“Distinctions between World War II combatives and modern combatives include: 1) The former tends to be proactive by attacking the attacker, whereas the latter is generally reactive with specific defenses to specific attacks. 2) The former is based upon explosive high percentage gross motor strikes to vital targets, whereas the latter is based upon fine motor skill grappling. 3) The former seeks primarily to disable the enemy as quickly as possible at all costs, whereas the latter seeks primarily to build “warrior ethos” and the courage to close with the enemy.”
Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.
“I am back home from celebrating my teacher’s (Imaizumi Shizuo Shihan) 50th year in Aikido. A number of years ago, Imaizumi Sensei and I were walking back to my house from a hike and in our discussion, he told me that his ‘shrine’ to Aikido were his students. That statement stayed with me and led me to come up with a gift from all of Shin-Budo Kai to present to Sensei at his celebration banquet. I solicited from former and current students stories, vignettes, etc. as to what impact Imaizumi Sensei had on their lives. Steve Self, from Durango Shin-budo Kai took those submissions, along with photos of Sensei and turned them into a beautiful book that we presented to Sensei at the celebration banquet (9/19/09). Those reflections re-affirmed my belief that Aikido can be a powerful tool for positive, personal transformation.”
“Do you train weapon defenses, counters and use, realistically? What weapons do you use in training? Wooden swords? 6 foot staff? Swords, staffs and spears were used on battlefields many years ago and once, were the weapons mostly used in combat. Today, the weapons used on the streets and inside homes are much different, more compact and easily concealed.”
The article below has been selected from the 
“Over the past 14+ years, I’ve paid dues at five dojos. If you ask why, there was a specific reason for each change, all under the heading of ‘my evolving understanding of what I wanted to learn.’ Only recently have I come to see that a related issue is that I was looking for a teacher and only finding instructors.”
The article below has been selected from the 
“Born in 1927 in Aomori Prefecture, Nishio made his way to Tokyo as a teenager to work just prior to the outbreak of the war. He soon took up judo at a local dojo in order to improve his frail physical condition. When the war ended, training in martial arts was severely limited by the occupation forces and the famous Kodokan Judo headquarters had all but ceased operations.”
The Buddhas and wise people highly recommend non-infringement where interference is not requested. The reason for this is that the results generated lead to an entangled mess.
“We begin with the rigid forms of uke and nage, perfecting what it is to be each, seeing how adopting the form defines the interaction within different circumstances.
“When you hear Self Defense, what do you think of? Many will think of firearms, pepper spray, or martial arts classes. But, these should be the last step in self defense. Throughout history, society has used walls, moats and other barriers as a defense or deterrent. Personal self defense should also start with deterrents. Predators will go after the easiest target. This goes for wildlife and human predators. The less you look like easy prey the better. This will reduce your chances of being attacked; but, unfortunately it can not eliminate it.”
“About a month ago, I overheard an exchange between sensei and another student. Sensei asked the student to reach up a little higher to achieve the proper unbalancing that makes the technique smoother. The student did so, but laughingly remarked that uke was pretty tall and she was pretty short and that made it hard to accomplish. Now, I can’t remember what sensei’s exact reply was, but he said something along the lines of ‘tough… you’ll have to get used to it. No excuses.’”
The lecture below by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba has been selected from the