May 2025 – Protective Arts

The Meaning of Life

I learned about Sara Walker from a podcast with Lex Fridman. The entire conversation is worth the listen: Her conceptualization is brilliant and presented in an unassuming manner that belies the seriousness of the implications. Fridman’s long-format interviews are excellent in mining a guest’s breadth and depth of thought and I found Sara’s conceptualization ofContinue reading “The Meaning of Life”

IPPON-KEN

Atemi (当て身) is often misconstrued as a generic term to mean a “strike” or “hit,” but it means “to strike the body” and with the implication that it is striking a specific target. Without any denigration of the sweet science – the pugilist art of Western boxing – which has incredible history and strategy, ultimately,Continue reading “IPPON-KEN”

MORIHEI UESHIBA – 1935 DEMO

In 1935, a Japanese newsreel crew from Asahi Shinbun captured the earliest surviving footage of Morihei Ueshiba demonstrating his art. This black-and-white film (along with his Budo, published in 1938, and his earlier private training documents such as Budo Renshu (1933), compiled with student Kenji Tomiki) comprise the few unambiguous records of what Aikido lookedContinue reading “MORIHEI UESHIBA – 1935 DEMO”