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Hugh Beyer wrote:
This is interesting and I'd love to hear more about it, but you do realize that this is exactly the criticism that is being leveled against traditional aikido training, don't you? The external forms are taught but not the understanding of internals that gives the external form life, and because they're internal it's very hard to figure them out on one's own. So we all end up practicing pretty movements that don't mean anything. We have to bring an understanding of these aspects of "mind" back into our training explicitly if we want to elevate aikido as an art.
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Hi Hugh,
I totally agree. I for one have never leveraged any criticism against "traditional" training. I have trained in almost every major Aikido method to get an idea of what may not be taught from my paradigm and I have learned much from those in "traditional" aikido as well as Yoshinkan and even Ki no Kenkyukai. Not all about "IP" but important things nevertheless.
Quote:
Hugh Beyer wrote:
I'm interested that Tomiki considered the IP stuff "tricks". What's a trick and what's core to aikido? Good technique? Joint locks? Using movement to lead uke off balance? IP? Aikido brings all those together into a unified whole, which is part of what makes it such a fascinating art. I have to say tho, so far as I'm concerned, it's the internal connection (which IP enables) that matters. Without that, the rest is just sound and fury.
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To clarify, Tomiki did not consider IP stuff "tricks" he considered it "showing off" apparently. I guess he saw Aiki as a critical element embodied in everything one does in Aikijujutsu. It is a core technical concept that influences and controls everything from how one stands, moves, thinks, applies throws, locks etc. As a result (and maybe due to Judo's influence) he was more akin to teach the elements of Aiki as part of other technical concepts such as kuzushi and tai sabaki instead of using raw examples such as a "push test" for example. Like I said before, it would appear in his technique but he would not strip the "aiki" out and show it in an isolated manner per se. Was this a good idea, I don't know. However there are reports where he did things commonly associated with IP or aiki knowledge. One occurence was referenced by Nariyama Shihan of the Shodokan. It is somewhere on Aikiweb and also on the Shodokan website.
I'm giving my own views here of course as I am not an expert in this area.
Regards
LC