Dan, Mike, and Aikido
When the Islamic invasion came to India, Buddhism was virtually eradicated. The Buddhist Canon of hundreds of volumes was lost in its original Sanskrit. Completely gone.
Scholars ever since have taken the Pali, the Chinese and the Tibetan versions and compared them in order to try to reconstruct what was in the original. I think that much has been lost in the Aikido that has been transmitted around the world by the two Doshu subsequent to the Founder. The current program is to simplify the art. Weapons work has been deemphasized, martial application is not emphasized. techniques have been dropped from the repertoire. In addition, Aikido expended at an extremely fast pace around the world. Most of the people running dojos out there did not spend fifteen or more years training directly with a Shihan level teacher. So Aikido in its broad sense has largely been spread by people who aren't that high level. This is not to diminish their contribution or efforts, it's just a statement. I've been teaching since I was a Sandan. There simply weren't many folks around senior to that when I started. That's the way Aikido has spread all over the world. But if one looks at O-Sensei as the model, it is clear that something has been lost. Some of us are interested in preserving Aikido as the Founder presented it. That means doing the same kind of reconstruction I mentioned the Buddhist scholars doing to reconstruct original Indian Buddhism. No knowledge is bad knowledge in this endeavor, although some would be more relevant than others. Clearly, Daito Ryu is the parent art of Aikido. All of the first generation of Aikido master instructors, Shirata, Inoue, Mochizuki, Shioda, Tomiki, etc had Daito Ryu as their foundation. That isn't disputable. What other elements were in their respective backgrounds varied from one to another. So if you want to start investigating what O-Sensei had that many of his post war deshi didn't, one should start by looking there. The Chinese influence on the various principles in Aikido is also fairly clear, as Ellis pointed out. I think we can benefit from an understanding of these principles. I think that the main reason for the general upset in the discussions with Dan and Mike is that they, with varying degrees of diplomacy have been insisting that, if you want to understand what O-Sensei was doing technically, you need to have an understanding of the principles they have been describing. Most people are not shooting that high. Most folks out there would be ecstatic if they could simply be as good as the fellow running their dojo. Those with a lot of ambition would like to find a Shihan level teacher somewhere and be as good as they are. When guys from outside start pointing out that there are elements missing in our training, folks get uncomfortable. They are already finding their training challenging enough, putting in all of their spare time, working to master what has already been presented to them. They are not looking to redefine the art as being bigger than they thought it was. It already seemed impossibly big. So they don't want to hear it. I have been trying to say all along that folks do not have to train more or harder than they currently do in order to start doing Aikido with some real depth. They just need to train smarter. Dan and Mike (and others) can throw these ideas out there and a small group of motivated Aikido folks will get together with them and take those concepts into their training. They will then take the concepts "on the road" and teach them in seminars etc.They will be the ones who change Aikido. I foresee a time when a greater focus on internal power development is the norm in Aikido. It will make everything we currently do in our art better. It will not mean losing site of where we have already been taking the art. Understanding of these things does not in any way detract from the spiritual side of the art. It doesn't move the focus away from spreading a vision of Peace in the world. It simply means that we will be better able to do what we already are doing and that our practice will be healthier for us on any number of levels. And, most importantly, the average person out there in the Aikido hinterlands will be able to do an Aikido that actually has some relation to what the Founder developed and taught his original students. |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
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Not much of what they have added here has been new, I remember debates about internal 'stuff' happening plenty of times before, we used to call them 'ki wars', the MMA stuff used to be the 'hard vs soft debate', all of these have been done to death over the years by people within aikido. Ask the old-timers on aikido-l and I'm sure they'd tell you the same. All that they have added that is new is mostly the dimension that we're all doing something wrong if we're doing regular aikido, and like I said, I haven't gone to their forums and said the same thing. I don't disagree with what has been said, I agree with most of it I have thought these things for years and it is what my teacher does too for the most part. You're welcome to discuss it with him, he's just dug out his aikiweb username and password so maybe he'll appear here from time to time. But I learned long ago that people who do aikido 'without ki' still have valuable things to tell me, people whose aikido is not 'calm and relaxed' (as in Tohei style) still have valuable things to tell me about my own practice. Regards Mike |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
