I have become very pre-occupied recently with issues outside the martial arts world, issues that have given me a lot of grief over the last few years and it is the martial arts family that is one of the supports that have allowed me to get through these problems. Finally at a point when I start looking at myself and saying what does me good and one thing I realised was returning to my writing, which sadly means more blogs for you guys to read and I apologise in advance for my terrible story telling and silly puns. Anyway enough back story, lets get to the subject in hand.
I have already explained how back in the seventies as a little (Yes I was little once) boy I become aware of the martial arts due to the growth in popularity of a certain Bruce Lee, which actually meant my initial choice for my martial arts path was Kung Fu but it was the seventies and there was no social media, so when I expressed an interest in Kung Fu, my mum spotted a Judo club at the community centre down the road and that was as near as I was getting to becoming a Kung Fu master. Obviously back then my mum had no idea about the difference between Kung Fu and Judo, they were all strange arts from the orient and that was near enough. The years that followed for my mum raising a Judoka would mean that she became very aware about the martial arts and I think that she would now be fully aware of the massive difference between a striking art like Kung Fu and a grappling art like Judo. Maybe it was fate or some other mystical force that steered me towards Judo but it was obviously meant to be because my love of Judo has spanned five decades and is still not fading.
The world has changed a lot since those early days and we do now live in a world full of technology and social media and I have become involved in this social media world, like everybody else, especially around all the martial arts material, which is posted on the social media platforms. Now you have to be aware that there is some very dodgy stuff posted by self proclaimed "Martial arts masters", which has been very well satirised by the likes of Master Ken. The other thing I see a lot is the different styles Vs videos, which pits different styles of martial arts against each other. I think this is pretty pointless as different rule sets come into play making it an unfair competition. Also I have no craving to prove my martial art is better than others. I have always enjoyed Judo, which is a very full contact martial art so I would say that it has some value if you was transferring it to self defence skills for the street but that isn't the reason I have studied it for nearly 48 years, I've kept practicing because I enjoy it.
During my time traveling the Judo path there have been other martial arts paths that I have also travelled such as Karate, Kendo, Taiho Jutsu, Traditional jiu-jitsu, Jodo and Bo-jitsu. I still practice BJJ and have also been doing some work around developing a Shuai-Jiao Chinese wrestling group. There is one path though that I keep getting pulled back too and that is Aikido. I imagine a lot of martial artists reading that last sentence and thinking Aikido, that's not a real martial art it's useless for self defence. I love being controversial and this next statement will definitely rattle a few cages. I think Aikido is more of a martial art than current competition Judo and competition BJJ and that is because many of the principles used in Aikido have a direct lineage back to the Samurai on the battlefields in ancient Japan. The issue that most modern martial artists cannot understand is the low resistance way that Aikido is practiced, which is actually something we could actually benefit from in Judo as I spend much of my time when instructing beginners trying to dial down their strength so that they can actually learn the movement. The modern answer when struggling with a technique appears to be apply strength, which usually worsens the situation. One of the BJJ instructors I train with is so light when you grip him but as soon as you try to progress he ties you in knots with technique, not strength. On the other hand when I train in Aikido there is a female black belt who is probably half my weight or probably less but when she does a technique it is done with full commitment. She has wiped me out on numerous occasions with a perfect Aikido technique and I always lay on the floor laughing at the fact that this young lady of small size has wiped out a lump like me. It is quite funny as I am currently planning to do my 4th Dan technical exam in Judo this year but I'm more nervous as I am doing my 2nd Kyu blue belt in Aikido soon.
So I started this blog with the question "choosing the correct martial arts path ?". The answer is that it is a personal choice that you have to make but don't make that choice because someone tells you this is the best martial art or the strongest martial art. Try different styles, most clubs have a free first session to give you a taster. Maybe even try the same martial art at different clubs because instructors and fellow members can make a big difference to your experience. Most important of all is enjoy it, if you don't like what your doing in the club, stop training there. As for the self defence element, well all training will help with fitness and awareness but if your main aim is self defence then you probably want to look at one of the systems like Krav maga, which has an enthesis on practicing street attack scenario but remember the best defence is not getting into the situation in the first place so avoid dangerous situations when possible.