I know, the question does have a slant to it, as one should be comparing arts such as Karate and Aikido more by complimenting them than opposing them. Still, having said that, let us discuss how the fist should fit into the glove. No guns or knives, just an honest viewpoint for your education and enlightenment.
Karate is supposed to be straight line, and Aikido is supposed to be the circle. Yet, if on looks at Karate, let alone the martial arts, one will see that perfection of geometric figure is loose, at best. If Karate could actually adhere to the perfect line, if one examines how the bones, joints, muscles and so on function, the body would probably explode, or, at least collapse upon itself.
On the other hand, if Aikido tried to adhere to the perfect circle and only the perfect circle, except in the most theoretical of philosophies, the art would not work. And, to be honest, Aikido is not the usual choice for down and dirty combat. While Aikido is pure and wonderful, and can evolve the practitioner in very spiritual senses, one should use a martial art like Karate to enter the fight, then look to aikido to control the fight.
The way to look at it is like this, distance collapses in a fight. The circle being made by stepping and circling the arm, and the lever of the extend arm is too long and unwieldy. However, Karate creates a perfect method to work your way to the inside of the fight, where you will find a shorter lever.
Instead of doing a two step and trying a three foot arm circle to a wrist twist, try a hard middle inward block, slide in, maybe with a short fist or elbow, then turn the waist. As you turn the waist, bring the arms up to a short position, lever the elbow, shove your shoulder in and pull. Go ahead, try this scenario with a friend, watch a little youtube to get the motions, and you are going to find an instant blend of karate, even the hardest of karate, like Shotokan, and with the purest of Aikido, even the soft of Morihei Uyeshiba.
Now, the above being detailed, the big weakness of Karate is that it is limited, in most modern formats, to destruction. It has been tailored for tournament, gloves put on for more violence, and given over to fighting for fighting sake. But while there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.
Thus, a study of the pure art of Aikido, with the things I have told you here, will enable you to confront the fiercest violence, and alter that violence into the most magical and simplest of workable techniques. You kick, you punch, then you simply embrace the arms and learn how to go with the flow.
A last word about all this, don't mistake the throws of Aikido for the throws of judo or jujitsu. While techniques of the ju variety are quick and workable, we want to move from hard to soft complete, and a certain amount of hard is still needed to make most ju techniques work. That all said, I wish you the best with your new art, whether you call it...karido...aikate...your choice. - 31491
Karate is supposed to be straight line, and Aikido is supposed to be the circle. Yet, if on looks at Karate, let alone the martial arts, one will see that perfection of geometric figure is loose, at best. If Karate could actually adhere to the perfect line, if one examines how the bones, joints, muscles and so on function, the body would probably explode, or, at least collapse upon itself.
On the other hand, if Aikido tried to adhere to the perfect circle and only the perfect circle, except in the most theoretical of philosophies, the art would not work. And, to be honest, Aikido is not the usual choice for down and dirty combat. While Aikido is pure and wonderful, and can evolve the practitioner in very spiritual senses, one should use a martial art like Karate to enter the fight, then look to aikido to control the fight.
The way to look at it is like this, distance collapses in a fight. The circle being made by stepping and circling the arm, and the lever of the extend arm is too long and unwieldy. However, Karate creates a perfect method to work your way to the inside of the fight, where you will find a shorter lever.
Instead of doing a two step and trying a three foot arm circle to a wrist twist, try a hard middle inward block, slide in, maybe with a short fist or elbow, then turn the waist. As you turn the waist, bring the arms up to a short position, lever the elbow, shove your shoulder in and pull. Go ahead, try this scenario with a friend, watch a little youtube to get the motions, and you are going to find an instant blend of karate, even the hardest of karate, like Shotokan, and with the purest of Aikido, even the soft of Morihei Uyeshiba.
Now, the above being detailed, the big weakness of Karate is that it is limited, in most modern formats, to destruction. It has been tailored for tournament, gloves put on for more violence, and given over to fighting for fighting sake. But while there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.
Thus, a study of the pure art of Aikido, with the things I have told you here, will enable you to confront the fiercest violence, and alter that violence into the most magical and simplest of workable techniques. You kick, you punch, then you simply embrace the arms and learn how to go with the flow.
A last word about all this, don't mistake the throws of Aikido for the throws of judo or jujitsu. While techniques of the ju variety are quick and workable, we want to move from hard to soft complete, and a certain amount of hard is still needed to make most ju techniques work. That all said, I wish you the best with your new art, whether you call it...karido...aikate...your choice. - 31491
About the Author:
Al Case has analyzed Karate and Aikido, and other arts, for 4O years. A writer for the magazines, with his own column, since'81, Al is the originator of Matrixing. You can learn more about combining arts, and Matrixing, by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
