Sharing the best, most graphic introductory documentary on this special martial art I have ever seen. If you want to skip ahead and dive right into the documentary, scroll down to the end of this article.
You can also read up on part 1 of this series here if you want to catch up.
Testimony
Though I have merely practiced Aikido for a few months years ago, I have talked to some people who have been Aikidokas for a long time - and what they had to say about it was rather interesting.
First of all they all agree that what your body learns in Aikido is highly applicable to all problems, situations and "surprises" in life in a philosophical or psychological way. You stop seeing attackers as your enemy but rather as people who are confused about their own needs and how to communicate them. You are put into a position to help them see that they are confused about their own greatness and their connection to the cosmos, and to help enable dialogue where they usually tended to go for confrontation instead.
Where the Aikidoka used to confront something head on, using sheer willpower or strength of character to get through a tough period or to "get the thing over with" Aikido has shown him that it is much smarter, "more natural" and "more fluid" to just "go with it". To "dance" with it. To take things as they come in the knowledge that he will find a way and that no preemptive thought is necessary or helpful to tackle any situation in a suitable manner.
Aikidokas have also told me that - even while able to diffuse the vast majority of fights nowadays through all they have learnt - they still choose to switch to the other sidewalk if they feel a fight may be looming ahead. Not because they run from it but simply because they are humble enough not to get involved in any sort of confrontational situation just because they could get out of it.
In this way, Aikido seems most wise and valuable for its "non-brag" approach and its treasure trove of philosophy that I can merely mention in passing here.
But the stuff in Aikido videos is nothing like actual attacks!
Yes and no. Most of Aikido that we can witness online aims to help the defender perfect his skill, to work on the "cleanliness" of his technique where the attacker is more of a partner than an adversary. It is not the aim to display how awesome Aikido is in "winning fights", rather it is solely focussed on the defender perfecting his capabilities (as well as the attacker being able to practice his rolling and falling techniques). Defender and attacker swap roles regularly every few minutes so that the defender may learn to defend.
Videos of actual fights between an Aikidoka and someone practicing a different style of martial arts exist but they are completely beside the point here because the approaches cannot be compared due to the difference in philosophy. If you are curious how aikido holds up against "actual attacks" you may really want to start with the documentary at the end of this article and then do a search of "aikido vs. *" on youtube.
That said, you will find many videos online urging people to not get into Aikido if they simply want to defend themselves, implying that Aikido doesn't hurt the attacker enough to be an effective defense to learn fast. There are channels with millions of hits (which I am always careful about and naturally skeptical of) that argue Aikido won't do anything in an actual street fight situation and be "too complex" to ever be executed properly. If it is your aim to dish out an attack before your opponent can complete his than Aikido is not for you. If you simply wanted to easily break the nose of an attacker before he can break yours, yes - there are much better things to get into for sure. That however is not and was never Aikido's aim.
Its aim is to further peace and prevent confrontation, as well as bringing you closer to your center and allow your "opponent" to rethink his stance as often as he needs to.
Hurting someone faster who just decided to want to hurt you will not solve anything nor will it lead to your protection in a lasting way, at best it will only delay the inevitable - hurt pride and revenge. From the stuff I have heard of people who practice it and from all I have seen during my time in the dojo - Aikido is highly effective in what it wants to accomplish: To allow for self-defense without the need to critically injure your opponent - because he really isn't an opponent to begin with.
Some people argue to this day whether Aikido can really be considered a martial art like karate or taekwondo. As previously mentioned in part 1 of this series, there ARE no attacks in Aikido, because there is no need to ever attack anyone. Ever. If you think there is then Aikido is not what you are looking for.
Best Aikido documentary ever!
Fortunately I once managed to dig up this awesome documentary among all the BS online that showcases exactly these essential aspects of Aikido from a beginner's perspective. We follow an experienced MMA fighter doubting that Aikido's power is real who is going onto an excursion to find out whether there is any truth to the hype at all and how this martial art could be so effective.
The documentary may seem a bit cheesy at times but if you can look past the superficial flashiness it is most definitely worth your time, discovering how Aikido can be so powerful and why nobody on the outside can really believe it when they see it on a screen.
It's just such a great introduction to the art!
So in this spirit, let me make it easy for you to visit your local dojo in sharing said documentary with you here, maybe it will get you so curious that your ego will demand you get a live demonstration to finally know you were right and Aikido hype is all whoowhoo hippie BS without any solidity...
I'm telling you it's not <3 It's for reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaal!
This documentary includes a brief history of Aikido's founding, lots of high quality images & videos of the techniques and their effectiveness, opinions and testimonies from both Aikido practitioners and skeptics, as well as scientific analyses to try and get to the bottom of Aikido's secrets.
And we have yet to get to the actual part on energetics in Aikido, as so far we have merely scratched the surface on physical momentum, torque and balance. Aikido is ultimately about learning to master the flow of chi, the life force as it has been called by some, and to move with it like a leaf in the wind, like the self with the cosmos.
At the risk of spoilering my own series, this amazing documentary does contain a lot of these advanced aspects as well, as explored from the view of a skeptic, which is a fantastic starting point to the weird and largely unknown world of Aikido that is highly entertaining at the same time.
So without further ado, here is the documentary for you, certainly one of the best things TV has produced as far as I'm concerned! And I am super thrilled to tell you I found that one upload in high quality for real viewing pleasure, do enjoy <3 <3
I hope your mind was sufficiently blown, mine certainly was after rewatching this gem for the writing of this article. Maybe it can serve as a starting point for further investigation if you are looking to get into martial arts or self-defense.
This post was in part inspired by the comment of @luca1777 on part 1 of this series, thank you so much for your input!!!
wikipedia.org
bafonline.org.uk
eishiro-aikido-dojo.de
aikifreak.files.wordpress.com