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This is on the second of O Sensei's guidelines for practice. It is the most concrete, and one of the only defining traits that answers what "is/is not Aikido." I did publish a piece in my personal blog with a number of pictures comparing jujigatame and Ikkyo pins, but I can't figure out how to attach the pics here. The original is at http://john-hillson.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-one-that-extends-to-infinite.html
I'm just putting this here as I would like a conversation about these items. I trained for years before learning about these Rules for Practice. I don't see them discussed much. Like many of O Sensei's writings, they may in fact not be his. I still try to learn from them.
"Aikido is based on the Way of One which extends to the Infinite - practice should always be performed not only concentrating on one's front, but while keeping aware of all sides at all times." From the 1997 issue of "The Aikido" by Aikido world headquarters in Tokyo. Volume 34, #4. (Really, from the walls of the men's change room at our dojo.)
"Aikido is an art where one person learns to face many opponents simultaneously. It therefore requires that you polish and perfect your execution of each movement so that you can take on not only the one directly before you but also those approaching from every direction." Aikido
"Bujutsu is an art in which the one is used to strike the many. Therefore, train yourself to always be mindful of, and alert to, opponents in the four and th
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This is the first of six items from my own blog. I am unlingual and unable to read the original Japanese text identified as O Sensei's Rules for Practice. I also have less of a background than many of the people on this site. I would be grateful for any feedback or insights.
I had been training for several years before I bought my first copy of O Sensei's Budo. There was a one page list of called Precautions for Training that I had not seen before. Later on, I found the same list of six items in Kisshomaru Doshu's Aikido, this time called Rules for Practice. It's the term I became most familiar with, so I'll be referring to the Rules from here on even though Precautions might be the better translation. Eventually I started to think of Guidelines.
The dojo where I train now has a third version of the Rules from an Aikikai Hombu newsletter with similar items worded differently. I don't see the Rules getting much attention, and every copy I find seems to have the second Doshu's name closely associated with it. Budo itself was written very soon after the split between Morihei Ueshiba and his Daito Ryu teacher, but well before any of the fractures in Aikido itself developed, and before the name Aikido was even coined.
The Rules were of limited benefit for me to give to beginners for practice. It's not a "no chewing gum in class" kind of list. It didn't touch on any of the long list of things like who sat where, or how to wear a gi, or when to bow, or how to
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05-28-2016 08:13 AM 
