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Old 03-02-2006, 05:57 PM   #1
Mark Freeman
Dojo: Dartington
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How many aikidoka?

I was just reading George Ledyards post in the 'organisations' thread, and he was refering to organisations with 'tens of thousands of practitioners'
I got me wondering, just how many Aikidoka are there worldwide?
Would anyone like to hazard a guess?
I was also wondering how many countries is Aikido being practiced in??

Curiously yours

Mark

Success is having what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have.
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Old 03-02-2006, 06:41 PM   #2
Michael O'Brien
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Mark,
Interesting question; I haven't read the organizations thread so I don't know the discussion there.

A couple of quick google searches came up the number 192 for the number of countries in the world. I don't know if I would hazard a guess that Aikido is practiced in all of them, but certainly in most of them I would think.

With that number of countries in mind I would then venture to speculate that the number of Aikidoka worldwide would certainly be in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

Harmony does not mean that there are no conflicts,
for the dynamic spiral of existence embraces both extremes.
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Old 03-02-2006, 07:27 PM   #3
Dajo251
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Re: How many aikidoka?

I heard a number a few years back at around 2 million people

Dan Hulley
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Old 03-02-2006, 08:19 PM   #4
emma.mason15
Dojo: Shima Arashi Dojo
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Re: How many aikidoka?

shall we count? ... ok ... im one .... mark is two .... Michael makes three .... Daniel is four ....
...
... this could take a while!
come back to me in a bit

Dance your cares away .... worry for another day ... let the music play .... down in fraggle rock!

when bored ... do as I do. Poke a patient!
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Old 03-03-2006, 03:09 AM   #5
koz
 
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Re: How many aikidoka?

We are Legion...

True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.

Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching, Ch48
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Old 03-03-2006, 05:26 AM   #6
Steve Mullen
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Re: How many aikidoka?

at last count i got 2,453,876 and a tiny person who i'm classing as a half, but emma and karen kept going off to find chocolate ninja so i may have miss counted a bit

"No matter your pretence, you are what you are and nothing more." - Kenshiro Abbe Shihan
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Old 03-03-2006, 06:26 AM   #7
Nick Simpson
Dojo: White Rose Aikido - Durham University
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Re: How many aikidoka?

There was a thread on this a while ago I think, someone said that every hombu aikikai shodan certificate is numbered chronologically and it there's was about 100,000. I think? I'd say 2 million is probably about right, theres like 200-300 in our org I think and about 50 people have received shodan at least with them.

They're all screaming about the rock n roll, but I would say that it's getting old. - REFUSED.
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Old 03-03-2006, 07:43 AM   #8
emma.mason15
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Re: How many aikidoka?

paul ... steve ... and nick ... thats five, six and seven .... whew

Dance your cares away .... worry for another day ... let the music play .... down in fraggle rock!

when bored ... do as I do. Poke a patient!
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Old 03-03-2006, 07:44 AM   #9
emma.mason15
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
Steve Mullen wrote:
at last count i got 2,453,876 and a tiny person who i'm classing as a half, but emma and karen kept going off to find chocolate ninja so i may have miss counted a bit

look I would have sat still for the head count ... but the kept luring me off the mat ..... its all Ulises and Bozwels and ... well ... everyone elses fault except mine!

Dance your cares away .... worry for another day ... let the music play .... down in fraggle rock!

when bored ... do as I do. Poke a patient!
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Old 03-03-2006, 09:29 AM   #10
happysod
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
...Aikidoka are there worldwide
There'll only ever be between 5-10, you, your favorite sensei, their sensei and 3- 5 in your dojo/association - the rest don't count as they won't have the "true aikido".
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Old 03-03-2006, 10:46 AM   #11
Simbo
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Re: How many aikidoka?

I got disappointed, I thought this was going to be a light-bulb joke

You'd be surprised at how much aikido philosophy you can pick up on at the end of the party when there's just a couple drunk sempai and you.
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Old 03-03-2006, 10:51 AM   #12
James Davis
 
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
Emma Mason wrote:
look I would have sat still for the head count ... but the kept luring me off the mat ..... its all Ulises and Bozwels and ... well ... everyone elses fault except mine!
Ever think of getting into politics, Emma?

