both sides

Yes Mr Hill, open, questioning always have an answer

From that my point of view it is not esencial to have last video of any master technique because we havent achieved even that old way yet.

Any active master is continous working on its personal level of jutsu and do, so it is always changing and is only close followed by its contemporaries, I guess all his upgrades will pass down to students at determined time.

This is obviously not an excuse by any meanings to get stuck in old approaches or, in the case of writings Stevens Sensei would trust more on what you "recorded on your body"

during practise and thats to be smart. But also I have found and seen in some others "personal notes" on certain details and discovers as invaluable material.

"ok,but he would always warn me that what he was doing today, he'd be doing differently tomorrow."Hill

Thats also a way to say: hey, if you dare to sell this at least tell me, I deserve something dont show something that is not anymore.

BTW the short films Ive got from renowed aikido professors is something I could never put on sale, they are little treasures just for personal and friendly use.

Praetoriano

Manuel Chiquito Anderson

I have very little interest in video for much the same reason. Watch and train it is the best we can do.

I don't video tape my teacher and I don't video tape myself.

In the former case there are times I wish I had when up comes a technique I probably wont see again for quite some time that I found particularily interesting and complicated enough that memory wont serve. However, I wont sit around messing with a video camera on the of chance that that happens. I can understand people who don't get the exposure (ie. only through seminars) making the other choice.

As for personal videos corny as it may sound I am more interested in how my Aikido feels than how I look. I don't want to get distracted. Embu competitors often take videos to quickly identify the rough bits but I don't generally compete and therefore work on a longer time scale. By rough bits I don't mean the quality of the kata but how the pair interact. Embu requires both tori and uke to be in harmony and still look like martial action.

~~Wow, a lot of information is moving through this thread. Many good ideas, insights and...well, other observations. Perhaps some of these topics should have their own thread as things seem to have strayed a bit from the origional question/post.

Thanks all!

Charles Hill wrote: David, Due to the length and (IMHO) the lack of inner logic in your last post, I see that I may have hit a nerve. I'm going to take that as my being correct in my assessment of you. ..My basic opinion is that you, David, have no deep understanding of the things that you write and that some of it is just wrong. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to learn you hold a bokken at the wrong end.. Charles

Keeping going, Charles, your inner self is surfacing. Incidentally, have you read the story about Musashi's last shiai? On the boat to the island where duel was arranged, Musashi curved a bokken from an old oar that he had found on the boat. Musashi had no confidence of winning but at the end his more experienced opponent gave the battle away - he lost his composure.

Which part of the last post did not make sense to you? FYI, English was never my mother tongue. My deepest and humble apology.

David

David,

Your command of the English language has been the one thing that has been impressive in all your posts. I had picked up on the fact that you are not a natvie speaker, but that is only because I've been an EFL/ESL teacher for a relatively long time. Very impressive.

Back to the original thread.

It is my (strong) opinion that as a beginner (about the first three years) one should strive to do ukemi exactly the way the teacher and senior students do it. To do this, the beginner should be explicitly taught how to move when; attacking, blending with nage, and going to the mat. So my answer to Paula's original question is yes.

BTW, was the roll/role thing in the first post intentional? Nice pun!

Charles

~~Somebody got it! Thanks, Charles...