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Old 11-03-2013, 01:55 AM   #4
Alister Gillies
Location: Taunton
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 33
United Kingdom
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Re: Horikawa teaching Shioda?

Fact and fiction can become confused, but common sense and maturity should tell us that the icing on a cow pat doesn't make it smell any sweeter. People, of course, are free to believe what they want but we should be careful not to mistake the massage for the message. We cannot know definitively whether Horikawa taught Shioda, but it does seem improbable given the lack of real evidence.

But does it really matter about who taught whom? My own feeling on this is that the unending quest for the undiluted, authentic teaching of aiki is a narcissistic folly. I suspect, like many other forms of development in the aiki arts, progress comes when the student is ready, and a return to the original secrecy surrounding the teaching of aiki might be a welcome break from what has become a tediously obsessive and divisive topic.

Those with aiki (or unusual power) express it following a lifetime of learning and training. That expression takes place over over a relatively short time span, and those that can express it tend to be septuagenarians. That may say something about poor training methodology - depends on your point of view - but what it doesn't suggest is that aiki/unusual power is something that can be picked up in a couple of weeks/months/years.

Sokaku Takeda said that he did not show his techniques openly, mainly because they were so easy to do...he says. But he was also quite an astute person (as illiterate people often are), albeit disposed to greed and paranoia, with some psychotic tendencies thrown in for good measure. But perhaps there is a grain of truth in what he said - maybe aiki is simple, and it is just people that are complicated.

I found Eilis's article refreshing since it helped debunk a questionable notion and freed up some space for, hopefully, more useful stuff to ponder.
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