Just in case you thought that Steven Seagal was a fake

Steven Seagal – Shihan (teacher of teachers)
7th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido and Aikikai Aikido
6′ 4″ (193 cm) Trained and became a teacher in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan
Current Status – Non Competing but as deadly as ever. Teaches regularly.

Like him or hate him, Steven Seagal is the man

He has a commanding knowledge of Aikido and he can prove it. He has worked very hard and there is no doubt in anyones mind that he is a real master of Aikido. His students know it through learning from him and all the pain that comes along with that.

Even with all the bumps and bruises his students still have the greatest respect for him. Even if its sometimes out of fear.

He started martial arts like most masters training at a young age with excellent teachers

I believe he started in Shotokan Karate (woot woot) and then switched to Aikido later on. Moved to Japan and trained with the real hard core aikido masters. Ended up running his own school and becoming a high rank in Japan (which is no small feat). In Japan they train hard, and when I mean hard its “oups you broke your arm quietly and respectfully get off the matt so as not to disturb others training and take yourself to the hospital”.

In this video you will see Shihan practicing on some students coming at him full throttle. This is how he liked to train Aikido to show people that it is effective and that contrary to popular belief can be very effective in many common self defense situations.

Steven Seagal is known for violence

But that is not how he want’s to be known. He trains his black belts very hard because he believes that Aikido should be shown that it can be effective in self defense situations. If you have ever been to an Aikido class or seen some of it on you tube, you will know what I mean when people say it looks fake, but do not fool yourself. If you attack the teacher you will get a rude awakening of extreme pain should he or she choose to inflect it.

He has a reputation of being very hard on students and stuntmen. Is this his fault? His impression is the black belts need to be ready for live combat at all times and should train full pace, as for the stuntmen he just want’s to make sure it looks real enough for the viewers.

Coming back to America

After opening Aikido dojo’s in LA he started to get some celebrities and movie bigwigs into the schools. At the time Warner Brothers was looking for a new martial arts action star to fill the viewers demand at the time for martial arts related action movies. Someone brought him to warner brothers to do an Aikido demonstration and the rest is action hero history.

In his movies he is using martial arts for violence (but he is the good guy).

After the movies

After the action hero genre ended he focused on training Aikido and another love in his life music. Now I know that people right away say Steven Seagal? Music?…singing? I too was very skeptical but I am here to say that he is no B.B.King or Steve Ray but he is not that bad.

His stuff is a little 80’s blues cheese, easy rock station for me but he can play the guitar and sing and really he is not that bad. You can check it out here, he tours and everything. Steven Seagal Music

In Short He has done some pretty cool stuff with his life. More then most who criticize him. I say until you have walked in someone’s shoes you dont really know them.

Wicked Aikido Master, Sweet Hollywood Action Movies and now Blues Guitar Player in a touring band. I think that some of us should cut the guy a little slack.