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Old 04-27-2007, 03:11 PM   #54
ChrisMoses
Dojo: TNBBC (Icho Ryu Aiki Budo), Shinto Ryu IaiBattojutsu
Location: Seattle, WA
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 927
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Re: Atemi waza: good or bad for Aikido?

Quote:
Larry Novick wrote: View Post
For one thing, there is a difference between imposing my will on someone and simply not allowing them to impose their will on me. And that's only the tip of the iceberg, but an important tip.
At the risk of sounding VERY rhetorical, even if it is your will to simply not allow someone to impose their will on you, to achieve that, you will have to impose your will.

Quote:
Larry Novick wrote: View Post
For me, it really is - to each their own. I am not trying to convince you that my way is right for you, my path and way of training are definitely not for everyone. But it frankly seems like you are saying that my way is not really real, and not really achievable.

That's not my life experience.

LN
I hate when people drag up the founder's words, but I do come back to the quote that "90% of Aikido is atemi." If one does a style of aikido that doesn't use atemi, can you really say you are still doing aikido? Not that I see anything wrong with NOT doing aikido, the stuff I'm working on these days is sufficiently different from aikido, that while it has obvious roots in aikido, I refer to it as aikibudo to avoid confusion. I could get away with calling it aikido, but I don't think it would be right. I do think that in our experimentation with aikido, we can walk too far down a path that takes us off of what aikido is. Again, I'm not putting any kind of moral judgment on that. But I do not feel that there is an unlimited range of variation in what can still be considered aikido. In the US, I think we have taken far too many liberties with the traditional syllabus without having a deep enough understanding of the art to do so. In Kendo they have the concept of shu-ha-ri. I think most of the silverbacks in aikido in the US started teaching while in the shu phase of their training, quickly moved into the ha phase, but because of their isolation from their seniors, stayed there rather than progressing to the ri phase where experimentation and evolution can take place in a way that's in keeping with the art.

As for what you're talking about being achievable, we all have our own experiences. I have never seen or felt anyone who can do what you are describing the way you are describing it however, so until I experience otherwise, I'm stuck with my own experiences as a guide.

Chris Moses
TNBBC, "Putting the ME in MEdiocre!"
Budo Tanren at Seattle School of Aikido
Shinto Ryu Iai-Battojutsu
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