Aikido VS. Tae Kwon Do - What is the difference?

Aikido VS. Tae Kwon Do - What is the difference between aikido and taekwondo?Show more

Taekwondo is a striking art, emphasizing long ranged kicks and supplementing it with hand techniques, blocks, and throws/trips.

Aikido is a joint manipulation art that focuses on controlling the opponent through pain compliance and throws. It has very little in the way of striking and focuses instead on intercepting blows in order to get something to manipulate.

Both are vastly different arts, with almost no common ground. Aikido principles are in Taekwondo, but are not focused on. Taekwondo principles are in Aikido, but almost never are taught. They are two different philosophies that go in completely opposite directions.

The main differences between the two arts is that one is primarily a striking art and the other is almost exclusively comprised of joint locks and throws. I have about 6 years of training in Aikido and close to 20 in Taekwondo, and in my opinion, they are great complements to each other. I'm pretty sure that the ITF doesn't incorporate throws into its training. The style of Aikido I practiced didn't teach any striking, although I know that other styles of Aikido do.

Aikido is a “softened” form of ju-jitsu, a martial art for trapping/locking. By “softened” I mean the “inventor” of the art of Aikido took ju-jitsu and added a “be nice” philosophy.

For instance, in a ju-jitsu move a “palm-turn” (a move where you grab the hand and turn the palm to lock or break bones) can be used to trap and hold, or shatter bones.

The same move in aikido would stop at the trap level. A common move would be a “crane strike” to knock someone down with an extended arm to the neck.

Aikido takes an art where you can quickly disable or destroy an opponent quickly (or not) and “nerfs” it so you don't “hurt the attacker”. Pin moves, choke outs are common fight enders.

Ju-jitsu would just shatter the bones and move on if needed. Aikido would be poor against multiple serious streetfighter opponents. While you “choke one out” the other 2–3 would be beating on you.