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Old 05-16-2007, 03:05 PM   #25
ChrisMoses
Dojo: TNBBC (Icho Ryu Aiki Budo), Shinto Ryu IaiBattojutsu
Location: Seattle, WA
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Poll: Would you consider aikido without a physical practice component to still be

Quote:
Christopher Li wrote: View Post
For that matter, would planning and directing a strategic campaign be classed as budo? It certainly would under the classification of such things in Japan, but does not involve any physical practice...

Best,

Chris
And yet most sogo bugei only taught heiho towards the END of the curriculum after their members had been indoctrinated into the physical methods and strategies of a ryu-ha.

To be clear, I'm not saying that lessons from aikido can't apply off the mat, but I don't think you could call a non-physical activity "aikido". At one workshop I attended years ago with Kurita Minouru, he went so far as to say that aikido only happened within a dojo.

I've learned some valuable life lessons through snowboarding and motorcycling, real deep valuable stuff. I could even explain what I've learned to someone else, and rationalize why these lessons applied outside of those very specific environments, but they wouldn't be snowboarding or riding. And even if they believed everything I said, those lessons would not have come to them through their bodies, at the risk of injury or death.

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