Quote:
Gianluigi Pizzuto wrote:
It might be because I'm student of one of Saotome sensei's students, but I get repeated constantly how important is to remain martial, and that doesn't mean lose aikido.
I think this video of Saotome sensei underlines the concepts in full. He blends but he can hurt at the same time. As I said I don't remember o'sensei ever saying pain is not aikido.
Saotome Sensei 2003 |
I'm fairly familiar with Saotome, he gave me my first couple of dan ranks - but except for a weekend when he passed through Japan ten years ago I haven't really had any contact with him since the last '80's.
In any case, I've certainly never said that pain is not Aikido. What I said is that the pain compliance part is:
a) Very easy.
b) Not very interesting, mainly because of (a).
c) Done by every store front martial arts kids class, which also contributes a bit to (b).
The non-painful variant that Shioda talks about is operating along some different lines, IMO. A number of people seem to think that this is a high level (maybe too high a level) thing - but that would just make it more interesting, to me.
I'm not particularly concerned about causing anybody pain, it just doesn't interest me much.
On a purely practical level, hit 'em with a two-by-four. It always works, is eminently practical, and can be done by just about anybody - which covers most of the arguments for focusing on the pain compliance aspects of nikyo.
FWIW...
Best,
Chris