Combat hapkido is unique in that it straddles the line between the ancient and the modern. As the word “hapkido” implies, combat hapkido has roots in old-time Korea. But the addition of “combat” indicates that it’s been modified and updated to better address the needs of reality-based self-defense practitioners. So even though it’s an old art, it’s also relatively new—which is precisely why it’s attracting the attention of growing numbers of martial artists.

“Combat hapkido is down-and-dirty self-defense; it’s not geared for children or sports,” says John Pellegrini, the Chandler, Arizona-based martial artist who founded the style. “I don’t use the old methods—forms, ancient weapons, leaping and bounding maneuvers, or static stances and positions that have been proved ineffective in close-quarters combat. However, I’ve retained many of hapkido’s deeply rooted aikijujutsu basics and effective self-defense components, and blended them with elements from selected grappling and striking arts.”

Outlined below are three of John Pellegrini’s favorite combat-hapkido combinations.

Combat Hapkido Training

The keys to stopping an assailant as quickly as possible and escorting him to a less-volatile location, John Pellegrini says, are twofold. First is the basic rule of self-defense. “[You should] make the person compliant before you try to control him,” he says. “Never try to walk a person somewhere [while he’s] still swinging. You make the combatant submit by putting him in an uncomfortable and painful position. Only after achieving total compliance should you escort him away.”

The second half of the equation is the brush-trap-strike strategy, which is designed to help you execute pain-compliance techniques such as joint locks. “Never attempt to put someone in a joint lock at random; you need to distract and weaken him first,” says John Pellegrini, who was Black Belt’s 2004 Instructor of the Year. “Brush-trap-strike is a multifunction tool that keeps you from getting hit while helping you gain the dominant position as you transition from the initial engagement to the joint lock. ‘Brush’ means to parry or deflect the attack. ‘Trap’ means to get hold of the opponent’s wrist, arm, fingers or whatever. ‘Strike’ means to hit him with a blow to the head or another prime target with the objective of disrupting his brain waves or nervous system. While he’s reacting to the blow, he’s ready to be joint-locked.”

Note that the basic idea of the brush—avoiding the attack—can be accomplished by moving to the side, ducking or intercepting the strike with your own strike. Similarly, trapping can refer to seizing the close-quarters-combat zone, which gives you a positional advantage. Moreover, it’s possible for the opponent to unknowingly trap himself by grabbing or pushing in a particular way. Consequently, circumstances sometimes require the employment of variations of the brush-trap-strike and/or going directly to a joint lock.

Hapkido Technique #1: Hammer-Lock Escort

John Pellegrini (right) assumes the awareness position as soon as he faces the threat (1). The stance is designed to facilitate the brush-trap-strike strategy. John Pellegrini brushes the punching arm to the side and traps it (2), after which he strikes the man in the face with a palm heel (3). He maneuvers the arm of the dazed opponent down (4) and bends it into an L-shape behind his back (5). John Pellegrini secures the technique by pinning the forearm to his chest (6) and grabbing the man’s throat so he can escort him as required (7).

Stance: The defense begins in the combat-hapkido awareness position, the art’s signature fighting posture. It’s similar to a boxer’s stance, except that your hands are open and raised slightly.

Strategy: After you avoid the punch and momentarily take control of the arm so he can’t try to hit you again, stun him with a palm heel to the face. That primes him for the hammer lock.

Speed: Swiftly move into the hammer-lock position so he has no time to recover from the palm to the face.

Lock: John Pellegrini teaches a two-step process. First, place your left forearm against the man’s right forearm, and while you’re holding his wrist, push the arm back and raise it until the elbow is behind his shoulder. Second, leverage the trapped wrist behind the man’s body while applying pressure on the upper arm with your left forearm. (John Pellegrini advocates using the sharp edge of your forearm to wedge into the elbow.) Then let go of the grabbed wrist so you can use your free hand for other things—like seizing the man’s throat.

Tips: “Look at that secured arm as the lever, your body as the base, and your forearm, upper arm and shoulder as the fulcrum,” John Pellegrini says. “Use your fulcrum to crank that lever and achieve compliance. For a more stubborn opponent, you can cause extreme pain by applying more weight and torque to winch up the hammer lock while increasing the pressure on the throat.”

Hapkido Technique #2: Armbar Takedown and S-Lock

The attacker (right) confronts John Pellegrini and punches, and Pellegrini responds by avoiding the blow, trapping the arm and “shocking” the man’s brain with a palm strike (1-2). The combat-hapkido expert then executes an armbar takedown (3-4). He bends the aggressor’s arm into the S-lock position while dropping his knees onto his head and body (5). Pellegrini completes the technique by applying pressure on the joints of the twisted limb (6).

Stance: The aforementioned combat-hapkido awareness position.

Strategy: The assailant opens with a right punch, which you deflect to the inside using your lead hand. Then trap the wrist and nail him in the head with your left palm.

Speed: While he’s still wobbly from your wallop, transition to the armbar takedown.

Lock No. 1: Maintaining a firm grip on his wrist, place the knife edge of your other hand against his upper arm. Apply pressure on the triceps tendon while you twist and pull the wrist up until it’s against your hip area. That will cause him to lean forward, thereby crippling his balance. Drop your weight to force him face-first to the ground.

Lock No. 2: Getting the S-lock requires some wrangling with the trapped arm. Lift it up and push it behind him, bend the elbow, turn the arm clockwise and twist the wrist outward until the limb reaches the desired shape. Grip his hand with both your hands and tuck his elbow into your body for leverage, then compress the wrist by pulling and twisting.

Tips: “Like wringing out a mop or a rag, your pulling-and-twisting motion applies pressure directly into and against the wrist and elbow,” John Pellegrini says. “As you manipulate the arm, it’s important to lower your knees onto his head and kidney area so he can’t escape.”

