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Old 11-30-2009, 07:24 PM   #11
Scott Harrington
Location: Wilmington, De
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 86
United_States
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Re: Ogawa Tada - aiki techniques& training methods of Kodo Horikawa

Some background, as I have heard, on the posted video of Ogawa Sensei.

1. This is an old video (part one of two) probably 20 years old, from VHS by Aiki News.

2. Ogawa Sensei has recently (last year or so if I recall) passed away. There is a small group of senior students teaching Ogawa-ha Aikijutsu in Tokyo.

3. Ogawa Tada had studied for 14 years with Shioda Kancho, eventually an uchi-deshi. Looking for that special "it" he went to Hokkaido and met with Kodo Horikawa Shihan and found "it" enough to make him move to this northern region and study three years till Kodo passed away.

4. Slowly becoming more comfortable with the art of aiki, he set up teaching Daito ryu Aikijutsu as taught by Kodo Horikawa.

So, several things show up.

Ogawa had a strong background in the 'hard' style of Aikido, and advanced a further step with Aiki.

From a student of Ogawa, I heard that the techniques shown on the video were what was taught, a fairly basic program of see, observe, and then attempt to duplicate.

He also stated that for pure aiki (and he has been around) Ogawa, without a fancy flurry or special timing had the real deal. From a wide range of attacks, he literally repeatedly collapsed when the technique was applied.

Now, this individual, with damn strong wrists, solid base, and alot of experience is hard to throw. But he said he did a bearhug to
Ogawa sensei and suddenly, with no grab or handling, he became glued chest to back, unable to move and then projected thru the air.

So, real.

Couple of things, in this stage of training, looking at videos, I have come to the staqe where I watch uke. If the guy is good, he has got to the spot where he can be minimal in his actions. But the reaction of uke's body and when it occurrs is where you can learn.

If you had been around Issac Newton, it would not have been possible to see how he came up with solutions, but looking at his proofs would show how he got there.

two cents.

Scott Harrington
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