5 CHAPTER 1 AIKIDO IN ACTION A small old man is walking by himself in the park one autumn day Suddenly two robbers start attacking him The man’s life is on the line One of the attackers looks like a professional wrestler He weighs about 300 pounds The other is a lightning quick martial arts expert Aikido uses wrist locks for self-defense This move throws an attacker off balance
6 The wrestler charges the old man The giant grabs the front of his shirt with two strong hands The old man stays calm He is an aikido expert The thugs have picked the wrong target today The old man reaches one arm straight up It goes between the wrestler’s arms The aikido expert bends to his side as if he is reaching for the wrestler’s hip with his free arm This makes the big wrestler bend to the side He is now off balance The old man flips the wrestler to the ground But the danger is not over The martial arts expert moves in a flash His fists are so fast they are a blur The old man dodges the punches The attacker tries a spinning kick The calm old man knows it is coming His aikido training has given him laser focus It is almost as if he can read the future He ducks under the foot At the same time he grabs the back of the attacker’s jacket and yanks him to the ground
7 The two attackers come at the old man together now The martial arts expert tries to punch again The old man catches one of his arms He uses the martial artist as a shield by pushing him into the wrestler The two attackers are now a jumbled mess They are confused The old man moves like a ghost They cannot get a clean shot on him He twists the martial artist’s arm backward and down The attacker has no choice but to fall to the ground in pain The giant wrestler gives up The attackers do not understand why their strength and speed did not work The old man was always one step ahead What Does It Mean The word aikido has several translations They all involve balance and harmony Two of them are the way of harmonizing energies and the way of the harmonious spirit The do in aikido is the part that means the way Aikido is about finding harmony every day not only when doing aikido