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Stand relaxed with feet side by side about shoulder width apart and do not use any waza, your hands, or any offensive techniques and remain that way while ..... 1. Have someone push your chest with one hand in an attempt to push you over. Really push. 2. Then two hands as hard as he can. We're talking total 100% full force of whole body pushing you. 3. Then have him pile drive into you. 4. Then even casually.. increasing to severely- pull you and push you around while you stand there without moving your feet. Let them have your wrist and let them pull you for all their worth. 5. Place your hand on his chest. Without moving your shoulders or body in any discernable way, send them 3-6' with your hand. Before we go further, Mike Haft, please try those and post your results. In fact, video would be better. Because if you can't do *all* the above, then you're not doing what Mike and Dan are doing. Quote:
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Mark |
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Mike |
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That doesn't mean that there are exceptions. Maybe you got lucky ;) I was on a thread at MAP (which I consider the lowest of the low as far as forums go :-D) and I was surprised to fish out some valuable info from one of the posters there about how he trained his "cross". Funny thing is, he even said that the training was "too hard" so he rarely has his students do it, and he runs across a lot of high ranking dan peeps that have NO idea about some of these basic physiological properties. And that's not even getting into all the fun stuff involving power releases etc. I think its good that the frustration comes out and people argue. The only people that drop out with a huff are people that weren't really driven to find what they don't have, or they already got all the goods and they stand back to have a good laugh at us teenageers bickering amongst ourselves :D Somehow I find the latter less likely. Its all in good fun, even if you get the occasional w"#$"ker like... oh wait I'm supposed to keep it clean, so I'll refrain from posting names:cool: |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
1. Have someone push your chest with one hand in an attempt to push you over. Really push.
2. Then two hands as hard as he can. We're talking total 100% full force of whole body pushing you. 3. Then have him pile drive into you. 4. Then even casually.. increasing to severely- pull you and push you around while you stand there without moving your feet. Let them have your wrist and let them pull you for all their worth. 5. Place your hand on his chest. Without moving your shoulders or body in any discernable way, send them 3-6' with your hand. How is this aikido, though? it looks and feels much more like tai chi. And while I am the first to admit that tai chi principles do help my aikido, its more the principle of rather than being a brick wall... I prefer to have these principles taught to me by someone who actually Does practice Aikido; I am fortunate that my sensei Does concentrate on energetic principles of Both arts, and got his training pretty much At The Source, or as close as possible. |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
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Mike |
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Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
Hi Folks, I don't usually come around here, but things to have become interesting of late.
First off, I have to say thanks to Rob for a fun day. Specifically I want to thank him for his instruction in shiko 四股. Shiko is part of my dojo's tradition, but we didn't get the level of detail that Rob provided and had let practice lapse. Now it has been revitalized as a part of our kiso kunren. The rest was interesting too especially the stuff out of Yagyu Shingan ryu. This all brings me George's post. Aikido is being critiqued from the inside, but it is a silent critique of practice. I happen to be in a line that descends from Takeda through Ueshiba to Shirata and to us. When we look at our curriculum we see several essential elements that we had little or no experience of in previous dojo's and organizations. A partial list would include: basic body conditioning and movement skills (kiso kunren), Daito ryu based (I say based because there are slight diferences e.g. hanmi from publicly available DR materials) kata, a high functioning sword practice that interfaces with and compliments the taijutsu (ours is Shochikubai Kenpo of unknown origin), similar jo practice, incorporation of various modalities of resistance training, and some form of mental/sprititual/psychological training (ours seems to be a syncretic mix of Shinto, Buddhism and yamabushi ideas i.e. Japanese Budo Mix). Anyway, it is a huge amount of stuff to work though and I know that quite a bit of the stuff we do and do to each other would not be tolerated in my former dojo. So call it a silent critique. Our critique from the inside is to do our thing, look at whatever results we get, and evaluate them against our own criteria and whatever we can ascertain about the criteria