From: ryan@netnews.smithkline.com (Dominic Ryan)
Subject: Re: need info for my mother!
Organization: SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 14:19:10 GMT

ttrimble@eagle.wesleyan.edu wrote:
: .
: 
: here is a question open for any degree of answering that any of you out 
: there in netland feel like giving it:
: 	
: 	does Aikido have any forms in it?  if so, what are they like?
:...
: the info is for my mother, whom i am trying to encourage to take a MA.
: she really liked forms when she took TaeKwonDo, but she didn't like to
: hit people.  are there any other selling points of aikido i should mention
: to her?  are there any other martial arts which are suited to someone
: who doesn't like to hit.  (perhaps Judo? how rough is it?)

I have been back in judo now for nearly 10 months, I had taken it a *long* time
ago for about a year.  I had at that time taken aikido for about 6 months, 
which for that art is not long at all.  However, within this background 
I think I can offer some feedback on those, particularly judo.  

As some have mentioned judo can be fairly rough.  One difficulty that your
mother might have is in ne-waza, or ground techniques.  This is very
similar to wrestling but with a number of differences that are not worth
going into here.  Suffice to say that you have to be prepared for a
contact sport...  The other aspect common to judo and aikido is the
ability to take a fall, or in fact to take lots of them.  Judo really
cannot be practiced alone, training is always with a partner and you will
alternate tori and uki, that is between executing the throw and taking the
fall.   Judo also has arm bars (elbow locks) and chokes.  Aikido has those
and more joint locks, especially wrist, which lead to taking some hard
falls. (I am sure when done properly the fall is not so hard, but I had a
hard time getting those to flow).

Judo also places a high value on competition.  I include in this formalized
tournaments -shiai- as well as free practice -randori-.  There has been a 
thread on the relative merits of both of those aspects in the news group but
one way or another one needs to 'engage' another player.  It is always, or
should be, in good spirit but can be intense enough to make me wonder if a 
person uncomfortable with strikes would be comfortable with this.  It would
depend on just why however.  I personally enjoy being able to work 'full 
strength' and 'full speed' and not worry about pulling punches, but I would
not mind at all training in striking techniques if we had them.

Despite what reservation there might be in what I have described thus far,
there are essentially *no* strikes as part of judo.  There used to be a
very formalized 'form' taught ( a kata ) which included defending against
certain strikes, but this no longer seems to be taught and in any case
would not usually be taught below shodan/ikyu (black/1st brown).

Aikido includes more techniques that are much more self-defense oriented than
Judo.  Aikido includes knife, stick and sword,  with many movements coming
from sword based techniques including basic walking.

If my inexperience with aikido has done it any disservice I welcome
correction by those able to do so, or more experienced judoka for that
matter :-)

M. Dominic Ryan                         SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals 
(215)-270-6529              internet:   ryan%phmms0.mms@smithkline.com
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts