AikiWeb Aikido Product Reviews - Noriaki Inoue: Aikido's Forgotten Pioneer"

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Aiki News -- Noriaki Inoue: Aikido's Forgotten Pioneer"

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Description:

The few minutes of film on AikiNew's Asahi Shinbun film of Ueshiba Morihei have engendered endless discussion and speculation. It is from this film clip that many assert that they understand Ueshiba's aiki-budo, when he was at the peak of his physical powers.
As many know, Ueshiba was in the company of his nephew, Inoue Noriaki, 18 years his junior, through most of his studies in Daito-ryu. As a teenager, Inoue witnessed his uncle train with Takeda Sokaku, and the two of them worked out together as Ueshiba, over the years, tried to figure out what he learned. Due to personal matters, Inoue and Ueshiba broke with each other and after WWII, rarely had contact. Inoue continued to associate with the Omoto-kyo, and in addition, continued to develop his own interpretation of aiki-budo under a variety of names, finally entitled Shin-ei Taido.
What is most germane to those interested in aikido is that contemporaries stated that Inoue was a physical twin to Ueshiba, and they asserted, moved and did technique exactly like him.
Stanley Pranin has released a long DVD with many segments of Inoue teaching and demonstrating Shin-ei Taido between 1972 and 1976. Inoue is teaching rather than demonstrating, so that there is a lot of repetition, done at a speed that you can clearly study his footwork, the way he organizes his body, etc. The bulk of the techniques are joint locks, but there are kokyu throws as well. A lot of his uke are "overly-responsive," shall we say - the problem endemic in the aiki-arts when trying to figure out at a distance whether the technique is truly effective or not. That said, Inoue does move, in so many ways, like Ueshiba - there are many moments when one feels like one is watching "out-takes" of the Asahi Shinbun film.
Stanley frames the DVD with a historical essay, and a so-called practice session in 1988. In this last section, Inoue is very old. One can see a shadow of his skill in his movements coupled with his students, willingly conforming to his intention. It is worthwhile to consider Ueshiba's later years in the same light, in my opinion. Magic is often shadow-play, which has little substance.
I cannot recommend this DVD highly enough, if one is interested in what Ueshiba once did. It is a wonderful opportunity to "almost" see more of Ueshiba's prewar aikido. Truly, we will probably never get closer than this.
http://www.aikidojournal.com/blog/20...otten-pioneer/

Keywords:

Pre-war Aikido, Aiki-budo, Inoue Noriaki

Author

Al Gutierrez

Registered: September 2006
Location: Colorado
Posts: 39

Review Date:

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 0

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Is this just a new dvd release of the older Aiki News tapes previously produced, or do these contain new or different footage?

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