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  #51  
Old 03-23-2007, 02:54 PM
George S. Ledyard
Username: George S. Ledyard
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
 
Location: Bellevue, WA
Dojo: Aikido Eastside
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The Point of Aikido

I think that there are many reasons people choose to do martial arts but perhaps the predominant one is fear of some sort. If one looks at the biographies of many of the martial geniuses of history, one finds quite a few who were sickly and weak as children or experienced some traumatic incident in...
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George S. Ledyard
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Last edited by akiy : 03-28-2007 at 03:52 PM.
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Old 10-04-2007, 05:17 PM   #50
Mark Oosterveen
Dojo: Bushi Dojo
Location: Rotterdam
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2
Netherlands
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Re: The Point of Aikido

Dear mr. Ledyard,

Thank you for writing this excellent article. It summarizes a lot of issues that have been troubling me for quite some time. I think that you are absolutely right in your assessment of the point of Aikido. It is to become a better person, not to be the best martial artist in the word.

The problem embedded within Aikido is however that it is a martial art, not just an art. The martial portion of it somehow seems to evoke competition. Wanting to win, wanting to be the best.

The founder himself was no stranger to this concept. It seems that in his younger years (and even when he was not that young any more) this was his ultimate goal. To beat them all. No matter how young, no matter how big. Even if the opponent was a summo wrestler. And apparently he could and did.

For a lot of people who start training, this is the allure of Aikido. To be able to learn all of Morihei Ueshiba's skills (preferably by training Aikido twice a week for two hours).

Maybe the most difficult part of Aikido, for anyone who starts Aikido with this idea in his or her mind, is to let this go and just practice. Practice hard, honestly, kind, to the best of your ability, without judging your training partner, without wanting to be better than anyone, just having fun and becoming a better person.

Thanks again,

Mark
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