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Old 09-17-2007, 10:18 AM   #2
gregstec
Dojo: Aiki Kurabu
Location: Elizabethtown, PA
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,110
United_States
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Re: significance to testing/belt rank?

Saotome Sensei once said at a seminar that rank in Aikido is not important - but that the amount of Aikido in your heart is (paraphrase)

Like you I have trained with ASU members where all wear hakama and there is no 'belt blindness' on the mat - your training is at the appropriate level of your partner at the time and there are no assumptions of skill based on a recognized belt level of rank - you and your partner just train and learn from each other.

In our independent dojo we follow the ASU practice of allowing all to wear the hakama just for this reason.

Greg