This is the third installment in an ongoing series of "A Layman's Observations" where I discuss my observations on martial arts and combat sports. Read the prior installment here. Since the early 2010s, there has been a movement that attempts to make aikido functional in a combat situation. The question of aikido’s effectiveness as a … Continue reading A Layman’s Observation: Aikido’s Aiki and Its Foundational Benefits
Siegel, Andrea. Women in Aikido. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books, 1993. In performing background research for this book, I found a review of it plainly stating that the pages were filled with women complaining and whining about their lives and experiences. This struck me as odd and perhaps too extreme of a view on the … Continue reading Reflecting on Women in Aikido
Aikido’s role and purpose in today’s age has become a bit of a conundrum with such vast perspectives on its form and function. Is aikido supposed to be a meditative art or something that someone can use in a self-defense scenario? Is the art just used as a teaching method for personal development or self-improvement? … Continue reading Thoughts on Aikido in the Modern World
The following is an excerpt from my recent book, Aikido Comes to America. This originally appeared on Tambuli Media here. At the heart of aikido lies something more than just martial technique or a peaceful and harmonizing philosophy. What lies beneath the surface of normal and routine aikido training is budo – the martial way. … Continue reading Four Principles of Aikido
Kiyota, Minoura. The Shambhala Guide to Kendo: An Essential Introduction to the Principles of the Japanese Art of Swordsmanship. Boston, Mass.: Shambhala Publications, 1995. After finishing Alexander Bennet’s Kendo: Culture of the Sword, I searched for another book that covered some of the same topics and themes. Finally, I came across professor Minoru Kiyota’s Kendo … Continue reading Reflecting on Shambhala’s Guide to Kendo
Stevens, John. Abundant Peace: The Biography of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido. Boston: Shambhala, 1987. The prolific aikido author John Stevens published his Abundant Peace in 1987, initially becoming one of the only sources of information outside of Aikido Journal on the art’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, at the time. It provided many Western practitioners a … Continue reading Reflecting on John Steven’s Abundant Peace
Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 