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Old 08-28-2014, 07:36 AM   #285
jonreading
 
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Re: Demonstrating aiki, demontrating aikido.Same thing ?

Quote:
Jason Rudolph wrote: View Post
So is your reference to Tohei and Shioda intended to imply a prewar/ post-war distinction? If so, are there any Shihan commonly referred as post-war that would qualify as meeting this threshold? Saotome sensei? Also, we have someone in our dojo who had regularly trained with the JKD crew (those who trained directly with Bruce and a few of their of their students) and I have never ever heard that just because it has not produced another Bruce Lee that they are somehow on the wrong path or at least that the path must be lacking something. I am sure there many other examples in other martial arts as well. Perhaps your experience is different?

Train Hard,
Jason
Mostly, I was illustrating a period of time where it seems the conditions were met where several people were successful in elevating their skill to an exceptional level. Most likely, this was a combination of commitment, instruction, training, and personal ability. Many aikido people have declared that the conditions to produce such persons is not re-create-able (not a word, but you get my meaning). I think there is merit in the argument that surrounds the time table of O Sensei leaving regular teaching to his son (and others), but that is another discussion. Personally, I think Saotome Sensei represents proof that we can learn exceptional aiki skills if we know where and how to look. This still does not address the larger issue of diminishing exception coming out of aikido.

I think we have an obligation to provide the best environment we can to maximize the potential for excellence. To Ron's point, when the first response I hear is "well, we don't train that way anymore," that makes me dubious. Boxing is different now than when Rocky boxed. We need to understand all the conditions that contributed to excellence. If you are arguing the process (for example), to continue the analogy of Rocky Marciano you would need to declare that those who boxed in the gym with Rocky under the same coaches and conditions are also great, as an extension of Rocky's skill that was crafted by his training process.

Aikido people draw ethos from their lineage all the time. So-and-so sensei carried bags for O Sensei, he must be great. So-and-so sensei saw O Sensei one time, he must be great. Don't contradict so-and-so sensei, he trained for a long weekend in Japan one time when O Sensei visited the dojo. Excellence by proximity.

You can carry the analogy better if you look at MMA, where successful fighters who are now retired are coaching fighters. Someone who fights out of BJ Penn's gym has some expectation of success because BJ was a good fighter. Or the Gracies. Leave room for personal excellence, but understand the process is important. At some point, we need to regularly tune-up the process. Maybe things got sloppy. Maybe we forgot a kata or two. Maybe what we thought was it is not it. I don't think its unhealthy to be critical during these periods of evaluation. You don't test for a black belt and perform kata like a 6th kyu. There was some expectation of critical evaluation and refinement. Just cuz I survived to my yondan and don't have to test doesn't mean I get to stop refining my aikido.

Ikeda Sensei does what he calls internal power. Saotome sensei, too. They both feel it is in aikido and have both put attention to being more diligent in showing it. Saotome Sensei was in Florida a few weeks ago and taught a class - no technigue, just aiki. In this regards, you see an exceptional individual who has seen that 30 years of waza did not teach aiki and he is now paying more attention to what will teach aiki. Sensei has every right to say, "this is my aikido, figure it out." But he doesn't. He is still looking for how he can get this stuff into our heads before he is gone, and I love him for it. He is brave enough to change the process so I can figure things out. He has a bunch of students who like the process and got their rank from the process and have no interest in changing the process. Sensei knows it. Ask George sensei how many times his does a Looney Tunes face-slap and say, "Sensei, why didn't you show this 20 years ago?"**Shameless plug - come see George Ledyard in Atlanta December 5-7!!**

Demonstrating aiki should be something all of us can do. We should all be able to grab a good martial artist, drag them onto the mat and say, "don't kick the $hi! out of me, but feel this..." and it should work. Demonstrating aikido is more difficult. We should be able to then say, "okay, now try to kick the $hi! out of me and feel what our waza feels like..." Neither dialog should contain things like, "like most people who don't train aikido, you're attacking wrong," or "here is where you fall down." or "I can hit you, but you can't hit back," or "well, I'd kill you if I was really doing this."

Last edited by jonreading : 08-28-2014 at 07:40 AM.

Jon Reading
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