I was recently asked if Aikido is an effective system for self-defense.
In today’s video and article I will share my opinion on Aikido as it pertains to self-defense.
A Brief History of Aikido
Aikido was created by founder Morihei Ueshiba (1883 – 1969). Ueshiba served in the Japanese military during the Russo-Japanese war and later as part of a Shinto religious groups expedition into modern-day Mongolia where Chinese troops captured them and returned them to Japan.
Following that he had some sort of religious experience where,
a golden spirit sprang up from the ground, veiled my body, and changed my body into a golden one.
Morihei Ueshiba
Ueshiba has many more interesting quotes about oneness with the universe, peacefulness, harmony, etc. that all sound great for creating a peaceful culture.
However we are talking about self-defense here and not religion or harmony with others. So let’s get down to brass tacks shall we?
Aikido Put to the Test
There is a story I recall reading in one of the martial arts magazines from my youth where post WWII a group of Marines walked into an Aikido school in Japan.
The Marines sparred with the Aikdo masters in basically what turned out to be a stand-up grappling match since strikes were not allowed.
Despite the considerable training of the Aikido masters the Marines with no training were slamming the Aikido masters around like rag dolls.
Aikido vs. MMA
Now I have seen demo versions of Aikido and have enough experience with similar martial arts that I already knew the answer to what would happen… but to be fair I did some searching looking for Aikido vs. MMA fights.
In every single case I found when the Aikido man goes up agains the MMA fighter the Aikido person’s techniques simply and profoundly do not work. I mean they don’t even begin to work.
There is a very humble Aikido fellow who recorded his journey of sparring with an MMA fighter – both fighters went in with a spirit of mutual respect which I admired – and he wanted to see how he would do against MMA with his Aikido.
Well he quickly discovered that he could do nothing. The MMA fighter’s punches, kicks, and tackles came in with angles and energies that Aikido does not train against and won’t work against. And the Aikido man in his humility acknowledged that.
Can Aikido Be Altered to Work for Self-Defense?
As I always recommend with any martial art; if you want it to work for self-defense you need to train against the way real violent attacks happen. Not doing this is the biggest pitfall of martial arts.
However due to the complexity of how Aikido works with joint locks, redirecting energy and turning them into throws which… shall I say look rather dubious if not downright fraudulent – Aikido simply fails to follow fundamental principles of winning…
Namely being simple, direct, efficient, and aggressive.
Could someone modify Aikido to be more combative?
Well sure and there are some people who have done so. However let me ask you a simple question:
If you wanted to be a math teacher do you think it makes more sense to get a degree in math or psychology?
Or if you were going to hang pictures in a wall with nails would you use a hammer or would you instead try to make a pair of pliers work?
Because you could make the pliers work but it would be a pain in the butt. However with self-defense you don’t get lots of opportunities to “retry” like you would when you incorrectly hit the nail with the pliers or you don’t create sufficient impact to drive it into the wall.
Lastly in Aikido there is often talk of “ki” or “chi” energy. To date there is no scientific evidence of mystic ki or chi energy and every martial artist who has been tested to demonstrate it has turned out to be a complete fraud. So that alone should make you raise the red warning flag.
Final Thoughts
Humans have an amazing capacity for self-deception. We must all be aware of our cognitive and subconscious biases and step outside of what we “want” to be true and use the scientific method to test what really works.
Now for the record I am only commenting on Aikido as a system of self-defense. If someone chooses to practice Aikido for spiritual reasons, fun, exercise, religious reasons, etc. that is not a part of my commentary.
At the end of the day I can only offer my opinion as someone with a lot of experience in having punches, kicks, tackles, knives, and guns thrown at my face and figuring out what worked and what didn’t work.
You get to make up your own mind.
Until next time,
Brian
