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Old 06-27-2013, 05:52 PM   #57
graham christian
Dojo: golden center aikido-highgate
Location: london
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,697
England
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Re: No Competition in Aikido(excluding Tomiki)

Quote:
Corky Quakenbush wrote: View Post
the book I hold says Translated from AIKIDO, 1958 & AIKIDO GIHO 1962 - it is a translation of both combined so the "strictly prohibited" matches part might well have been from the 1962 part - but maybe like you said it all stemmed from that televised struggle... lol...
Just to say that I have often wondered why some people find that televised Tohei event with the American guy was something to ridicule or even relate in any way to competition. I myself saw one big guy trying to fight and the little guy trying not to.

When showing it to people they were amazed and interested for everyone I showed it to could see it was different in some way to what they called competing or fighting.

To put it in perspective for most all watching at the time, and listening I might add, they returned admitting they had missed the point of Aikido completely. Then it shows the Master of the art and later him allowing the big guy to test his theory which to him seemed like if he used his wrestling type or grappling skills against the little guy it would be easy. As I recall he was amazed how he couldn't quite do what he thought he should be able to. To me that was quite a demonstration.

Have you ever seen a boxer just inhibiting another from fighting while he virtually refuse to hit the opponent. It is stopped as a no contest. No competition.

I myself have been put in such positions in the past. Once when only a few years into Aikido I was set up by a shaolin style 'friend' of mine. He invited me to come and see his kung fu class and just to join in with some beginners and experience some basics. However, once there and changed he anounced who I was and called me to the centre of the room orderi ng me to bow to his chief instructor. After doing so he just shouted fight. So there I am being attacked by punches and kicks.

At the time all I knew was keep harmony, keep calm and trust in your Aikido. We were taught even back then 'no competition' and suddenly I was confronted with the reality. Anyway after a few minutes the guy stopped and looked at the teacher bemused for he didn't know what else to do. For I was no slouch and found myself parrying and moving with one focus and that was ma'ai. He gave up because he couldn't connect with me. A base level no competition, no match. It probably looked a bit ungamely too, I don't know. Anyway the teacher smiled and had us bow out. No doubt he found whatever it was he was looking for. Me. I learned a lot both pro and con in my mind. I was happy with what I did but found some weaknesses too. I found I wanted to 'end' his competition, his game, and yet found I wasn't confident enough to enter and finish it.

Much later down the line we had a guy who did kung fu and wing chun. He was training with us for a few months but still after class would say what he would do for real though. One day he said it so that the teacher couldn't miss it. The teacher called me and told the guy to use his kung fu etc. against me. Reminds me a bit of that film. He really wanted to, he wanted to knock my head off. Was this a match? To me it wasn't. To him it most certainly was, it was his big day.

The point is and the thing I discovered then was within me. The words competeion or match or even challenge no longer fitted. To me inside it was just 'do' and probably a bit of 'teach'. It didn't seem to matter what he was doing. So a new experience of what no competition meant. No rules, no referee, just do according to the principles of what I would call non competition.

This led to much musing thereafter for as I reviewed what happened over probably the next few weeks actually all I could find were plusses but I wasn't 100% happy because I now wanted to know or rather understand better what those plusses were for I couldn't explain them properly to those who witnessed it.

So even pluses give us much to learn I found.

So basically I have found the path and discipline of non competition a fascinating one myself and found it's all to do with in self and not what appears to be happening by those observing.

Of course now it's even more clear and this as you must know very well brings about a new scene as far as the observer goes for now it is observable to the outside observer (as in your vids) yet to most it thus from the outside wouldn't look real. Yet the reality of no competition in yourself is no doubt crystal clear in self I would guess.

Thus I also found that the communications of Ueshiba just made more and more sense. Wondering what he meant disappearing and being only replaced by understanding. No hidden secrets, just things to understand,

O.K. That's enough from me, I've been a good boy lately and not posted too much.

Peace.G.
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