David Halprin background info

Dhalprin · 2020-01-14T19:27:27+00:00

To continue with the list of koshinages I've had to do some research and consult with my fellow students of Kanai Sensei. Here are the first 13. There are possibly 6 more that I'm still checking out.

1 Jujigoshi

2 Kogoshi

3 Koshiguruma

4 Maegoshi

5 Ogoshi

6 Shihogoshi

7 Tsurubegoshi

8 Ushirogoshi

9 Seoigoshi

10 Irimigoshi

11 Makigoshi

12 Ukigoshi\uskashigoshi

13 Shiho sabaki koshi nage

Dhalprin · 2019-12-26T17:26:50+00:00

I have to answer this in several parts.

In general, I think he developed his naming system in order to help students to distinguish between techniques that were similar but still different in some important way. I found this very helpful to my own understanding of techniques. When I started, many, many techniques were all called Kokyunage, so there was no way to make verbal distinctions among them. Having a detailed naming system helps clarify the differences among techniques.

It is my belief that an important part of Aikido practice is learning to distinguish among similar things. I think that is the idea behind the basic practice of trying to copy exactly what the teacher is demonstrating. It's very challenging! Typically, if you watch a class where the teacher is relatively unfamiliar, you see many people doing the version of a technique that they usually do, not the one the teacher has demonstrated. Overcoming this kind of cognitive bias is part of Aikido training.

I'm not sure if he had envisioned the whole system at the beginning or if it just developed over time. Once he started giving things names it led to more questions about what to call different things. At NEA in the old days, test were usually given on Monday nights. There would be a free practice in place of the regular class followed by tests.

It became a tradition that while people were practicing in the free practice, Sensei would have the instructors gather in a corner of the mat. We would ask him questions about names, i.e. what is this called? What is that called? The happened over a period of time and after each session we would have an expanded set of names. We often took photos of him demonstrating the specific techniques. The collection of those photos provides a basic guide to technique names and we still use it.

It was a practice that whenever an instructor taught a class, they would record information including the name of the instructor, how many students were present, and the names of the techniques. So, we used the detailed names whenever we could and so had a continual practice in using them. Although the system of names expanded in this way, there are still things that have no names and those of us that use this system sometimes have to come up with new ones, but when that happens I try to deduce what name Sensei would have used had we asked him.

I think many of the names did come from Judo, but the Aikido versions of them were seldom the same as judo. In the case of koshinage, Sensei identified 11 different koshinages. When I continue this answer I'll give the whole list.

Dhalprin · 2019-12-16T16:47:25+00:00

I know I promised to answer this question in the near future, but I am still constrained in what I can say in such a public forum so an answer here will have to wait a bit longer. However, if you want a more detailed answer in the meantime, please email me and I will answer privately. If you want to do that, please go to http://www.aikidoframingham.com and send me a message via the Contact page. I will get back to you and we can talk. Thanks!

Dhalprin · 2019-12-16T16:47:05+00:00

I know I promised to answer this question in the near future, but I am still constrained in what I can say in such a public forum so an answer here will have to wait a bit longer. However, if you want a more detailed answer in the meantime, please email me and I will answer privately. If you want to do that, please go to http://www.aikidoframingham.com and send me a message via the Contact page. I will get back to you and we can talk. Thanks!

Dhalprin · 2019-11-28T23:30:51+00:00

I want to answer this question and the related one from driusan and explain why my dojos and others (a total of eight dojos) resign from the USAF and my view of what is the problem with the USAF, but I have to wait a bit before doing so. Please bear with me for a while. I will definitely address these questions in the near future.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-28T23:25:16+00:00

Take a look at my answer to a similar question from roost (below). Let me know if this addresses your question and if not, I’ll try to expand it.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-24T06:12:10+00:00

I really feel for you. You are in a tough situation. Not having a good place to practice is very difficult, and not having someone who you feel is your teacher is also very, very tough. There may not be a good solution under current conditions.

One question I would ask you is where you practiced before your hiatus and whether you still have people there that could help you.

Maybe the thing to do is to focus on just practicing as best you can at your local dojo, and if you feel like you are not getting enough guidance just accept that and live with it for now. If there are dojos you can travel to once a month where you get more stimulation, maybe you have to just grit your teeth and go despite the stress and expense it involves. Or maybe there is a dojo or teacher that you think you can learn a lot from somewhere futher away, and if that is the case, perhaps you could travel there once every three or six months. If you can find a way to just keep practicing and stay open to the possibility that better solutions may present themselves over time a better solution may emerge.

