Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote:
Hi Mark,
Ushiro Kenji's new book Karate and Ki might be of interest. This is the level on which he functions and he has a lot to say about it. Quite a bit of the book was very difficult, a reflection that I am not quite "there" yet. But there's an awful lot that made sense to me and I think would be of assistance in developing a vocabulary to describe this stuff.
My good friends Josh Drachman and Marc Abrams are Aikido folks who also train with Ushiro Sensei and the did the translation into English along with one of Ushiro Sensei's Japanese students. It was very difficult as we in America do not have a good set of terminology for talking about the "energetics" of this stuff. (The Russians are much better as they have been much more open to this kind of thing and do energy work in their martial arts and healing, etc.)
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Thanks for the book recommendation George, I will certainly search it out. I am also interested to search out more about the Russian/systema approach, as from what I have seen via video, they seem to be closer to the aikido I am involved with than some of the aikido I have seen (again mostly via video). I hope one day to get some hands on to know how true this is.
My own practice at the moment is centred right at the heart of some of the concepts that you are conveying on the forums here at the moment. Particularly regarding the connection that is made and maintained before an attack is initiated. This is above and beyond simple mechanics (although they have to be all in place and correct of course) and belong in the realm of mind/spirit/ki.
I feel that I am just starting to
really 'get' what I have been patiently taught for so long
I feel very fortunate to have such a good teacher (Sensei Williams) - 54 years in aikido and still going strong. His own instruction came from the likes of Sensei's Kenshiro Abbe (who introduced aikido to the UK in the mid 1950's), Tohei, Nakazono and Noro, so I feel I am in 'good hands'
I love this journey, not an easy one, but one that keeps me constantly amazed at how 'deep' it goes. Some of the treasures held within the art, can't even be imagined when you begin.
Thanks for your continuing, thought provoking posts.
regards,
Mark