Three Common Elements to Three Martial Arts: The Three “C”s*

Posted by akazama on 4/12/2010 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

In Aikido circles, it is common knowledge that O’Sensei, and virtually all of his top students had prior martial arts experience.  But what specifically was it about this prior training that catapulted a select few into the upper echelons of Aikido mastery?  I believe that in addition to bringing prior knowledge of “martial awareness/suki”, what differentiated the good students, from the great students (Tomiki, Tohei, Mochizuki etc…) – those who advanced both in skill and rank very quickly (ex. Tomiki reached 8th Dan equivalent in 10 yrs at age 36!) - was that in addition to their sense of martial awareness, they had already trained and mastered three critical elements: Connection, Kazushi, and Control (the Three “C”s*).  These “C”s* can be found in many martial traditions, but importantly are common to the relevant arts that were trained by these top level masters, specifically, Sumo, Judo, and Aikido.  Below, are some examples that clearly represent these elements.  Note that the Sumo, and Judo players represented here, as far as I know, did NOT train in Aikido, yet if you look at the connections, angles of attack, and control, you can see many similarities to our aikido techniques.  The fourth clip from Endo Shihan I believe elevates those skills to a level wherein these masters in their own martial arts, were convinced that they could learn something important from O’Sensei.    

*Requires some imaginative spelling…

 Watch these as you would any aikido demo, start by observing the footwork, then look for how body position is used to achieve connection, kazushi, & control

Sumo Match: Asashouryuu (Yokozuna) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEe-UIvftUg

 

Judo Demo: Mifune Shihan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFXbuszijCM

 

Judo Match: Koga Shihan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6i3WaVNpGM&feature=related

 

Aikido Demo:Endo Shihan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylrcUJc7MIA

 

Sumo Match: Chiyonofuji (Yokozuna) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnLBxW_GBG4

Chiyonofuji spent time training with Tohei Shihan (could not determine the extent of the training)