Checking out Aikido

As a follow up to my last post on my training in Bushidokan, I went to watch my brother’s Aikido class on Tuesday night. I must say it was at the other end of the spectrum of martial arts from Busidokan, much closer to the Iaido I studied for a few months.

Back when we were kids most of my family studied Shotokan at a now defunct style called Seishin Do. Most of us attained Black Belt, either Shodan Ho (provisional 1st Dan) or Shodan (1st Dan). After achieving my black I started sampling other martial arts styles. As I was at Uni this was easy as the Sports and Rec association had a great mix available at student prices. I did some Taekwondo, another Karate style and a semester of Aikido. I recall seeing a demonstration of Aikido during o-week where the instructor had performed a partner drill (form) deflecting a series of attacks and contolling the opponent, all with an effortless grace. The he assumed a kneeling position (seiza) and repeated the drill completely on his knees. Very impressive! I enjoyed my short stint of Aikido training but it was a real challenge turning off the tension and force I was so used to in Karate. I moved away from martial arts to focus on Uni and my Army Reserve activities.

Over the years, and with a few scandals, our old Karate style wound down. Two of my bothers moved to another Shotokan school (Zanshin Shotokan Karate-do) run be Sensei Frank Nowack. Luke had attained his Nidan (2nd Dan) in Seishin Do and had to re-grade in Zanshin. Then they moved to Kanazawa Sensei’s Shotokan Karate International (Australia), and Luke did another Nidan grading. Luke stayed with this for some time attaining Sandan (3rd Dan).

After some time in SKAI, the other brother (Paul) moved on to studying Aikido under Sensei Barry Knight in AIKIDO TAKEMUSU Iwama Ryu style. He spent a number of years studying the style reaching 1st Kyu. Changing work meant he came and went for a few years but has recently started training more regularly and is enjoying it.

I was keen to see the style and how it compared to my vague memories of my uni style, which seemed to focus on the unarmed drills. Paul introduced me to Knight sensei and he invited me to join the class, but my work attire wasn’t really suitable for the mats; I was more than happy to watch.

The class was small consisting of half-a-dozen students, half black belts of various dan levels. One of the first things I noticed was that there was a great balance of informality with respect; discussion of technique was encouraged and explored (even extending to a whiteboard discussion on the side) but every bit of advice is followed by a thankyou in Japanese to the sensei. This was much more aligned to the Iaido classes we did than a high-intensity mixed martial arts class.

The class began with weapons-based training; initially with the bokken and then with the jo. I was amazed at how similar the Iaido and Aikido “sword” techniques were; obviously Aikido swordwork practiced in this school is a lot slower, but both have the same focus on posture and movement. You can certainly see the same degree of grace and style of the senior students across both styles irrespective of wooden or metal “sword”. They also practiced a 31-step jo kata which was quite impressive, exploring the various strikes possible with a jo. This might take some time to learn.

The second half of the training was unarmed and geared towards upcoming gradings for some of the students, ranging from some fairly simple techniques to more complex ones. This was more like what I’d done at Monash, although I can’t recall specific drills.

So this is looking like a viable option. I’ll go do a “try before you buy” class before making the final call.