What do you guys think about Yoshinkan Aikido vs Aikikai vs Judo?

Question

All schools are relatively close, but what are your thoughts? I know it is all about whether the Sensei (s) are good teachers, but what else? what about self defense? I took Judo for about 1 1/2 years and am very new to Aikido.. thanks in advance for any of your comments. Also, what about for kids? My girl is 5 and I want to put her in one of them..

Answer 1

I'll go more for aikido for you will learn more practical self-defense techniques there. Aikido is more on grappling. It's a good idea to enroll kids in aikido but wait 'till at least they are 7 years old and up. the best age to start in martial arts are the ages 12, 13 or 14. For people who are older, it is never tooo late.

Answer 2

This isn't randori, as we know randori to be. The guys posting the video may have not had a name for what they were doing, which was a free form sort of application exercise so they used randori. While randori can have a few definitions depending on the martial art, it is generally done with more intensity than this. This appeared to be more of a learning/experimenting session. The Aikidoka and the Judoka both looked rather relaxed in the overall intensity necessary for a true sparring session. If you will notice while watching the video (since we cannot 'hear' what is being said) the Aikidoka was showing his lapel to the Judoka and that was the target which the Judoka moved to seize while practicing his nage waza. I would agree with Judomofo about the Aikidoka not actively resisting the Judoka entering in to seize him. His resistance was minimal, more or less to me it appeared to be just enough to promote thinking. The same is true about the Aikidoka not attacking at all. Take a look at the 3 minute mark, there is some pretty obvious discussion going on during the exercise. If this was actual randori, I would provide critique from my point of view. I looked at some other videos posted by these guys and the Judoka was the instructor... Perhaps that would provide some guidance to what this video may have been about. EDIT - It is pretty funny how quick people are to answer without either actively paying attention to what is going on in the video, or even viewing the video at all! Ridiculous. EDIT - Good point Shiro Kuma. Sloppy technique is pretty sad, especially if the Aikidoka is a senior rank, or even a kyu close to dan ranking. I was going to pose a question pertaining to this very subject the other day. lol WE sure could make a better assessment of the video if we had sound, or knew the guys. Eh...

Answer 3

I'm sure a lot of people here can answer your question regarding the 2 arts you mention. I just wanna answer the part about enrolling your 5 year old daughter. I personally wouldn't recommend enrolling her in a grappling art at such a young age, Judo and Aikido usually requires students to pair up and apply throws and joint manipulation techniques on each other. And at 5 yrs old, she is still too young in my opinion, even with adult supervision, to attempt applying these techniques, accidents are prone to happen often. The recommended age for kids to start in these arts is usually around 13 to 14 when their hormones starts to act up. If you really wanna enroll her in a martial art, try Karate, Wu Shu or TKD, these arts focus more on personal development and discipline so a child would benefit more from these. Besides, you don't want her to actually apply throws, joint locks and choke holds on her playmates at home do you?