How Hierarchy Corrupts and Ruins Martial Arts

Hierarchy in Aikido and other martial arts can lead to bad results. While it is used to support the structure of martial arts organizations functioning and make the training more engaging, it can actually create a lot of toxicity if left unchecked. Thus in this Martial Arts Explored video we will take a look at the dark side of hierarchy in Aikido and other martial arts.

Learn why Aikido is disliked by BJJ and MMA practitioners here
► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loXqgWXSUUI

Subscribe to the Martial Arts Journey channel
► http://bit.ly/1KPZpv0

Many martial arts lean on a system of hierarchy. The desire to receive a black belt, while should never be the main motivation for training, can give an extra push to some, when they start lacking the discipline to come to training. Knowing who is what rank can give a better way to navigate around the dojo or gym, this way realizing the skill level of others, and ourselves, and knowing of whom to ask for an advice in a new technique. Yet while there are positive sides to hierarchy in martial arts, there is also a very dark side to it, that is not often addressed.

Hi, my name is Rokas, and in this Martial Arts Journey video we will look at the Dark Side of Hierarchy in Martial Arts.

While I will be mainly talking about Aikido, since it is my main point of reference, after training and teaching it for 14 years, note that the examples I will give are far from non-existent in various other martial arts, and I encourage you to consider if the same experience may apply to your practice or organization as well. Also, I will be sharing some “dark” stories about Aikido, but that does not mean I did not have positive experiences. I will only focus primarily on the negative, to convey a point. That being said - let us begin.

About a half year of training in Aikido, I went to my first big Aikido seminar with a high ranking Sensei coming from Japan to teach. I was so excited and happy until one of the highest ranking Aikido instructors of my country, the head of one of the Aikido organizations, scolded me for smiling. He told me that Japanese Senseis don’t like it when someone smiles, and that I have to look more serious. And note, this was not a joke. My negative experience did not stop there.

As the seminar started I wanted to jump to any black belt to partner up and learn from their experience. As soon as I got a hold of one, it became clear as day how dissatisfied he was for having to train with me, and he took no effort to hide it from his face. As I trained with him, it was obvious how irritating for him it was to train with me, as he kept checking the clock when it will be time to switch partners. He was upset about everything I did and took the effort to show how terrible I am at all of this.

As the seminar progressed, I realized the same case was pretty much with all black belts. And this type of a relationship was not only with me, but with all the other white belts. Black belts were quick to grab a hold of each other, each time we had to switch partners, and forcefully, all white belts were left to train together. Now, I must point out, there was no rule for white belts to not “bother” black belts. It was clear that that was the way they were setting themselves up. Years later I heard rumors that the visiting Japanese Senseis were upset about this, yet they did not address this, probably because of their inherent politeness in their culture. To everyone else, this situation seemed to cause no wonder, as it was never questioned and was seen as the norm by pretty much everyone. Black belts seemed to be happy with this type of “authority”, and white belts felt guilty for being one and were eager to become one of the top guys themselves. Yet problems there for me, arose not only with black belts.

While I had no problems training with white belts myself, almost all of the white belts from other Dojos that I paired up with, were very quick to tell me what I am doing wrong. Each of them felt superior and were eager to scold me for my mistakes. I was pretty much not given any space at all to try the technique the way I understood it, and was forced by them to do it their way. It was also not uncommon that what these white belts would tell me to do, would later be corrected by the leading Sensei, since it would turn out that the corrections imposed upon me were wrong. As I continued to participate in various other major Aikido seminars in my country, I realized this experience was not an exception, as the same happened in all of them.

Eventually I moved to Switzerland to become an Aikido live in student in a Dojo. Here my local experience was different, and while these cases sometimes would appear, they would be very rare since they were addressed in the Dojo that I trained in. Yet oftentimes various visiting students from other places still presented the same type of mentality that I experienced back in my country.

#martialarts #martialartsexplored #aikido

Видео How Hierarchy Corrupts and Ruins Martial Arts канала Martial Arts Journey with Rokas