Thread: Strength vs Ki.
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Old 06-19-2011, 01:59 AM   #288
Nicholas Eschenbruch
Dojo: TV Denzlingen
Location: Freiburg
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 323
Germany
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Re: Strength vs Ki.

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
(...) You will not find a single dojo that trains this way, not even one, who has a capable fighter as the attacker. Why? They are not capable of defending themselves against one using their described methods.
(...)
On the other hand, playing with movement can be fun and that is what they are truly doing.
(...)
On the other...other hand, playing with ki ...as strength and aiki, can be incredibly martial, no matter who is attacking.
Dan
Dan,
Could you agree that there may be a whole array of meaningful practices between "a capable fighter attaking" and "playing with movement"? It is the whole world of modern aikido! Now you may not be interested, but I still think its a legitimate world.

I get a little weary of the strawman - not attributing it to you here, but seeing it all over recently - that aikido is either a full blown fighting art or meaningless ribbon dancing: when all the stuff in between continues to transform people's lives, who is to say they are wrong in what they do. I sometimes think it could help if the hard-ass fighters could acknowledge that there is something they not only dont want to be part of, that is the easy bit heard all over, but also really have little idea about.

I have used aikido in an important life situation - and no, it was not a fight. If I told you about it over a beer maybe you would understand, maybe you would shake your head in disbelief about my bunny world. But that is my frame of relevance. (and then of course I would like to be able to do a fraction of what you do, too ) Other people have other frames.

Of course I realise and understand you guys get angry when ignorant people make pretentious claims about the fighting nature of what they can do, and they cannot. But I personally think aikido can best be considered a fascinating creative process about whose totality we all really dont know much . You have become such an interesting force in it yourself.

So much for this brief rant, back to breathing through my bunny ears. Hope you are well!

Last edited by Nicholas Eschenbruch : 06-19-2011 at 02:05 AM. Reason: totally changed meaning to confuse people... then spelling
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