Thread: Yakusoku
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Old 05-28-2014, 09:40 PM   #3
JW
 
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Location: San Diego CA USA
Join Date: Aug 2000
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Re: Yakusoku

Hi Tarik-
I think that list is right on for martial art training, and especially for aikido specifically. The first one is the foundation of my personal martial training outlook. And, I know others on this board also adhere to the list and put the second one as their primary.

The third one of course is a major part of aikido, not just from the founder's narrative of his exploration of the types of budo he encountered in his world during his formative years, but from the point of view of the later point of view, "I am the universe." That is, the entirety of the environment (which would include attackers beyond the first one) constitutes the martial context of an aikidoist's martial behavior.

I also like your comment about the 70-80% success rate for keiko, where did you get that? I think you are pretty much right on. (Although I wonder if 80-90% might be better .. but anyway this is an emipircal question and it isn't that different from the figure you provided.) And the point is that you keep the ratio constant by varying only one or 2 things, not by changing things a lot. As you said, adjust the intensity (varying the speed will accomplish that, but scaling the magnitude of the forces involved can also help), but not the intent that goes into the attack, nor the specific movements involved in the attack. Basically uke can pretend he is weaker or slower but should not suddenly give up nor suddenly get stronger during the course of the engagement.

So, what is the "something specific" that is stuck right now?
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