Erick Mead

Fascinating. As a matter of personal opinion from my own experience, military, legal practice, and as observer of the ugliness of politics, there is no field of conflict or means of conflict that I have yet found to be outside the principles of aikido. In this I agree with David Orange's citation to Mochizuki Sensei.

I do not teach students to "do kicks" per se, as part of the curriculum of techniques my teachers gave me, because they did not. As kicks present unique openings, and are attacks that may occur, however, I was taught and do teach responses to them. It is therefore necessary to have students know the rudiments of kicking. Plus, many beginners perform techniques that are remarkably exposed to the odd knee strike, which is the least exposed of the leg strikes available. They need do to be show this from time to time to adjust their movement or posture. After having trained in responding to kicks, however, the responses are not fundamentaly different from that applicable to any other attack.

As to current Doshu or Kisshomaru Doshu's emphasis regarding kicking in training, (as opposed to recommending their use) , I doubt seriously that either Doshu ever realistically meant "Never kick." Japanese culture has an almost pathological aversion to the flat "No!" much less "Never!"

Their teaching defines the main body of the art, but I doubt seriously that even they would or have claimed that they can define the whole of an art which at its highest expression is intended to allow one to spontaneously generate responses to attack and even to create wholly new techniques in that moment. In such a context, those who work the frontiers are not not usefully told "No" or "Stop" as it would, first, be exceedingly rude to do so, and second, would be antithetical to the principles of the art.

There must however, be decent respect for the main corpus of the teaching as a sound and necessary foundation and reservoir of the principles of aikido, which it is the purpose of the Doshu to preserve and promulgate.