Thread: Hard Training
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Old 07-09-2001, 12:07 PM   #7
tedehara
 
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Dojo: Evanston Ki-Aikido
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Re: Rephrased Question

Quote:
Originally posted by tedehara
...Are they just a group of old aikidoists who remember their training as special because of nostalgia? Or is there something truly different from the way people train today, as opposed to how they used to train.
One thing that does come to mind is that the Aikido Masters book interviewed only Pre-WWII aikido students of O Sensei. Several things to consider:
  • The training was probably more brutal than the post-War students. That would go along with the pre-war culture of Japan.
  • O Sensei was actively involved in teaching during that period. There was probably more emphasis on techniques than his later deepening interest in spirituality.
  • This was a ju-jitsu type martial art with a nationally well-known instructor. I think it was around the war when O Sensei would start calling his martial art aikido.
I believe that the hard training these former students mentioned is the brutal, physically demanding type of training that was prevalent in most martial arts in Japan before WWII.

Today there doesn't seem to be an opportunity to try this type of training. Even if there were, most people wouldn't or couldn't take part in it.

If this understanding is correct, I'm not sure that I'd agree with these deshi. I would hope a person could have the heart (core or essence) of aikido and not have to go through the physically demanding course that they went through.

It is not practice that makes perfect, it is correct practice that makes perfect.
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