Footnote: “The S-lock is like a gooseneck [come-along] except that the neck—your opponent’s wrist—faces outward to form the limb into the shape of the S,” John Pellegrini says. It affects the wrist and elbow and adds a little extra to really ramp up the pain component. How? By positioning the assailant facedown with your weight on him and with his arm angled behind his back. It makes the technique similar to a hammer lock, he adds. “As a result, you get to crank his shoulder, too.”

Hapkido Technique #3: Shielding Smackdown

The minute John Pellegrini (right) senses the haymaker, he flinches (1). His training enables him to build on that natural response to shield himself from the blow (2). He transitions to a knifehand strike to the face (3), followed by a blow to the windpipe (4). Pellegrini follows up by turning and executing a palm strike to the groin (5), after which he slams his left palm into the back of the opponent’s head (6).

Stance: Once again, it’s the combat-hapkido awareness position—this time, a bit sideways, though.

Strategy: When the adversary unleashes a haymaker punch, go with the flow. In this case, the flow is a flinch. Make it more defensive by raising your left arm as a shield. The shield sets up your offense by enabling you to launch your counterattack from the inside.

Speed: Again, it’s crucial to immediately transition to the counter, which begins with a strike to the face and finishes with a “brachial stun,” a quick knifehand to the windpipe. While he’s leaning backward, attack his exposed groin. The low blow bends him forward, which is your cue to whack the back of his head with your palm.

Tips: “Never use a fist to counterstrike,” John Pellegrini says. “Always use an open hand because it offers better reach, it’s more relaxed and it’s quicker.” Hitting that way is also better should you wind up in court, he says, because witnesses will be able to say he was the one who had his fists clenched.

Principle: “This technique uses the basic high-low combat principle,” he explains. “When you hit the man high, his head goes back. This pushes his pelvis forward, giving you a perfect low target. When you strike low, the pelvis moves back, giving you a high target. This confuses him, which gives you the advantage.” The high-low principle belongs in everyone’s combat arsenal, he says.

Daito-ryu is a Japanese core style from which many modern variations have sprung. Shorinji kenpo, hapkido, Kodokan judo and aiki are martial arts that were originated by disciples of daito-ryu that have since splintered into numerous modern variations of their own.

Daito-ryu aikijujutsu is one such splinter style that has somehow managed to adhere to the traditional teachings of its core style forerunner (daito-ryu) and its predecessor (aiki). But because of its adherence to tradition—and its insistence on retaining most of the more painful and deadly self-defense techniques—the martial art has remained relatively obscure.

Although there are several thousand disciples of the art in Japan, daito-ryu aikijujutsu is almost totally unknown in the United States. Most senior students of modern aikido know that their art descended from daito-ryu, but many are under the impression that the daito system became extinct several generations ago.

Aiki’s Many Branches

At the present time, there are more than 40 different styles of aiki in Japan, with most of them emanating from the modern branch started by Morihei Uyeshiba. While modern styles are widely taught in the United States, the older forms are little known, leaving many people with the idea that there is only one style of the art. Actually, old densho (teaching scrolls) are full of mention of aiki.

Long a secret art, aiki was first openly taught by Takeda Sokaku in the early part of this century. Takeda Sokaku was a man of frightening spiritual power and one of the last of the old swordsmen. In addition to being the 24th-generation headmaster of the daito-ryu, he was a master of itto-ryu kenjutsu (sword) and hozoin-ryu sojutsu (spear). He was one of the most influential and least known of the great Japanese masters of the 20th century. Among the more famous daito-ryu disciples were Morihei Uyeshiba (founder of modern aikido), Doshin So (founder of shorinji kenpo) and Yong Shul Choi (founder of hapkido). Another great was Shiro Shida, immortalized in such films as Sanshiro Sugata, who played a major part in the founding of Kodokan judo. Many people are not aware that he won many matches for the Kodokan, in the early days when it was struggling for survival, using the daito-ryu technique of yama arashi (mountain storm).

Modern aiki has gone through many profound changes during the past 50 years, primarily because of the efforts of Morihei Uyeshiba. A man of tremendous physical strength, he is the most famous disciple of Takeda Sokaku. He started teaching daito-ryu aikijujutsu but soon began making changes in the art. As he changed techniques, he also changed the name of the style, using successively daito-ryu aikijutsu, kobukan aikijujutsu, kobukai aiki budo, tenshin aikido, takemusu aiki budo and finally aikido. This last change came at the end of World War II. The bu was dropped because of the Allied occupation ban on practicing martial arts. As Jigoro Kano did with judo, Morihei Uyeshiba eliminated many dangerous techniques and modified others for safety. This allowed aikido to be practiced by a much wider range of people than the more violent aikijutsu styles, thus greatly increasing its popularity.

Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu vs. Modern Aiki Styles

The first thing that one may notice when practicing daito-ryu aikijujutsu is the power of the attacks. In most of the modern aiki styles, the attacks tend to be rather soft. If your training partner resists the technique, he does so not with his arms but by motion of his hips. However, in daito-ryu aikijujutsu training, the attacks are full power. When your partner grabs your wrist, he does so with the intention of trying to prevent even the slightest motion of your hand. He grabs hard, locking every muscle in his body, as if he was trying to crush the bone in your forearm. Proper practice should result in a mass of finger-shaped bruises on your forearm the next day.

The spiritual differences are equally evident. In the old days, masters used the terms aiki and kiai interchangeably. They thought of aiki as a method of spiritually overpowering an opponent, and it was a part of many arts, especially kenjutsu (fencing). While most modern styles think of aiki as a process of gently blending with an opponent in order to control him, daito-ryu aikijujutsu adheres to the traditional approach and treats aiki as a powerful blast of spiritual energy, little different from the karate kiai.

Falling for Daito-Ryu’s Techniques

Technically, the differences between traditional and modern aiki are very obvious. Although there are exceptions, almost all the modern aikido’s techniques stress the use of very large circles. Daito-ryu, on the other hand, tends to use very small circles. While the small-circle techniques are much more combat efficient, they are much harder to practice. You can use large circle techniques on even a beginning student without breaking him, but the daito-ryu aikijujutsu technique will require a very good ukemi (falling technique). The modern aikido technique will twist your arm, forcing you to the mat. The old-style technique twists your arm in an effort to remove it from your body. You are often required to throw yourself into a rather spectacular fall in an effort to keep the arm from being dislocated.

