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Old 07-02-2009, 12:55 PM   #37
mathewjgano
 
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Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Who's eligible to teach Aikido? And what level a sensei should be?

Quote:
Ivan Lezhnjov Jr. wrote: View Post
I've been pondering on starting learning Aikido for years. I'm 24 and I've been very, very interested in it since the childhood when I was doing SAMBO (САМБО). SAMBO is rooted in judo as you might know and it relatively resembles Aikido except I find Aikido even more fascinating for various reasons.

First of all, who's eligible to teach Aikido? I'm really concerned with the probability that there are dishonest people who pursue not the art but some other goals. No, I don't have any premise to think that people teaching Aikido in my town are dishonest and deceive their students. I just want to make sure that someone who says he can teach Aikido is really eligible to do it and is actually teaching Aikido. I hope you see what I mean here...
Hi Ivan! Nice to make your aquaintance. My personal view on qualifications for teaching is that there is no real way to be sure. You can check out a teacher's lineage, but that doesn't always mean anything unless you've already got familiarity with the lineage itself. Also, there's no guarentee that the individual teacher reflects the strengths and weaknesses of that lineage. I think that because you have some prior experience in a martial art it can help you since you have something to reference it with. Then again, that could also potentially give a bias which makes it harder to appreciate the lessons you might learn. So I guess I'm left with repeating, "it's hard to say for sure."

Quote:
What level a sensei should be to effectively teach Aikido? It's a common sense that a more experienced someone is at something the more effectively he/she will be able to teach you. But really I think I feel uncomfortable with the idea of someone being a teacher while still being actually a student himself.
I would argue the best teachers are devout students, but my answer is that there is a gradiant involved here. I am basically not very good at Aikido, but I can teach some basic form and simple ukemi principles. One of the things I really like about my experiences learning Aikido is that the other students serve as quasi-instructors. I remember getting a variety of pointers from a variety of other students and it was great because I could compare them and internalize what seemed to work best for me. Of course, I always deferred to sensei's instruction, but each partner I trained with provided a sort of case-study for me to consider and I believe it is that individual consideration which really allows a person to learn best. That is to say, how you internalize the lesson and make it a part of your personal learning process is what I think is most important.

Quote:
What I mean here is that most likely in my town the guy who teaches Aikido has 1st, 2nd dan max. This is really the case. The highest rank Aikido practitioner in Ukraine is 5th dan, Kiyv the capital of Ukraine.
One school's shodan is another school's nidan. In my short experience with Shodokan I was taught by a nidan and sandan (2nd and 3rd degree). They were both truly great teachers in my opinion.
I hope that helped somewhat.
Take care and good luck!
Matt

Gambarimashyo!
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