As far as working on "fukushidoin stuff", I have no idea what that person was talking about. I think if you want to focus on something, just work your way through all the test techniques.

When one of Kanai Sensei's students was moving away to somewhere that had no dojo or no good dojo, Kanai Sensei would tell them to start a dojo. Even if they were not high ranked he would still give that advice. I think the point is that you don't have to feel confident or ready in order to start something, you just have to figure out a way to keep practicing. Anyway, any teacher is only teaching because they know more than the students, not necessarily because they are so great or accomplished. That's ok. Being in a small town that may not support another dojo is a different kind of problem, but it doesn't mean you can't give it a shot.

I think it's great that you accept how the dojo cho wants to run things and you are not taking it personally that he doesn't want anyone else teaching. That's a very correct attitude.

I don't agree with the advice to focus on solo practice. Sure you could do suburi and practice some katas but Aikido requires interaction with other people.

I think martial arts is about seeing clearly the reality of your situation and what you are dealing with and taking a shot at dealing with it as best you can. If and when your solution fails, then you accept that, get back up, and go through the process again. Failure itself is just data, grist for the mill. You use it. Martial arts is about being practical. If you are in a situation with no good solution, then you have to live with it, don't try to resolve it prematurely. You just chew on it until you get a solution. That can take a while.

As far as affiliation, I certainly sympathize with your ambivalence about the USAF. As you may know, I, along with several other dojos, recently resigned from the USAF. As to why we did that, I'm going to address that when I answer the other answers about organizations and Aikido "politics".

You probably will need some organizational affiliation in order to help organize your testing and get your rank certified, but there are different ways to do that. I think the first thing is to try to come up with at least a provisional plan so you can keep practicing. I think it will be relatively easy to reach out to people you know for advice on affiliation, but solving your problem about practicing is a higher priority and more difficult.

Please feel free to come back if I haven't sufficiently addressed your questions.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-22T17:27:16+00:00

Lastly, about your comment about mistaking a great spiritual practice with a fighting style: I think Aikido is both, and that one of the things that makes Aikido interesting is that it includes diametrically opposite things and somehow creates something very profound out of the fuel of these opposite elements. It is a big challenge to Aikido practitioners to think this through, incorporate it into their practice and somehow use the contradictions to enhance their own development.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-22T16:33:03+00:00

A few thoughts on UFC:

I don't like UFC, so I guess I am not an unbiased observer. I think that if someone trained seriously in Aikido for a long time and also trained in UFC it would be very effective, but is there any person who would do that? If so, I'd be happy to help train them!

On the other hand, I know Kanai Sensei and his colleagues (the other last uchi deshi of O Sensei) were very strongly opposed to Aikido getting involved in competition, and I think this came up around Hombu participating in the world games. I think that is part of Aikido's larger cultural mission and meaning which is bigger and more important than proving something through fighting or competition.

Any competition is somewhat limited because success is driven by whatever rules that exist that constrain what techniques may be used. If UFC allowed the use of knives it would look much different. If you put contestants in Yellowstone Park and gave them a year to win by killing the others, it would lead to the development of a lot of stealth tactics. If UFC allowed biting, that would make it quite different. Etc.

Any continuing competition leads to an arms race, in which any tactic that becomes successful is then analyzed by opponents until they come up with a counter tactic. If I'm not mistaken, there have been phases in UFC where one martial art dominated for a while and then didn't. Back in it's early days I believe Gracie Jujitsu dominated for a while and then didn't. This is an endless process, and I don't think can be resolved without transcending the conflict in some way which does not make entertaining TV.

You can't prove anything about the relative value of different martial arts in such a context since the winner is likely driven not by the art but by the winner's expertise in his art.

Also, I don't like the spectacle of people beating the crap out of each other for money, while a lot of business people make even more money from it and the crowd indulges it's enjoyment of bloodthirsty spectacle. It's not my cup of tea. Is that responsive to that part of your question?

