An Aikido Sparring Problem No One Really Talks About

This video is coming hot off the heels of the Aikido 2034 one, and I want to take the opportunity to address one of the reoccurring pieces of feedback that I've gotten. Specifically, there is a growing demand for folks who want to see the ideas that I'm putting out there in action to see sparring footage. Here's the kicker. I also want that. I've discussed this a little bit but in the wake of a lot of channel growth since then, I felt it was time to dedicate a whole video to the problem. The martial Aikido community, to loosely give it a designation, really is focused on addressing the technical problems in the style, on making it functional. I'm very much in that camp as well, not to mention that clicks and channel growth incentivize us to lean into these kinds of topics because that's just what people want to see. Having said that, there is a much more boring but equally as troubling problem that really doesn't get the same kind of press. The logistics of actually implementing ideas and getting that sparring and training footage. Now, the rest of this video I'm going to talk broadly but I'm also going to use myself as very much of a case study because this is an issue that I'm actually entangled in right now. I also want to acknowledge that, at first glance, the optics of all this are pretty suspect and I get that. It isn't lost on me that I make content suggesting this and that for Aikido but when it comes time to spar, suddenly I have these obstacles that don't allow me to upload footage. I know what that looks like. On top of that, I've known really since I started the channel that these kinds of demands would eventually appear and gradually grow in intensity. For some, I can understand why they might have reservations about what I'm saying if I won't also post film about my actually doing it. But I want to again stress that this isn't for a lack of wanting on my end nor is it for a lack of trying. More on that in a bit. The problem is multifaceted so let me take it from the top. First, there really isn't anywhere for Aikido to go and just spar, despite that being a really popular sentiment online. Especially not in the way that I've suggested in the Aikido 2034 video. Over the lifespan of this channel, I've seen people suggest I go to this or that style but behind the scenes I actually have tried to do those things. The reality is that BJJ, for example, isn't all that ideal because while it ostensibly is receptive to the standing joint locks in its rule set, you will be very lucky if 1 in 10 BJJ guys actually wants to stand and bang with you. And even then, when a match does go to the ground, it usually isn't coming back up to the standing position most of the time and I know this from experience. I was training at a BJJ place a couple months ago. Now, I'm not blaming BJJ guys for this at all. They are there to learn and practice that specific style, not humor my experiments. The point I am making is that even on a good day, it isn't really ideal for training. Consider how much drilling and repetition goes into BJJ, just to stay on my example. Consider how much time is devoted to positions and techniques to make them consistent in an individual player. The question I have to ask is, do you really think inconsistently sparring with a small clique of guys who are willing to is going to result in tangibly beneficial outcomes for a hypothetical aikido sparring? The answer is probably not. Not to mention that I'd be paying monthly fees to attend an art that I'm not really all that interested in just to try and extract 2-5 minutes of aikido experimentation out of every session, and that's if I'm lucky. This same issue comes up in other styles and arts too, like MMA for example. The reality is that everyone else on the mat are customers and they aren't really there to experiment with this off-meta stuff. From their perspective, and understandably so, it's just a waste of time, it might not go anywhere, and they have limited resources too. Now, sure, a little bit of practice is better than none, that's a sentiment that I'd certainly agree with, but again, I'd be paying monthly fees and travel costs that are vastly disproportionate to the actual training time and progress I'd be making, and it isn't just me, but anyone with similar goals to mine. I've been looking at a nearby kudo place for a long time now which solves the travel side of things, but it's still not really a perfect setup. Not only am I going to have to find the time to make training costs worthwhile, but the standing joint locks, the feature that most people consider to be aikido's defining characteristic, are just outright banned in kudo. Now, yes, I could still train the striking and the positional side of my ideas, but I'd never really be able to give it that aikido finish. For me personally, I am pretty confident that I could land the execution on techniques if I could consistently get into a competent position, so from a raw training perspective, kudo is probably my best bet, and if I can line up the hours in the week, I'm going to try and pull the cord on that. But from a content creation point of view, it's sort of underwhelming because the aikido part of the aikido playtesting isn't really present for most people, which is sort of the other problem. I don't see this much on my channel, which I'm thankful for. I think my audience generally thinks their commentary through, but a more general sentiment in the martial arts community is just spar, bro. Just spar and post it. It's easy, bro. The reality is that tons of people don't want to be online, and this is especially true in Japan. I know the American martial arts community has an almost baseline expectation that you can just show up to an open mat or tournament, secure maybe a little bit of permission from an authority figure, and then film. It's pretty simple. While some Japanese people are very much cool with that, and there are even some dojos that are cool with that, I have found that an overwhelming majority of people in places want nothing to do with it. What I've seen people suggest, too, is that I get consent from every individual that would appear in the video, and the venue's consent. I'm fine with doing that legwork, but I'm also very cautious about it because you can really get sued here if something goes sideways. It's rare, but possible, and I don't want to go staking my visa status on it. But this isn't somehow a Japan-only issue, either. I was goofing with some of this stuff back in the States before I moved, and most of my partners didn't want to be filmed, either. It just is what it is. I also can't blame them, because the martial aikido side of the internet is historically not a very accepting place to be posting in, and certainly not showing your face. And again, this is all on top of having to find people willing to devote substantial time and effort into this off-meta stuff that is largely untested. From a pure martial perspective, it might not go anywhere from where they sit, even if I'm confident in it. Now, there are absolutely ways around these issues. Obviously, you go and train and you build rapport with people and a community. Then maybe folks are more