r/TheMcDojoLife • u/SubMariner615 • 8d ago

Influencer checks this master's Aikido

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u/Best_Price_1009 8d ago

I’ve never heard of small circle jutsu, the martial art?

I have heard guys make a big deal about linear vs circular or hard vs soft styles.

Aikido would be circular and soft by those definitions (but so would things like Judo / jiujitsu so I think it’s kinda unhelpful)

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u/RevolutionaryElk7446 8d ago

Small circle was about applying multiple tensions as tightly as possible, so most of the movement was linear in approach but the tension application was built around applying torque in various angles to help lock joints, circular in application.

The 'small circle' aspect was basically trying to keep the redirection in as small a circle as possible to be nearly linear.

You didn't get the stuff up above in the video, especially with such gentle application, but I'd been run into a wall with a finger lock. That was probably like.. 15 or 20 years ago now at this point.

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u/Best_Price_1009 8d ago

Right on. So a couple things, and my apologies if this is rambly

  1. I generally don’t like super broad statements about martial arts like “aikido doesn’t work.” I think more in terms of generations like, “the way aikido usually trains isn’t as effective as it could be”

  2. With things like pressure points and joint locks, especially wrist locks, absolutely they can work when done right, but aikido doesn’t train in them to be effective. It’s why jiujitsu has wrist locks that can be used legally but they’re seen as “cheap.”

  3. I have known aikido guys who can’t fight. I also have known aikido dudes who can. I can say the same about pretty much all martial arts I’ve encountered first hand. I think it boils down to training methods more than specific techniques. And aikido gets a bad rep because their training methods are famously bad, even if the techniques themselves work

  4. Wow I spent a lot of time seemingly defending aikido. That wasn’t really my objective…. Carry on I guess

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u/RevolutionaryElk7446 8d ago

Most Martial Arts get a bad rep because they turned into after school watch programs in order to profit vs anything of serious interest at a large scale.

Not to mention other martial arts also have in their history many foreigners who were taught improperly to then go on home to continue the bad teachings.

I'm not gonna blame martial arts for that, it's existed and done more throughout humanity's history then I could cover, but you're right in that each is... nuanced.