Is Hombu Dojo banning Weapons in Aikido?

We ( In the States and Europe) keep hearing this is happening in Japan...

What the heck? Both Nishio and Saito Shihan have only been gone a few years and now the Current Doshu (?) wants to eliminate Weapons from Aikido?

Any truth to this Professor Goldsbury? Anyone else heard anything?

William Hazen

William Hazen wrote: We ( In the States and Europe) keep hearing this is happening in Japan... William Hazen

it's ok, really! for the folks in Japan, that is. me, on the other hand, whichever the one that's not holding the weapon at the moment (oh wait! none, i got weapons on both hands!), a firm believer in peace and harmony through superior fire power!
all kidding aside, i need to find another large weapon bag, since the large one i got from bujin is running out of room. one cannot have enough weapons. you need a different set for each season, a set for going to seminar, a set for special occasion, a set to go with my blue hakama and one to go with the black. you know, i have never understand why women have so many shoes.

Phi Truong wrote: it's ok, really! for the folks in Japan, that is. me, on the other hand, whichever the one that's not holding the weapon at the moment (oh wait! none, i got weapons on both hands!), a firm believer in peace and harmony through superior fire power! all kidding aside, i need to find another large weapon bag, since the large one i got from bujin is running out of room. one cannot have enough weapons. you need a different set for each season, a set for going to seminar, a set for special occasion, a set to go with my blue hakama and one to go with the black. you know, i have never understand why women have so many shoes.

Eh??? What does that have to do with the original post?

You have misunderstood. They only banned the gaseous weapons.

Hi

William Hazen wrote: We ( In the States and Europe) keep hearing this is happening in Japan... ... the Current Doshu (?) wants to eliminate Weapons from Aikido?

I'm practicing in Europe (Germany) and my teacher is very well connected with hombu, I think.

We don't hear such rumors over here in Europe.

Could you please elaborate your statement?

Carsten

Dean Tong wrote: Eh??? What does that have to do with the original post?

sorry, forgot to include the decode message. the decode message is "doesn't matter what hombu does, we don't care. we, who follow the teaching of our Sensei, who learned from O Sensei himself, who wanted weapons in our aikido. so we will do weapon works with our aikido until we die."

ya gonna have to pry this bokken from my cold dead fingers!

William Hazen wrote: We ( In the States and Europe) keep hearing this is happening in Japan... What the heck? Both Nishio and Saito Shihan have only been gone a few years and now the Current Doshu (?) wants to eliminate Weapons from Aikido? Any truth to this Professor Goldsbury? Anyone else heard anything? William Hazen

Where do these rumors originate? The rumor mill is clearly far more sophisticated in the US and Europe than it is here. Nothing has reached us down here in Hiroshima yet, but we are quite a long way from Tokyo... Anyway, the rumors attribute to Doshu more power than he really has.

I began teaching at a new dojo recently and most of the students are beginners. We have been practising ken and jo right from the very beginning. The type of training? The late M Saito's aiki-ken and aiki-jo. Last week we began the 31 jo kata and I am doing it as I remember learning it directly from Saito Sensei himself.

Best wishes to all

Peter A Goldsbury wrote: Where do these rumors originate? The rumor mill is clearly far more sophisticated in the US and Europe than it is here. Nothing has reached us down here in Hiroshima yet, but we are quite a long way from Tokyo... Anyway, the rumors attribute to Doshu more power than he really has. I began teaching at a new dojo recently and most of the students are beginners. We have been practising ken and jo right from the very beginning. The type of training? The late M Saito's aiki-ken and aiki-jo. Last week we began the 31 jo kata and I am doing it as I remember learning it directly from Saito Sensei himself. Best wishes to all

Thanks Sensei Goldsbury. This rumor was heard at a recent Seminar here in the US and voiced by a Senior Japanese Yudansa. I thought it sounded like BS, and thank you for helping me confirm it.

William Hazen

I was recently told not to use the terms "Aiki Toho Iai" or "Aikido Toho Iai" in any promotional material and to replace them with the word "Iaido"

Inocencio Maramba wrote: I was recently told not to use the terms "Aiki Toho Iai" or "Aikido Toho Iai" in any promotional material and to replace them with the word "Iaido"

Dude I Friended you! See you on Facebook. Yeah I heard that one too...Who told you?

I know one Aikiweb Poster who told me the same thing and He's from Northern Europe.

However Yoshida Sensei still refers to our Iaido by it's original name: http://www.yufukan.com/index_e.html

William Hazen

Gentlemen,

I have read Posts #9 and 10 and cannot see how you can equate this with Moriteru Doshu wishing to banish weapons from aikido. I just want to be clear exactly what the rumors are.

PAG

Inocencio Maramba wrote: I was recently told not to use the terms "Aiki Toho Iai" or "Aikido Toho Iai" in any promotional material and to replace them with the word "Iaido"

This (if accurate) would just be the Hombu's desire not to give Nishio Sensei's form of Iaido the official sanction of the Aikikai. In other words, by doing Aiki Toho Iai, you aren't now doing Aikikai Foundation weapons or the Aikikai does not now have Iaido a part of it's official curriculum. This is a natural response and hardly a ban on weapons. I think in the past, the Aikikai has had an informal discussion of sorts denying that weapons practice is inherently necessary to Aikido training. That is something the current Doshu has said publicly but again, it is an official line of sorts attempting to defend a perimeter of definition. My own Shihan, who is known for his intense loyalty to the Ueshiba family, conducts 1/2 of all his seminar teaching and training in weapons.
Best,
Jorge

Jorge Garcia wrote: In other words, by doing Aiki Toho Iai, you aren't now doing Aikikai Foundation weapons or the Aikikai does not now have Iaido a part of it's official curriculum. Jorge

Honestly, Have Hombu dojo EVER had Iaido as part of it's official curriculum? I don't think even Nishio Sensei said so. Aikido is aikido. Iaido is iaido. Within the 4 walls of Aikikai Hombu dojo they have, as far as I know, never included Iaido kata as part of their grading curricula. Saito would teach Sunday classes where he often taught suburi, 31 kata and some paired kata (kumijo and kumitachi). I believe both 2:nd Doshu and Tohei sensei sometimes led outdoor training in jokata (Similar to 31/22 kata).
Neither 2:nd nor 3:rd Doshu have, AFAIK, ever forbidden any aikiken or aikijo training as part of any particular shihan's curricula. It was just never part of the formal curricula of Hombu dojo, i.e. with respect to examination requirements etc.

/Jakob

Inocencio Maramba wrote: I was recently told not to use the terms "Aiki Toho Iai" or "Aikido Toho Iai" in any promotional material and to replace them with the word "Iaido"

May I ask who told you this? And in what capacity?

/Jakob

Just to clarify, I was not approached by any representative of Aikikai Hombu regarding the terms Aiki Toho or Aikido Toho.. I was asked to do this by the organiser of a seminar taught by a senior student of Nishio Sensei.

Less than a week ago our dojo hosted a seminar with a senior Aikikai Hombu Dojo Shihan. Based on what he taught and discussed over the course of the seminar I can guarantee you that this rumor is not true.

Peter A Goldsbury wrote: Gentlemen, I have read Posts #9 and 10 and cannot see how you can equate this with Moriteru Doshu wishing to banish weapons from aikido. I just want to be clear exactly what the rumors are. PAG

Let me nail it down for you Peter and to do so I may need a few days. From the posts above I can see how such a rumor got started...

Thanks for the input everyone.

William Hazen