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Old 01-10-2006, 11:40 AM   #1
steeven
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Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

What is Sensei Steven Seagal's current ranking level?

ten@xrs.net

Last edited by steeven : 01-10-2006 at 11:40 AM. Reason: respelling
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Old 01-10-2006, 01:40 PM   #2
odudog
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Last I heard he is a 7th dan.
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Old 01-10-2006, 01:45 PM   #3
ccain85
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

yup, 7th dan is what i heard too
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Old 01-10-2006, 01:55 PM   #4
James Smithe
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Steven Seagall married a Japanese woman just to gain rank. He achieved 6th dan by commiting this act. Also Steven Seagall is an embarrasament is Aikido. Number one he beat his wife, not his Japanese one, one of the white woman he married afterwards. Number two he is a bully who uses his Aikido and big size to intimate people. Three he is totally out of shape and always kills people in movies and Aikido is suppose to bring as little harm as possible to the attacker.
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Old 01-10-2006, 02:20 PM   #5
bkedelen
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Defying the very nature of mathematics, the number of factual inaccuracies in James' post is actually greater than the total amount of information in the post.
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Old 01-10-2006, 02:21 PM   #6
chris w
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

here we go
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Old 01-10-2006, 02:33 PM   #7
DCP
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
James Smith wrote:
Steven Seagall married a Japanese woman just to gain rank. He achieved 6th dan by commiting this act. Also Steven Seagall is an embarrasament is Aikido. Number one he beat his wife, not his Japanese one, one of the white woman he married afterwards. Number two he is a bully who uses his Aikido and big size to intimate people. Three he is totally out of shape and always kills people in movies and Aikido is suppose to bring as little harm as possible to the attacker.
If you keep your opinions and emotions bottled up, you may acquire ulcers. Stop holding back so much, and tell us how you really feel.

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
- Aesop
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Old 01-10-2006, 02:34 PM   #8
andylucas
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

james, i guess you won't be buying his new album then.
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Old 01-10-2006, 08:03 PM   #9
James Kelly
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
Benjamin Edelen wrote:
Defying the very nature of mathematics, the number of factual inaccuracies in James' post is actually greater than the total amount of information in the post.
OK - that was funny...
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Old 01-10-2006, 09:15 PM   #10
aikiwolf
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

(sigh) why can't we just all get along?
Some comments aren't even worth responding to, as for the others...

Steven Seagal was already above Dan level when he became head of the Dojo (owned by his wife's father) he was quickly promoted to 5th Dan in consideration for him running the Dojo, he is now 7th Dan promoted by Seiseki Abe, I believe, one of O'Sensei's Uchi Deshi, through Hombu Dojo--Aikikai.
From his website: http://www.stevenseagal.com/aikido.html
His Aikido skills are on the level as any 7th Dan. And yes... he is getting kinda fat... eh, whatcha gonna do? He can always be a "happy buddha".

Seagal has perhaps the best Irimi Aikido. It shows extreme lack of Aikido knowledge to criticize his technique without any substantive or valid points. I have yet to hear a single time that someone had so much venom towards Mr. Seagal that wasn't either a jealous, immature, or lacking in any substantial Aikido techniques.
Aikido is a martial art and should be taught as such. It's not f***$&! dance class. Uses his size?
I would hope so.... but I would watch his technique... ask him yourself, he's had many a smaller Sensei dump him on his butt. I wouldn't use his 'celebrity' persona of any indication of how he is in person.

I think someone needs to practice their ukemi more... perhaps they've fallen too hard.
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Old 01-10-2006, 09:47 PM   #11
xuzen
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
James Smith wrote:
Steven Seagall married a Japanese woman just to gain rank. He achieved 6th dan by commiting this act. Also Steven Seagall is an embarrasament is Aikido. Number one he beat his wife, not his Japanese one, one of the white woman he married afterwards. Number two he is a bully who uses his Aikido and big size to intimate people. Three he is totally out of shape and always kills people in movies and Aikido is suppose to bring as little harm as possible to the attacker.
Pretty harsh criticism James.

How accurate are your claim, it seems like you actually know this guy on a personal level.

With regards to big size, if you have it, use it. If you don't have it... use Aikido.

