Problems with Judo based Aikido

I have done enough technical Archeology of our Line of Tomiki Aikido is heavily influenced by Judo.  It's not because Tomiki was a Judo Guy.  It was because Sensei Karl Geis was a Judo Guy.  You know that you are getting judo interpretation of aikido when anyone starts telling you to wait on a guys feet.  Footfall kuzushi.   The form of "Aiki" that we study is really "empty jacket" judo.  That aim of the game where the other guy can't feel a thing when he touches you.  It is also reflected in the attempt to add " tactile invisibility" to any offensive move in order for the other guy to feel like he did it to himself.  Judo is also reflected in the kind of close to the vest footwork we employ. Don't step to much or your ass is going to be on the ground. This interpretation of aikido is fine if you are a judo player, because it allows you to explore a higher end type of" separated" judo.  And when things go to shit, you can always sling the guy down and wrassle with him. Shime waza is a real bitch. 

But if you are an Aikido student there are problems with what we do. The aikido as given feels ineffective as much as fifty percent of the time. You can do what most do and study judo and then you are fine with Aikido as taught.  But if you don't have the time to study judo you have to find other ways to fill the holes left by " defaulting to Judo."   You have to do some research which in the age of Youtube makes things easy.  You can find game film on nearly every major school and nearly every major player.

But for purposes of filling the holes left by " defaulting" to judo the best films to study are Gozo Shioda and the Yoshinkan line,  Tomiki and Ohba, and Shoji Nishio, as well as Morihiro Saito of Iwama.   Shioda, Tomiki and Ohba recieved basically the same instruction, a near to daito-ryu version as you can possibly get.  Saito recieved the "refined daito-ryu" with weapons work.  Nishio studied everything and made the connections and wasnt afraid to synthesize Akikai Aikido back into a state very similar to prewar with a heavy influence of weapon theory behind the techniques.

The first thing that you must understand is that aikido is very weapons influenced by Samurai dueling schools.  It's a classical weapon based approach minus the classical weapon.  Look at the movements in Tomikis Tegatana Dosa.   Every movement has a basis in either a shomenuchi(downward chop), side chops(yokomenuchi), and Tsuki( thrusting).  When these movements are extended past center or arrested in some way aikido techniques emerge in their natural form.  They represent two things.  How to move properly, and what happens if you move too far or too little.

Power is generated by  footwork, proper posture,  hip use, and applying strength at the proper angles from the floor.  But the common thread with all of the schools that I have mentioned is the proactive use of atemi. In aikido tsukuri and kuzushis are inseparable.  In judo they can be separated.  To gain tsukuri in judo one's posture must be broken.  In aikido, the maintance of posture and gaining position is part of the tsukuri. 

The release movements are taught from an empty jacket judo philosopy.  Don't let anybody feel a thing.  But in classical weapons and really any sport that deals with one versus one, be it football, soccer, basketball, there has to be an attempt to arrest the movement of the other player.  A defensive line man in football has to arrest the movement of the blocker.  Basketball and soccer employ change of pace dribbles and head/body fakes.  The notion that you can do something with out affecting the state of the other guy either mentally or physically is crazy talk.  

Atemi is what aikido uses to get one up on the other guy.  Atemi is implied in an hand grip where aiki age is employed that locks up the other guys entire structure.  We have it in the first two movements of Yon kata.  Once a persons movement is arrested by atemi or by locking his entire structure then techniques can be " released"  

The other side of this coin can be seen in daito ryu where one player keeps his hand near his side so that the other player has to break his posture and overreach.   Our releases can be done in both modes.

The other missing thing in our Aikido is the notion of Strength.  We have this cloud kookoo belief that we can intellectualize a guy into a lock.  That he will somehow be induced to lock himself up.  This implies a feeling out, and a chaining of one idea into another.  A waiting game.  Where in dueling situations decisive speed is what often effects the situation more than anything.  Budo is over in a flash. 

If you actually watch Tomiki demonstrate his techniques you will see that absent a katate dori hand grab technique, he employs both hands at an evasive angle.   Two hands are simply stonger than one.  In a realistic technique, the opposing players movement is arrested through either atemi or evasion and strength is applied using two hands at a favorable angle.  If the technique meets resistance it can be turned the other way through footwork or grip change.

The katate dori is actually a study in kuzushi either in a aiki age "release into"  or a overreach "recover into"  sense.  Two hands gripping from the outside attempt to pull or push from a favorable angle into one of these states.

Aikido presumes strong legs.  Strong stances employed in an offensive way.   Our line is influenced into small stepping and feeling each other out in Randori done with a Judo mentality.  Where Aikido techniques, much like classical weapons assume decisive footwork.  Jack tells folks often in Jodo to "trust in their Kamae."   The same hold true for aikido.  With good kamae you should be able to execute any technique. 

Techniques should not be Uke dependent.  By that I mean coaching Uke on how to move after he has executed an attack.  All the Uke does is give a committed attack using one of the classical modes of movement.  The rest is based on position and stance of tori.  

Toshu Randori should be practiced with varying degrees of resistance.  A tanto probably wouldn't hurt things every once in a while, to separate the judo out of aikido.   High resistance Toshu Randori is the strength and conditioning of the aikido workout.   What I have found by doing Tomiki style Tegatana dosa/unsoku, and high resistance randori( where seemingly nothing gets accomplished) that my strength has improved.  When someone asks what aikido is and I show them a "gentle" wrist lock they act like I hit them with a cattle prod.  We have discounted the reason for randori in the first place.  It improves techniques through resistance and it also increases our strength and vitality.  It has very little to do with winning and competition.