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Old 01-14-2013, 06:26 AM   #4
MM
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,996
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Internal Training is Aikido II

In the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba, when Bill Gleason was asked whether IP/aiki training (aka Internal Training) was part of aikido, he answered, It is aikido.

In the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba, Hiroshi Ikeda is actively training IP/aiki aka Internal Training.

Two of the most senior people in that organization understand that this "Internal Training" *is* aikido. There are other senior people in that organization who believe the exact same thing. Senior to many here. That's just using one organization as an example. There are others to include someone who earned a yudansha grade under Ueshiba. When asked about this Internal Training and the cries of naysayers, their answer was ... Did they train with Ueshiba?

Internal Training isn't another tool, like a weapon that you can discuss as a separate training environment. Internal Training is the very foundation of Ueshiba's aikido. To discuss Morihei Ueshiba's (the founder of Aikido) aikido, Internal Training is a requirement.

That doesn't mean all threads pertain to Internal Training. That leaves jujutsu (you have to apply it somehow), how Ueshiba viewed using jujutsu, aikijujutsu, how others viewed it, how Ueshiba's students viewed it, how the spiritual applies, how Omoto kyo applies, how weapons are integrated, how Kisshomaru's changes affected things, etc, etc, etc. A whole host of subjects outside Internal Training.

In a world where everyone's opinion matters, where everyone's opinion is valid, where a spirit to cultivate "a community where all aikido practitioners, regardless of training level, location, background, affiliation, or interests feel welcome in coming together to share their thoughts, experiences, and opinions"; the "Internal Training" people are being shoved aside into a "ghetto".

I find it kind of humorous actually. It's like being told that you can say whatever you want, as long as it's in line with what the main group wants to hear. If not, then you have to go to the corner and whisper so that no one hears. It's disruptive to the people who are shouting that everyone's opinion matters and everyone's views are valid. To the group of people who are happy with the decision for a new forum, shame on you. Are your beliefs so tenuous that you cannot weather criticisms such that you must silence some opposition to them? Do you believe that people like Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Parks all had to have a peaceful environment without other groups trying to contradict them?

In the end, however much a public forum this is -- It is still Jun's site. I will uphold the Right for Jun to set terms for his site no matter how much I disagree. Just don't look to me to be an active participant in this kind of environment. I hope that Aikiweb doesn't go the way of E-Budo when E-Budo did something very similar.

Best of Luck,
Mark