Totally out of shape... is that a crime? You make it sound like it is a crime. There are plenty of aging actor who are out of shape...not gonna name names... but you can always spot one. So what? Homo-sapien comes in all shapes and sizes.

Oi! There are just movie, and he never claim to be a moral guardian of any kind. He is just a professional actor who makes a living acting out his role spelled out on a script that was given to him by his agent. Give him a break.

SHOMEN-ATE (TM), the solution to 90% of aikido and life's problems.
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Old 01-10-2006, 09:48 PM   #12
James Smithe
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Devil advocates have no effect on me.
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Old 01-10-2006, 10:00 PM   #13
James Smithe
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Nevermind I take that back I am jealous of his awesome wife beating skills and his wicked rat tail thats on the back of his head. His skills are up there with Chuck Norris. Let me see how many people nutride these two jokes.
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Old 01-10-2006, 10:23 PM   #14
jester
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Why don't you go to one of his seminars and really tell him how you feel?

Seriously!

Movies aren't real you know?
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Old 01-10-2006, 10:42 PM   #15
James Smithe
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Jester who are you talking to? All the things I mentioned accept for one have to do with him actually being in movies.
Quote:
always kills people in movies and Aikido is suppose to bring as little harm as possible to the attacker.
This topic must have been done to death I'm surprised it has got so many responses.
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Old 01-10-2006, 10:43 PM   #16
Edwin Neal
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

oh i have to get in on this... while i like his movies... i think is true to characterize his journey in aikido as somewhat suspect... the claim that he married his first wife for her connection to an aikido school are generally held to be true... that is not to say that his rank is unmerited just that he did what he could to better his station... the fact that he beat his wife speaks to my main problem, that is that he seems somewhat arrogant and egotistical... kind of full of himself and his knowledge of aikido and other esoteric practices. In some ways he falls into the category of those teachers that tend to overly mystify or hype their knowledge or skill as somehow better than others, but that may be just marketing and selling himself to hollywood, or trying to hype his dojo's business. I also remember that at some point in the early 90's he claimed to have studied with Osensei which is definately false. Still I think his waza is okay, although he is far from a master... there are relatively few of those around today...
just my humble and most ignorant opinion... apologies if this offends, as that is not my intention.

Edwin Neal


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Old 01-10-2006, 10:46 PM   #17
James Smithe
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Don't worry about offending the nutriders. However I think they are being devil advocates.
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Old 01-11-2006, 03:39 AM   #18
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
the claim that he married his first wife for her connection to an aikido school are generally held to be true...
This is NOT "generally" held to be true. He did Aikido and she did Aikido, they got married.... that would put them in a fairly large group. They got divorced... that also puts him in a large group of folks. He benefitted in terms of promotion because he ran a dojo in japan but to say that he married his wife so that he could get the benefit is a huge and not very believable jump. I know people who trained in Osaka with him and Fujitani Sensei and I never heard that.

Quote:
the fact that he beat his wife speaks to my main problem
I don't believe that this constitutes a Fact; there have always been rumors about Kelly LeBrock but to my knowledge these remain rumors as he has never been convicted or even arrested for the crime of domestic violence (I don't believe). If anyone knows FOR a FACT that this happened then we can discuss it further but I make it a policy not to repeat rumors on the boards unless I know someone I trust who has direct experience with a given issue.

Quote:
that is that he seems somewhat arrogant and egotistical... kind of full of himself and his knowledge of aikido and other esoteric practices. In some ways he falls into the category of those teachers that tend to overly mystify or hype their knowledge or skill as somehow better than others, but that may be just marketing and selling himself to hollywood, or trying to hype his dojo's business.
a) being "somewhat egotistical and arrogant... kind of full of himself" puts him right along side a good many of the uchi deshi; I think you're just dumping on Segal because he's the white boy.
b) the guy is a movie star; hype is how things work in Hollywood... As for the idea that he was "hyping" the "dojo's business"... P-l-e-a-s-e, even Steven Segal's dojo would never have been a comercial venture. He'd make more during a coffee break on the movie set than he would in a year doing a dojo. I've seen how his boys trained.. They trained VERY hard; if he wanted to make money from the dojo he wasn't making the prctice easy enough to generate serious numbers. He turned out some excellent students, Matsuoka Sensei, Reynosa Sensei etc.

