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Old 05-23-2005, 06:46 AM   #78
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: Basic elements of Aikido

Quote:
Wendy Rowe wrote:
I don't know the others, but I train in taiji with someone who holds rank in external MAs and consequently does taiji in that context and as qigong instead of just as a sort of new-age dance exercise as it's taught in some places. When kept true to its roots, it seems to be as close to aikido as you can get. Granted, it's generally trained slowly; but if you apply those forms at full speed in a martial context, they are exactly the same blend-and-redirect movements as in aikido. I've always thought that taiji is essentially the Chinese version of aikido, and have heard the same from others.
Hmmmm. No offense, but Taiji (which I've done for a little more than 20 years; enough to know that there is not a single westerner and dam-few Chinese that are really good at it) is different from Aikido in a couple of major respects. Aikido uses kokyu and ki, as do many martial arts, but it uses them in the way that a good Shaolin-based martial art does, not in the way that Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua do. Aikido does not use the basic six-harmonies way of moving and that method is the mainstay of Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua. Very easy to show the difference. The problem is that there are many people teaching Taiji and many people teaching Aikido and there are few that really know those arts completely. In the case of Taiji, it's harder to learn how to control the body properly than it is in Aikido. A quick check would be that someone who really does Taiji will have a muscular ability to isolate and move the muscles in front of the dantien without moving the rest of the body.... there's a reason that "qi ball" develops; it's not done by itself. I know of no western teachers that have developed that characteristic of real Taiji.... and that indicates they're not really doing Taiji. Does anyone know any anecdotes about any of the uchi-deshi that have such a characteristic, BTW?

In other words, I politely disagree with your characterization, Wendy, but I mean it in a non-offensive way.

Mike
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