Seven.
One who actually changes the bulb and six others stating they do this movement slightly different at their home dojo.

3.
1 to do the actual changing (nage)
1 to pretend to be the lighbulb (uke)
1 to tell them to screw it in the other direction (sensei)

=) -Paul

As an aside, as we were going out to dinner after last Friday night's class, one of the members of our dojo came in with a pack of light bulbs for our "Exit" sign above our door. He stood on a stool and had our instructor hold it, while a few others (myself included) watched...

-- Jun

At the risk of shamelessly plagiarizing my favorite answer:

One, but the lightbulb must initiate the attack. :)

I think it was aikidofaq.com in which I saw this-

One, he just extends his ki into the light bulb and it lights... but then, do you even need a light bulb?

-Nick

True: Two
One to change the light bulb, and one to get on his hands and knees so the first can stand on his back since the dojo has no ladder.

A dojo with a ladder? That'd be a good idea- we could fix our sign outside. Right now it reads "Suenaka School of Aikid".

-Nick

My own personal experience tells me that you need 6.

1 to change the light bulb.
1 to hold the chair which the first is using to reach the socket.
1 to give the bulb to the one in the chair because he forgot to bring it before he climbed.
1 to turn the switch on/off to be sure the bulb is working properly.
1 to tell the rest that everything is going ok.
1 to alert the bulb changer to hurry up because the sensei is coming

In our dojo we followed the procedure twice a session.

Etn

hehe... how do you clean the ladder up if sensei is coming? what a mess, I can see it now... Aikidoka sprawled on the mat, but the damn light works...


Sorry- It's late and I'm tired...

-Nick

First of all the bulb has to want to change, and then only if the flower has died.

how many aikidoka does it take to change a lightbulb?
 

The light is out? So THAT'S why it is so dark in here! I thought we were supposed to be training with our eyes closed to "feel the ki"~

OT once more, but I couldn't help but think about this post last night at practice- there was a bad storm, and the lights kept flickering. I almost started laughing while sensei was demonstrating a technique, and that would have been anything but humorous.

-Nick

Bulb Changing
 

I find kerosense lamps to be much safer and more convenient.

I think these new bulbs last forever, so I might switch over.

Yet another sarcastic som-bitch,
Drew

I found this out last Saturday:

3- one mudansha (myself) to hand the bulbs up, one sensei to hold to the somewhat unsteady collection of things we gathered together to reach the ceiling, and one shihan to change the bulb (he was the tallest) and finding the shelves, benches, etc that sensei and I couldn't find on our own...

It was quite an interesting ordeal- Shihan's idea of stacking shelves and such up beat our method (extra pieces of mat stacked up with a folding chair on top).

I guess that's why he's Shihan ;).

-Nick