RETURN TO THE MAT – MARCH 2021

March 1, 2021, the first Monday class after almost a full year off the Aikido mat. Restrictions are still in place – masked, no-contact training – which makes for a challenging teaching and learning environment. Aikido is an energetic art: we need to touch each other to understand how to ‘blend’ with the intentional forceContinue reading “RETURN TO THE MAT – MARCH 2021”

FIVE WAYS OF ATTACK

Aikido as an attack art sounds oxymoronic. That is true only because many critics of Aikido have a moronic understanding of the art. (And one too few of us credibly counter.) Axiomatically we cannot win by defending and winning is important. But how does that necessitate an attack art? The polemical turn of phrase is the difference betweenContinue reading “FIVE WAYS OF ATTACK”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING

Part of the kuden – the oral history – of Aikido revolves around a story that during the US occupation of Japan some of O’Sensei’s students would test their progress through a practical application of the art – i.e., they would get into fights – (Sadateru) Arikawa comes to mind. O’Sensei would admonish them thatContinue reading “ON THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING”