Aikido Martial Arts Demonstrations

Aikido martial arts demonstrations are the time-honored way for Aikido teachers to recruit new students.

I ended up putting on this martial arts demonstration of Aikido at the Top Ryde shopping center, in Sydney, New South Wales, some years ago.

I wasn't planning an Aikido martial arts demonstration at the time, but we were approached by a local shop keeper.

The man was the owner of a health-food store. and he wanted to attract a crowd. So, what the heck, we went ahead and did the Aikido martial arts demonstration.

We hired a small truck to carry our rubber gymn mats to the shopping mall, and started our class in the usual manner... Bowing to show respect, warm-up stretches, some quick basic exercises, and then a demonstration of Randori No Kata - the basic 17 techniques of Tomiki Aikido.

Then the senior students went through their paces with some Kageri Geiko - free practice between students, one using a rubber knife.

This practise is done loosely and with no resistance at this stage. (Resistance comes later, and is built up by degrees.)

You can see a Kote Gaeshi aikido throw at full power in the above photograph. Uke (the guy who receives the throw) has to flip his body over his own arm to prevent it from being broken.

The person doing the throw is called Tori in our style of Aikido. Traditional Aiki styles call the thrower Nage.

At this speed, Kote-gaeshi is an Aikido technique for advanced students only.

All the students enjoyed the Aikido demonstration, and so did the onlookers. The shopkeeper was pleased also.

Martial Arts demonstrations are usually the first time ordinary people see "real" martial arts, as opposed to watching "kung fooey" martial arts movies.

The movies are all very well and fine, the techniques shown are usually brilliant ... but the average person never realizes how much skill and years of practise has been involved in Aikido martial arts demonstrations.

The other point with aikido martial arts demonstrations is that the guys taking those spectacular falls have trained for years to be that good.

If you did a throw "full bore" like that on an unskilled person, they'd be sure to break a limb or even their neck.

Aikido Breakfalls