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Old 08-25-2017, 05:29 AM   #18
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Dojo: Vestfyn Aikikai Denmark
Location: Vissenbjerg
Join Date: Jul 2000
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Re: Criteria for Dan evaluation

Quote:
Igor Vojnović wrote: View Post
(snip) Who the hell gives these people their Dan grades? I mean by which criteria does an Aikidoka get up to a 4. Dan black belt while still looking like a 4th or 3rd Kyu or at best a second kyu? (snip)
Hi Igor

I have a counter question: At what level do you gain the right to judge who are doing good aikido and who are doing something that is rubbish?

I am also not a big fan of people trying to claim that they know how aikido should be. The notion that there is only one 'true' interpretation is narrowminded at best. Any such blowhard who claims that most of those with higher ranks are wrong is putting himself in a dangerous position. We have the '1st kyu sensei', the 'shodan master' and the 'sandan shihan'.. we see them very often. And as we get better we may also realize that we ourselves may occasionally make the same mistake. Then we have a really interesting battle at our hands

So it is a well known problem. With the internet they have gained a channel through which they can expose their fallacies. So it may become more and more frequent in the future.

But i guess you question is who gave these people their grades. Based on your questions I take it you are not above 4th dan yourself, because if you where you would likely not ask the question. After a few decades in Aikido most of us get to accept the shortcommings of any organization within budo as something unavoidable.

Also there may be very different views on what the purpose of our training is. I took at look at the videos from your dojo. There are some nice break falling. Really good looking and relaxed. On the other hand I also se aspects I really don't like. for example atemi application that would be thought of as completely wrong in the style of aikido i practice.

My point is that we all have different things we emphasize so there will never be any fixed set up criteria upon which dan-grades are handed out. Also it is often also a decision based on an individual evaluation.

And now.. go watch some episodes of 'enter the dojo'. It points out very neatly what lies behind such overinflated egos.

Have a great weekend!

- Jørgen Jakob Friis

Inspiration - Aspiration - Perspiration
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