Tomiki Aikido Author:Neil Saunders The Japanese martial art of Aikido was developed by Morihei Ueshiba O Sensei and comprises of a number of joint twisting, pinning and striking techniques. Several of Ueshiba's distinguished students developed their own interpretation of his teachings which has resulted in several different approaches to learning Aikido. Once such approach was de... more »veloped by Kenji Tomiki who was also a student of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo.
Tomiki Aikido which is also known as Shodokan Aikido is the only style of Aikido which holds regular competitions. The competitive aspect of this system is often a highly controversial topic within the Aikido world, which generally detracts from Tomiki's systematic and logical teaching methodologies.
The basic premise of Tomiki Aikido is that to truly understand the core principles of the system one must not merely practice repetitious kata forms. Randori training enables a student to learn the core principles and thus the true power that can be generated through kata techniques by allowing a student to practice against an aggressive, resisting and knowledgeable opponent.
Tomiki Aikido is a follow up to Aikido - The Tomiki Way and acts as a useful reference guide to a beginner and an advanced practitioner of Aikido. This book contains over 400 photographs demonstrating the kata's of the Goshin-Ho, Tanto Randori-No-Kata, and the Basic 15 (i.e. the precursor to the Randori-No-Kata). Furthermore, it also demonstrates a number of important points that are common for a number of basic techniques within the Tomiki system and in Aikido in general.« less