View Single Post
Old 11-15-2006, 08:48 AM   #26
ChrisMoses
Dojo: TNBBC (Icho Ryu Aiki Budo), Shinto Ryu IaiBattojutsu
Location: Seattle, WA
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 927
United_States
Offline
Re: Aikido: The learning of natural movement

Quote:
David Orange wrote:
I don't think the "ukemi" is what identifies the move as aiki. It's all in the first four seconds of the video. Stop it there and what do you have? A child is grabbed and without having been taught to do so, he enters into position for sankyo. Could you expect a better response from a beginner in a class you were teaching? That's basic aikido.
Sorry, don't see that at all. No connection from his center to yours at the moment of contact = no aikido! Simply moving with relaxation is not aiki. Moving with the correct ammount of tension in the correct places can be. Just turning in a circle is not aiki. Aiki is not simple, it's not natural, it's counterintuitive and very complicated.

Quote:
David Orange wrote:
Second, as I've said before, I've been to aikido dojos where the sempai were barking "fall down faster!" because that's the way they do it. You once asked, "Why go to such a place?" Now I recall that it was a seminar run by a highly respected aikikai shihan--S. Sensei. That's the way they teach it. Why shouldn't a baby get as much cooperation as a grown man?
David
Well I guess that's a difference between us. I don't go to those dojos or train with those shihan. There are a lot of people living in a shared delusion of what aiki is and what it feels like. Just because they call it aiki doesn't mean I have to agree.
  Reply With Quote