willing to appear on your channel and entrust you with their safety, doing this junk that they may not really be into during a time slot that they secured to do something totally different in. But building those kinds of relationships takes time. Time I just haven't really had to devote to it yet. Things are slowing down over here, but at the time of posting, I'm still kind of poking around at job opportunities and getting life more generally in order. Then I can commit to something like kudo. But even then, it's going to take time to build those relationships, and in the interim period, I'm only going to be able to play the non-joint lock stuff if I do join kudo. And these are all sorts of things that I'd like people to keep in the back of their minds when asking for sparring footage. Trust me, I'd love to make it. I think it would be good content. I think it would be fun for me to make. I think the channel would grow. Even before that, I'd love to find a place where I can consistently train the way that I want to train. It's not even really about the channel for me at this point. It's just about my own training. So while I can understand why people might be skeptical or put off at the lack of sparring footage on the channel so far, I also would remind those people that there is a nerdy gremlin man behind the Tengu channel who is just trying to keep his life in line. And by extension, I'm sure plenty of other people have similar barriers to entry into this niche. Remember, while I am super and incredibly grateful for the growth this channel has seen, and it has already seen growth beyond my expectations, I also don't make a penny from it. Nor am I about to flip a switch and start asking for money because, frankly, as awesome as the channel has been doing, 4k some subscribers is not even a part-time job. I'm not saying that to be negative. Again, I can't stress my thankfulness enough, but it's just the raw numbers of the thing. Sure, in a world where the channel was my job, I'd be hitting every dojo between here and the other side of Tokyo. But even if we were at 1 million subs, a successful YouTube channel by itself isn't really going to secure me a visa so I can stay here, which I very much plan on doing. There are ways for me to achieve this, to make YouTube a job, but they are all long-term things that wouldn't manifest for probably years to come. One day, I would like for this to be my job, or at least part of my job, but when that day comes, I want to monetize in a way that is both responsible for my own life on the back end, but also that isn't just asking my audience for money with no real value in return. That isn't fair to you guys, and while I'd be thankful for people who'd be interested in something like a Patreon or something similar, I'm not really super hit on the charity model of running a channel. I'd like to offer things like instructionals, translations of books, courses, interviews, and stuff like that so you guys actually get something from the transaction. But all of that is way, way down the road, and I'm getting a little bit off-topic. The takeaways from this video are these. First, a lot of what we want to do is banned in most martial arts, and where it is not banned, people aren't really all that interested in pursuing it more times than not. Second, not everyone wants to be on film, in Japan especially so. Third, there are solutions to this, starting my own dojo, making the channel my job, building strong relationships at gyms, but these are all very long-term investments, at the earliest, several months. I'd love to do all those things. I'd love to get you guys this footage. I'd love to have a place to train, even if the footage itself goes sideways and isn't content-worthy. Trust me, I would love to train in a place where I can actually do the things that I'm suggesting in some of my content. To really drive home my feelings here, my wife and I just bought about 12 square meters of mats for our apartment to personally use and train stuff not typically on the normal menu at, say, an aikido dojo. The struggle is real, and I'm making the moves I can afford to make to grow and progress this whole idea. It's just, right now, I have certain limitations. And that's life, and the best I can do with you guys is be transparent about it. Trust me, when I can line up a way to get that sparring footage out, it will come out. It's one of my top priorities, even if it's going to take time. None of this is for a lack of trying. To wrap this up, I also want to address one little thing that probably will come up and I've seen in my comment section a little bit. What about Tamiki Aikido? So, I suspect that the people who do post about this might misunderstand how truly, freakishly insane the scale of Tokyo actually is, and the relative obscurity of Tamiki Aikido within it. There is really only one Tamiki dojo in Tokyo that is open to working adults. There are university clubs, but obviously I can't just join those. The dojo in question is an hour and a half away from me. One way. And I'd really only be able to train once a week according to their schedule. On top of that, I'd prefer to be in a style that allows some close-range clinching on top of everything else, but that's a bit of a nitpick. The reality is that if I didn't have to drop three hours of travel on training and my schedule aligned better, I'd pick up the Tamiki stuff right alongside the Kudo stuff. It's still just a long-term goal of mine to get into a Tamiki dojo, and I think in a few years we might be looking for houses up in that general direction, so it very well could come to pass. But again, just not any time soon. Alright, and that is really the whole video. People just don't really bring up the logistical nightmare of actually finding a place to train where you can do the stuff that you want to do, and it's just tough. I'll leave you on a bit of an optimistic note, though. You guys don't have to wait for me to do any of this. I would actually suggest you don't. If you have a place to train and people willing to experiment with you, try this stuff out. Post about it. Critique it. I know for a fact that some of y'all have the means to at least try. I read the comments section, so I know some of you are going back to your dojos and goofing around with it, even if it's on the side of a different class. And just so it's on record, for those of you who are committing to at least goofing around with it, I think that's awesome and admirable. You don't have to post footage of yourself to be a part of this sentiment, movement, whatever you want to call it. Community, perhaps? I will catch up to you guys eventually. I certainly have aims, too. But as I navigate the logistics of doing so, the best I can offer you guys is a bit of honesty and petition for your patience. Anyway, that is all from me for now. I've got a few projects that I want to tackle, but I think the next few videos are going to be a bit on the shorter side as I distance myself from the marathon that was the 2034 video. I appreciate you guys listening, as always. And again, the growth on the channel has been phenomenal, so I'm very grateful for that, too. All that said, I will catch you folks in the next one. Peace.