Sensei Zoran Stojanovski, of Macedonia recently posted his take on the age-old karate vs. aikido debate. He posted five questions and sent me an email prompting me for some answers. I figured I'd answer them one at a time over several days. The first question:
[Can] a good aikidoka successfully parry feints of the good karateka?
.
Depends on what you mean by a "good" practitioner of each art.
.
If by good, you mean the ideal, ultimate master of the art, then the question is mute, because the ideal aikidoka and the ideal karateka could never fight. The karateka would ideally never punch unless he was sure of a hit. The ideal aikidoka would never engage in a conflict in which he could be hit. so, you can't really put the two together. (Sorta like trying to glue two similarly-polarized magnets together.)
.
If by good, you mean the ideal, ultimate master of the art, then the question is mute, because the ideal aikidoka and the ideal karateka could never fight. The karateka would ideally never punch unless he was sure of a hit. The ideal aikidoka would never engage in a conflict in which he could be hit. so, you can't really put the two together. (Sorta like trying to glue two similarly-polarized magnets together.)
.
But you probably mean something like a competent, proficient practitioner - not perfect but not a neophyte, in which case, the question is still no good. This boils down to the facet of the question that John answered in the comments to Zoran's post - whichever happens to be more skilled or more lucky that day will win.
.
A lot of times, I think the question that really lies at the root of things like this is more along the lines of, "Which is the better art, aikido or karate?" That can be answered a lot of ways, but I think since Sensei Zoran asked me for my opinion, I'll give it to you.
.
Aikido is the better art, clearly and by a large margin.
.
It is at least possible to win a fight using aikido skills practiced in every class without ever placing yourself in danger of reprisal by the attacker (disregarding guns). This is not possible in karate (at least not using the skills most often practiced in class - punching, kicking, blocking, joint-twisting, etc...). If everything goes right for the aikido guy then he is never in danger of even being touched. But even if everything goes right for the karate guy, he has to stand close enough that he might be hit or grabbed or dragged down.
.
;-) More to come...
____________
Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
____________
____________
Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog
