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 use only the perfect circle, except in the most theoretical of strategies, the art would not work. And, not to offend anyone, Aikido is not the best choice for down and dirty combat. While Aikido is an elevated art, and can evolve the practitioner spiritually, one should use a martial art like Karate to enter the fight, then turn 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 stepping in and tying a three foot arm circle to a wrist twist, try a hard middle block, slide in and turn the waist. As you turn the waist, bring the arms up to a short position and catch the elbow, shove your shoulder in and go with the flow. Go ahead, try this technical adaptation with a friend, even gaze at a little youtube to get the idea of the arts involved, and you are going to find an instant blend of karate, even the hardest of karate, like Kyukoshinkai, with even the purest of Aikido, even the soft taught by Morihei Uyeshiba.
Now, the above technique being examined, the glaring weakness of Karate is that it is limited, in most modern classes, to the fact of destruction. It has been altered to win the tournament, beat the other guy for a trophy, and gloves are used for more violence, and fighting is done for fighting sake. But, I have been guilty of shouting this from the mountain tops, while there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.
Thus, a study of Aikido, tempered by the things I have written here, will enable you to confront the fiercest violence, and alter that violence into the simplest of workable techniques. You kick, you punch, then you simply embrace your opponent and go with the flow.
A last word on this subject, don't mistake the throws of Aikido for those throws espoused by such arts as judo or jujitsu. While techniques of the jujitsu methods are quick and workable, we want to move from hard to soft in a conceptual sense, and a certain amount of hard is still needed to make most ju techniques work. That all said, I wish you the best with this new art you are creating, whether you call it...karido...aikate...your choice. - 30300
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 use only the perfect circle, except in the most theoretical of strategies, the art would not work. And, not to offend anyone, Aikido is not the best choice for down and dirty combat. While Aikido is an elevated art, and can evolve the practitioner spiritually, one should use a martial art like Karate to enter the fight, then turn 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 stepping in and tying a three foot arm circle to a wrist twist, try a hard middle block, slide in and turn the waist. As you turn the waist, bring the arms up to a short position and catch the elbow, shove your shoulder in and go with the flow. Go ahead, try this technical adaptation with a friend, even gaze at a little youtube to get the idea of the arts involved, and you are going to find an instant blend of karate, even the hardest of karate, like Kyukoshinkai, with even the purest of Aikido, even the soft taught by Morihei Uyeshiba.
Now, the above technique being examined, the glaring weakness of Karate is that it is limited, in most modern classes, to the fact of destruction. It has been altered to win the tournament, beat the other guy for a trophy, and gloves are used for more violence, and fighting is done for fighting sake. But, I have been guilty of shouting this from the mountain tops, while there is an art to destruction, the true art is in control.
Thus, a study of Aikido, tempered by the things I have written here, will enable you to confront the fiercest violence, and alter that violence into the simplest of workable techniques. You kick, you punch, then you simply embrace your opponent and go with the flow.
A last word on this subject, don't mistake the throws of Aikido for those throws espoused by such arts as judo or jujitsu. While techniques of the jujitsu methods are quick and workable, we want to move from hard to soft in a conceptual sense, and a certain amount of hard is still needed to make most ju techniques work. That all said, I wish you the best with this new art you are creating, whether you call it...karido...aikate...your choice. - 30300
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.
