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Old 02-26-2007, 02:44 PM   #738
Brion Toss
Dojo: Aikido Port Townsend
Location: Port Townsend, Wa.
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 104
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Re: Baseline skillset

Quote:
Mark Murray wrote: View Post
Hello Brion,
I disagree. I think you're way off and completely wrong. Well, unless you are a MA genius and can see what's hidden in plain sight. These baseline skills are not in the waza. Eric doesn't get it and any attempts at using simple physics or mechanics to try to explain what is happening is useless and wasting energy. But, if you don't think any of that truly matters ... why post? Obviously, you thought it did. To me, these do matter.

Mark
Mark,
You misread me. When I asked, "But does any of that truly matter?", it was in reference to my opinion, in the immediately preceding lines, regarding the respective engineering concepts of Messrs. Harden, Sigman, and Mead. I wrote that opinion in order to draw a contrast with the theme of the letter: an open heart as a basic Aikido skill. I certainly think that "internal power" does matter, a great deal, and I am sorry if that was not clear from my post.
As for whether or not such power can be derived from the waza, it would appear that we disagree. There are, of course, no guarantees that a student will be able to derive them, or that a teacher will be able to teach them, any more than there are guarantees in any other training model. But empty practice is hardly a phenomenom unique to Aikido. To take an example from something I do know something about -- sailboat rigging -- many contemporary sailors are opting nowadays for electric-powered winches, and sails that wind up inside the mast. Some of this preference is based on boat size and/or the ages of the sailors. But far too often the sailors are abandoning a simpler, cheaper, more durable and efficient manual configuration because the manual components are poorly specified, poorly installed, or poorly understood. Nothing the matter, intrinsically, with the manual option, but if the sailor doesn't understand that, then the first person who comes along with a gizmo that is guaranteed to make their life easy will get their attention. That's fine with me, because I make a lot more money installing gizmo's, but the two approaches were not actually judged on their merits.
You believe that it takes a martial arts genius to find internal energy in Aiki waza; I believe otherwise, perhaps because it has been explained to me better, as a system.
It also seems clear that you see any attempt at a mechanical analysis of the nature of internal power to be "useless," and this I just do not understand. If we can't even approach creating a rational model for what is happening, then we are stuck with the kind of direct transmission that tends to ossify into cult belief. Information that cannot be analysed cannot be related to other phenomena, or improved on in a meaningful, systematic manner.

Regards,

Brion Toss
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