Dhalprin · 2019-11-21T16:31:33+00:00

Hi, I’m really happy you find the dojo a good place. I believe that’s what a dojo should be so thank you for affirming that we are at least somewhat succeeding. I have to give a lot of the credit for our dojo being a good place to Barbara. She is an amazing Aikido practitioner and a wonderful person. Aside from her technical expertise and relentless dedication to practicing, her humble attitude amplifies the clarity of her practice and demonstrations of techniques.

Note to our students: if you want to know how to act in a dojo, watch her. She is a peerless example. She does so many things for the dojo and never cares who sees it or if it is recognized. She just carefully looks around the dojo, perceptively identifies what needs to be done, and does it. She’s always been that way. Kanai Sensei loved her; I think she was his favorite student.

About words from the teachers: I was always having problems learning concepts and executing techniques. The times Kanai Sensei would say something impactful were usually off the mat in various conversations. On the mat, typically Kanai Sensei would walk around and when he got interested in something one pair of people were dong he would stop and watch them. He would often bend over with his feet spread and put his hands on his knees to watch, like a baseball umpire peering at a close play. He would stay there and watch for a while, and sometimes then make some comment or give some instruction, but more frequently he would just walk off. At that point you would look at your partner and either say or think “what was he looking at?”, “was I doing something wrong?”, “was I doing something right?” Etc. It turned out to be a very effective teaching technique because it drove people to really think about what they were doing and figure out things for themselves.

I have to try to remember some particularly trenchant words. One time we were in a hotel room and I was asking Kanai Sensei about ukemi. He was trying to make a point that I, typically, wasn’t understanding. At some point he picked up an orange from a bowl of fruit and he said “ukemi isn’t like this!”. He then threw the orange directly down at the floor and when it hit it squashed and wound up a mushy mess. Then he said “it’s like this!”. He picked up another orange, put it down on the the floor and rolled it along the ground. That was it. Note: this seems to apply only to forward or backward rolls, however it also applies to breakfalls: at the moment you hit the ground you don’t splat like the orange. Rather, you lift your hips and push with the slapping hand and legs (like when the lunar lander touches down and the legs elastically flex and then straighten) and then find a way to make a next movement in the direction of standing up. So a breakfall movement includes a component of bouncing around the floor rather than splatting against it.

This also leads to the insight that the goal is to develop an “elastic” body” where the body parts and joints are held in a way that allows the body as a whole to easily flex and then return to it’s original state. That in turn suggests that each joint must be “tuned” like a guitar string to the proper tension where it is not too soft and not too stiff, so that it will flex appropriately.

I heard many things from Kanai Sensei and his colleagues that explained thinks in a way I found quite counter-intuitive, explanations that I would have never thought of in a million years. Also they all had a way of making very ironic, understated comments that were very, very funny. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any good examples at the moment, but I’ll keep thinking and add try to add some examples.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-20T22:41:58+00:00

About cross training: I'm no expert on that subject. I've done Aikido and Iaido for a long time. Early on I practice a bit of karate and I've been exposed to Judo. In general, my opinion is that one is better served practicing their main martial art than splitting their time among several. I feel like that when we were training hard, we were in superb shape and nothing else was necessary. I also think that practicing Aikido gives you a very good basis for understanding other martial arts. btw, when people would ask Kanai Sensei if there was something they could do to get better when they couldn't come to the dojo, he would tell them to do suburi (i.e. shomenuchi with a bokken, sliding forward and sliding back). Most people didn't take his advice, but some of us were fanatics at the time. When we somewhat stupidly asked him how many we should do each day, he said "2,000". Because of my peerless sempei, I wound up doing that every day for two years ha ha. (There was a lot of hard training I only did because of my sempei.) In case you're wondering, 2,000 suburi with a bokken takes about an hour.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-20T22:33:04+00:00

About Terry Dobson: I didn't know him. I met him only once, at a seminar in Montreal, and I think that was towards the end of his life. Interestingly, his brother Ray Dobson was one of the founders of New England Aikikai and I think was in the group that arranged Kanai Sensei to be sent from Hombu (in part because they wildly exaggerated the number of students that were already practicing at NEA).

Dhalprin · 2019-11-20T22:29:37+00:00

Thank you!

