Thread: Ueshiba's Aiki
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Old 11-14-2011, 03:06 PM   #267
Ken McGrew
Dojo: Aikido at UAB
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 202
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Re: Ueshiba's Aiki

Ellis,

I can't do this particular irimi nage. I have only seen Saotome Sensei do it this well and O Sensei who does this technique several times on video. And as I stated earlier, Saotome Sensei DID teach us how to work towards getting this technique. What he taught us contradicts much of what I've read in this discussion. The approach you and others are advancing will never allow you to master this technique, at least according to Saotome Sensei. That's why I mentioned it. Also because it is an example of how Aikido differs from Date-ryu.

I never met Dobson Sensei. Several of my instructors and Sempi were very familiar with his Aikido and thought. I have been privy to unpublished interviews with Dobson Sensei that you have not seen. Nothing I have said contradicts what Dobson Sensei came to believe about Aikido.

There is an orthodoxy in the yo ho internal stuff that is being described here. Saotome Sensei is against orthodoxy. O Sensei was against orthodoxy. There are principles and their are general rules. There are exceptions. For example, the internal approach being advocated by Dan and company requires a strict notion of posture. I'm not saying that they are stiff or rigid. But they oppose leaning. I've been corrected in recent years by teachers who I believe have been influenced by Dan. Here's the problem, I have multiple screen shots of O Sensei, Saotome Sensei, and other high level Aikido practitioners engaging in strategic leaning. Ikeda sensei teaches this as a way to avoid the face punch as part of his tenkan. Despite the claims of Dan and others I am simply not as clueless about what they are doing and what my teachers are teaching as they'd like the world to believe.

Quote:
Ellis Amdur wrote: View Post
Who cares if Saotome dropped a "karate expert." Did he teach you to do it? Or what I'm increasingly thinking, what's wrong with you as a student if your teacher manifests something and you can't learn it? All this talk about Osensei being a lousy teacher. Really? How about lousy students? Who then only have refuge in talking about the wonderful things their teacher can do.

Lest there be any confusion, Ken's example is merely a singular of a myriad.

Ellis Amdur