Poll: Do you think your aikido dojo would survive without its chief instructor(s)?

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[AikiWeb System]

AikiWeb Poll for the week of December 26, 2004:

Do you think your aikido dojo would survive without its chief instructor(s)?

I don't do aikido
Yes
No


Here are the current results (http://www.aikiweb.com/polls/results.html?poll_id=253).

[DaveO]

Good question.
Ours would; I think; though it wouldn't nearly be as fun a place as it is.
We'd be able to muddle through until someone else capable (and of the appropriate rank) came along; though at the moment there's no-one else immediately available (rank wise) to step into the breach. :)

[MaryKaye]

I know we could, because we are....(health issues).

We have a strong "learning to teach" emphasis so there are a lot of people who can teach at various levels--that hasn't been a big problem. Strategic decision-making is a much bigger one. It's tempting to put decisions off but that only works for so long.

I think it helps a lot if responsibility is already shared before the crisis hits; if an organization is run by one person, his/her absence is likely to destroy it. If an organization plans to last a long time it's important to have at least two people (ideally more) who can carry out any given task--do the budget, pay the taxes/bills/rent, plan the schedule, set the syllabus, whatever.

Mary Kaye

[PeterR]

For Honbu no problem. A strong core and a coveted position.

For my group - that depends on Honbu.

Don't want either to happen.

[Neil Mick]

It would be a different place without Sensei; but yes--I believe the dojo would carry on, in her absence.

[seank]

I hope so. We are facing losing our chief instructor at present (he has decided to move on to other things (and inter-state)). Our Sempai is working hard to prepare for the inevitable hole this will leave, but it will still be a lot of work for everyone.

I do think that a change like this tests the mettle of the dojo and the quality of the students; it is by everyone accepting responsibility that I believe we have a good chance of continuing and surviving.

[Qatana]

I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that those of us who have chosen our dojo did so because we chose Sensei., not a location or a pedigree- the other sensei in this town has exactly the same lineage.

[SeiserL]

Phong Sensei (Tenshinkai Aikido) would be an impossible act to follow. To honor him, many of us would so our best. It would not be the same.

[Charles Hill]

I think that this is a difference between most Japanese and American dojo. (I don't know about other countries.) In my experience, every Japanese dojo is strongly centered around a specific individual. We don't study Aikido, we (ideally) study the instructor. In contrast, in the States, I often hear things like, students should learn from a variety of sources, go to other dojo and seminars and come back and share what you learned, you have to discover "your" Aikido, etc. I think that this is a huge difference that doesn't get a lot of attention. In my dojo, the answer is a 100% no.

Charles Hill

[BC]

AikiWeb Poll for the week of December 26, 2004:

Do you think your aikido dojo would survive without its chief instructor(s)?


Mine has

[Bronson]

If we lost both senior instructors at my sensei's dojo I think it would struggle for a while but eventually fold. One or two of the senior students might start their own clubs/classes but those would be their own entities.

If I was no longer available to teach at the dojo I'm at I have no doubt it would continue in some fashion.

Bronson

[MaryKaye]

I come from definitely an "American-style" dojo in that regard. For my first year I wondered if I was anyone's student in particular. Then I visited another school of our style; they looked at me and said "You're Grigsby sensei's student!" and I decided that was probably true.... No idea what they were looking at, though.

Mary Kaye

[Lan Powers]

>If we lost both senior instructors at my sensei's dojo I think it would struggle for a while but eventually fold<
Pretty much the same thoughts here. It would stagger, and eventually stop (in it's current incarnation)
but the "core" folk would still train somewhere .
I would hate to see that.
Lan

[PeterR]

I think that this is a difference between most Japanese and American dojo. (I don't know about other countries.) In my experience, every Japanese dojo is strongly centered around a specific individual. We don't study Aikido, we (ideally) study the instructor. In contrast, in the States, I often hear things like, students should learn from a variety of sources, go to other dojo and seminars and come back and share what you learned, you have to discover "your" Aikido, etc. I think that this is a huge difference that doesn't get a lot of attention. In my dojo, the answer is a 100% no.
Charles Hill
Hi Charles - very good point about the difference. However, numerous examples of a student or group of students taking the place of a dead sensei in Japan. Often, with advancing old age, there is an effort to designate successor.