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Old 11-20-2015, 07:40 PM   #32
Erick Mead
 
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Dojo: Big Green Drum (W. Florida Aikikai)
Location: West Florida
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Re: Article: Ellis Amdur, "The Use of Weapons in Aikido Training"

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
For the record, I think aiki weapons has value in developing aiki. We (the dojo) have dropped the focus on kata and "sword clacking" while we work to re-define our aiki... then put it back into our weapons and re-purpose them.
With that-- I agree in principle but which led to somewhat differing conclusion to the approach. Kata are right out. They are good and they work for some people. I like them if I have someone to remember them for me. But I am 1) hopeless in reproducing sequences 2) of the opinion that rote imitation is not as effective as a more structure/dynamic kinesthetic approach (but then I am admittedly biased because of my sequential deficit -- so YMMV).

So I focus on correcting structure, posture, dynamic and the moving musubi of the engaged weapons. Each of these are directly transferable to tai jutsu and ultimately, aiki. "Clacking" is a gross indication that some contact for the needed action can begin -- but what happens in the interaction after the clack is what matters. The better it becomes, the less the "clack" and more the clean slice of scissor blades meshing. Also true of jo work. I find suri otoshi and hassogaeshi awase particulary useful in this.

We focus on suburi and close individual correction, paired awase of no more than one or two exchanges and then exploring the analogous taijutsu in appropriately related waza. Kokyu tanden ho is then worked on to frame the condensation of patterns into ways of affecting structure with feeling and applying critically oriented stresses vice more overt movement . The sequences of these modes of training often are different in any given class -- as I said, sequence and I are, at best, barely polite strangers.

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
Erick, to your point, I would say that if we start by acknowledging that aiki weapons doesn't have aiki in the beginning (which it doesn't), then "learning to cut" should at least have a functional aspect (i.e. learning to correctly cut).
Agreed.

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
Here's the rub - generally speaking, aikido "cutting" is not very good functional cutting. To make things worse, we'll use instruction based on our aikido cutting... Move like you're cutting with a sword, blah blah blah. But what we're really instructing is how to move our bodies using an analogy to a weapon we don't really swing correctly.
This is something we abhor and while gentle about fixing it -- do not ultimately tolerate. They improve, though.

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
Which means that we need to look at making our weapons instruction functional.
Agreed. It takes time and more importantly objective external attention to create internal kinesthetic awareness in people -- it is nothing that the modern world provides naturally or well. It takes time for them to even grasp the errors we point out and to ultimately anticipate the correction we routinely give. But I will not let bad movement go unnoted. If they persist, no one in our classes should be left cutting badly. We encourage participation in tameshigiri with our iaido group with this in mind.

Quote:
Jon Reading wrote: View Post
Also, you see some people moving away from that kind of instruction since is it somewhat equivalent to teaching algebra by reminding children to rely upon their knowledge of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. That is, you are using advanced education to support basic instruction. We have moved away from those analogy-based comments for this reason.
Actually, the calculus is pretty easy. It is just really sophisticated estimation of a bread loaf by adding the slices -- getting your head around infinitesimal slices takes a conceptual revelation -- but really it is the damn algebra needed to describe the loaf that it is the hard part.
My peculiar brain bias again.

But my point is that the sword works when it is an extension of the body operation in a very particular way. When that particular way can be glimpsed -- even in brief fragments -- the weapon permits observation of what needs to be sought at large scale, which then leads to what is done in the waza taijutsu in smaller scales, and in aiki finally at near infinitesimal scales. Analyzing Ikeda formed the template, basically.

Cordially,

Erick Mead
一隻狗可久里馬房但他也不是馬的.
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