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About the Publication
Rionne McAvoy has never believed that a martial art should exist in isolation. From childhood Taekwondo to becoming Queensland State Karate Kumite Champion at nineteen, from Hiroshi Tada sensei’s Gessoji Dojo to Yoshiaki Yokota sensei at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo, kickboxing, catch wrestling and the unforgiving world of Japanese professional wrestling, McAvoy has spent his martial life testing ideas against experience.
In conversation with Simone Chierchini, “Rionne Fujiwara” retraces this unconventional journey and confronts some uncomfortable questions about contemporary Aikido. What happens when technique is never tested outside its familiar environment? What can Aikido learn from other fighting disciplines? And how much physical conditioning should serious practice demand?
Direct, combative and refreshingly unwilling to respect artificial boundaries, The Wrestler is a conversation about cross-training, effectiveness and the continuing search for an Aikido that remains genuinely martial.
My views on Aikidō are my views. They’ve been shaped by 30 years of martial arts, by my seniors and juniors who’ve helped me along the way, and by a career in professional wrestling in
the toughest wrestling league in the world – Japan.
To understand how my brain works is to understand where I come from.
Product Details
Publisher: The Ran Network
Publication date: 24 June 2021
Language: English
Print length: 114 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8525649798
Item weight: 177 g
Dimensions: 12.85 x 0.66 x 19.84 cm
Part of series: The Aiki Dialogues
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
The Way of the Father
Japan Enters the Equation
Training at the Gessoji Dōjo
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
From Yokota Sensei’s Aikido to Professional Wrestling
Is Aikidō Still an All-Encompassing Budō?
The Struggle of Being an Aikidoka and a Martialist
The Knights of the Blunt Edge Growing Up
Teaching Methodologies
The Good and the Bad of the Hombu Dōjo
Training and Teaching in Our Dysfunctional Family
Your Body Is Your Temple
Planning the Future
About the Author
Simone Chierchini is an author, editor and Aikido teacher who has been immersed in the art since 1972. A direct student of Hideki Hosokawa and Yoji Fujimoto, he also trained under leading Japanese teachers including Hiroshi Tada and has travelled internationally as both student and instructor.
Alongside his martial practice, Chierchini has devoted decades to documenting and promoting Aikido and Budo culture. Formerly editor-in-chief of the Italian Aikikai’s official magazine Aikido, in 2011 he founded Aikido Italia Network. He later established The Ran Network, an international publishing project dedicated to martial culture.
As an author and editor, he has produced numerous interviews, biographies and historical works, including volumes devoted to his teachers Hosokawa and Fujimoto, while directing The Aiki Dialogues series.
