Some Aikido teachers developed the reputation of being cruel and vicious.
This seems so unusual as the general idea many people have of Aikido is of an art of peace. Shouldn’t it create a peaceful temperament in the practitioners?
Some people translate O Sensei’s philosophy as the true aim of budo (the Japanese term for the martial arts) is the loving protection of all things rather than destruction.
However there are some stories of behaviour that seem to be abusive in the Aikido world.
In the book “Angry White Pyjamas” the author writes about his time taking the “riot police course”. This is a 6 month highly intensive training programme leading to a black belt in Yoshinkan Aikido which took place in Japan. It was taken by Japanese riot police but was open not anyone and was notoriously difficult.
In the book he talks about a teacher that purposefully broke the arm of a student and seemed to delight in the experience. In 15 years of training, I have yet to see a broken arm or wrist in Aikido and in general it could only happen if intended.
Another Sensei who had a reputation for such behaviour was Kazuo Chiba Sensei (note: in Japan, Sensei comes at the end of the name and the Americans follow this. In the UK the tradition has been to put Sensei at the start similar to how we put Professor, Doctor or Mr at the start of a name ).
There are many stories of him breaking wrists and there is a Youtube comment under one video suggesting he broke wrist after wrist on a few occasions. I’m sure I heard Sensei Andrew tell us that he broke both of Sensei William’s wrists at a course, though I will have to confirm that story.
This kind of behaviour is needlessly cruel, brutal and I would suggest worthy of a charge of assault. I would also suggest “psychopath” may be not too harsh a word to use. There is no benefit given to someone by breaking their limb and in some cases it may never heal back fully.
Perhaps some people saw this kind of training as a right of passage or some kind of tough guy test? I think all of that kind of thinking has become too common in the world of martial arts. People seem to end up abusing and damaging their bodies in a bizarre attempt to toughen themselves up.
Do the broken noses, cauliflower ears, cut up faces, broken limbs, deadened knuckles really help us in our lives or make us a better martial artist? Or do they make a person become hardened and more paranoid in their approach to life? Do they develop a careless attitude towards their body?
Human beings seem to like their scars. In cultures around the world various forms of ritual scarification are practised. You just have to look at how there is a tattoo shop on almost every high street to see how this continues in the modern world. Within martial arts, perhaps these signs of damage can be a sort of status symbol.
In other martial arts, broken bones and other injuries may happen as an accident in intense sparring and that could be excused as a clumsy mistake. But in Aikido, often the person has volunteered to allow them selves to be put in a position in which the nage has them under control in a pin or lock. To then break a limb in that situation (where someone has volunteered to have a technique demonstrated on them) seems like the act of a cowardly bully.
Injuries can happen but they should not be glorified. Understanding how the body works and how we could cause damage or pain is a different matter to applying in needlessly. We should sometimes take our partner to their limit but never to a point of injury and damage.
We are not aiming to force techniques on through pain compliance or the use of strength. At the higher level we want to be able to apply techniques effortlessly with Ki.
Aikido For Glasgow 