Is Aikido a Martial Art?

Sensei Henry Ellis Co-Author of the new book Positive Aikido.- 2005. A direct student from 1957 of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei 1915 – 1985.

At first sight of the above title I am sure that a lot of Aikidoist’s will be angry, they will assume that this is yet another attack on the credibility of Aikido by other martial artist’s. On this occasion they are totally wrong, I have been a student of Aikido since 1956, In those early days I first started Judo in 1955 at the Kenshiro Abbe School of Budo, I studied Karate with Harada Sensei and Kendo with Tomio O’Tani Sensei, so with my background I feel that I have something to offer to this debate.

First Impressions

The Aikido that I first saw being demonstrated by Abbe Sensei in 1956 was without doubt a positive martial art. I was immediately impressed by its positive techniques and power, and in those days my fellow martial artists and I were in no doubt that we were witnessing a devastating new form of self-defense as demonstrated by Kenshiro Abbe Sensei. Abbe Sensei had begun his martial arts career at the age of five and became a legend in his own lifetime. At eighteen he was the youngest ever all Japan Judo champion and also the youngest ever 5th Dan at the world renowned Kodokan. He later became the oldest ever all Japan Judo champion at the age of thirty three.

When Abbe Sensei arrived in the UK in 1955 he was 8th Dan Judo, 6th Dan Karate, 6th Dan Kendo, 6th Dan Kyudo, 6th Dan Aikido, the question must be asked; would this Budo master have studied Aikido if he did not believe it to be a martial art?

It is my opinion that Abbe Sensei would not have studied Aikido as it is today. Read more

This Is Why I Learn Aikido

You know, a lot of time… shit happened to us, especially accidental fall.
By practicing Aikido, at least I get used to take some fall.
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Kids Enjoy Aikido Training

Kids really enjoy doing Aikido training as you can see them below. Very funny little kids.
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Ki Secrets Revealed

Looking for your training enlightenment?

For more pictures, please visit: mikkabouzu

Video Music Tribute to Bruce Lee

Has clips from Way of the dragon, Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury as well as the footage from Game of Death and The Big Boss.

The video is called “Lose Control” but the song is called “Hero” by Sevendust.

His movies were and still are awesome. Especially when you look at everything else that was coming out in the late 60′s and early 70′s. He was 30 years ahead of his time.

When you look at how Bruce Lee trained through his books (not his movies) he was actually a well rounded MMA fighter. In his own series of books, he displayed a knowledge of wrestling skills, boxing, judo (he trained with Gene Lebell). He had everything from a proper fighting stance to take down defenses which he called “Tackle Defense”.

To sum it up. The guy was 40 years ahead of his time. And that goes for making movies as well as Martial Arts. Every Martial Arts fighter or fan across the planet owes him a lot. Read more

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