Atemi: The Thunder and Lightning of Aikido

I found this book to be very interesting. It puts a very real picture of the striking aspect of Aikido. Most Aikido instructors, do not teach the strikes, as they used to years ago. This falls back to the days of Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu. The strike was always taught as a follow up, after your technique was completed, to keep your attacker down, or in some cases, terminate. Sensei Von Krenner, explains and explores these sometimes, lost parts of the art. This is a very good book for anyone wanting to learn the Jujutsu arts. And as an entertainment note, when you see Steven Seagal using his Aikido in movies, remember, a lot of what you see is the Pre-WWII, type of Aikido that was taught by O' Sensei Ueshiba, the founder of the art. He changed many of the techniques after the war, as did the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano. They both took out the most violent aspects so both would be more acceptable to the Western World. The whole subject of the how's and why's, are really fascinating if you are interested. This book is Excellent as a tour guide to a very effective art.

This book is the most extraordinary -- and helpful -- Aikido book I've ever read.I'd never before considered that strikes themselves could be an expression of Aiki, or how powerful they could be within an Aikido framework. Reading this has altered not only my whole approach to studying Aikido but the way I practice my sword art, as well.To convincingly teach atemi, this book takes you on a small tour of the very heart and guts of Aikido. Many of the most valuable things I learned had little or nothing to do with atemi at all.I have exactly one little quibble. Von Krenner sensei several times speaks in a horrified tone of Aikido dojos that don't even teach their students how to strike, when Aikido was once known for it's powerful strikes. Well, this book gives you a beautiful primer on when to strike, what direction to strike, where to strike, and why to strike. He even includes a section on inner strength with exercises that he promises will even make strikes stronger.He just doesn't ever actually teach you HOW to strike.Particularly not how to strike while retaining a body that is totally relaxed yet expansive, a philosophy totally foreign to most striking arts out there.But still, it's a good book if my only complaint is that there wasn't more of it.I'll be waiting for the next book by this duo with baited breath.

It must be understood that this book is NOT for the Aikido beginner nor for someone who is new to the martial arts. The target audience is for an experienced practitioner of Aikido, period! Wanting to start a new journey I've only been involved in Aikido for three months, but I've been a practioner of the martial arts for over 25 years and a formally trained historian; thus I had somewhat of an advantage in reading this book. But even with my experience, it was clear to me that I should be reading this book after at least a year with Aikido training. Overall good book.

Excellent topic and on target simple writing style keeps it clear and concisevery informativeWritten with first hand knowledge of what o sensei taughtHow many people are alive now that we're there with the founder of aikido??

I'm not done reading the book - however, it has the information I was hoping to explore. It reviews the basic strikes along with their best practices and common errors and incorporates them into the primary techniques. While there are some step-by-step technique explanation, I took them to be more of a guideline explaining where the strikes can be and what response I should hope to get. It feel like more theory than practice - but that is exactly what I wanted.

This is exactly what I was recommended! Pretty and easy to read!

Good read. Practical info, easy to understand, good photos.

Great book. Very well written.