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Mary Malmros wrote:
Meaning if we don't buy your labels, or even the need for labeling in general, we're training for "health, general fitness, hobby or what have you"?
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Labels are what people want to place on what they wish to do. By saying that you wish to train in aikido, you are already labeling yourself. When you say 'I want to train for (x) reason." Doesn't that label you as training for that specific reason? But then I may be wrong as I did not really understand that point
Sincere apologies for that.
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You've just contradicted yourself, first saying that aikido is "effective for combat in any situation" and then that "we need to understand in what context is aikido meant to be used". Any situation? How does aikido do against IEDs? Fuel-air bombs? Bow and arrow at fifty paces?
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Aikido is a martial art, which means that it was used in battlefield situations way back when. Not bare-handed mind, but alongside weapons, formations and any of the other techniques that concerned military affairs in the day. To translate a martial art effectively from ancient battlefields to modern battlefields is not impossible, but to do so one must understand how the martial art worked, once we understand the principle, we can adapt it to suit whatever situation we face. IEDs? Ukemi maybe to absorb the shock of the fall if you are blown into the air? Bombs? situational awareness perhaps? Bow and arrow? That is a bit harder and depends on circumstances, but stepping off the line of fire would help yes? The possibilities are endless, but to break form, one must first understand the form. Which is why we need to understand the fundamental principle of aikido in order to translate it effectively.
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And then there's your appropriation of the term "martial artist" as if you were the one to decide what that is, and what a martial artist's concerns need to be. Evidently, you feel that to be "martial artists", we must first and foremost be concerned with the arbitrary category into which our martial art fits. This, to me, is like saying that the effectiveness of a truck for hauling dirt depends on the color of its paint.
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I don't decide what is a 'martial artist', but we are practicing 'martial arts', which I do not think makes us dancers... I'm not sure though... Could be wrong. Your analogy is a tad off. It is the difference between using a car to haul dirt and a truck to run races. A boxer knows that his strengths lie in his punches, so he focuses on punching, and in a combat situation, he does not suddenly kick or try to grapple. So as aikidoka, if we do not even know how our techniques are to be applied in a combat situation, it would be like turning up at the Singapore formula 1 night race with a pick-up truck.
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None of which depends on deciding which pigeonhole to jam your "martial art" into.
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That's fine, although I'd submit to you that there are many varieties and volumes of shit for which aikido is quite useless. But it's transparently false that people must have a theoretical understanding of principles in order to do something. You can drive a car, I assume, but how much do you know about internal combustion engines? You've been walking all your life; can you describe in detail the anatomy of your legs? A theoretical understanding may assist your understanding if applied appropriately, but it's not necessary -- much less labeling.
If you were driving for general purposes, then you do not need to know about engines. But what about if you are a mechanic? I may have been walking all my life, but if I need to help people to walk after an injury, I would need to know anatomy would I not? This then is the difference between training for leisure, and training to bring your art to the next level.
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No, we're not training pointlessly. You may not get the point, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one.
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Perhaps I put it wrongly, the term pointlessly refers to people like fighters, who need to focus on training what works, people who want to teach martial arts, in which case they need to know what we are training and why we are doing so, so that they may pass on the art to the next generation, and idiots like me who hold delusions of bringing the aikido to the next level because of passion and love for the art, in which case, I need to know what the path was, so that I might forge the trail that is to be.
I'm poetic, apologies.