Cliff Judge

Well thats really all very interesting. I didn't realize how actual the distinction between training in the KSR and Aikido was in that area of the Aikido world.

I would agree with you that if an instructor has two separate classes for Aikido and kenjutsu, particularly with students who just do the kenjutsu and not the Aikido, then there is a distinction there. But, if an instructor includes something eclectic into an Aikido class, as in your example about karate or yawara technique, then that's Aikido. I mean, Aikido is a study of principals, and for better or worse doesn't have the same structural baggage that a koryu tradition does. If your teacher makes you throw Shotokan punches or practice a rigid koryu kats during class it doesn't matter...you are on the mat to do Aikido. You aren't practicing the eclectic stuff with enough depth to say you are a karatedoka or what have you. You are on the mat working on these things to progress in your aikido training.

FWIW, I have been surfing youtube and I am quite satisfied that Kashima Shinto Ryu's Ichi no Tachi is, in basic form, present in Kashima Shinryu, Saito Sensei's aikiken, Inaba Sensei's KSR, and incidentally Saotome Sensei's second kumi tachi as well.