?Why do Filipinos prefer foreign martial arts?

Hi Pax,

I don't know too much about Aikido only from what I've seen and exchanged from a friend, but as we've both said before, when does nanything ever look like it does in the training hall or backyard? As I understand it, Aikido works on a point of commitment (and like you, I think this is over exaggerated in demos) and you'll rarely see this type of commited move in the ring or octagon. I think it's just the wrong environment for that art to function in.

 

I read it is also taught to the presidential bodyguards in the Philippines...
There is also a Pinoy ma called Combat Aikido, but I never saw it.

 

Originally Posted by krys
+ Aglipay was supposed to be invincible at Arnis and he was Illocano.


Don't forget DIEGO SILANG and his wife GABRIELA.

 

I've had considerable experience with aikido and unfortunately some time was well with Tapondo

It's difficult to generalize on a MA so I hope that the aikidokas here will forgive me. This is just my opinion.

The problems with aikido are:

It takes too long to learn. To be good at it, achieving a level of skill to apply it effectively against skilled attackers, you need to spend a lot of years practicing it. You'll need to achieve the same skill level as a professional teacher in Tokyo and be prepared to apply strikes and other technique not usually taught in most aikido styles.

Too much focus on the founder's performance in his later years has dulled the sharp edge of this MA. Morehei Ueshiba was very skilled and very capable of using aikido and so were a lot of his direct students but he was also famous for training incredibly hard in his younger years. This hard training was a foundation for his skills in his later years but a lot of current aikido students, exposed to Ueshiba’s films from the 1960s and his teachings as an older man, pattern their movement and practice according to his more mature development instead of starting where he did, with combative practice. One sign of this is aikido’s general lack of atemi.

Aikido is too stylized. Attacks are obviously patterned after classical jujitsu but this has become abstract to the point of being more symbolic than practical. To apply aikido in a SD situation, the aikidoka will have to go to great lengths to adapt his skills to the situation. The same goes for all MA but the overly stylized attacks in aikido practice requires a lot of changes from practice to application. The stylized attacks and practice often instill a false sense of security and capability in the student.

Comparing FMA and aikido is really apples and oranges. There are some similarities but there are more differences. IMHO, FMA is much more practical, as an empty hand art and even more as a weapon system.

Aikido has its uses. For example, as a arrest system for police, it is quite effective. If you trained well and long enough, it can be an effective skills for those in the protection and bouncer business. Peyton Quinn, the author of “Bouncer’s guide to barroom brawling”, thinks very highly of aikido.

Its theoretical basis is also sound. Its philosophical foundation is quite fascinating and is much more evolved than anything I have come across in FMA so far. The teachings of Morehei Ueshiba, on using aikido to create a better world, would seem a bit too utopian but it seeks to bring the art and its practitioners to a higher level of understanding and behavior in society. In this world of MMA and caged fights, this philosophy is definitely a step forward. On the other hand, it’s been said that it’s best to talk of peace from a position of strength.

Having said this, let me stress that aikido is practiced by an enormous range of people with various goals, from very hardcore to very soft. I'm sure the former will have more SD applicable skills than the latter. I’m sure there’s practical aikido out there. But IMHO the tofu munching, aromatherapy loving, Enya inspired type is more common.

As for tapondo, it’s a *******ized form of aikido, plain and simple. Five percent aikido and 95% BS. If there’s ever a list of aikido mcdojos, this pathetic excuse for a MA would be at the very top of the list. Now that authentic aikido is easy to find all over Manila, hopefully this horrible mutation will wither and die.

 

aside from a lot of misconceptions, FMA is hardly marketed here that is why it is not readily accessible. Many Filipinos still have that colinial mentality that anything foreign is better than anything Filipino.

I also believe that FMA is not suited for MMA but rather for the street

 

I suppose he isn't. What I meant was he is a newbie to the actual fear of what can happen when you go against somebody with a knife.

To krys: Combat Aikido has its roots in aikido but looks more like hapkido in practice. As a friend in aikido told me once, if you as tori let the uke come to you, in Combat Aikido you as the tori get to chase the uke and throw him around.

 

Furthermore, the name itself already inspires suspicion. Of course, we know that "Tapondo" was so named because some smart-aleck thought of throwing techniques and tried to Filipinize it by finding the first Tagalog word for "throw" that came to mind: tapon.