in other dojos i.e. feeling it. All I can conclude is that there was, at least at one time, a fairly complete curriculum in aikido. Maybe there are some nuances and nice tidbits that would be nice to know from sources such as Rob (ever know two martial artists to not talk shop when they get together), but it was all there. I believe that emphatically. I used to think that O Sensei might not have taught everything, either holding back or leaving out what he thought wasn't important anymore. Well I don't think that any more. He must have, at some point at least, taught it or it wouldn't have survived. As true victory is victory over the self then it follows that the individual is ultimately responsible for their own training and development. It is up to you to constantly evaluate the quality of your training and your performance in an objective manner and to act on the results of your evaluation -- that being the ultimate critique. |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
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Well, it's a good question that I think we can look to Ueshiba for the answer. Why did Ueshiba tell Tenryu to go ahead and try to push him? Or, is that not aikido? ;) Or when Ueshiba does the jo trick? Um, again, is that not aikido? Or other instances when Ueshiba has people pushing on him from different directions? It's all there, hidden in plain sight. Do any of those examples sound like tai chi? Preferences are fine. If you're happy with your practice, that's great. But, don't discount things just because they seemingly aren't coming from some aikido person. If we did that, then Ikeda sensei would never have brought in Ushiro sensei. :) Not only that, but we'd all have to discount Ellis Amdur's fine posts over on Aikido Journal because, really, he's not an aikido person, so why should we learn from him? So you see, there are precedents all over the place for what's being shown. People just don't like being told that their aikido may be lacking or inferior, especially by people who are viewed as outside the aikido world. Personally, I like Ikeda sensei's example. You're never too high ranking to learn from someone outside your realm and sometimes you have to put on a white belt. It's a fine example I think many have missed. Shame, really. Mark |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
WOW !!!
Excellent post George ! I think that is the first time I have ever read a post on here in the years since this forum began where I felt like someone was channeling thoughts from my brain and stating it far better than I ever could. :D I agree completely! Quote:
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Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
Doug,
Please post here more often. I've often wished to get together with your group (I think you know why :D). Don't be surprised if a PM comes your way! Best, Ron |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
I sincerely like the idea of putting the internal concepts back into Aikido, because I agree that they appear to have been there and are not so slowly being lost.
I am training with more of this internal focus in mind and will share/spread it when I know more. I will also try to do it without insulting anyone or their instructors. |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
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Yes, I have nothing but the utmost respect for my instructors. It was really nice to see one of them at the AikiWeb seminar. It also reminded me of just how much I missed that part of my life. I'm hoping to see more of him in the future. Mark |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
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As for what Ellis has to say about about martial arts history and Daito Ryu in particular, like the other folks who did koryu in Japan. he was also a student on the academic side. He was a member of JMAS along with folks like Don Draeger, Phil Relnick, Meik Skoss, etc. He is a walking encyclopedia of info, so of course people pay attention to him. I fail to see how that makes anyone hypocritical. |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
Mark
I can't object to applying tai chi principles to aikido, I ALREADY DO IT. What I object to is people do not Practice aikido telling how to do aikido. And if one is going to use these tai chi principles, I really think they should describe their usefulness in how they apply to Aikido technique, not to simply be able to emulate O'Sensei's Performances. If he thought being Unpushable was essential to aikido, he would have taught it to Somebody, doncha think? |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
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Mark |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
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Well, that's the point. These aren't taichi principles in aikido. These are internal skills in aikido. And, yes, these internal skills can also be found in some taichi. But, that doesn't mean they are exactly the same. Similar, I think, but not necessarily the same. You make a point that I was trying to convey to Ledyard sensei. People don't want to listen to outsiders not doing aikido. So let me ask you about Amdur sensei. Would you listen to him about aikido? And I don't know about Ueshiba. Wasn't there, wasn't around any of his direct students, so I can't answer your question. But I do know that he told Tenryu to try to push him over and that he wouldn't be able to because he(Ueshiba) knew the secret to aiki. Pretty good indication what kind of emphasis he put on internal skills, don't you think? Mark |
Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
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There is one problem as I see it with "reintroducing." Once the thread has been broken we run the danger of creating something new and beyond the character of the original. Maybe not a problem in aikido which can hardly be said to have anything like a unified "character" these days. I reference Toby's fine article on creativity and change in the budo. edit - I've even heard some say that Ikeda sensei isn't "doing" aikido anymore, cited just as an example of militant orthodoxy in the midst of general hetrodoxy. |
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Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
[quote=Jo Adell;171829]Mark
What I object to is people do not Practice aikido telling how to do aikido. QUOTE] I can see how that could bother someone. But remember that these are people that used to do aikido, and one of them also has quite a bit of experience with Daito Ryu, the root of all aikido. 3 year ago while i was still a gung ho aikidodoka, I would probably be making the same arguments as everyone eles here that has it out for Dan and Mike. But having left the fold, switched over to judo and now having the pleasure of training with Dan I am a true beliver. These skills do not exist in aikido today, or atleast the wide range of aikido I have been exposed to. When I was doing aikido I trained with a teacher that was just recently promoted to Shihan by Doshu and the aikikai. My teachers teacher, who I trained with frequently was an Uchideshi of O'Sensei and very well known for his powerfull waza. So i would say that I was training with people that knew what they were doing. While I respect these teacher very much and consider them to be some of the best aikidoka in North America. I have never felt in them what I have felt from Dan and his students. At their best, I would describe my teachers as great technicians with the ability to blend with ukes center and work around ukes strength. Maybe this is what aikidoka think of as Ki. But with Dan and his guys it is much different. They don't blend with ukes center, they don't need to, they totally disrupt it from the instant you make contact with them. Its as if as soon as you touch them they suck in all you energy and then shoot it back at you two fold while at the same time being totally loose and relaxed. At times it can be quite startling. |
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Because they can do impressive static drills/tricks? |
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In my young understanding, "waza" includes any method one consciously employs, hence the saying there are infinite techniques in Aikido...probably just splitting hairs, but "internal techniques" would be internal waza, wouldn't it? It also seems to me that the ability corresponding toward "doing" the above is relative to who you're trying it on. I have no problem grounding out some people while others seem impossible. I can certainly do elements of the above mentioned, though not in all cases. Quote:
We often read and inject our own connotations into the areas not addressed directly. If the interlocutor included every caveat which applied to the things they say, they probably would never finish a post. Initially, I recall Mike bugging the heck out of me. I'd always arrive in the middle of a conversation (dangerous in it's own right) where he was describing some negative thing and after a while he just seemed to have nothing positive to say about Aikido. Over time, I began to realize he wasn't criticizing "Aikido," only what he had specifically witnessed and was addressing. When people make strong assertions, unfortunately, I think we humans tend to look for ways we might be under attack and respond to what WE read into the message more than what is actually said, some of us more than others, I know. Quote:
It certainly makes a difference whether or not one can feel it or not (talking is pretty useless comparatively). I recall telling one newer student that the feeling they had just experienced for the first time should be repeated to some degree every time they did that technique. I had felt her suddenly ground out my efforts and the look of pleasant surprise dawned on her face as she realized she had just taken control of the situation. I could have told her all day about what it feels like, but she never would have had an idea what I was talking about (and I assume this is what you're really trying to say), but I don't think any of us can say specifically what another of us is lacking in their training without witnessing it directly. |
Re: "Non-Aikido Martial Traditions" Forum
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Re: Dan, Mike, and Aikido
Why do karateka do kata and punch-kick drills, etc., Justin, or kungfu practitioners do their various exercises and drills? Those things are intended to build a particular foundational skill set -- a skill set which later can be applied to fighting (or avoiding fighting, as the case may be).
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