Mert Gambito

Arno,

I'll propose the following to you, as my final, final corollary here.

Granted, the aiki greats who learned from Sokaku Takeda were typically versed in multiple budo and/or bujutsu: they were in general well-rounded martial artists. Yet, once they attained high-level efficacy with Daito-ryu IP/aiki, that was all she wrote. Those body skills within their respective flavors of the art had everything inherently needed for goshin-jutsu, and techniques were spontaneously "born", to cite Ueshiba, as necessary to readily dispatch any challenger/uke, regardless of that other person's skill set. Yeah, it sounds like hyperbole, but once you've met people who are living proof that it's not -- well, the choice is yours.

Yet, you suggested this might be too much time and effort earlier. Heck, isn't it a lot easier to train in one thing (the way of aiki), than too many arts simultaneously?