A defense of Aiki

Jeremy Hulley wrote: And I will own it. It is hard for me to believe.

Yes, there is a big difference in what practitioners of contemporary Aikido believe to be aiki, and what practitioners of Aikido's predecessor, Aikijujutsu -- and also of aikidoka who have sought out the aiki from Aikijujutsu and worked it back into their Aikido -- believe it to be.

I remember going to the second AikiExpo in Vegas back in 2002? No one I touched who did Aikido had any aiki there. None, zero. The only people who had aiki that I got hands on were from other arts (daito ryu, yanagi ryu, shindo yoshin ryu...). So that's where I went looking.

Years ago I learned to skydive at a small drop zone (dojo) in Florida. After I graduated college I moved to Texas and a similar small drop zone. On a return trip to Florida, a jumper I knew and looked up to John Robbins, (National caliber competitor in 4 man relative work) asked me where I was jumping. I told him of the small place and he asked why I wasn't jumping at the larger (nationally known) drop zone. - He had faith in my ability and skills and couldn't understand why I wasn't 'following the big plane'.

At the small drop zone I heard all the rumors and innuendo about what was wrong at the big place. Jealousy, sour grapes, investment in the status quo of the smaller drop zone, lack of safety precautions, fear of the unknown etc. Well John asked me, "why don't you go see for yourself". Ironically I got a ride back from Florida with some of the guys from the big drop zone in an R.V., and I did go see for myself. It changed my skydiving 'career' and my life, as it was, and I never looked back.