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Old 10-20-2012, 11:10 AM   #162
DH
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,394
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Re: VoE: AWASE - The Principle of AIKI

Quote:
Eric Winters wrote: View Post
Hi all,

I agree with most of what Dan is saying. (I have never met him)

But I think that the problem some people have with Dan and Mark is that they give no "How To's" and claim IHTBF (Reasonable) and Dan also does not want to give to much verbal info because he does not want the unskilled boobs to sound like the know stuff (can't remember were that post is). So the only thing that seems to come out into the posts sounds like "nobody in aikido understands aikido and everybody that does Aikido sucks unless they train with Dan."

Now they may or may not think that who knows, but it sure does seem like it from the posts.
Otherwise, IMHO what they are doing is essential for great aikido or any other movement activity you chose to do.

Best,
Eric
Ouch!!
I'm not saying that Eric.
I would rather this material drew us together rather than divide us. It is drawing many communities of martial artists together in person, better than any other method I have seen. I wish the same could happen on the internet.

If you want to sum up my points they would read like this:
  • Aikido is part Martial art, part spiritual pursuit.
  • I say that Ueshiba's skills were not unique, but were part of a known paradigm of internal training replete with concepts and specific terminology quoted and cited by Ueshiba. Ueshiba utilized this internal training paradigm for his power and aiki and that it was this known physical process that produced other men with unusual power, that produced what we saw as his unusual power in Aikido.
  • Ueshiba's terminology, properly translated are known concepts that produce power and aiki. I can define them, teach them, do them, and have produced students who can as well.
  • Those who claim his power was made manifest by his spiritual pursuits have yet to produce anyone anywhere doing anything defined and replicable to produce his power.
  • Of those Japanese teachers who had/have power; the teaching method lacked clarity and thus they did not produce students with unusual power.

This is where I disagree with those who argue there is no case:
Ueshiba had unusual power
(Those making this case have unusual power)
He used the same terminology and phrases that exist throughout Asia.
He actually borrowed and directly quoted many internal arts sayings in his writings.
The terminology he used were methods that were known for producing power
Those used them in India/China/Ancient Japan; were also known for unusual power
They all share the same tests- litmus tests for power-that he used
(Those making this case use the same terminology and explain it and also have unusual power)

In a nut shell:
Those reffuting it?
Have no unusual power and cannot explain what Ueshiba was saying, where it cam from, what it means and how to do it to produce power and aiki.

I think not knowing the material is understandable and forgivable.
I think Modern Aikido-ka's distinct lack of power and aiki in the face of those making this argument is rather revealing as they fail almost alarmingly at a 100% rate. It's happening internationally in open rooms. What...does....that....say?

To go back to this notion of circumstantial evidence:
Most jurors at this point would find reasonable cause for conviction, or winning of a civil case on those grounds.


I don't care about having to "make a case." What for?
This is not personal to me, and I am not trying to win anything. I am trying to help people over a set period of time I have available to me. What the community does with it is up to them. I would rather this material drew us together rather than divide us.
I think Aikido was once one of the most powerful arts in the world. I do not believe it still is. From my own exposure to so many of its higher level teachers, to reading just about everything in English, to reading, and meeting people over decades, I have come to realize most of you agree with me that Aikido has problems when it comes to living up to the martial reputation it's founder once had.
I think-we- can fix that and have lots of fun doing so.
Dan

Last edited by DH : 10-20-2012 at 11:24 AM.
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