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Old 07-30-2005, 04:05 PM   #120
Aristeia
Location: Auckland
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 971
New Zealand
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Re: ?? Exaggeration in Aikido ??

Quote:
Jean de Rochefort wrote:
The concept I was pushing is that a person who has failed to apply the proper technique has experienced a failure with himself/herself...it's not Aikido that failed.
Hi Jean, thanks for your response both in this and the other thread, it seems as though we're back to constructive discussion which is great.
Let me put my point like this. I think when you're discussing fighting, any system thad does not have the idea of failure from recovery built in is fundamentally flawed. A system that assumes the first technique will work first time every time is never going to be of use. (thankfully Aikido isn't such a system). There are just too many variables in fighting that make this unlikely, even assuming a perfect practioner which in itself is not achievable. It is still useful to train in this way to teach commitment and intent but reality is that on shot one kill is unlikely.

In terms of properly applied technique being irrisistable I disagree. You're right in that technique should attack weak points. But against an educated and trained opponent who may know what you've got in store for them, the adjustments they need to make early in the technique to force you to change to something else, they can do more quickly than you can complete the technique. In otherwords if they're good enough to get what you're trying to do they can get inside your action loop.

I spent yesterday with John Will one of the top BJJ coaches in the world. He makes the point that the difference between advanced BJJ students and intermediates and beginners is that the advanced ones live in the moment. Which means that whatever tech they are attempting, when the situation changes they will instantly change and adapt with it, abandoning what they were doing if necessary as soon as the "picture" changes. I think its the same with Aikido. The good guys are the ones who can feel uke responding slightly differently, adjusting to the kuzushi slightly differently, countering the technique early, and can turn on a dime to change to the next one that is now more appropriate. There are some that argue that this is the very genesis of many of our techniques.
I'll grant you that the phrase "bouncing from technique to technique" does not quite capture what I meant. I'm talking more about mushin - emptly mind that is not narrowly focused on the technique you may enter with but adapts to whatever movement uke gives you.

Beleive it or not - that was the brief version :-}

"When your only tool is a hammer every problem starts to look like a nail"
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