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Everyone gets an 'A'
Everyone gets an 'A' in my book for offering an opinion. Everyone gets an 'F' for degrading another.
Now to Aikido. Everyone gets an 'A' for saying there own views and describing their own ways.
Everyone gets an 'F' for comparing any part of Aikido to another art for the sake of making Aikido look stupid. This shows merely lack of understanding. An easy, silly, game.
You can take any part of Aikido and do this 'trick' and thus lead others into what 'sounds' reasonable yet is actually an undermining of the art through once again not understanding.
The sword being a case in point. You cannot compare it with sword arts or use such statements as a true swordsman would take them apart. This only shows lack of understanding.
You can take tsuki and then go over to a punching art like boxing and make a similar unrelated, uneducated put down of Aikido.
I saw Tamura Sensei doing a few kicks during randori. Now you could go to a kicking art and play the same game.
Tegatana. You could go to Karate and say any Karate man would laugh at it. Once again a failure to understand Aikido.
Same applies to pins and comparisons in such a manner to grappling arts.
No wonder Chiba Sensei got annoyed regarding 'other' swordwork done when he was around. No wonder Ueshiba said 'that's not my Aikido'
Very strange to me that the biggest put downs of Aikido actually come from Aikidoka or those purporting to it's betterment. Every person in life I meet respects Aikido in all it's forms, in the REAL world.
The enemy within as usual always with the negative views for the betterment of course.
Budo is love and love is powerful and thus Aikido is different and should be to most other martial arts and long may it be so. No comparison. Different purpose and potentially therefore a different level.
Others from other arts may big up their art, say how great it is, believe in it and live it. So they should. Aikidoka should do the same for a change. Pride and faith in your own art.
Undermining of Aikido can only be done by your own negativity, putting down others and listening to such comparisons to other arts.
Put yourself back in time to the year, lets say 1950 or thereabouts and hear the following.
'You know, there's some dude who's started some new martial art. He reckons budo is love and is babbling all the time about religious nonsense. No one understands him and he runs some hell dojo, I hear theyre a bunch of thugs. He's totally changed everything he says. More than that he reckons he will spread it all around the world like he's on some mission, he even believes it's all about love and harmony. Poor guy, no chance. He even reckons there's no competition in his art, he's banned it, and yet says it's true budo. Wow, I reckon 90% of 'budo' people won't get it, I give it a year or two and it will dissappear.'
Many years later it's all around the world in all it's forms doing very well for such a new art in such a short space of time thank you very much. Now that's an 'A' + with honours.
Some people don't know how lucky they are
May all Kung fu people be great kunk fu people. May all of all arts be great in their arts. May all Aikidoka be great Aikidoka. There is no comparison and no mix, only mutual respect.
May everyone get an 'A'.
Fudoshin.
Regards.G.
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