I think we must understand what makes Aikido special and focus on this, in order not to render it obsolete.

Again, it is not a progression or regression debate, but an expansion of Aikido talk. Evolve or die. Alpha and Delta strains did their damn hardest to evolve, we are all now learning to live with COVID. The virus couldn’t evolve because 90% of the world got vaccinated (or got strong antibodies) and what we have left is Omicron. It’s not dead, but neither is Aikido (Yet)…

What makes Aikido so special over another martial art? I am not so ignorant to believe that Aikido is any more special than any other martial art. It just happens to be the one I am doing.

Degression is also an interesting word. You can spend 25 years doing the same thing over and over and go no where. You can also improve, just like you can also go backwards. In professional wrestling I learnt very early on that if you’re not moving forward (getting better) then you’re not moving at all. I think that this is important in martial arts, to always be refining and trying to improve yourself, even if that means going outside the Aikido box. It cannot possibly hurt to go out of your comfort zone and try new things. Everyone of us is at a different level and at a different stage in his/her life.

Aikido in its current form will never be rendered obsolete, there are too many worldwide practitioners to do so. Do you mind if I practice things a bit differently at times, and not the same robotic movements for the rest of my life? Hopefully you’ll allow me to without considering it a downgrade of Aikido. Speaking of a downgrade of Aikido, have you ever seen (again, I hate to name names) a Bruno Gonzales Aikido video? The man has a billion subscribers, and a billion techniques that would make a billion martial artist want to either cry out in joy (or vomit in my case). Enough said. Aikido in its current form will never die. It’ll only morph from the Alpha art to the Delta to the Omicron art that it is now.

Followed up on these two comments were two wonderful comments by Mr. Chris Gonzalez that I wholeheartedly agree with. I could not say them any better, so Mr. Reader, please go over and read them for yourself. They are insightful and meaningful.

Another admin of the group, Tristan wrote:

Aikido has, with very minor exception, regressed from being a practical martial art. This is well known and beyond dispute. Some like it that way, others prefer to try and restore it and make it relevant as a martial art again. This forum is specifically for the latter type of people. I think that is clear as crystal.

Yes, this is true. I wrote an entire blog piece centered on this thought. Aikido can still be very martial, there is just a slight tweak in the training and teaching methods needed. The art itself does not need to be changed. Keep Aikido as the base and cater to everyone (real inclusiveness that includes skilled martial artists who want to train martially) and not just the lowest skill level on the mats. If this means adding in a few different tones of paint to your canvas, I am sure the picture you’re trying to paint will be much better.

A comment from Mr. Dunken Francis of New Zealand, of course a mortal enemy of Australia already :)

I know OF Rionne, he's a tough lad and a good fighter, massive respect for what he's achieved, but not sure I ever really regarded him as a Aikidoka though, def more a jujutsu practitioner but love the way he's openly blending ideas from several (I'm seeing more than just Aikido and jutsu, surely? Wrestling etc?) arts. Again we already use the irimi into a head control, strangle, but would never take an nikyo shape straight to the floor, because we don't fight competitively and for me there are more obvious standing controls (which work fine) before the need to take the ground position? Again I want to clarify I am in no way making a critique, Just explaining our "Modified Aikido" mentality compared to what's shown here, which def has a "RRR" (rules , referee & rounds) lean to it.

Dunken and I have been connected on social media since the beginning of Facebook. I believe we first started chatting in about 2007 or 2008, a full 4 years before any exploration into grappling and my morph from a skinny Aikido kid to a professional wrestler. I was just an aikido guy who did some kickboxing on the side when we first started chatting. Rules, referee, & rounds were fortunately the least of my thoughts when we shot this video. I think William replied best, so good in fact that I couldn’t say it any better, so I will paste his reply here:

Rionne started Aikido with Tada sensei, then began training at Hombu Dojo with Yokota sensei, took a break from Aikido and studied Catch Wrestling seriously at the Snake Pit in Tokyo and did pro wrestling in Japan for a good while. Returned to Yokota sensei's classes at Hombu Dojo. Quite the interesting story and unique experience. He has no material background in Jiujutsu unless we include Aikido as a form of jiujutsu.

We should include it as a form of jujutsu.

At Gessoji Dojo (Tada Sensei) in 2006

With Tada Sensei at the 2004 International Congress. Life would just incredibly just 4 years later when I met Yokota Sensei at the 2008 International Congress.

William has a very popular YouTube channel as well as his book. Check it out (Aikido Applied).

Mr. Jesse Cahn raised three important points:

I have only 3 issues with this video:

1. The old stale attack mode of 'chop' Japanese style. I know it is supposed to be symbolic, but who really attacks that way?

2. There are little pauses in the takedowns, etc that are - still, I'm afraid - indicative of Uke compliance.

3. Fast and hard is not the only criterion for 'real'.

OTHERWISE! GREAT WORK! LOL! Headed in the right direction. Bravo!!

I’m glad it’s only three issues, I must be doing something right :)

I’ll try to answer the three as best as I can:

1. Tadgh isn’t actually chopping here in the sense, more of a gesture of a strike to the head. It is a good idea to practice with punches though, so thank you for reminding of that and I’ll be sure to add in punches on a future video. To me, it’s not really important whether or not Tadgh’s fist is open or closed but what is more important is that we learn to react to things from different distances. Aikido is very useful for those haymaker punches or those long overstretched jabs.

2. Yes, I mentioned earlier. It’s not a life or death video and it also was not a sparring video.

3. Absolutely, I agree with you. I don’t think anyone said otherwise.

Thank you for pointing out that I am heading in the right direction, and for adding the “LOL” after great work :)

And lastly, here is a comment from Chris Wheeler, and this is one of the best things about doing Budo:

If ever I get a chance to visit Japan, Rionne is a person I would have to seek out and train with. I'd have a lot to learn from him. And then go out and have a few beers!!!

Training and beers after is just the best, especially in the Japanese summer time. The blood, sweat, tears, laughter, sadness, frustration, elation, camaraderie, are all amazing parts of training in a Budo. This is the real power of Budo, of Martial Arts, to bring people together and it is the best thing for helping a society function. People of all ages, shapes, nationalities, genders, can all learn to get along (or tolerate each other at least!) and to wrap things up nicely, that is why I am off Facebook (because Facebook does the opposite😓)