Rare footage of aggressive aikido by its founder, Morihei Ueshiba

[O'Malley]

While geeking out on the other topic, I came across this cool video I had never seen before. You see a younger Ueshiba doing an aikido demo, and what struck me was the way he takes the initiative in almost every technique. In particular, I like the hip bump at 0:20:

At 0:44: collar grab and a technique known as "Old Man Yeets Victim Through Window".

At 0:47: jab, then throw from a 2-on-1 on the parrying arm.

Fun stuff.

 

[isshinryuronin]

While geeking out on the other topic, I came across this cool video I had never seen before. You see a younger Ueshiba doing an aikido demo, and what struck me was the way he takes the initiative in almost every technique. In particular, I like the hip bump at 0:20:

At 0:44: collar grab and a technique known as "Old Man Yeets Victim Through Window".

At 0:47: jab, then throw from a 2-on-1 on the parrying arm.

Fun stuff.

Interesting, but surprising that even back then, some of the action reminds me of the "no touch KO." Too much of the students launching themselves into the air. There was some good stuff, though.

 

[O'Malley]

Interesting, but surprising that even back then, some of the action reminds me of the "no touch KO." Too much of the students launching themselves into the air. There was some good stuff, though.

At what point in the video do you see no touch KOs? I might be able to explain some stuff that others may find weird.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Bookmarked. I'm going to show this to the next person who tells me that "Aikido don't work on da thtw33t". It's a powerful and useful skillset to have.

 

[Steve]

Bookmarked. I'm going to show this to the next person who tells me that "Aikido don't work on da thtw33t". It's a powerful and useful skillset to have.

If you also know judo.

 

[isshinryuronin]

At what point in the video do you see no touch KOs? I might be able to explain some stuff that others may find weird.

I said "like" referring to the uchi actually aiding in the execution, above and beyond the natural result of the technique. I understand some level of compliance is necessary to prevent injury, but actively contributing to the uke's efforts is another thing. This appears in .10 and .40 in the video to my eye.

 

[O'Malley]

I said "like" referring to the uchi actually aiding in the execution, above and beyond the natural result of the technique. I understand some level of compliance is necessary to prevent injury, but actively contributing to the uke's efforts is another thing. This appears in .10 and .40 in the video to my eye.

Ok! At 0.10 is a technique called irimi nage: as you enter behind uke, you unbalance him to the outside and then do a clothesline-like strike with your arm, which follows a slight rising curve (like a wave that would come under uke's chin and graze his head, the bigger the wave, the straigther the trajectory, if that makes sense). At 0.10 I think he's thrown mainly by Ueshiba's left hand on his collar (which is supposed to do the initial unbalancing but also assists in the execution).

For reference, here's the technique:

At 0.40 is a similar technique called tenchi nage. Here the unbalancing created by the rotation of the arms, the upward movement of one arm and the downward movement of the other. Then one enters with his hip in a very similar fashion to irimi nage. In both techniques, the hip entry cuts off the space for uke to step back but in tenchi nage the "clothesline" is replaced by a push along the wound up upper arm, which has no slack and fully transmits the push. In the video I also suspect that the momentum + the downward hand pulling uke forwards and out make it look very dramatic.

For ref:

 

[Buka]

I love old Martial Art film segments. For any art. I hope somebody somewhere is preserving them.

 

[windwalker099]

I might be able to explain some stuff that others may find weird.

My first contact with Aikido was in Hawaii many years back. A good friend taught and trained at one of the gyms there, founded by Koichi Tohei, if memory serves me right.

Would you care to give some commentary on what is going on in the clip?

Asking out of curiosity. In the Taiji world, we have demos like this.
Looking to read the explanation for something that looks similar.

 

[O'Malley]

My first contact with Aikido was in Hawaii many years back. A good friend taught and trained at one of the gyms there, founded by Koichi Tohei, if memory serves me right.

Would you care to give some commentary on what is going on in the clip?

Asking out of curiosity. In the Taiji world, we have demos like this.
Looking to read the explanation for something that looks similar.

Sure. It's a demo by Ueshiba in his 70s. The beginning and the end are seated and standing demonstrations of the same idea: Ueshiba is resisting the push through relaxation and extension of his body (Tohei used to say "relax completely, keep one point in the lower abdomen, keep weight underside and extend ki") and he is also subtly rotating his arms without putting strength at the point of contact. He's doing it by opening and closing the hip and shoulder kwa and rotating his dantien. As a consequence, uke is pushing not only against a solid structure, but also a rotating one, which prevents him from applying force. The rotation allows Ueshiba to slip under/over the push and unbalance uke.

At 1:14 though there's a series of throws where I believe the students are letting themselves fall. They didn't want to embarrass him.

 

[windwalker099]

The beginning and the end are seated and standing demonstrations of the same idea: Ueshiba is resisting the push through relaxation and extension of his body (Tohei used to say "relax completely, keep one point in the lower abdomen, keep weight underside and extend ki") and he is also subtly rotating his arms without putting strength at the point of contact. He's doing it by opening and closing the hip and shoulder kwa and rotating his dantien.

When you talk about "extend ki," what does this mean for you?
Could you share the results, preferably in video format, either of yourself or another as an example?

Looking to see whether its analogous with the concept of 意 (Yi),
a concept used in internal martial arts (IMA).

 

[windwalker099]

At 1:14 though there's a series of throws where I believe the students are letting themselves fall. They didn't want to embarrass him.

playback time stamped for celerity
Try this. play back at the slowest speed and watch it.

We might have different opinions on this.
Waiting to see what "extend Ki" means

 

[O'Malley]

When you talk about "extend ki," what does this mean for you?
Could you share the results, preferably in video format, either of yourself or another as an example?

Looking to see whether its analogous with the concept of 意 (Yi),
a concept used in internal martial arts (IMA).

It's about filling up your body and removing the slack from your connective tissue. A good visualisation is to "reach beyond your reach" and "move before you move". This guy demonstrates it when he explains all the directions at which he's shooting his intent:

Aikido is the study of Yi (intent): Three Doka and the Aiki O-Kami - Aikido Sangenkai Blog

playback time stamped for celerity
Try this. play back at the slowest speed and watch it.

We might have different opinions on this.
Waiting to see what "extend Ki" means

At .25 speed I can see a couple of times where there is physical contact and one may think that uke gets destabilised by the extended arm, but there are other times where uke throws himself without physical contact.