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Old 04-17-2003, 04:58 PM   #1
Jesse Lee
Dojo: Tenzan Aikido, formerly named Seattle Aikikai
Location: Seattle, WA
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 94
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Scripting your "free-style" test

What do folks think about aikidoka taking a 1st-kyu or higher test and walking into it with a script in mind? As in, they know that they will be asked for five arts from tsuki, five from yokomen, five from shomen, etc., and beforehand they have a progression in mind: "I will do a, then b, then c, then d, then e."

I have the impression that tons of high-ranking aikidoka do this. (I am too low-ranking to have any experience in this myself :-] )

It seems to contravene the very idea of free-style, whereby uke's energy dictates nage's response. That is one of the golden ideals of aikido, after all, and I assume that is what the test curriculum is looking for at the higher ranks. But several yudansha tell me that, yes absolutely, they walked in with a script. One guy failed his test when he had no script, then retested with a script and his performance brought the house down.

Is this just a lame phenomenon, or is there any merit to it? Are there any 1st-kyu-plus aikidoka reading this, that have done this?
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