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.