View Single Post
Old 01-13-2003, 09:26 AM   #16
Ron Tisdale
Dojo: Doshinkan dojo in Roxborough, Pa
Location: Phila. Pa
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,615
United_States
Offline
As far as weapons in yoshinkan...it really seems to depend on the instructor, like in most aikido schools. There are instructors who teach extensive weapons curriculum (Utada S., Kimeda S., Kushida S. [ex-yoshinkan]), and those who don't focus on it much. The Hombu dojo does do some weapons work (1st, 2nd and 3rd jo kata, united basic movements with boken, a variation of the kendo ten basic paired kata) at shodan and above, but almost none below shodan from what I understand.

But then you also have to contrast that with the fact that at one time the headmaster of Yagyu Shinkage ryu (Omori ha) used to give classes at the Yoshinkan Hombu dojo...I believe all of the instructors above and some others used to train in those classes. So it really is a mixed bag.

I personally like aiki-ken and aiki-jo, as well as the tanto practise. I'm not sure "weapons" practise is a proper way to refer to it in most cases though. Buki waza in Aikido is usually taught differently, and looks different from classical weapons training.

Ron Tisdale

Ron Tisdale
-----------------------
"The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind."
St. Bonaventure (ca. 1221-1274)
  Reply With Quote