Thread: 6 Directions
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Old 10-21-2013, 07:04 PM   #135
Cady Goldfield
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,035
United_States
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Re: 6 Directions

Bill, for those of us who practice and have - to varying degrees - IP and aiki, we don't have to pretend or even to agree. The condition just... is. It's not mystical or magical in any way. Its source is purely the product of mental and physical work.

The martial value is very evident, once you've when you've had the opportunity to experience both the "external" (conventional) way of generating martial power and stability, and the "internal" approach, IP allows you to create continuous power for deflecting, striking, kicking, etc. without having to chamber or reposition your body. Chambering and repositioning creates gaps an opponent can exploit, so eliminating it from your power-making is a distinct advantage.

Also, the structure of the body necessary for IP is a unified one; movement is not sequential chain reactions but a constant state. The alignment and arcing of the joints allows a person to re-direct force from an opponent -- neutralizing the force of an attack, sending it to the ground, and using it - augmented with one's own generated power - to attack the opponent. Instead of being forced backward, or pushed over, or being forced to bend back at the waist, the body remains a force-directing arc to the ground and back into the opponent. This grants great stability without bracing or committing mass and center to any exploitable point. These are just a small part of the benefits of IP over conventional method.

You know, Shioda did all this, though he doesn't seem to have transmitted much of it to ensuing generations. I think Chris already recommended that you look into Kodo Horikawa, a disciple of Sokaku Takeda and head of Daito-ryu Kodokai. It's pretty much old news that Shioda spent some time with Horikawa when he couldn't grasp what Ueshiba was talking about or doing, but could very much feel the power of Ueshiba's aiki. Shioda went outside aikido, back to Daito-ryu, to get what he was lacking. Horikawa evidently provided the necessary "enlightenment."

Last edited by Cady Goldfield : 10-21-2013 at 07:07 PM.
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