Katsuaki Asai coach for germany

Hi all!
well, in my city the official aikido teacher for germany teaches aikido in my city. I am thinking of taking part in his lessons his name is Katsuaki Asai and he has the 8th dan. he learnt from Morihei Uyeshiba some time to.
but there is one problem. every other aikido teacher in my city says that his aikido like all old japanese aikido is unrealistic and very undeveloped. and that it was way to brutal. i dont know what to do, u guys got any advice?
greetings peter klein

Peter,

The "unrealistic and very undeveloped and way too brutal" sounds like mudslinging.

If your ukemi is good, I'd just go train and make up my own mind.

Regards,

mhh yes i will try it out. i find it interesting to take the direkt irimi nage instead of going behind the partner.

An instructor that I work with some, who is also a dear friend, told me "Aikido is too large for any one of us to hold it all". He told me to train with many instructors and see a wide view of the art.

YMMV,

hmm u think its a good idea to be in 2 aikido schools at the same time?

I have trained at some seminars of Asai sensei and I do not recall any brutal part, nor do I consider it to be unrealistic or old fashion, etc.

It just looked like aikido to me

The one time I attended 2 practice sessions in a dojo led by a sensei who was training under Asai-shihan (Helmut Weiss of Aachen Aikikai), I found the aikido to be anything but brutal. In fact, I thought it rather flowing and soft, perhaps more so than at my home dojo (my sensei is a student of Kitaura-shihan).

Peter Klein wrote: hmm u think its a good idea to be in 2 aikido schools at the same time?

My observation has been that there are two schools of thought:

1. The "wait till shodan" school.

2. The "dive in" school.

My instructor has always encouraged me to train with as many instructors as possible.

He also always had me demonstrate before class what I learned at the other dojo.

When I get in a rut in my training here, I often take a weekend to go train in my friend's dojo I spoke of in a previous post.

All this has always seemed to work for me.

YMMV,

i will check it out this week and tell you how it is.

Peter Klein wrote: Hi all! like all old japanese aikido is unrealistic and very undeveloped. greetings peter klein

Like ALL old Japanese aikido? If this is indeed what these folks are saying, then they don't know what they are talking about. There are a number of so-called old Japanese instructors whose Aikido is quite beyond "well developed". Not all of them, however.

As for the brutal thing... could be. You have to check that out for yourself. Go watch class and see, first of all, how the senior students treat their juniors. If the teacher is abusive, they will be too. Also, watch the teacher and how relates to the seniors and juniors. If you are comfortable with what you see, you are probably in the right place for you.

Hello Peter,

being someone, who has never trained with a sensei who was a personal disciple of O-Sensei, I would never miss the chance.

Sensei who have been given direct instruction by the Founder are an endangered species. (No offence ment.)

Perhaps the following link helps you judging Sensei Asai. It is a video-clip from the World-Games Aikido-Demonstration. I found it some time ago and downloaded it; the original file is gone now, but you may download my copy. The fileformat is ASF. Hope Windows MediaPlayer can do it. Linux mplayer does it.

http://130.75.48.17/~nippon/asai.asf

Be careful not to omit the ~

PS. Please apologize my bad english. Perhaps this thread should have been posted to the German subsection!?

mfg

Stefan

Well, I have never met Asai Sensei, but he's one of the few remaining shihans who actually studied under Osensei.

A close friend of mine practiced for years with Asai sensei and he holds him and his aikido in the highest esteem.

Shihan within training distance and you don't go! I sure wish I lived within training distance of a shihan.

Actually, I'm hoping to take an Aikido tour when I visit Germany in 2006 for the World Cup. Hopefully I can train with you then.

Mel Barker

sure we can train together 2006. since some of the games will take place in my home city 2006