Ki Society Syllabus

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[Ed Stansfield]

Hello,

As a result of some comments in this thread (http://http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9597&page=1&pp=25) and after looking at the syllabus of an "unofficial ki style organisation" (tm) I was wondering if the "official ki society syllabus" is available on the web.

Does anyone know? Are they prepared to part with the link?

Best,

Ed

[tedehara]

Testing criteria is given in The New Jersey Ki Society Handbook "Secrets of Aikido" Vol I (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/1804/soa1/soa1.html). Scroll down and click on the approriate sections or click on the following list:

7 Ki Development (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/1804/soa1/soa1-7.html)
9 Shinshin Toitsu Aikido (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/1804/soa1/soa1-9.html)

Remember that the Ki Society requires two rankings. One ranking is in Ki Development and the other in Aikido Techniques. A student will be expected to know their given requirements, but may only be tested in a select few at the discretion of the examiner. A student can also be tested on criteria for lower rank. As an example, a student is being tested for 1st Kyu, but can also be tested for 3rd Kyu criteria. You are expected to know all the criteria up to the rank you are being tested at.

An instructor might make-up requirements outside of the given criteria, just to see how the student handles it.

[kironin]

The following testing syllabus is more typical standard of what Ki Society as a whole is doing for testing now:

http://www.kiaikido.org/Resources/Testing/AdultCriteria.html
http://www.kiaikido.org/Resources/Testing/KiCriteria.html


The New Jersey site Ted is referring to is a bit dated. Vol.1 was published years ago and reflects the testing style in the 1980's. A testing style more that some east coast USA dojos kept doing in the 1990's as a legacy of influence from Imaizumi Sensei but most to my knowledge have made the transition to the criteria listed above by now.

another version here...
http://www.rmks.org/handbook_test_criteria.shtml

there is a basis and some regional additions to the base criteria that reflect chief instructors expectations of students.

[MaryKaye]

The links Craig posted show essentially what we do, except that we require fewer taigi and at higher levels.

Grigsby sensei tends to recapitulate all previous kyu ranks for each test, so the kyu tests are quite a bit longer than they appear on the list. She also tests ukemi and then (when the candidate is winded) ki breathing. I did some serious "ki wheezing" on my last test.

Kashiwaya sensei has made videos of the test criteria which are probably still available for sale somewhere. When he himself conducts tests, though, he tends to ask for things not on the criteria, to see if he can rattle the student. He asked a shodan-candidate friend of mine for ushirodori shihonage (a real puzzler) and for three throws done while sitting on a folding chair. (The last one was "Swan Lake"--headfirst over the back of the chair. I was glad it wasn't me taking ukemi!)

Mary Kaye

[Ed Stansfield]

Many thanks!

Our syllabus is very similar to the one that Craig linked to.

There are more aikido techniques in our 5th kyu grading and aside from the shokyu, chukyu and jokyu ki tests, we don't have to demonstrate individual ki-excercises as part of the grading itself.

The other thing is that, for historical reasons, the shokyu, chukyu and jokyu ki tests are linked to 4th kyu, 2nd kyu and 1st dan rather than 5th, 3rd and 1st kyu.

Apart from that, it's quite similar with eg. nikkyo, sankyo and yonkyo coming into the grading syllabus at 3rd kyu, hanmi handachi and munatsuki kokyunages at 1st kyu and the same attacks for the 5 arts at 1st dan and 2nd dan.

The thing that I was most curious about when I originally posted was the requirements for Sandan. Our "mat" gradings only go up to 2nd dan, so I was particularly wondering what the "official" requirements for 3rd dan were.

There aren't any taigis in our grading system at all. I'd never thought of them in a grading context before but I do like the idea!

Grigsby sensei tends to recapitulate all previous kyu ranks for each test, so the kyu tests are quite a bit longer than they appear on the list. She also tests ukemi and then (when the candidate is winded) ki breathing. I did some serious "ki wheezing" on my last test.

Yes, for all our gradings you have to do the new stuff plus the old stuff to the new standard.

"ki wheezing" . . . lol! This is abit like the situation in our first / second dan test (and yours too maybe?) where you do the 4 / 5 person randori (that's four or five person not four fifths of a person) until you can't possibly go on and then for a bit longer and then you do kokyu dosa . . .

Thanks again to everyone that posted.

[James Smithe]

Ki society rocks. The founder Tohei beat 5 Judo champions at one time.