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Old 09-04-2016, 04:33 AM   #149
Ethan Weisgard
Dojo: Copenhagen Aiki Shuren Dojo
Location: Copenhagen
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 178
Denmark
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Re: Why bother keeping Aikido 'pure'?

One of my close students from Malaysia, who had grown up training martial arts, once made a very good point. He said "It's not that the technique doesn't work, it's just that I can't get it to work yet."
This is of course based on the fundamental martial soundness of the given technique. The techniques you are training need to be applicable in martial situations: your tai sabaki needs to bring you not only off the line of attack, but also to the safest place in a given situation. Tai sabaki, kuzushi, atemi - all these aspects must be there. In the Iwama lineage the practitioners in the old days had actual experience in .. how should I say this nicely.. non-dojo based applications of the waza :-) Others from other lineages have also tried their techniques in aforementioned environments. It's not that Iwama has a patent on this type of extracurricular training. It's just that it seems that there was a strong tradition for this kind of experimentation in the Iwama dojo back in the day. The techniques and principles we are training in this lineage are the same. But the deciding factor, in my opinion, is what you actually do in a given situation. What are you ready to unleash? Can you unleash it? Are you mentally prepared to go there? In my opinion it is very individual, whether you can or can't. In actuality you really don't know until you've been there. But you can mentally prepare yourself to a certain extent.
The dojo training gives you some very strong basic body programming - but when push comes to shove it's really a question of how the individual can and is willing to respond that will be a strong influence on the outcome of a given defence situation. IMHO.

In aiki,
Ethan
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