Quote:
I also remember that at some point in the early 90's he claimed to have studied with Osensei which is definately false.
It is true that he never studied with the Founder. O-sensei was dead when he made his first visit to Honbu Dojo

Quote:
Still I think his waza is okay, although he is far from a master...
What, pray tell, would constitute a "master"? Would you recognize one if you saw him? Segal Sensei is as good as any of the American 7th Dans I have seen... Once again, this sounds like it's a comparison to some idealized idea of the Japanese "Master" which, of course, none of the gaijin instructors could ever live up to.

It's not that I am some big fan of Steven Segal... it's just that I like the tone of the boards to be better than this. Slinging about a bunch of half truths and 15th hand rumors isn't very useful or particularly interesting.

I know people who trained with him in Japan and I know folks who trained with him in the US. Generally, the people who know the truth aren't posting... So there's no point. I limit myself to what I've seen of his Aikido which is excellent and what I've seen of his students which is also excellent.

Last edited by George S. Ledyard : 01-11-2006 at 03:43 AM.

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Old 01-11-2006, 09:10 AM   #19
Michael Hackett
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Bravo! Ledyard Sensei once more brings the light of reason and good manners to bear.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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Old 01-11-2006, 09:15 AM   #20
Ron Tisdale
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Thanks for the common sense Ledyard Sensei.

As for the rest...what does it matter to YOUR keiko what Seagal does, did, or will do???

I'm taking a page from Lynn Seiser's book...GET BACK TO TRAINING.

Best,
Ron

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Old 01-11-2006, 09:36 AM   #21
Mark Uttech
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
Michael Hackett wrote:
Bravo! Ledyard Sensei once more brings the light of reason and good manners to bear.
I second the motion there
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Old 01-12-2006, 11:59 AM   #22
odudog
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

I can say for a fact that he didn't marry his first wife so that he could improve his Aikido standing. I saw an interview that he did a long time ago on Larry King. For those of you who are not from the US, Larry King does live interviews nightly on CNN. Seagal Sensei said that he married his first wife due to the fact that she got pregnant. He said that you don't get a daughter of *insert her dad's name* Sensei's stature pregnant and just walk away. Larry King then asked him what type of knife fighting he was doing in his latest block buster movie, which he replied it is a combination of blah, blah, blah, blah styles mixed together. You could tell that Larry King has no idea what Seagal Sensei was talking about on the topics just typed above. Seagal Sensei rattled off the knife styles names so quickly and fluently that I could not catch the names. What ever else was discussed during the hour long interview, I don't remember, but I am sure about the two facts I typed above for I was hoping that he would talk about them.
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Old 01-12-2006, 12:44 PM   #23
Edwin Neal
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

my points were that the first wife WAS the daughter of the sensei so it could be ( probably was ) that his marrying into the family helped in that way...

as for kelly lebrock i thought i saw a police report on one celebrity show so there you go... i wouldnt beat her...

as far as mcdojo and image and hype i meant for his hollywood career not his dojo ie dojo was more to hype his hollywood resume as was i think his tibetan buddhism and kundalini yoga and chinese herbal medicine and other things he claims to have studied or mastered

I recognize a master because my sensei is one he has the menkyo kaiden from osensei to prove it and the waza to back it up... not meant to be mean just calling it like i see it.

Edwin Neal


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Old 01-12-2006, 01:25 PM   #24
Ron Tisdale
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

Quote:
he has the menkyo kaiden from osensei to prove it
Interesting. Which instructor would that be? I haven't even heard of the pre-war Daito ryu densho given to Shioda and others being referred to as Menkyo Kaiden....Ueshiba himself did not get one from Takeda as they weren't available in Daito ryu at that time. Could you be more specific?

Best,
Ron

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Old 01-12-2006, 01:59 PM   #25
Dennis Hooker
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Re: Sensei Steven Seagal's ?

I think we would all be interested from a historical perspective regarding this "Menkyo Kaiden" as I have never heard of Ueshiba Sensei doing such a thing. Could you give us more information please?

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