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With respect to all it is silly to label a whole countrys style of Aikido. There is simply no such thing, each dojo is different and even within dojos you will find hard and soft.
Furthermore I'm surprised and disappointed that "soft" Aikido seems to equate in many peoples minds with weak Aikido. the whole point of Aikido, IMHO, is to blend with ukes energy, not stop it. When this is done successfully, which relies on much training in many areas and the intention to win without fighting, then techniques become soft but highly effective. Even atemi can be delivered in a soft way and be very powerful, what the Chinese Boxing schools call "heavy hand", as long as focus and timing and relaxation are present. As difficult as it is Aikido should work on the old martial arts equation, "if my enemy brings 7 then I bring 3, if my enemy brings 9 then I bring 1". In other words the more powerful the attack the less force is needed to respond (substitute uke for enemy to make this sound more Aikido-like, but the principle stands).
These kinds of threads always seem to carry an undertone of criticism towards Aikido if it appears to be too soft, but softness is not the measure, effectiveness is.
I am reminded of one Shihans response to the question, "Does Aikido work?" "Mine does, but I dont know about yours".
Over on Aikijournal.com there is a discussion about what makes an Aikido technique Aikido, very important. It most certainly is not the outer look of it, but the number of correctly applied inner principles which the casual observer might not be able to see, but should certainly be able to feel.
regards, Alec
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