Didn't O-Sensei get some of his best students (Tomiki, Shioda, etc) by allowing them to attack him so he could "prove" that his Aikido wasn't just a show? Those are probably bad word choices, but it seems to me that testing yourself and showing your technique isn't the same as competing. I'll bet that Shioda or Tomiki wouldn't say that they "lost" to O-Sensei and I'll bet O-Sensei didn't feel like he "won" against them. It was just an honest way to show the technique and the principles of Aikido.
Here is a perfect example of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2TJoq0lPHM
This is from an old documentary and what you don't see is that Ueshiba was sitting and watching this as well. So was this "Competition" from Tohei? Did it serve to enlighten "Herman" or did it just make Herman a loser?
I don't know the answers to these questions for certain, but it seems to me that you can use honest techniques against resistance without sacrificing the ideals of aikido.
What do you all think? Is this competition in this video? Was it competition when O-Sensei did it with Shioda or Tomiki?
Thanks,
Jeff D.