Most modern throwing techniques will result in large, circular rolls, while their older counterparts cause hard, judo-style falls. This sudden, painful action is a characteristic of all old styles and illustrates a key factor of traditional martial arts. Modern martial arts dilute their self-defense techniques in order to allow a beginner to practice safely. Traditional ryu however, takes the attitude, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the fire.” If a few beginners get broken, that’s their own problem. Techniques are not altered for the student’s benefit.

When you practice a self-defense technique, if your partner smiles, it is modern aikido. If he screams, it is daito-ryu aikijujutsu.

Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu

Although the traditional forms of aiki lack much of the fluid grace of their more modern cousins, they more than make up for it with combat realism. The daito-ryu aikijujutsu idea of a good training partner is someone who weighs about 300 pounds and has a grip like a hydraulic vise. If they can manage to throw someone like that, after he has been allowed to plant both feet and hold as tight as possible, they know that the technique really works.

Katsumi Yonezawa, a Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu Master

One of the most prominent practitioners of the art, Katsumi Yonezawa of Hokkaido, Japan, annually visits the United States to teach this ancient art. From the headquarters of the American branch of the Daito-Ryu Kodo Kai in San Luis Obispo, he travels throughout California giving lectures and seminars.

A small man, Katsumi Yonezawa is a schoolteacher, and if you fail to notice the very thick wrists, you might think that’s all he is. He has a very disarming smile and gentle manner that tends to relax people in his presence. His disciples have learned to ignore this, for they know that he is still smiling while busily at work tying their arms into complex knots. Katsumi Yonezawa’s students have also learned to pay particular attention to how he acts before class. If he sits at the edge of the mat waiting for class to start, there will be only the normal amount of pain. However, if he starts doing stretching exercises, students start looking at each other and quietly groaning in anticipation of some brutal throws. When Katsumi Yonezawa actually goes so far as to practice his ukemi, students start looking for a place to hide.

Daito-ryu aikijujutsu is not for everybody. It is just too physically demanding to ever be practiced by the wide range of students studying modern aikido. But to those who are interested in the foundations of the martial art, it offers both a window into the past and a gate to the future. Daito-ryu aikijujutsu is an unchanging path, straight down the middle of all of the modern variations of aiki.

(F.J. Lovret is the head instructor of the San Diego Budokan and the owner of Nippon-To, a shop specializing in the sale of antique Japanese swords.)

Aikido’s founder, Morihei Ueshiba, was born in 1883 in the fishing and farming village of Tanabe, Japan. He was the only surviving son of a prosperous father and cultured mother who considered him their gift from heaven. His premature birth hindered his physical development; even when he was fully grown, he was little more than 5 feet tall.

His father, Yoroku Ueshiba, became concerned about the boy’s small and weak physique and encouraged him to engage in sumo wrestling, swimming and running. As the youth progressed in the sports, he began to realize his physical potential.

Other than mathematics and physics, classroom studies held little interest for the young Morihei Ueshiba. Instead, he wanted to learn meditation, chants and religious rites from Buddhist priests.

Morihei Ueshiba was a restless spirit in his younger days, charging from one occupation to the next, performing his duties easily but finding no challenge in them. At the age of 18, he was drawn to the martial arts, and until his death, the arts continued to delight and nourish him.

Morihei Ueshiba Discovers Jujutsu

Morihei Ueshiba quit his first and second jobs because they were too confining. When he became politically involved in helping local fishermen fight an oppressive new law, his councilman father lost patience. He gave his son some money and told him to find a career that suited him.

After a sojourn in Tokyo as a shopkeeper, Morihei Ueshiba developed a severe case of boredom, and because of his poor diet, he came down with beriberi. Although he ended up back home with empty pockets, he was able to tell his father that he had found the martial art of jujutsu enjoyable.

In 1902 Morihei Ueshiba married Hatsu Itogawa, but little is known of her. A year later he was called to serve in Japan’s armed forces but was turned away for being one-half inch too short. The determined young man then hid in the mountains and trained passionately, sometimes hanging from trees with weights on his feet. He was accepted by the infantry the following year and served in the Russo-Japanese War.

Morihei Ueshiba and the War

Little is known of Morihei Ueshiba’s 18-month tour of duty except that he was praised by his superiors, who recommended that he make the army his career. Morihei Ueshiba chose to go back to civilian life, however.

In 1905 the war ended, but Morihei Ueshiba was ill and depressed because of the bitter fighting and the spilled blood of innocents on both sides. Throughout his early and middle years, these periods of illness seemed to overcome him whenever suffering increased in the world, especially in Japan.

A baby girl arrived at the Ueshiba household in 1910, and for a while Morihei Ueshiba’s spirits lifted. Three boys were born later, but only one, Kishomaru, survived to take his father’s place as an aikido leader.

Aikido’s Daito-Ryu Aikijujutsu Roots

The art of aikido traces its origin to daito-ryu aikijujutsu, which is said to have been founded by Prince Teijun (850-880), the sixth son of the emperor Seiwa. Centuries later, certain elements of daito-ryu aikijujutsu were still being passed down as the secret art of the Takeda house and were made known only to members and retainers of that family. Sokaku Takeda, a daito-ryu aikijujutsu expert, spent some time in Hokkaido and met Morihei Ueshiba in 1915, but their relationship suffered from jealousy and ill will. Morihei Ueshiba did, however, manage to receive certification in daito-ryu aikijujutsu from Sokaku Takeda.

As a young man, Morihei Ueshiba developed about 200 self-defense forms, some of which he had learned from Takeda. In 1922 he organized his own style of aikijujutsu, which he called aiki bujutsu. He later used it as a starting point from which to create his own martial art. Morihei Ueshiba traveled to China twice to observe the Chinese martial arts, and he incorporated those ideas into his aiki bujutsu. In particular, experts have noted similarities with the internal teachings of tai chi chuan and pa kua chang.

