View Single Post
Old 05-13-2014, 05:22 AM   #88
Alex Megann
Dojo: Southampton Aikikai
Location: Southampton
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 401
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: Why bother keeping Aikido 'pure'?

Quote:
Cliff Judge wrote: View Post
There is a surprising diversity of Daito ryu groups, some of them are so strange that they induce cringing.

Among the reputable ones which you most likely saw videos of, they tend to be very formal. Meaning they have kata, and students spend a huge amount of time studying the kata and trying to get them exactly right to the critical eye of an authorized instructor. (The Takumakai doesn't use the term kata for this type of practice but it is what it is.)

That right there is probably why you think Daito ryu looks "better." I presume you mean crisper, cleaner technique, that "looks like it really works." There is just more attention to details that we would consider to be jujutsu or "external" in Aikido. Much less attention is paid to improvisation, spontaneity, protecting your partner, etc.
As an example of this diversity, this video of Shogo Okamoto is VERY different from anything you will have seen Katsuyuki Kondo do. I should stress that this certainly isn't supposed to be an illustration of "bad" Daito-Ryu - it just shows a different focus on (high-level) internal skills in this branch of DR.

By the way, I have seen MUCH fluffier Daito Ryu demonstrations which can compete on a level playing field with anything you could pull out on aikido...

Alex

Last edited by Alex Megann : 05-13-2014 at 05:29 AM.
  Reply With Quote