Aikido was something that I really was interested in for a long time and although it does line up with my spiritual philosophy, I felt (for me) that it didn’t contain enough supporting tools to make me feel like I’d done all that I could to train for a self defense situation. It’s beautiful though - Christian Tissier is a practitioner that is one of the best IMO His demos look like artwork that makes people fly around.
Hapkido shares the same techniques and if you want to look into the lineage I read that the acknowledged founder of Hapkido, Choi Young Sool was apparently taught by the man who taught O Sensei although I think there are no supporting documents.
It is a very respectable art though and if I didn’t find Hapkido I would be doing Aikido or maybe Judo. Because I love the throws.
Aikido Journal’s Josh Gold touches on the various claims regarding Choi and Takeda Sokaku, founder of Daito Ryu whose students went on to create their own arts (Ueshiba, Doshin So, etc.) in this short article and says he found a number of Hapkido techniques, which in his opinion bear similarities to Daito Ryu and aiki-arts techniques.
I briefly attended a Hapkido dojang under the lineage of Ji Han Jae. I didn’t get as far in Aikido as Mr. Gold but I also thought the throws, locks, etc. were similar. Jae though added all these high kicks, jumping kicks, etc. which I didn’t care for at the time, as I would have preferred to spend the training time working more on the throws, locks, etc. We were also encouraged to attend the sparring class, which turned out to be sparring under Tae Kwan Do rules. I was kind of lost there because most of my opponents would kick in a motion that exposed their back to me, and I’d pounce on them, then remember that no grappling - under those rules - was allowed. The opponents who scared me the most were the little kids because they were in range to punch to the family jewels.
Ironically, now that I’m practicing Chen Taijiquan, I have to deal with kicks, though most of those do not go higher than shoulder height.
The kids are terrifying aren’t they?! I still don’t care for high kicks or jumping kicks or like you said, anything where I have to expose my back.
My body is built for throwing and low kicks. “If I want to kick someone in the head I’ll bring their head to my foot” I’m really not that into sparring either although I do understand that it’s needed to present a controlled situation that puts two people together to test their skills. It’s necessary for learning self defense. My problem is that I get frustrated because I have to hold back and all I think about is that I could be breaking kneecaps and elbows but am not allowed
Shuai Jiao (and maybe judo / Korean yudo (although I’ve not trained in those)) is interesting in that sparring is based on just getting that throw so it’s a completely different angle and perspective.
I want to get to 2nd dan in Hapkido and then I’ll probably put way more focus on Shuai Jiao. The footwork and counters that they can pull of are absolutely amazing. Shuai Jiao has helped me see a lot of deficiencies in some of my techniques and therefore makes me better at hapkido. Hapkido has a lot of similarities in some of the techniques and that gives me at least a little bit of Insight with that art so it’s kind of a win win.
What did you find the hardest for you in your Aikido training? Or in your current Chen Taijiquan training? For me it was the falling. It took a lot of throws before I was comfortable. Oh and the fact that I would always gas out faster than the teens and young adults in their 20s. Don’t take those years of unlimited energy for granted kids!!
Muay Thai and Wing Chun are very different, though. I think everybody can easily try WT while MT might be a bit tough in the first weeks, until you define ‚some pain‘ as ‚part of the fun‘ MT is a fair competitive style made for the ring while WT is all about self defense and serious discussions about bad guys with knives, whichever you like more.
I very much prefer fair sparring over self-defense stuff, previously in kick-boxing, MT and some TKD, now pure TKD.
During my time in Aikido, I struggled the most with forward and backward rolls. Every dojo wants you to roll their specific way, usually because of tradition. When I started training with the Taikyoku Budo folks, I got Ellis Amdur’s DVD Ukemi From The Ground Up, since they pretty much follow his teachings. I prefer Amdur’s approach, like for example doing back roll by squatting down on both legs instead of the traditional one leg squat with the other leg tucked behind. I also liked Amdur’s defensive approach for ukemi, which was very similar to what is taught at the last pure Aikido (not Taikyoku Budo) dojo I attended - as the uke, let your partner practice his/her technique, but be prepared to protect yourself in case your partner screws up or otherwise has bad intentions. There are stories in the Aikido world of jerks taking advantage of cooperative training partners. Amdur’s most controversial opinion regarding ukemi is that back rolls are rarely practical.
I came away from Aikido with the impression that if your thrower is really good, you don’t have to worry about your falling skills. Ikeda Hiroshi-sensei had me grab his forearm with as much force as possible, and he sent me on such a joyful, spinning ride through the air that I couldn’t help but laugh with delight after I landed on the mat. He made his forearm spin like a drill bit and off I went!
Ikeda-sensei I can whole-heartedly endorse for any Aikido devotee curious about checking out a seminar with one of those traveling master teachers. Some of the high-ranking sensei on the seminar circuit are rumored to use ukes who know what is expected of them, like dance partners in a rehearsed dance routine. Ikeda-sensei is not one of them. Also, he has cross-trained in Systema, trained with an interesting karate sensei whose name I can’t recall, trained in Chen Taijiquan, etc. all in his own research to broaden his knowledge of unusual body methods.
One disadvantage of my Chen Taijiquan studies these days is because I only take lessons one on one with my teacher, I rarely get opportunities to test my jin and suit skills with a partner, like I did when I was training with the Taikyoku Budo folks, which also included crosstraining with BJJ folks. Best I can do for jin practice is the standing pole exercise and practicing jin against a wall and stuff like that. Other than that, working with the “suit” is an ongoing challenge and process. The silk reeling exercises are a way of practicing using the “suit”/dantian, and so are the forms, except some moves are more difficult than others to figure out where the suit fits.
The Turkish Getup practice - not part of Taijiquan of coruse - is pretty much a side breakfall in slow motion, so I’m not too worried about losing my falling skills.
When it comes to pure entertainment this is one of my favorite fighting scenes. Shows a variety of techniques and lasts long enough and most importantly doesn´t have this hectic quick cut close up camera work which I don´t enjoy at all in fighting scenes.
Came across this interview with Qiu Baolong. I see some things in common between Bajiquan and Chen Taijiquan - a lot of close-range strikes with elbows, shoulder, etc.; a “jab” which might actually be a full-power strike, “hollow chest” with rounded shoulders, etc. The forward stepping he shows, however, is more like what I’ve seen in Xinyiquan than in Taijiquan. I like how he’s dressed in normal clothes instead of the baggy, shiny outfits seen in wushu demos.
MT is a fair competitive style made for the ring while WT is all about self defense and serious discussions about bad guys with knives, whichever you like more.