Aikido and Ki Power

In 1936 Morihei Ueshiba renamed his art aiki budo, and in 1942 he emerged with a mature, modified art—now officially called aikido. The new name is a combination of separate ideas: ai means harmony, ki means spirit or energy, and do means discipline. The master also added elements of other ancient martial arts, including swordsmanship and kito-ryu jujutsu, and included many martial arts techniques of his own. Emphasis was always placed on using ki to increase a person’s strength.

In his classes, Morihei Ueshiba discouraged his students from mimicking his movements and forms. Instead, he wanted them to practice a form so many times that it became part of their being. “Learn and forget,” he would say. “Make the technique a part of your body before you move on.”

Through aikido, Morihei Ueshiba developed extraordinary self-defense skills. He could take down and pin opponents of much greater size. He could throw a dozen men simultaneously. He ordered his students to ambush him from eight directions and easily manipulated them to his advantage while his feet stayed within a circle barely encompassing them.

It is reported that, in front of television cameras, Morihei Ueshiba challenged four men to lift him. Regardless of how hard they tugged, Morihei Ueshiba’s down-turned ki held him motionless.

Another time, Morihei Ueshiba wanted to demonstrate the positive attitude that ki creates. He told an audience that he could will himself to become two-thirds lighter than his own body weight. Twenty cups were filled with tea and arranged in a circle. He stepped up on the rim of the first teacup and walked around the circle of cups. When the circle was completed, not a drop of tea had been spilled nor was even one delicate cup cracked.

After suffering from periods of ill health over much of his life, Morihei Ueshiba succumbed to liver cancer in 1969. He was 86. “Aikido has no end,” he said before he died. “There’s just the beginning and further growth.” The founder of aikido may have passed on, but his art continues to thrive around the world.

(Jean Schaefer is a freelance writer based in Everett, Washington.)

Black Belt featured the fist of isshin kempo founder William S. Russell on its April 1977 cover, along with a two-part feature on his take on the martial arts. Three decades later, we thought readers would appreciate an update on the evolution of the system through the eyes of its current leader, Christopher J. Goedecke.

If isshin-ryu karate, birthed on Okinawa in the mid-1950s, was considered a radical system for its unique karate techniques—like its thumb-on-top fist formation and forearm blocking—then isshin kempo, the American offshoot founded in 1970 by the late William S. Russell, can be considered a radical commentary on mainstream isshin-ryu.

Begin with a bewildering assertion from isshin kempo’s current leader, Christopher J. Goedecke: “There are no punches in the isshin-ryu kata.” The lanky, articulate sensei says that after nearly four decades of practicing traditional isshin-ryu forms, “the internal structure of isshin kata present immensely rich and layered techniques beyond the obvious kick/punch responses. It has become our challenge to unlock as many of these lessons as possible.”

Isshin kempo evolved around several core questions espoused by Russell. Trained in Western boxing with peripheral studies in aikijujutsu, mantis kung fu and the hung system of kung, he believed the early presentation of isshin-ryu kata appeared disparate from actual fighting. He wondered if the gap resulted from a misunderstanding of the depth of its kata by early American followers and wasn’t a design flaw. Years of professional boxing lessons with a Golden Gloves champion, a tough teenage street life and his enrollment in a pioneering New Jersey martial arts school prompted him to anchor his forms with more realistic interpretations.

“Russell never doubted the effectiveness of isshin-ryu,” Christopher J. Goedecke says. “Like other professionals, he suspected that pioneering American students had simply not penetrated their kata’s core lessons. No one expected any U.S. servicemen, in a few tours of duty, to walk away with a full grasp of the teachings of a master with 59 years of experience.”

Isshin kempo grew out of William S. Russell’s scrutiny of the isshin-ryu karate system he found himself drawn to in his early 20s. Considered a rebel for his radical ideas about turning stress into productive energy, William S. Russell had a physical prowess and curious mind that ferried him through the ranks to eventually helm one of New Jersey’s premiere dojo. The Bank Street School, founded in 1962, was a high-ceiling, two-room facility that covered nearly 3,500 square feet. Its teaching roster included some of New Jersey’s top instructors: Robert Murphy, founder of isshin shorinji-ryu Okinawa-te; Shimamoto Mamoru, All-Japan judo champion; Gary Alexander, founder of isshin-ryu plus; and Edward Doyle, American-goju headmaster under Peter Urban.

The 1,000-man dojo that William S. Russell built in the 1970s provided grist for his theories about karate’s potential to unify the body/mind complex and tap into stores of personal energy. In his 1977 Black Belt feature, he stated, “The principal aim of karate is nothing less than to make its practitioners into complete, fully realized human beings, both mentally and physically—people who can call forth all their resources and use their total capabilities at will.”

William S. Russell’s system has since expanded into a multifaceted martial art with numerous followers who’ve stuck with it for more than 20 years. William S. Russell named his fledgling art “isshin” for its kata curriculum and “kempo” for the classical values he infused into it.

“Although Russell’s focus later shifted into the motivational and psychological realms, he was a strong kata advocate who planted the seeds for a technical legacy through his keen perceptions of isshin-ryu kata,” Goedecke says. “Since its 50-year run in the United States, isshin-ryu karate has gone through some difficult periods of fragmentation with limited reunification. This created technical ambiguities that Russell sought to clarify by provoking intelligent dialogue about isshin-ryu’s kata.”

Although the language has changed since the 1970s, Christopher J. Goedecke says that isshin kempo’s most significant distinction remains that of following the enlightenment traditions of the martial ways. “Our overall objective is to achieve a healthy state of ‘no conflict.’ This is not a contradictory aim. To understand the nature of conflict, you must find an arena in which to explore it. Martial arts provide the perfect arena. Martial study is ultimately about cultivating peace.”