But, heck! this is incorrect. Has anyone tried to "tapon" (throw, as in, like you throw away a piece of trash) a person? Or should it have been "hagis" (throw, as in, when you throw down a sack of rice or wheat), or even "itsa" (throw, as in, as when you do a hammer throw, or when you throw a sack of rice or wheat up onto a truck). Even if we can, by the longest stretch, pretend that "-do" is a Pinoy way of describing a martial art, using the word "tapon" clearly cannot, as the other two verbs are more applicable.

So, we see a b@st@rdized form of MA, Filipinized kuno, yet named in such a way as to make it sound foreign, and therefore valid.

If there was a candidate for a McDojo, would this be it?

 

Actually the military russian martial arts of systema-ross give you all the aikido skills in a very short amount of time, this is a good article on the relevance of both arts: http://www.aikidojournal.com/new/article.asp?ArticleID=36

Systema-ROSS has also many common principles with fmas (it is a principles based art, not technique based ), it can be used as an ideal complement to enhance fmas skills and can actually help you to get a better understanding of your martial arts.

 

i believe Bakbakan international has a combat effective redirecting/grappling/locking art. It called sagasa. Where as akido requires you to get sensitive with the energy of the opponent (yes which i beleive takes years to acheive) sagasa forces the techniques in through weighing down the opponent.

From this point of view it makes aikido rectionary and sagasa proactive. Sagasa assumes that the enemy will not cooperate in a grappling situation and rather try to disengage.

by the way does anyone know of a Bakbakan session hall around QC?

 

the PSG? oh c'mon. really? as far as i know Aikido isn't even taught in the NBI, just correct me if i'm wrong, it was suppose to be taught but i think one very unfortunate event during the instructor's demo ended the class.

you should see it on tv. see the guy on a supposedly hakama colored red that's the originator of Combat Aikido but no comment hehe... baka magalit sakin c Maganto.

 

er, i hope you don't mind. a little correction, the grappling practiced at bakabakan is called hagibis. the kickboxing/ stand-up work is called sagasa. the knife work is called tulisan and is based on tatang illustrissimo's knife work.

bakbakan is in sucat/ paranaque. i heard of sessions in makati in pasong tamo, i wouldn't know if it's on going. i hear master topher goes there to teach at times. i also heard rumor that bakbakan had something going at celeberty sports. but i heard that around two years ago.

just a side note here. back in the 80s and 90s, the only way to get into bakbakan was through sponsorship and a form of testing and interview by master topher himself. i don't know if that system is still in place.

will try to post the contact numbers here (assuming i could still find it and the big nasty cooperates). or you could try this site: bakbakan.

 

Yes I read it in the Inquirer.... one lieutnant said they learned it..

Did this NBI event involve a knive?
In Serbia there was a very unfortunate incident involving a british SAS knive instructor sent there to teach knive defence to serb SF...

 

from what i've heard no knives. the instructor supposedly a high ranking black belt took one person from the students as uke and asked him to attack. the uke asked "really?" when he confirmed, there goes the attack. the attack was just a straight middle body punch the follow-up however was a back fist and elbow. he just wasn't able to handle the attack to make the story short.

 

"Tapon" is also synonymous with "pasak" (as in plug or plugging). When you plug a hole you can say that you are putting a "tapon" in it. Funny isn't it?

"Tapon" your face!

 

I didn't realize this connection... tapon like tapon ng basura... this is really shameless......

But in some places of the western world we also have peoples teaching silat "sabungin", pok-pok pocketstickfighting !?!

 

What?! Pok-pok?!

Will there be clubs opening that will advertize therir art as "Pok-pokan!"

God forbid!

 

Ok, guys. Keep mum. Nobody has to know what "Pok-Pok" really means.

Unless there is some valid insight as to the name.

Gaaaaahhhh...

 

Ok... let's keep quiet. I just can't believe sometimes what fake instructors (foreigners and pinoys) are making up to attract students and take their money....
This is even happening in the Philippines right now....

Did you know you could earn a PhD in fmas? Doctor of Escrima ?!?

 

Really? Do they have to submit a thesis?

 

doctor of escrima? wait, i have one better! a datu! a datu of an art! wow! datus are political leaders of a given tribe!