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Old 12-21-2004, 01:18 PM   #32
Don
Dojo: aikido of charlotte
Location: Charlotte
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 112
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Re: Aikikai Aikido Academy

This is a really interesting thread. I have read the Aikikai Hombu website before and was as surprised as many in this thread were. I think someone probably indicated the real reason for the discrepencies between Hombu "Aikido Academy" promotions and "the rest of the world".

I think that the length of time indicated by most in "the rest of the world", myslef included at 7 years, is a percieved difference in what Shodan means. Shodan in much of the rest of the world, at least the U.S., is that you are a pretty good master of the art. That is strikingly different than the traditional Japanese definition of Shodan. I think that part of the length of time issue has to do with, as someone has said, the desire to not proliferate a bunch of more or less incompetent instructors and dilute the art, and the recognition that Shodan in many countries other than Japan is different than in Japan. We have had several Japanese train at our dojo who had been training awhile and were less than pleased with how they happened to compare with U.S. students who were the same rank, but had been training much longer.

But in the end, its what you want in the long run. If you want good aikido, it won't ultimately matter how long or what rank you are. If you want to get into the organization and the politics, then different things matter. Me, I just want to train. IMHO
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