Technically, isshin kempo consists of the Shaolin-originated rokushu (six-palm pattern) and a compact short form called “double arrow,” which slightly resembles the I-patterned taikyoku shodan form still taught in some isshin-ryu schools. Students warm up with kempo yoga, and black belts practice internal-strength techniques. Other non-isshin-ryu influences include kobudo forms with a 3-foot-long hanbo (short staff).

“We do, however, utilize all the isshin kata,” Christopher J. Goedecke says. “For most isshin-ryu schools, that consists of eight essential forms generally taught in sequence as seisan, seiuchin, naihanchi, wansu, chinto, kusanaku, sunsu and sanchin.”

It’s fairly certain from William S. Russell and Christopher J. Goedecke’s perspective that the first American isshin-ryu teachers walked away with fairly intact forms but an incomplete understanding of their technical potential. In a brief interview with Christopher J. Goedecke years ago, isshin-ryu authority A.J. Advincula concurred that the early American practitioners “did not know what they had.”

Consider also that Tatsuo Shimabuku may not have completed the construction of his own style. The Tennessee-based Buddhist master Arakawa Tenshin, speaking from 45 years of experience, said: “Why would a master of shorin descent, already considered a great master, create another karate ryu almost the same as shorin extraction but intensify its technique to a higher, more scientific tier? He did not need two arts, one in the same, but instead sought to present distinctive aspects of karate-do. Isshin-ryu was meant to become the hierarchy of the shorin-te lines, which he would elevate his black belts to study.”

Do internal principles exist in the isshin-ryu forms beyond the esoteric sanchin kata? Were the kata interpretations brought back by postwar servicemen up to par? “Today’s isshin-ryu factions align between the ultra-orthodox view that its kata depth was only what Tatsuo Shimabuku presented and, on the flip side, that isshin-ryu kata was an inheritance of a previously complex, principled and dynamic forms legacy of which Shimabuku himself was a student,” Christopher J. Goedecke says. “If the latter premise is true, then Shimabuku may either have only partially revealed or partially uncovered all his own kata’s lessons.

“We like what isshin-ryu has to offer. Rather than look outside our kata curriculum, we have peered deeper into it. As a result, we consider our system a rebel isshin-ryu.”

Does Christopher J. Goedecke believe there are no punches in advanced isshin-ryu bunkai (applications)? He admits to a partial ploy meant to arouse sleepyheaded karateka out of rigid thinking. “Far fewer interpretations of the vertical punch as a fist strike appear in our kata applications,” he says.

Isshin kempo practitioners interpret most of their kata’s straightforward vertical fists as part of a joint-locking sequence. Christopher J. Goedecke also believes that many isshin-ryu practitioners don’t fully appreciate their unique punching equation. “The thumb-on-top hallmark of isshin-ryu fist work was never meant as an absolute punching formula,” he says. “And the axiomatic witticism, ‘You can’t fall up,’ often used to describe the merits of a rising punch, falls short of a definitive rationale for punching in other directions. Specific internal principles exist for rising, horizontal and lowering fist strikes.

“One must consider if ‘rising punch’ is a reference to the arm rising from its waist-high chamber, a reference to the unique ‘pop’ sometimes seen at the end of Shimabuku’s vertical punch or a reference to a rising torso, resulting from extending the legs. All these factors are contributory. The devil is in the details. We’ve spent years evaluating kata subtleties. We believe Shimabuku was demonstrating multiple rationales to cover both the ballistic and joint-manipulative merits of this action.”

Tatsuo Shimabuku’s 1966 kata films clearly show the founder “popping” his three punches upward at the end of their extension in the opening moves of the seisan kata. Christopher J. Goedecke believes that current explanations for this action have missed the mark. Subsequently, most isshin-ryu instructors dropped the nuance. He suggests this subtlety isn’t a fist strike but rather the actions of a three-step arm-locking maneuver.

“Seisan kata is a master’s form with exciting layers of well-formed techniques and concepts,” he says. “We never believed that isshin-ryu’s first kata revealed something profound with the idea of stepping and punching into an opponent three times. That’s a beginner’s introduction.”

Okinawa’s karate history demonstrates an unparalleled expertise in the fist arts. Even the sanchin kata, found in the isshin-ryu, goju-ryu and uechi-ryu systems, developed in China and traditionally performed open-handed, was improvised into a fist form by an Okinawan master. Christopher J. Goedecke claims that wasn’t necessarily an improvement over the open-hand version. Rather, it was a cultural stamp on what the Okinawans knew best. They modified sanchin to express the height of their fist art.

Another of Christopher J. Goedecke’s insights is that isshin-ryu kata contain an internal infrastructure. “Okinawan kiko (relationship of breath and ki), or more broadly, energy-management techniques, are evident in all the isshin-ryu forms, not just sanchin,” he says. “Shimabuku himself used the term chinkutsu or chinkuchi to describe the synergy between the body’s biomechanical systems and ki. He even diagramed a particular sequence of muscular contractions for performing sanchin to illustrate the correct distribution of ki. The word ‘chinkuchi’ translates roughly as ‘sinew/bone/energy control.’ ”

“Shimabuku understood ki and taught energy principles …” and probably recognized these principles in his forms, says Frank Van Lenten, an East Coast goju master who studied with Tatsuo Shimabuku in the 1950s. However, because so few American isshin-ryu pioneers ever commented on this aspect of their art, one wonders if they were fully exposed to it. William S. Russell wanted to broaden the dialogue on those unspoken rebel teachings within his group because he’d experienced firsthand the tremendous power of tapping into the body’s internal reservoir. Although the concept of an internal isshin-ryu isn’t new to some advanced practitioners, most are unaware of its complex workings.

It’s been said that chinkuchi is the essence of isshin-ryu and that the entire system is built around it, and Christopher J. Goedecke agrees. “But until recently you will find little published in support of this statement, which is odd for an attribute of isshin-ryu that has supposedly formed the style’s heart and soul,” he says. “This material has scarcely been talked about since the founder’s death over 30 years ago, even though it’s known that Shimabuku was taught ki principles through his shorin mentor, Chotoku Kyan.”

