George,
Hiya!
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Someone said "The Sensei knows how good someone is... why doesn't he just give the rank that reflects the skill?"
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That would have been me.
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This reflects a lack of understanding about the function of testing.
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Thanks. See if you can find a crueler way of saying it
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There is no competition in Aikido.
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cough *** Tomiki *** cough
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One of the few times in your Aikido career that you will have to step up and put it all on the line is testing.... snip
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Aikido's put on the line everytime we step on the mat. Everything we do is a reflection of our ability. For example, a shodan is judged by their ability with every action they do by everyone present (based on people's notion of what a shodan should be). More specifically, if a shodan bows out of warm up, for no apparent reason ... falls when they should be throwing (and uke is of a lower rank and skill) ... cannot perform a technique with a cooperative uke ... these actions all add up and suggest maybe the shodan shouldn't be a shodan.
For me, personally, stepping up and testing wasn't that big a deal. Sure, I would be nervous. Sure, I wanted to do well. And yeah, I've seen people who had honest to goodness panic attacks while testing, but not me. Put in shiai, though, and I get an adrenaline dump every time.
Be honest, haven't you seen people pass exams that you personally wouldn't have passed if the decision was yours? I bet we all have.
I feel that current exams are waaaay to subjective for my preferrence. Hence, I would prefer no rank be assigned to anyone. I've gone into detail about this on the other forum, so I'm sure you're familiar with why I feel the way I do. But for those who don't know me, I have tested many times, hold rank and (this is key)
I haven't returned my rank in aikido to Hombu, so I freely confess I'm being a hypocrite. (Gotta tell the truth).
As always, George, I appreciate your posts more than I can express and I appreciate your honesty and integrity.
Warm Regards,
Paul