Dobunkan Aikido?

hey... i was wondering if anyone knows anything about dobukan aikido? im wondering if its considered to be a softer or harder style of aikido?

been training for about 6 months now and really enjoy it but im just curious... this is my first martial art and i havnt had any experiance with anything else so i have nothing to compare it to
but its fun =)

There's probably not much I could tell you about your own system that you do not already know. For a better perspective, put things in context by watching videos or classes from other systems. You will immediately know if they are "harder" or "softer" than yours. I will tell you that "dobukan" is more likely the name of your dojo, rather than a "style" of Aikido. From one point of view, everyone has his own "style", but by a different definition, the "style" under which you train comes from the lineage of your instructor, and that of the instructor(s) under which he/she has trained.

Hey Brian the only advice i can give you is check out this website
" Aikidojournal.com" and look at some of the vidoe clips on there.
I will tell you this, if you are enjoying your self feel that you are benifiting from it then deep down it doesnt matter if it is " hard or soft". Thats the best advice i can give to you.
I am glad your are enjoying your training.

Talk to your sensei, what does he say?

I practice a 'soft' style but some of my fellow students are quite 'hard'. I'm sure there are people out there practicing a 'hard' style that are quite 'soft' in their practice. Relativity rules OK

If you enjoy your practice, there's not much to worry about

regards
Mark

I only know of one Dobunkan, and it is based in Toyama Prefecture in Japan (they also have branches in Ishikawa too). Is there any relation?

who is the instructor, lineage?

I came looking for info on Dobunkan Aikido after someone asked me about it.

A google search turns up only this thread and a similar thread on another forum. No web site for a U,S. based dojo.

Has anyone ever learned anything about it? What is the lineage?

Thanks.

Maybe it's just the name of the dojo

http://www.aikiweb.com/search/dojo.html?id=6945

This aikiweb member has it in their sig. Perhaps they know.

http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/member.php?u=1167

hopefully I'll get a response from this teacher.
In the mean time I have this web site: http://www.dobunkan.net/
I just can't read it.
It seems to me that Dobunkan is the name of a dojo within Aikikai. But the person who asked me about it says that Dobunkan is the name of a new style. Perhaps there are 2 different Dobunkan

Can anyone read this web site and some with some information about this style/dojo? Is it a seperate branch of Aikido or are they affiliated with Aikikai?

Thanks.

Dobunkan is the name of both the dojo and the style.
I just can not find lineage information on the founder. It may be on that Japanese language web site.

The dojo is in Kosugi Japan. The founder is Ryuji Sakamoto-shihan

Since I came here asking, I thought I'd post a link to the new web site.

www.aikidotoukakan.com

It seems like a decent school.

It sounds like it's not Aikido proper, but an offshoot, at least from the description given by its founder. The white hakama strikes me as a little strange, but his pedigree seems solid. It's worth checking out at least. Please report back, I'm curious about what you find.

It says directly on their web page that it is associated with the Aikikai.

Hi my name is Erick I have been studying with Sakamoto sensei for 8 yrs now .His style is original and the curiculum changes frequently.Although the basics of aikido remain the same .His affilliation is with Yamada sensei from new york where he trained and was uchi-deshi .Many moons ago.From pesonal experience sensei is a solid shihan ,he spends his life teaching and training ,with a small love for sports cars.