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Old 02-19-2014, 11:12 AM   #21
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Aikido as an actual Martial Art

To be even obtuse-er...

1. We have a generation of shihan who trained under O Sensei with an attitude of "keep what works, get rid of what doesn't." Many of them have since admitted, in writing on occasion, that they wish they would have listened better to what they thought was unimportant at the time. You could argue damage was done to the art when some of the early teaching was discarded or removed from circulation.
2. Specifically to Peter's point, I would agree that aikido contained everything to teach how to use aiki. I think two serious points at issue is if aikido contains (present tense) what we need to learn aiki and also if dojos are soliciting students to participate in the entirety of the training. It does depend on how you train.
3. Aiki is not bunkai. Aikido is gendai budo, not koryu. As its purpose, Aikido is about teaching aiki, not fighting. My first instructor would say, learning how to fight is a by-product of aikido. I thought that was BS macho talk until a few years back. You do not need to know how to fight to do aiki. You can put aiki into your fighting. In either case, you still need to know how to do aiki.

Jon Reading
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