Overview of Aiki Jitsu
Aiki Jitsu is a Japanese martial art that served as the foundation for both judo and aikido. It is a comprehensive art, which covers a number of different ranges of combat:• Karate: Focuses on kicks and hand strikes• Judo: Focuses on throws• Yawara and Ju Jitsu: Focuses on joint locks• Katame Waza: Focuses on grappling and defense on the ground
Aiki Jitsu is a self defense marital art. Each technique (performed by “tori”) is a response to some type of attack (performed by “uke”), such as punches, grabs, chokes and strangles.
Aiki Jitsu is called “the intimate art”, because Uke and Tori will often be in extremely close contact. This may feel to some students like a violation of their personal space. It is designed to acclimate them to the types of attacks that may really happen to them, and give them the knowledge and confidence to be able to response even in a stress-inducing situation.
One of the key assumptions of Aiki Jitsu is that whoever attacks you will be bigger and stronger than you are. The techniques of Aiki Jitsu compensate for this by using leverage and biomechanics.
