Aikido in Street Fight

Posted by: Anonymous

Aikido in Street Fight - 04/20/05 04:19 PM

Does anyone have a story where they used Aikido in a real fight?
Posted by: Victor Smith

Re: Aikido in Street Fight - 04/20/05 08:47 PM

I'd first suggest you get Usheiba's earliest books (which have been translated into English) or see his earliest movies.

Back in the 1930's his Aikido first started out with a strong strike to stop the opponent, and then the projection and/or lock followed.

Aikido is practiced for a very wide range of reasons today. Some not for self defense at all, just for 'rolling' practice. Others as effective self defense.

Victor Smith
bushi no te isshinryu
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Aikido in Street Fight - 04/21/05 10:55 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Intrepidinv1:
Does anyone have a story where they used Aikido in a real fight?[/QUOTE]

The old saying is, "The art of aiki is to overcome the opponent mentally, at a glance, and win without fighting."

I've been in a number of small situations, at least two involving two opponents at once. None of them ever touched me. I only touched one guy and didn't hurt him.

Since that was the "realest" of the encounters, I will outline it for you.

Due to an earlier misunderstanding, as I was getting into my car, two guys came toward me, crossing the street. Since I didn't think I had time to get out of the parking spot, and didn't want to be sitting down on the other side of a big sheet of glass from a pair of serious attackers, I got back out of the car and went to meet them.

Now, that is the essence of budo to me. A military man said that a warrior is distinguished by his willingness to close with the enemy. But budo goes to meet the enemy. Do you see the difference? It is subtle.

So I closed with these guys in the middle of a one-way street in the late afternoon and as they were clearly coming to push me around, I maneuvered appropriately, stepping to the right and turning, while flipping my car keys into position to put them in my pocket. The lead guy followed my movement and actually crossed his legs as he turned to follow me and his head turned to see my flashing car keys. He must have thought it was a knife. At that moment, with his body turned, his legs crossed and his momentum going sideways while he looked to his left, I felt the existence of a beautiful hiza garuma (judo's knee wheel), which would have put him upside down with his lower back crashing over the fender of my car and his head down near the ground, whence he would have fallen straight down on his head. But I didn't do that.

Instead, I slipped the keys into my pocket and dropped back into a forward stance and extended both arms, catching him in the sternum as he advanced, and pushing him slightly up and back. And that's where it stopped, with him in front of me, my hands on his chest, and his brother to my right side, just outside striking range.

And we stood there for a couple of seconds like that, in a sort of zanshin moment, waiting to see what would happen. My plan was this:

if the brother came toward me from the right, I was going to avoid his attack by moving forward and shin kicking the lead guy from pelvis to sternum. And then I planned to backfist the brother in the head (because he just attacked).

if the lead guy in front of me moved, I was going to shove him back and use the afformentioned shin kick, then deal with the brother according to what he did.

And we stood frozen like that in the middle of the street for three or four seconds.

The brother said, "That **** ain't gonna do you no good, man. My brother's an ex-green beret, too."

I am not a military veteran, but I've had certain connections, a karate teacher who was heavy duty military, and our style of aikido came to the US through a Japanese military man. So it had a hard, sharp edge and I didn't answer him.

So we stood, just a few seconds, everybody on edge, and another guy came into the street and helped to defuse the situation. The two guys went back where they had come from and I got into my car and drove away.

Pretty much all my other encounters have been while walking alone at night.

The other time I faced two guys, I know one had a knife and I believe the other had a gun. I kept distance from the guy with the knife and stayed close to the one I thought had the gun. If the guy with the knife came toward me, I planned to hit the other guy (again, backfist to the haid), knock him down and take his gun (or apologize if he didn't have one). But if he did have one, I was going to take it and shoot the guy with the knife. And I would have shot the other guy if he had attacked.

Again, all these encounters ended without a touch (except one). No throws, no head busting, no kicking. Usually what happens when someone decides to rob me is, I'm very casual until my mind says "This is a real attack."

When that happens, something clicks in my mind and I'm ready to do what the situation calls for. But at the same time, the opponent usually has something click in his mind and he decides not to attack after all.

When they say, "the art of aiki is to overcome the opponent mentally, at a glance," it is because Aikido actually contains a range of deadly techniques. If you know what they are and are confident in using them, then when you decide you must use them, it communicates to the opponent's subconscious mind and his spirit to attack is greatly weakened. Usually, they just give up.

And if they don't you have the option of deadly technique. But only with that option are you able to choose to be gentle, yet firm. If you can't destroy him, you can't say you are being merciful to him with non-fatal techniques. But if you have the ability to kill him, you are showing mercy by using gentle techniques.

Hope that helps.