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Old 01-24-2012, 02:35 PM   #143
DH
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,394
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Re: "The goal is not to throw"

Throwing and connection
The thing that is supposed to separate aiki people from the normal mechanics of throwing is first and foremost what Ueshiba discussed as in yo... in us. Within us. It not only changes the way you feel its changes the way someone interacts with you. Without it there is no aiki. Period. Without that every person who discusses throws ends up talking about things predicated on normal jujutsu throws.

The person -with aiki- will have their own set of dilemmas of fitting in for a throw and interacting with the straights in budo (those untrained in IP/aiki). There are things a person with aiki will have to throttle back on, relearn, along with other things they can do that normal people cannot. Your interactions with the straights in budo will continue to change as your internal connections strengthen inside you.

Something as simple as "When one thing moves....everything moves" is difficult, and has a marked effect on people. And it is not al the same. Tohei was not Ueshiba. In several areas they were doing different things. Ueshiba talked about things Tohei never addressed and did not have in his movement. You can see it in them, and once you train certian things you can see it on your partner...on contact.
Which brings up the more critical aspects of kuzushi on contact. In and of itself it is obvious instantly whether someone has aiki or not. Sagawa used to say all he had to do was watch you do aiki age and it was over...he knew. That creates it's own challenges to overcome when someone cannot put any force into you any more and you have to alter your practice. Case in point is I launch people to a standing postion-sometimes higher than their own feet and they comes back down...all from Kokyu dosa. That messes up things up. So you learn to throttle way back. Think of what that would do to Tenchi nage or any other throw...
I can go into a process about shoulders but from what I have seen people have a loooong way to go to overcome those issues and move from their centers for the first time. They acknowledge it and discuss it and then go right back to shoulder use.
Then you can discuss all the additives; issuing power, absorbing each on its own separately or at the same time-often used by Ueshiba and not Tohei. There are many dilemmas fitting in and training that are faced by someone with aiki that I have never even seen discussed on aikiweb.

On a very simple level of figuring out who is full of it and full of themselves? We can look at the interaction in any manner of levels, but there is clear evidence available for us all in an example offered by O sensei:

Leave budo out of it, leave waza untouched and walk up to someone and do the Ueshiba test.
Every person who so much as grabbed him to try something all said he felt different and they knew right away.
Go lay hands on someone.
If they don't feel different than normal people?
They don't know what Ueshiba was talking about
They don't know what they are talking about when it comes to aiki.
Everything else is judo or jujutsu.

When none of the above is displayed...or discussed, it pretty much speaks about the aikido-ka's power and skills. Their dilemmas are the same as the TKD guy at the mall or a judo guys.
Dan

Last edited by DH : 01-24-2012 at 02:48 PM.
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