Is weapons training necessary?

[Please visit our sponsor:]

[formerjarhead]

The poll that is posted asked if weapons training is necessary to understand Aikido? The majority of people seem to think so but I don't understand why. Although Aikido does train with weapons, most of the training is done with no weapons at all. Could someone explain to me why it is needed.

[akiy]

There is already a good discussion of the poll here:

http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3247

-- Jun