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Blaine Feyen wrote:
Nice question Storm and some really good observations! I've learned something just by reading everybody's posts. Personally, I'm not so clear on the whole "do it while not moving your feet" concept. Of course, I teach static techniques and concepts for beginners to understand movements, balance breaking, leading, etc., but ultimately, based on my understanding, one MUST move his/her feet and body...tai sabaki. I dont think that particular demonstration was "wrong" by any means, but one could certainly see some opportunities for movement.
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In the videos of Ueshiba, sitting on the mat, with three people pushing on his head, did he have to move his feet to break their balance? Why couldn't they push him over? What was happening with Ueshiba not being moved?
Read Peter Goldsbury's TIE article where he talks about Ueshiba and ushiro techniques.
Why did high ranking Kendo people want to train with Ueshiba to learn his "tai sabaki"? They'd trained their whole life for Kendo movement. What was different about Ueshiba that they wanted to learn?
IMO, if you "MUST" move your feet to gain kuzushi, then that's jujutsu. Not aikido. Aiki captures center on contact and thus not a requirement for movement to gain kuzushi. Yes, movement is good and should be trained, but if you're relying 100% on movement to gain kuzushi, then that's jujutsu to me. (Again, nothing wrong with jujutsu. I'm not passing a good or bad judgment here.)
No aiki = no aikido. No aiki = not capturing center on contact = no kuzushi. Moving to get kuzushi because you can't capture center on contact any other way = jujutsu. All the physical "leading" movements that help get kuzushi, to capture uke's center, are all jujutsu, IMO.
And that is what's meant by the concept of "do it while not moving your feet". It's the concept of aiki.