Thread: One True Way
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Old 01-20-2012, 10:23 AM   #5
Janet L.
Dojo: Obiji Ki-Aikido, Lawrence, KS
Location: Lawrence, KS
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 17
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Re: One True Way

Skill. . . It seems to me that a mastery of a skill, properly speaking, serves as a foundation to build on and create something new.

But when that mastery of a skill becomes an end in itself, it becomes a dead end.

Picasso mastered figurative painting before starting his increasingly abstract work. Dali painted his surreal images in a very representational style.

In the martial arts, it seems that at some point, many teachers start to move beyond what they were taught.

Tohei Sensei admitted that what he was teaching in his later years bore little resemblance to what he learned from Osensei, propagating his own innovations built on the base of what he learned from the founder, rather than passing them on unchanged.

My own sensei, somewhat regularly improvises exercises to suit what he is trying to convey that aren't things he learned from his teachers. Some, he has specifically labeled as "That's not Aikido!" But they have helped us greatly improve our stability and sensitivity. . .
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