Aikido and Taichi 合氣道與太極

[skylee]

I've watched a TV programme about aikido and somehow it looks remarkably similar to taichi to me.

What do you think?

[kudra]

I've been taking Aikido for about 3.5 years. Never done Tai Chi. My impression is that while there is range of styles for Aikido, it is still *martial* in it's attitude.

This site

http://www.usafwr.org/

has general information and some clips from test requirement videos.

If you look at

http://www.usafwr.org/graphics/Videos/chiba4.mov

I think you will see what I mean by *martial* as compared to what I've heard/seen about

Tai Chi.

[Shadowdh]

I practice Chen style Taiji and can tell you Taiji is martial as well... it just so happens though that many turn it into more of a new age thing...

But I havent practiced Aikido so couldnt tell you the similarities or differences...

[Neil-san]

Taiji has been watered down in most venues - in the West as in China. However, there are still folks who know what they are doing.

Aikido as shown in Chiba4.mov might be considered a subset of good taiji. Qinna is typically used to control an opponent and keep him keep close, as shown. Some of the flowing might be equated with tuishou, but tuishou in taiji is a step to learn interaction skills as well as "flowing to advantage." Aikido was created with a certain harmony born out of combat. When you see demos like that, the student is well trained on how to follow the teacher's movements. It makes the teacher look good, but if the student offers resistance, very bad things can happen.

Taiji was originally a battlefield art that was also used to keep crowds in control. It included striking and other martial techniques that are not emphasized in Aikido. One aspect of taiji is the amount of time and practice necessary to master certain kinds of techniques. Typically modern "masters" emphasize one or a few groups of techniques over the others. The original art as it was practiced included mastery over more aspects of the training. It took a very long time, but it was very effective against other Chinese arts.

Some say that Morihei Uyeshiba created Aikido when he witnessed a taiji (or other internal arts) master.

You ask a good question. There are similarities in the arts, but after you get past qinna and ting jin, the arts and philosophies diverge.

Neil