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Old 05-15-2012, 10:56 AM   #67
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Re: Benefits of the Aikikai

Quote:
Jørgen Jakob Friis wrote: View Post
And to all of you that - discretely - claims that US probably have far more and far better aikido instructors than any other place in the world: Guess what.. It might be so, but until you have proof thereof please get down from the high horse and pull in the same direction as everybody else. Being part of something big is not necessarily a bad thing, You might enjoy it if you embrace it.

JJ
This is globalizing from statements made in these forums to the effect that many people here in the States who are familiar with training at Hombu Dojo back in O-Sensei's day and shortly thereafter, see what is taking place there now, and are generally familiar with the best of training here in the States believe that much of the training available here in the States is superior to that available at the Hombu Dojo.

This isn't some American "high horse" point of view. I am cordial with three of the Japanese Shihan who trained at Hombu back in what might be seen as the post war Golden Age. They say precisely the same thing. In fact that was one of the things they tried to do when they came here, i.e. preserve a kind of training that was seen as disappearing at headquarters.

I have not heard or read that anyone here in the States believes that we have more (definitely not true) or better (as variable here as any place) instructors than other countries. Yes, this forum tends to have a bit US centric slant because the number of folks posting here on the English threads of Aikiweb are from the states and that's what folks know best.

No, the focus of these comments has little or nothing to do with Europe, South America, Australia, or even dojos in Japan other than the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. It is the headquarters dojo that has the uchi deshi, professional teacher training program. In other words, as one of the only professional instructor training programs in the world, we can suppose that the product of their efforts will be amongst the top instructors around the world. Certainly their graduates get the higher ranks and are sent all over the world to teach when Hombu receives requests for instructors. Since this is true, one would hope that they would be producing instructors of the highest technical ability as they did back in the days up to the 70's.

So, the discussion revolves around the prevalent attitude at Hombu that Aikido is the Ueshiba family art and they are the hub from which proper Aikido proceeds outwards to the rest of us (the US and the rest of the world alike). Personally, I do not believe that. Aikido went forth a long time ago and any number of really talented and devoted people have run with the art for many decades. Many of us received training from our teachers that simply is not available at Headquarters any more. I am sure the same can be said of many European senior teachers, like Christian Tissier. I would much rather train under him than any of the teachers currently at headquarters because, regardless of their individual talents, they are expected to teach a certain syllabus that is fairly simple. Many of the senior teachers who have taught at Hombu have their own dojos and what they teach at their own places can often be quite different than what they teach under the official auspices of Hombu.

So, to get the discussion back on track... the original post wanted a discussion of what was good about association with the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. My perception has been that the number one reason dojos in the States have had for wishing to have this association was to have their ranks validated by the Aikikai Headquarters. We have pretty much exhausted that particular discussion.

So what other positive elements are there. I suppose a connection with the family and Aikido history.... after all this is the dojo at which my own teacher was trained and at which he was an important teacher for many years. There any number of very senior American teachers who do not maintain a relationship with the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. It was Francis Takahashi Sensei's position that we have to go more than half way to meet the Doshu and the folks at Hombu. I see it somewhat differently... I look at my friends who are quite happily teaching and awarding their own ranks, producing wonderful students. traveling teaching seminars, etc. It seems to me that, if the headquarters organization wishes to be inclusive and bring serious practitioners like this into the fold, it is up to them to be relevant, to provide some reason why we over here would wish to associate. I mean, association requires paperwork, entails money being sent to Japan that might otherwise stay here, and compels one to give up direct control of time in grade requirement etc. So, my question is still why? There has to be some compelling reason to give up something... in other words, what comes back? I just don't see that, for many folks, especially our most senior teachers in the States and elsewhere, there is anything very compelling that comes back to them for associating...

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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