"The only difference between Congress and drunken sailors is that drunken sailors spend their own money." -Tom Feeney, representative from Florida
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Old 03-03-2006, 11:48 AM   #13
Dajo251
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
Steven Imboden wrote:
I got disappointed, I thought this was going to be a light-bulb joke
me too at first

Dan Hulley
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Old 03-04-2006, 04:19 AM   #14
Steve Mullen
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Re: How many aikidoka?

How many aikidoka does it take to screw in a lightblub? 1........ but he makes the lightblub move around him

"No matter your pretence, you are what you are and nothing more." - Kenshiro Abbe Shihan
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Old 03-04-2006, 08:25 AM   #15
Mark Uttech
Dojo: Yoshin-ji Aikido of Marshall
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Aikido is currently practiced in 87 countries around the world and there are ober 1.5 million practioners, last I heard.
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Old 03-04-2006, 08:27 AM   #16
Mark Uttech
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Re: How many aikidoka?

The lightbulb joke ends with the punchline:"it only takes one aikidoka, but the lightbulb has to make the first move..."
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Old 03-04-2006, 09:43 AM   #17
Mark Freeman
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Thanks for the figures Mark, and thanks also for the lightbulb joke, but aikido being the art that it is the joke neccessarily must have an infinite number of punchlines.

regards,
Mark

Success is having what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have.
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Old 03-06-2006, 03:22 AM   #18
Steve Mullen
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Re: How many aikidoka?

yeah, i heard a one about aikido sensei,

How many aikido sensei does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
.
.
One, but he just holds the lightbulb in place and the world revolves around him

"No matter your pretence, you are what you are and nothing more." - Kenshiro Abbe Shihan
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Old 03-06-2006, 03:50 AM   #19
Nick Simpson
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Re: How many aikidoka?

How many aikido sensei does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

One to do it his way, and an infinite number to come around when he's not watching and say: 'Some people screw a lightbulb in this way, now thats not 'wrong', but I like to do it this way...'

They're all screaming about the rock n roll, but I would say that it's getting old. - REFUSED.
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Old 03-06-2006, 09:13 AM   #20
emma.mason15
Dojo: Shima Arashi Dojo
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
Nick Simpson wrote:
How many aikido sensei does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

One to do it his way, and an infinite number to come around when he's not watching and say: 'Some people screw a lightbulb in this way, now thats not 'wrong', but I like to do it this way...'

lmao .... i like that

Dance your cares away .... worry for another day ... let the music play .... down in fraggle rock!

when bored ... do as I do. Poke a patient!
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Old 03-06-2006, 09:35 AM   #21
Mike Sigman
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
Nick Simpson wrote:
How many aikido sensei does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
100. 1 to screw it in and 99 to sit around and say, "We do it differently at our school".
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Old 03-06-2006, 04:48 PM   #22
mj
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Different pictures with the same paint.

Aikido is done in Scotland to an (in my opinion) ridiculous level. Iwama, Ki, Aikikai, Tomiki/Shodokan, Institute of Aikido and loads of others I haven't even visited...and that's in a one hour radius of where I live. Sadly a few of them follow the old Scottish tradition of preaching against each other but there you go...comes with the territory.

We Scots like martial arts, it's practically a martial arts rainforest here

Do Tibetans practic Aikido? Probably don't need to.

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Old 03-06-2006, 07:22 PM   #23
Amelia Smith
 
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Re: How many aikidoka?

As far as I know there's no aikido in Tibet. I was there (in western Sichuan, which is geographically, linguistically, and historically part of Tibet) and there were no formal active martial arts traditions in evidence. However, the people of Kham (the region of Tibet that I was in) have a reputation as fierce warriors, and I imagine they'd really enjoy aikido. I was only there for a few months, not long enough to start a dojo, but I thought about it.

And y'know, different sects of Tibetan Buddhists have been known to preach against each other, or at least engage in heated debates.
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Old 03-07-2006, 03:43 AM   #24
emma.mason15
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Re: How many aikidoka?

eight ... nine ... ten .... im getting there

Dance your cares away .... worry for another day ... let the music play .... down in fraggle rock!

when bored ... do as I do. Poke a patient!
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Old 03-07-2006, 04:02 AM   #25
Mark Freeman
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Re: How many aikidoka?

Quote:
We Scots like martial arts, it's practically a martial arts rainforest here
A martial arts rainforest, certainly gets the old imagination going. I wonder which arts thrive in the canopy and which ones prefer it down on the ground?

Any that thrive on rain itself will certainly do well in Scotland

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