Thread: Ueshiba's Aiki
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Old 11-12-2011, 11:38 AM   #222
Ken McGrew
Dojo: Aikido at UAB
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 202
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Re: Ueshiba's Aiki

I'm getting tired of this slightly veiled insults.

I am not angry. I have not had my Aikido world shattered by the unsupported claims in this discussion made by yourself and others. I have trained with many master instructors in various arts. You have no idea who I am or who all my influences have been. I have even trained with people who were obciously showing Dan's influence in their Aikido. I understand the claims that are being made now that more explanation has been provided. The grandious claims that Dan makes are simply not supported. All this machismo BS gets old. All the comments by Dan, for example, that if people had Aiki they would prove it it combat and so forth.

You people keeping stating that aiki is absent in modern Aikido. Your definition of aiki is the problem. If you don't think Ikeda Sensei and Saotome Sensei have aiki in their Aikido, or not adequate aiki as claimed by many here who say that's why people seek out Dan, then you don't know what aiki is.

I posted the footage of Daito-ryu and people have not responded. I see so much more in the footage of O'Sensei than what is visible in Jujutsu. I layer out some of the obvious differences. Here's another. In Daito-ryu there is also a tendency to threaten the joints with injury. Aikido moved away from that. Not just to be nice but also to minimize the tendency of Uke to struggle.



Quote:
Greg Steckel wrote: View Post
First, I am just retuning to this thread after my post referenced above, so, if I was even inclined to retract it (which I am not) I did not have the opportunity.

Second, I never said Dan was better than them - just said that he had something they did not. As I said, I did not intend to demean anyone, both those guys have real good Aikido - but, IMO based on personal experience between all three, Dan has stronger aiki - you will have to understand that Aikido is different that aiki for any of that to make sense to you. Of course aiki can be in Aikido, but unfortunately, not much of that is found in modern Aikido - go back and read Ellis' comment about the 'bottle'

I am going to be bowing out after this post like some others for the same reasons. There has been many attempts to try and tone down and break this discussion into somewhat logical segments, but all of that has been resisted by you. In many ways, I view your behavior here similar to that of a child that has just been told Santa Clause is not real - your core belief system in all that is good in life is being challenged and shattered - you lash out in anger and attack at every aspect of what you perceive is a malicious attack against you personally. Well, after a while the child grows up and accepts the reality of the situation and moves on. My advise then is to do the same - I am...

Greg

Last edited by Ken McGrew : 11-12-2011 at 11:45 AM.