Quote:
from Dueling with O-sensei pg 28-29
When studying music, one cannot immediately play Bach or Beethoven at a concert level. One must spend years practicing scales and other fundamentals before one can begin to do justice to the music. If you consider the gokui (secret teachings) of almost any classical martial art, you'll see that there are some very cryptic, apparently simple techniques with a lot of spiritual energy invested in them. One has to practice many years doing the equivalent of scales to approach a level where these techniques can be expressed with integrity and grace in an uncontrolled situation.
In aikido, it is as if Ueshiba Morihei were walking in the snow with some branches trailing behind him, erasing his footsteps. All he taught was the gokui. He did not teach the scales which led to that level...
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In my style, I would say the
scales/fundamentals would be practiced through ki development training. Other styles of aikido also have things that are similar to this training.
There are many things that Ueshiba practiced, which he didn't teach in his dojo. Things like kototama or even weapons weren't regularly scheduled subjects. There were also things like scripture (
Kojiki, Nihongi and other works) readings which were completely left out of the dojo curriculum, but was a large part of Ueshiba Morihei's training.
Everyone only has so much time to train. Learning techniques is time-consuming enough. If you want to study Ueshiba Morihei's esoteric training, you usually have to do that on your own.
For Ueshiba Morihei, his ki development training was through Japanese traditions (see
Ki: A Practical Guide for Westerners). However, today's aikidoist can use their ki development training to understand O Sensei's techniques.