Quote:
Ali Raja wrote:
So you do agree that studying Aikido in Japan is much more real than what you see in Norway or elsewhere.
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Haven't practiced in Norway... Canada, New Zealand, Japan. Not sure what you mean "real" - the late shihan in Canada, Kawahara Yukio, used to advise that we run away from situations - my Japanese wasn't good enough to know exactly why he advised that - probably because he felt we'd be in deep doo-doo if we stayed and tried to do aikido on an experienced guy with a knife who wanted to slice-and-dice us. We were too slow and unskilled. (I believe I still am slow and unskilled.)
In Aikikai Hombu, I only attended some morning classes with Doshu teaching, and some other classes with... er... I can't remember his name and he's not on the schedule any more, but he did a lot of seminars in New Zealand. We practiced aikido techniques and there wasn't any mention of "out on the street" stuff.
In New Zealand, mostly we practiced basic techniques over and over but with increasing proficiency as we developed. It's hard to say "real" about the training - other than it was "real" aikido training, and the better people barely broke a sweat while I (a mere nidan) lost a lot of weight each practice.
But was it "real"? Would we be able to defend ourselves from attackers? Who knows? One of my sensei (also "late" thanks to a heart attack) had used it in "real" situations where lives were being lost and edged weapons and firearms were involved - for him it was "real" - and he made the point that if someone's not REALLY ATTACKING as if they mean to cause you harm, you don't really have to do aikido.