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Randall Lim wrote:
This is exactly what my Sensei emphasises so much on: ie leading & luring.
My sensei would gently knock me on the head whatever he catches me allowing Uke to get a good grip on me without moving & leading him before contact is made. He always stresses that once Uke gets a good grip on me, there would be no more Aiki, & thus much more difficult to apply any technique.
He always stresses that Nage should lead Uke up to the point where Uke achieves a grib but has gotten himself into an ackward position. Breaking balance is then very easy.
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I am not in disagreement that it is far preferable to not still be at the focal point of the uke's power when he gets there. But the statement
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He always stresses that once Uke gets a good grip on me, there would be no more Aiki
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is simply not true. "Aiki" is applicable regardless. If the strength of the attack makes it more difficult, it's not "aiki".
This is what has happened to Aikido... Because people didn't understand crucial elements of how "aiki" works, it has become an art of "escaping" from an attack, rather than "joining with: and attack. Most Aikido you see is what I would call the "aiki of movement" and there is nothing inherently wrong with that part of it. It's great and is an essential part of the art. But because people do not understand "aiki" they think that "aiki" is simply non-resistant movement.
I would hope that the various Internal power discussions would have disabused folks of this notion. There is a reason that static practice is an important part of training in Aikido. Look at a demo in which the Sensei allows two, three, or four people to grab his arm at the same time... What is crucial to understand about that is that if it is harder to move those four than it would have been to move one, it isn't "aiki".
"Aiki" is about giving direction to the energy of the connection. This can be done regardless of the power being delivered because it has no resistance. If one understands how to make the contact point neutral, movement is effortless. This has not been well transmitted in Aikido so many people have ended up trying to neutralize the opponent's power by escaping from it. Getting kuzushi this way only works if the attacker is not very competent. Someone skilled will not imbalance himself just because you changed the distance on him.
Limiting Aikido to the "aiki of movement" without understanding the "aiki of joining" (my own terms for these things) requires that the ukes be taught a style of ukemi that is designed to make the techniques work.
I believe that it is crucial to the survival of the art in some quality sense that we put far more emphasis on proper static work at the beginning of every student's training. Then, when moving people would understand that the connection they had when doing static technique is a movable connection and not an escape. No one who has trained should believe that "aiki" stops if the opponent gets a strong connection. That is a low level understanding of these principles.