In an article by Lt. Col. Charles Murray, student of master Shinso Shimabuku, Tatsuo Shimabuku’s second son, Murray wrote, “Power training (chinkuchi) is virtually unknown, I feel, by our isshin-ryu sensei today.”

The recently emerging details on the subject are more likely the result of our information technology and the maturing of those martial artists fortunately exposed to such seed concepts. Christopher J. Goedecke believes the topic of an internal isshin-ryu is shrouded in ambiguity within isshin-ryu circles. “We are talking about a very rich, very definable facet of Okinawan martial arts,” he says. “The subject is far from scant or ambiguous.

“Unfortunately, most students rarely progress beyond intermediate skills in any martial art. Since few students earn black belts, it’s not hard to see how high-level concepts and kata nuances are missed. Kata interpretations are generally multitiered in advanced systems. First-level isshin-ryu applications often begin with simple, linear, mechanical, blunt-trauma techniques. In isshin kempo, this is followed by bone locks, joint manipulations and internal-energy transfers. Maneuvers like blocks, spears, punches, kicks and stances serve very different purposes at advanced levels.”

If you’re looking for an art form, Christopher J. Goedecke says, you’ll find it in Okinawan kata. “The essence of the Ryukyuan martial arts has been neatly packaged and passed along to us even though the original intent for many classical forms has been lost in ambiguity. As East Coast uechi-ryu karate master and author Ihor Rymaruk commented regarding our understanding of such esoteric forms as sanchin, ‘We may have to reinvent the wheel again.’ ”

Goedecke reminds his students that all the pieces needed for that reinvention exist in isshin kempo’s forms. “It’s all in the assembly,” he says.

And so the isshin kempo assembly line takes up the kata challenge to strike at the heart of its teachings.

(D.J. DeMarco is a third-generation isshin kempo instructor based in New Jersey.)

This list is in no particular order. I could have put krav maga, haganah and others in there, but when I got to 10, I stopped. This list will piss off many instructors, but they have to realize, for example, that with a system like kyokushinkai, which came from goju-ryu and has many descendants like asahara, enshin, yoshukai and zendokai, they were not left out. Krav maga, for example, has nothing that the Okinawan, Japanese and kickboxing systems do not. If I were to include all of them, the list would go into the hundreds.

Kyokushinkai Karate

It has a great history of physical toughness and conditioning, as well as an arsenal of leg kicks, sweeps and knee strikes from the outside and from the pocket. Most K-1 champions come from this style. It’s weak on ground maneuvers, though.

Outlaw Tai Chi

It has an effective composition of quick strikes (cutting and tissue-ripping moves) to vital areas like the eyes, ears, face, neck and groin. The emphasis in training is on pure nonclassical maneuvers, as is seen in most other Chinese systems. However, this style is weak on structure and ground maneuvers.

Bando

Although strictly a weapons-based style, it lends itself to highly effective defensive techniques (without weapons) from old-school monk tactics largely developed years ago in Southeast Asia along trade routes. It contains bleeding techniques, head striking, low-level flange kicks, drop kicks and farewell kicks not taught in other kickboxing styles.

Kajukenbo

It’s a hybrid system that uses the best parts of other styles, from upright maneuvers to grappling. It was designed strictly for self-defense, instead of adhering to traditional rituals or sporting competition. Its weaknesses are a lack of movements to control the horizontal relationship with assailants—like all styles—and always using the hands as the primary means of defense.

Chinese Kenpo

It has a curriculum that encompasses all areas of self-defense. Practitioners learn a range of attacking angles, realistic scenarios and methods for defending from any position with any weapon. The main weakness is a lack of emphasis on ground maneuvers, along with limited kicking and knee striking.

Okinawa-Te

The original system had a complete arsenal of weapon and non-weapon skills. It had the perfect blend of old-school, pain-tolerance training with scientific skills that utilized the least amount of effort and time to produce the maximum amount of damage. Its weaknesses are the amount of time it takes to learn all the long animal forms (there are 36, with one having up to 500 moves) and a lack of “balanced” ground maneuvers.

Judo

Although it was created along the lines of a non-jutsu activity, which means it was designed mainly for exercise and sport, the best bouncers I’ve ever worked with were judo black belts. Because judoka spend most of their time doing tug-of-war-type drills with partners on the mat, they’re very successful in reality combat, even with their limited striking ability.

Aikijutsu

Its tactics for off-balancing an opponent before leveraging him—as opposed to jujutsu, which is more concerned with straight leverage—is a good system to bridge the gap between the sport/exercise aspects of the old-school (read: hard-core) jutsu forms and the free-flowing sport forms we see on TV. Beware of the ‘consumer’ atmosphere found in some schools today and the lack of effective striking skills when practicing self-defense drills.

Kickboxing

This style can offer the very best of realistic, upright striking skills, hands down. If you learn the old muay boran knees, the head butt, the bleeding and cutting techniques, and the old-school takedowns, this system cannot be beat. Its weakness is a lack of attention to self-defense as opposed to sport. The conditioning drills taught at most authentic schools make up for any need to practice purely self-defense scenarios.

Boxing

Few martial arts teach these two defensive skills: Use the head to protect the head and the body to protect the body. Instead, they use weapon-fighting tactics—using the hands to protect the head or the body. For self-defense from the pocket, it would be hard to defend against a good boxer. Of course, his lack of elbow strikes, groin attacks and ground defense is limiting, but for pain tolerance and conditioning, it can’t be beat.

What’s so aiki about peace, love and understanding?

Aikido is one of the best-known martial arts in the world, yet the meaning of the word aiki is not well understood. Most people, including many of the 1 million who study aikido today, are probably familiar with Morihei Ueshiba’s famous interpretation — namely, universal love and harmony.

