The Brutalisation of Aikido: The Case of Real Aikido

Background. In Yugoslavia, after World War II, a new form of martial arts emerged from the aikido master Ljubomir Ljuba Vracarevic, known as real aikido.Problem and Aim. For Vracarevic, aikido was not enough, he wanted a martial art that was more realistic and unconcerned with the complex ethics of aikido. Thus, real aikido emerged as a new martial art and it gained numerous practitioners all over the world. Its masters spread real aikido with its highly applicable techniques combined with a questionable philosophy, resulting in them having a prominent role as security instructors for some of the top politicians around the world, such as Muammar al-Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe. However, even though real aikido emerged from aikido, it heavily vulgarised and brutalised its original techniques and ethics.Method. With a critical analysis of the works of the founder of real aikido and its comparison with the works of aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, the ethical imbalance between real aikido and aikido is perceived. Furthermore, with analysis of the individual techniques (Irimi Nage) that are used in both martial arts the technical, and most importantly ethical difference, is distinguished within the individual techniques.Results and Conclusions. The differences between aikido and real aikido are extensive. In essence, real aikido invoked the dangerous techniques that Morihei Ueshiba forbid long ago. Thus, real aikido is a brutalised, vulgarised, and ethically ruined version of aikido. With the name aikido but without the ethical principles of aikido, real aikido produced a crisis in martial arts ethics, where the martial art and the philosophy of the founder, in this case aikido and Morihei Ueshiba, are misused and abused.