Walker

So you are saying that aikidoka talk about attacking a lot? Given how often one hears "step off the line of attack" and "uke attacks and I tenkan" I find that hard to believe. I'm not even sure your average practitioner would be comfortable with the concept of an attacking nage at a basic philosophical level.

Mike S,
I would just say that while I believe you have to have your internal ducks in a line so to speak, that concept extends beyond the corporal body into things generally described as mind and spirit. In our practice (with Allen -- full disclosure) the venue for first experiencing those aspects is ken. We're pretty much in agreement on the bodyskills aspect. Without the bodyskills anything else is just an fragile shell to be cracked.

addn: That's cool you studied Japanese. Did you keep it up? I failed miserably with Chinese, but have been enjoying Japanese when not completely frustrated.