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Old 05-20-2004, 12:20 PM   #23
senshincenter
 
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Dojo: Senshin Center
Location: Dojo Address: 193 Turnpike Rd. Santa Barbara, CA.
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,474
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Re: The Nage/Uke Dynamic - Guidelines

Dear Mr. Little,

You are the gentleman between the two of us. Please call me Dave.

Again, I'm sorry for having to withdraw from writing folks kind enough to reply -- time restraints. I did plan however to check the thread at least once a day to read the replies of others. And I'd like to reserve the right to be able to write in if the situation warrants and/or allows -- it's just that right now, and for some time after, I cannot see that happening too much. Please forgive.

If it may assist you in stating your own position, please allow me to give some very brief answers to the questions you just raised.

* I would think it would suffice (pertaining to what we are talking about here) to define a "traditional dojo" by the manner in which I was using it in my earlier post: A dojo whose manner in determining the "correct" from the "incorrect" is primarily determined by the subjective experience a sensei has of Aikido. I suggested this as a contrast to the "egalitarian" dojo mentioned -- which allows individual subjective experiences of Aikido, other than the sensei's, to equally determine the "correct" from the "incorrect".

* The precise nature of the senpai/kohai model is Confucian.

* The relevance the senpai/kohai model has outside of Japan (which I propose no extra affording to) is determined by the relationship Confucian ideals, concepts, and practices have to the technology of the self which is Budo -- that is to say, how that senpai/kohai model contributes actively toward the spontaneous expression of the art and the underlying awakening which that expression is founded upon.

* (For me) Seniority and technical skill, as well as the degree to which one has the capacity to express the art spontaneously, relate to each other in an equal ratio.

Hope that helps.

Like I said, I do plan on at least reading the ideas of everyone that voices a perspective. I would dearly look forward to hearing more from you. I am only sorry that I cannot promise now100% being able to return the courtesy of offering my own perspective in relation to yours.

I did take your earlier posts to heart -- since I too feel that reconciliation with one's own will to power is indeed relative to proper structuring of a dojo. No doubt the potential is there for great wrong and great error if this issue is not at or near the front of one's pedagogy. I tend to address the issue by placing all subjective elements on the table, where they can never be mistaken for objective truths with a capital "T". You seem to have your own solutions. So please allow me to write you privately concerning whom I am and where I am coming from, since to do otherwise is to contribute to the actual various cults of personality that do indeed flow through these forums -- cults by which folks determine who to be polite to and who to be rude to; who to accept outright and who to dismiss outright; who to don the expert cap in front of and who to bow one's head in front of; etc. If my profile is barer than most would like it, it is out of integrity and not out of having something to hide. I am here to exchange ideas, not personalities. This is not even a place for the latter. Personalities cannot be verified here, but ideas, on the other hand, can be ran through the qualities of consistency, accuracy, and validity. I do not fill my profile with information because I like my ideas to be addressed as they are, as they should be -- on their own. I do not want them to be addressed in a particular way because I have this rank or don't have that rank; because I trained under this shihan or that shihan; because I'm new or old to the art; etc. Let them stand on their own, and let folks keep their assumptions about the author of such ideas if they are not able to simply address those ideas as they are -- on their own.

So I will again have to politely disagree with your position of where the rubber meets the road concerning how ideas should come into contact with each other. But I can also say that anyone is welcome to train, visit, study, reflect, and critique at our dojo. I will email you through your web site and provide you with the information you requested.

Again, thoroughly enjoyed your post -- intriguing questions!

Yours,
david
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