Just out of curiosity, I asked a question about Steven Seagal on the thread in the off topic area. My question was about his competency as an aikidoka. I have heard good things about him, and was just curious about how you Aikido guys felt about him, from an Aikido perspective, and not a personal one. Em
Never trained with him so I don't know. Heard plenty of 3rd and 4th hand comments but they count for nothing. The Bear.
In the book "Aikido in America," which is about the people who brought aikido to America and about the early years of dojos and training, a couple of the featured people talk about Seagal. They speak highly of his skill on the mat. Wendy Palmer in particular, who partnered with Seagal in running a dojo in California, says in that book that Seagal would hit hard but he always hit cleanly. His techniques were powerful and he did not hold back, but his techniques were always perfectly clean. I've actually never read of anyone who said anything except that Seagal's aikido on the mat is very good.
No first hand experience, but I trained for a short time under Haruo Matsuoka, Seagal's former top student. Excellent Aikidoka.
I would guess that before the fame and fortune he was a good Aikidoka. Now you here strange stories, so it is hard to evaluate him as a person with out knowing him. Regards,
Well in the movie the lead character (Jack Nicholson) starts out normal when he goes into the mental home. Then as he spends time there he goes native and just a little quirky. ... Hope I'm thinking of the movie