In the classical Japanese martial arts, however, it has a different — and definitely more combative — meaning. Ueshiba’s own jujitsu teacher Sogaku Takeda defined aiki as “the ability to defeat an enemy with a single glance.”

So which one is right?

Hanza hantachi techniques performed from a seated position against a standing opponent (above) are found in daito-ryu aikijujutsu and aikido. They’re said to have originated from methods used to fight inside a palace, where much time was spent seated.

Koryu Bujutsu and Aiki

The concept of aiki can be found in some of Japan’s koryu bujutsu, or classical martial arts, and should not be thought of as unique to aikido. However, the interpretation of the word changed significantly by the time aikido was formed.

The koryu bujutsu were the arts in use during Japan’s feudal era beginning around the 15th century and ending in the late 19th century. They were primarily systems of combat practiced by the professional military classes rather than the civilian population. They included arts such as jujitsu and kenjutsu.

The modern budo — which include karate-do, judo, aikido and kendo — don’t focus on combat to the same extent. They’re considered vehicles for spiritual development and self-improvement, although great skill in fighting may certainly be achieved, as well.

For a better discussion of the differences between the koryu arts and the modern systems than is possible in this article, Donn F. Draeger’s three-part series The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan is recommended.

The word “aiki” literally means a fusion or meeting of energy. It’s no accident that it’s an anagram of the word kiai (focusing the spirit), and indeed the distinction between the two is blurry.

In the koryu arts, the application of aiki first appeared in kenjutsu schools (see Aikido: Tradition and the Competitive Edge, by Fumiaki Shishida and Tetsuro Nariyama) and referred to a contest of wills between combatants. Some other interpretations include the ability to gain the initiative and to use physical and psychological techniques to unbalance a foe. Over time, more esoteric meanings were offered, which would make any Jedi knight proud. They included the ability to see in the dark, to bring a walking man to a stop and to read minds (see The Fighting Spirit of Japan, by E.J. Harrison).

Several jujitsu and judo schools also teach the concept of aiki, but the first one to formally include it in its name was daito-ryu aikijujutsu.

Two Remarkable Men

Daito-ryu master Sogaku Takeda may not have looked anything like Tom Cruise, but it would be apt to describe him as the real “last samurai.” Takeda was born in 1859 in Aizu, Japan, and lived through the Meiji Restoration, the ending of the feudal age and the final days of the samurai caste.

From childhood, he was trained in several of the bujutsu of the Aizu clan, including the ono-ha itto-ryu style of kenjutsu and the family art of daito-ryu aikijujutsu. According to oral legends, aikijujutsu was created around 1100 and passed down secretly within the Takeda family. It’s said to have originated from sumo wresting and unarmed sword strikes. Daito (“great east”) was the name of the area in which Yoshimitsu Minamoto, the alleged creator, lived.

One of the fighting arts Sogaku Takeda learned as a child was the ono-ha itto-ryu style of kenjutsu (above).

Despite standing less than 5 feet tall, Takeda was a formidable fighter and personally pressure-tested his skills in several life-or-death encounters. The most notorious incident occurred when he was in his early 20s and fought a gang of construction workers in Fukushima. Takeda killed around seven of them with his sword after they attacked him with weapons and tools.

During his lifetime, Takeda taught thousands of people. His most famous pupil, however, was undoubtedly Morihei Ueshiba, founder of aikido.

Ueshiba met Takeda in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, in 1915. Ueshiba was already a strong fighter with considerable training in other jujitsu styles, but he found he was no match for Takeda. Consequently, Ueshiba abandoned all his activities to study with his superior. Contrary to the beliefs of many aikidoka, Ueshiba studied daito-ryu for a long time — Takeda’s meticulous records indicate that he trained for more than 20 years.

Ueshiba would later modify the daito-ryu techniques he learned and combine them with the spiritual teachings of the Omoto-kyo religion to create what we now know as aikido. In the later stages of his remarkable life, he played on the fact that the character for love was pronounced ai, the same as the first syllable of aiki. His proclamation that “aiki is the manifestation of love” signified his conversion of aikido from its combative bujutsu roots into a budo system that could reconcile human beings and avoid conflict. This probably gave rise to the vision that many aikidoka of today are familiar with and have as their ideal.

But not all aikido teachers agree that this is being pursued in the best or most realistic way today. Dave Humm, a British aikido instructor and prison officer, believes that reconciliation and conflict resolution without violence are high ideals that are overemphasized in many organizations. While he ultimately agrees with the ideology and philosophy of the art, he also believes that many aikido schools don’t fully condition their students for dealing with aggressive physical confrontation. He holds that spending many years training to control physically uncooperative aggressors is a necessary step on the path to achieving Ueshiba’s higher ideology.

That doesn’t seem like such a radical doctrinal departure when one considers that even Ueshiba defined aiki in a less-than-altruistic manner in the early part of his career. In Dueling with O-Sensei, koryu and aikido teacher Ellis Amdur describes how Ueshiba reportedly said, “Aiki is a means of achieving harmony with another person so that you can make them do what you want.”

In the same book, Amdur writes that Ueshiba purportedly taught combat methods at the infamous Nakano Spy School during the war. The former headmaster is said to have recounted how Ueshiba would demonstrate killing techniques, saying “This is how you finish them off.” Given the nature of the academy, the era and the activities of its members, he probably wasn’t teaching students how to love people to death.

Read Part 2 of this article here.

About the author: Dr. Nick Hallale has practiced the Chinese and Japanese martial arts since 1988. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and taught for several years at the University of Manchester in England. He has written freelance articles about the martial arts for the past 10 years. The author is grateful to Antonino Certa and Giacomo Merello of Milan, Italy, for providing much of the technical information about daito-ryu. He also wishes to thank Dave Humm of the Higashi Kaigan Aikido Dojo in England.

(Photos courtesy of Antonino Certa)

When comparing aikijujutsu and aikido, some generalization is necessary because several styles of aikido and branches of daito-ryu aikijujutsu exist.

