Yoshinkan Can Save Your Life

So at the risk of dating myself I am going to say that Steven Segal is the first and only real action star to hit the silver screen.  Of course this brings up the issue of biais: “All aikido guys say that about Segal”.  Well, yea we do… but guess what?  He still is!

All martial arts make claims to be the be all and end all of self defence.  Yoshinkan Aikido makes no such claims and instead exudes the “it is what it is” claim.  One need only watch or better yet feel Yoshinkan aikido in application to understand.   Unfortunately those that haven’t are the ones that see Aikido as Segal’s “hand fighting”.  This is quite unfortunate.

Shihan Joe Thambu has released a DVD called Self Defence: The Aiki Concept that would go along way to dispell these myths.  Thambu takes 10 techniques and demonstrates them in the dojo and then on the street or in a bar or dark alley way.  You see the ritualistic perfect timing of a well executed technique followed by proper ukemi that we all see in the dojo.  Then that same technique is taken into the real world. 

Joe Thambu makes it clear that no two attacks will ever be the same and one  can never train to defend all possibilities.  Thambu shows that Yoshinkan Aikido teaches one to move their body with power and to control their own centre and as such to over power and control their attacker.  In the application of this the technique will not be seemless or picture perfect as seen in the dojo but will still be most effective.

The spirit behind this video is encouraging.  It is good for everyone, those that study Yoshinkan Aikido and those that don’t, to see the power of Yoshinkan Aikido outside the dojo.