Batman Begins Does Not Suck

[Doc]

Hi,

What Batman alias Bruce Wayne is actually practising in the movie might be closest described as Ninjutsu. He learns to fight with swords and explosives, both of which I don't remember as Aikido's most used means. Perhaps they took some of the basic Aikido positions and mixed them up with some 'stylish' sword fighting, for that I wouldn't know. If you go into the movie expecting a lot of Aikido moves (using the energy that the enemy brings forward to you to his disadvantage, as far as I understand it), though, you might be disappointed. To often there's just plain 'blade rattles on blade' battle.
As to Aikido being the only 'true' art: There are others. Of course you won't find them by looking at the bigger American citys and searching for what is popular there. Those 'Karate' and 'Kungfu' schools are profitable only by letting rich guy's kiddies become a blackbelt when they just left the kindergarden. Also there are certain 'martial arts' that could rather be described as fighting sports, for example boxing, taekwondo or eskrima.
Being a former disciple and violet belt of traditional Shotokan Karate International in Germany (SKID), I have to insist that pretty much any 'wushu' as the Chinese would put it can be an art if practised traditionally and not with the focus in mind to brawl and compete with others. Perhaps the main difference between martial arts and their brothers the fighting sports is that the first ones also chiefly teach the mind and educate the character, while the second ones focus mainly on the body and the physical strength and technique.
Greetings, Fragbait
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Yeah, see, that's my beef. Most of the arts now are "sports" and this bothers me for some odd reason I can not explain. Sports are about others. The art should be about self. Bah, I am a picky old fart.

I tried others... And nothing spoke to my heart. Aikido is more than reabsorbing the energy of your enemy and redirecting it. It is also about absorbing said energy harmlessly. That is why Aikido students can have 2x4s broken over their face with out harm, or get punched in the throat, or any number of seemingly impossible feats.

And if Batman is using Jitsu in whatever flavour, then he is most likely using some form of Aikido, which is the perfected form of Ninjitsu and Jujitsu, the ancient way of the Ninja cult. Modern day Aikido is perfection of the art, both in body and mind, bringing full balance to both halves. It is the perfect marriage of the way of the hand and the way of the sword.

I am no master of anything. I am still a student. And I will be till I die. I make no claims of perfection or great ability. A long long time ago, I would spar with my master... And we would circle each other for hours with no attack. There would be a faint wrinkling of the clothing... Or a flare of the nostril, the twitch of a muscle under the arm, and we would know what the other was about to do and already be countering mentally... And the attack never seemed to come. Those watching us were probably bored to tears. When something did happen though, I am fairly confident that it was spectacular to watch. The flurry of blows and deflections were amazing I am sure. It was full contact, no holding back. If you didn't want broken bones, don't be there where bones are broken.

I was trained under Ernie Sh¡to. I had to make that funny looking to defeat the Lounge's filter. It's not a bad word in this case. Ernie pioneered the concept of absorbtion Aikido. To become like water. His teachings are still in effect today, in what has to be the most brutal training around. I am sure you have an idea of what it's like.

I miss him. I never got to say goodbye when he passed away. I do miss him horribly. I am not overly fond of most human beings but he was such a good and kind man. He never charged money for lessons. He turned most people away when they came to learn. He would teach in exchange for food or other things he needed. And cleaning the studio. He never asked for a dime. His students paid the electric bill, brought him food, gave him clothing, covered his feet and provided him only with what he needed.

Now I feel incredibly sad.