Although the technical influence of daito-ryu on aikido is still clear, according to Antonino Certa, a daito-ryu teacher in Milan, Italy, the two are now separate arts with different outlooks. Certa, a longtime student of aikido prior to taking up daito-ryu, stresses that genuine aikijujutsu is not simply “hard aikido” or “aikido plus strikes and weapons.”

For one thing, Certa found that the number of techniques in aikido is far fewer than in daito-ryu. Morihei Ueshiba distilled a core of about 20 main techniques — including shiho-nage, irimi-nage, kote-gaeshi, ikkyo and nikyo — as the basis for aikido. United Kingdom-based aikido instructor Dave Humm agrees but points out that aikidoka can use those core techniques to generate an infinite number of variations based on circumstances, situations and methods of attack. The ethos, he says, is to be able to make any one of those applications fit any given situation.

In daito-ryu, however, the approach is very different. The techniques number several hundred, and each is performed only in a small number of situations for which it’s deemed most suitable — for instance, when kneeling, when standing, when attacked from behind, when attacked by a taller person and so forth. No attempt is made to fit a technique to all situations.

Sogaku Takeda’s son and successor, Tokimune Takeda, sits with students in their dojo in Hokkaido, Japan.

Certa found that aikido practice is generally conducted in a more “free” way than aikijujutsu, with a continuous flow and the use of circles to bind movements and applications together. In contrast, daito-ryu uses mostly formal, two-person kata practice. The techniques are short and direct, and tend to be more linear and angular than circular.

Daito-ryu also tends to favor throwing with a dropping motion, rather than an outward projection as in aikido. The objective in daito-ryu is to keep the thrown enemy close so he can be finished off, if need be. Also, where aikido often favors controlling (osae) the opponent without causing excessive pain or injury, daito-ryu leans toward breaking (kansetsu).

Relative Lethality

Another important point is that daito-ryu doesn’t claim to be a purely defensive system: There are several formal techniques in which one makes a pre-emptive attack rather than waiting for the enemy to strike first.

Although much of aikido seems to be practiced as a defensive form, Humm believes that it can be employed proactively in real situations simply by changing the mind-set. His experience as a prison officer serving in high-security establishments has shown that while the application looks nothing like the techniques in the dojo, the principles behind the techniques (distancing, blending and unbalancing) are definitely valid and have served him well when he’s had to initiate encounters.

The martial and often brutal spirit of daito-ryu is illustrated by the explanations of Takeda’s son and successor Tokimune Takeda. In an interview in Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu, by Stanley Pranin, Tokimune states, “The essence of daito-ryu is to keep alert until you have cut the enemy’s throat.” In modern times, health and safety regulations and the hassle of lawsuits make it a little impractical to actually cut the throats of partners in training. Therefore, the essence of the final kill has been preserved in a symbolic way: The practitioner delivers a sword-hand strike to the downed opponent, accompanying it with a sharp kiai.

Daito-ryu features more use of atemi waza (striking techniques) than do most aikido styles. In the early days, aikido training did include a large amount of striking — Ueshiba is famously quoted as saying, “Atemi is 99 percent of aikido” — but this seems to have been de-emphasized in many styles as the years progressed. The atemi in daito-ryu use the fist, the edge of the hand, the elbow and the feet, and are crucial parts of many techniques.

There’s also a difference in the use of weapons. Some daito-ryu branches incorporate the classical sword style of ono-ha itto-ryu and consider kenjutsu important for understanding the daito-ryu system. In addition to the sword, some techniques involving the tessen (iron fan), jutte (truncheon), tanto (knife), shuriken (throwing stars) and other weapons are taught at the higher levels in some branches. A few substyles of daito-ryu are alleged to contain aiki nito (two-sword) and spear techniques, but they’re rarely seen today. Aikido, on the other hand, is largely an unarmed art, although some styles, notably the iwama style, do include some sword and jo (staff) training.

The advanced teachings of daito-ryu also include aiki no jutsu, which are throwing techniques that appear to have been one of Ueshiba’s specialties, forming the basis for the kokyu nage (breath throw) of aikido.

Certa regards aiki as an important part of daito-ryu but eschews the kind of fantastical interpretations described earlier. In the above-mentioned interview, Tokimune Takeda remarked that, “Aiki is to pull when you are pushed, and to push when you are pulled.” Certa met and studied under Tokimune prior to the latter’s death in 1993 and seems to share this pragmatic view. In his opinion, aiki is but one of the tactics a skilled fighter can use. At a mechanical level, it’s a particular way of meeting force that differs from simply opposing or yielding. He offers this illustration: The opponent attacks and projects his force against the defender, who momentarily resists. That makes the attacker react in the opposite direction, and the defender yields in that new direction using the force of both people to execute a throw.

Rather than being a secret “no contact” power, it’s an application of physics, physiology and psychology.

Conclusions

Daito-ryu aikijujutsu and aikido are very different arts, despite their technical and historical links. Neither can be called better than the other, as they have quite different objectives. It would be wrong to assume that aikijujutsu practitioners are automatically better at fighting.

A good way to summarize things is to say that aikido is a modern philosophy and way of life that can also be an effective defense system, while aikijujutsu is a classical combat system that can also lead to self-improvement.

As for the exact meaning of aiki, it has proved difficult to pin down with a single definition. In fact, interpretations vary enormously from art to art and even from teacher to teacher. But returning to the question posed at the beginning of this article — namely, What’s so aiki about peace, love and understanding? — the true answer must be: Originally, nothing!

Read Part 1 of this article here.

About the author: Dr. Nick Hallale has practiced the Chinese and Japanese martial arts since 1988. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and taught for several years at the University of Manchester in England. He has written freelance articles about the martial arts for the past 10 years. The author is grateful to Antonino Certa and Giacomo Merello of Milan, Italy, for providing much of the technical information about daito-ryu. He also wishes to thank Dave Humm of the Higashi Kaigan Aikido Dojo in England.

(Photos courtesy of Antonino Certa)