Branches of Aikido

[tshadowchaser]

How many branches of Aikido are there today and what are the major diffrences in them.
I know most people think Aikido people try never to hurt anyone but it was taught as a much more violent way in the begining.
Shadow

I think that the "main" branches are:

- Aikikai;
- Yoshinkan;
- Tomiki;
- Ki Society;
- Iwama;
- and others, many others I'm sure.

Aikikai is also "Hombu style", or the style that O Sensei's family has maintained control of. Aikikai is also a political body that maintains rank and certifies rank for other associations etc. Kind of an umbrella. However, the Hombu dojo does publish a curricula and the current Doshu - Ueshiba Moriteru (O Sensei's grandson) - is the head of this style and maintains its technical direction (at least in Japan).

Yoshinkan is, in some ways, a more "combative" style. I think, and I may be wrong, that it and Iwama share some similarities. I could look up more about it on the web, but I'm lazy.

Tomiki is a style of Aikido started by Tomiki Kenji. He was both a high ranking Judoka and Aikidoka. It is differentiated from other Aikido styles primarily in the fact that it has both kata and competition.

Ki Society was started by Tohei Koichi. I don't know much about it other than it is rumoured to be very soft (please note that I don't mean to imply ineffective). I've seen some bad demos of it online, but I haven't experienced it in person.


Iwama style is the style practiced by Saito Sensei at Iwama - the shrine set up at O Sensei's home - in Japan. Supposedly a more Aiki-Budo style of Aikido. Small, tight circles and hard throws etc. A more "hard" style of Aikido from an early stage of Aikido's development.

There is also Shodokan Aikido, which is an offshoot of Yoshinkan I believe.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, and look some of these styles up on the web. There's lots of info available.

Pierre

[Cthulhu]

I seem to remember a branch of aikido that was geared specifically towards law enforcement officers. Am I mistaken?

Cthulhu

The style you are thinking of is Yoshinkan Aikido...

Tokyo police train this and/or Kendo



Kimura...

[Cthulhu]

Thanks, kimura. I thought it was Yoshinkan, but wasn't terribly certain. Could Yoshinkan be considered more aikijutsu than aikido?

Cthulhu

[KumaSan]

Originally posted by Cthulhu
Could Yoshinkan be considered more aikijutsu than aikido?

I had heard this also and was somewhat curious. Unfortunately, I've never met anyone who studied that syle

[Mao]

There are various styles of aikido. It all came from, however, the same person. Many of the off shoots came after his death. Sounds a bit like many other styles. I believe that the biggest glaring difference between "do" and "jutsu" is mostly philisophical. It is the difference between satsu jinken and katsu jinken. One leads to destruction and the other to the possibility of a new beginning. So then, "do" leads to the possibility of a new beginning and "jutsu" often to destruction. In one you would break the arm, in the other you would not. I have heard that it all used to be 99% atemi. Obviously that has since changed.

Originally posted by Mao
I have heard that it all used to be 99% atemi. Obviously that has since changed.

Mao, O Sensei said that Aikido is 99% atemi and I think it still applies.

If you examine the techniques as performed, many of them will not work without atemi and many of them provide openings for atemi. Still more of them have atemi at their core, but uke's protective action turns an elbow (for example) into a throw.

My instructor says "There is *always* atemi", and then demonstrates.

I think that atemi is one of those "left as an excercise for the reader" type of things. Is it an oversight? I don't know, but there's lots already in Aikido so I suspect not. One theory that I have (completely unsubstantiated of course) is that when O Sensei started teaching Aikido it was assumed that the students would know how to do the punch/kick thing considering they were all students of other arts first. So he didn't bother to re-teach it in Aikido, instead concentrating on the things they *didn't* know how to do, and thus it stuck.

Pierre

[Mao]

I agree with you. You are right that there is always atemi. And I teach it this way. What I meant to say is that so often nowdays many instructors do not. By and large, many aikidoka do not use atemi in their daily practice. Perhaps they are concentrating on, as you say, what they do not know. It has been my experience, however, that many people with whom I have trained couldn't punch or kick to save their hides!

[Jay Bell]

Could Yoshinkan be considered more aikijutsu than aikido?

I'd say no on that one. The closest to Daito ryu seems to be Jiyushinkai Aiki-Budo, from my visual understanding. I guess Kondo sensei, Soke Daire of Daito ryu, had wonderful things to say about them when watching their footage.

I study at the Jiyushinkan. Not Aiki-budo but Shindo Muso ryu. I've sat and watched their Aiki-budo classes....they are truly great Aikidoka.

Ok, I understand you now

I agree, most Aikidoka (myself included) aren't very good punch/kick guys. I think the original deshi were, however, at least decent at it.

It's something I'm working on.

That and the knife thing...

Pierre

[arnisador]

Originally posted by Cthulhu
Could Yoshinkan be considered more aikijutsu than aikido?

Is there a distinction between aikijutsu and jujutsu? I have always thought of the former as a special cse of the latter. Is there a reason you used aikijutsu here rather than the presumably more general jujutsu?

arnisador:

I think Cthulu probably just mis-spelled aiki ju jutsu.

That is, aiki ju jutsu is a form of ju jutsu - it just contains techniques that use "aiki" or "harmony" (I think). Daito ryu is an example (the only one?)

Pierre

[old_sempai]

There is an Aikido style known as Nihon Goshin Aikido that is not an off-shoot of Uyeshiba or any of his students. It was founded in 1946 on the Island of Hokkaido by Morita Shoda who received a teaching license from either Kotaro Yoshida or Takeda Sokaku in 1925. It was brought to the United States in 1963 and currently has approximately 25 dojo's and about 5000 practictioners. It's generally not acknowledged by the O'Sensei schools [so much for Universal Harmony].

[Yari]

Originally posted by old_sempai

There is an Aikido style known as Nihon Goshin Aikido that is not an off-shoot of Uyeshiba or any of his students. It was founded in 1946 on the Island of Hokkaido by Morita Shoda who received a teaching license from either Kotaro Yoshida or Takeda Sokaku in 1925. It was brought to the United States in 1963 and currently has approximately 25 dojo's and about 5000 practictioners. It's generally not acknowledged by the O'Sensei schools [so much for Universal Harmony].

Do you have any more info. about this style?


/Yari