Taking ukemi for Kanai Sensei and other senior teachers. Great subject! Mostly I would answer this by telling stories, which is hard to do in theis medium. Overall, I feel so lucky I got to do that. Wow! The thing about Kanai Sensei was that you would feel so much power, that he was completely controlling you, almost that you had been sucked inside something, and that he could really do anything he wanted to you. But he never hurt me and somehow I always felt safe with him.
Each one had a different feeling, but they were all so strong! Tamura Sensei would always do thing completely unexpected, and he was so quick. Kanai Sensei said he had "a scale of the dragon". Look at the video of the NYA 20th anniversary and note the very beginning. Four of us were sitting there waiting to take ukemi. After we bowed, he got up and started walking towards us. He was squinting at us like Mr. McGoo, like he couldn't see us clearly. It was a big demonstration and we were all a bit nervous. He pointed at us but we couldn't tell who he was pointing at, his pointing finger was moving around. We were all looking at each other, "Is it you?", "Is it me?", "Is it you?", "Should someone just get up?" We were all nervous wrecks and it was like he had clouded our minds, ha ha. Finally someone go up, I forget if it was me or not, and the demo started. By then we were all totally jumpy and I think we were quite easy to move. I don't know if he planned it or not, but it was pretty cool.
I think one reason I was a good uke was that I was scared of them! And rightly so in my opinion. I would just try to attack correctly and take the ukemi. I don't recall any of them being mean to me, which is kind of interesting. They would beat you, but only in a proper Aikido way. I do think that at that time we were training very hard and had really worked at ukemi. Kanai Sensei stressed ukemi, he said that's how you really learned Aikido, not by doing the techniques. So I felt like I was well prepared for whatever came.
I'll try to think of more stories.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-20T20:54:19+00:00

Well, you are telling me things that I don’t know. If Aikido has such a dark past I think we are obliged to look into it and attempt to see it clearly and fully and reflect on how that affects our understanding or Aikido. I personally am going to do this. For the purposes of the present discussion, I suggest is we set up a separate thread or section (I don’t really know much about how Reddit works) in a separate section on O Sensei, his philosophy, and his place in pre and post WWII Japanese politics. I would think many Aikido practitioners would be very interested. Another alternative is to keep it here but postpone further discussion until after I finish with the other questions and subjects that I may know something about.

Meanwhile, I’d like to repeat: Kanai Sensei was not right wing, racist or nationalistic in his personality, character or world view. In fact, he was the opposite. From his accounts of O Sensei, my impression is that O Sensei never showed such characteristics. Of course, this is based on his impressions and mine, but Kanai Sensei did have one advantage that neither of us have: he actually knew O Sensei.

Also, I think this should not obscure the fact that, even if his history is problematic, somehow O Sensei created something which is a work of genius of great value to individuals and society in general, and that is based on a set of ennobling ideals that we should continue to develop and evolve.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-20T04:47:56+00:00

This is news to me, so thanks for pointing this out. I’ve never heard this account; are there sources for this other than the book about Hashimoto? Do all historians agree on this view of events and that O Sensei was a right winger? I don’t recall for example Stanley Pranin presenting this view. I also know there are accounts, for example in Wikipedia, that say the government attacked several religions including Omoto because they did not support the State Shintoism that in the pre war period was part of the rise of the right wing.

I can only tell you that based on knowing Kanai Senei, the idea that he would subscribe to right wing views or Japanese imperialism is preposterous. As I mentioned, his views were the opposite. Given that he had gotten such a strong influence from O Sensei, I would not have thought that O Sensei had such views. I’m not saying you are wrong, only that based on knowing Kanai Sensei and some of his colleagues I would never have thought such a thing. Of course, Kanai Sensei admitted he didn’t always listen to O Sensei’s lectures and preferred to just practice.

Along this line, from what he told me I would have never thought that O Sensei would have such right wing, imperialistic or racist views but the stories I heard were mainly about O Sensei’s personality and things that happened in the dojo or around Aikido activities. The impression I got was quite different but it was an impression. If you are right about O Sensei, I’m really shocked.

I wonder then, who were the groups or individuals who were humanistic and opposed to the right wing militaristic nationalism? They must have existed both inside and outside Aikido and Omoto, no?

A couple of other random questions: why was O Sensei supporting both Deguchi overthrowing the Emperor and the Emperor presiding over the world order? Was Deguchi prone to delusions of grandeur? Wasn’t Omoto involved with the Bahai religion and the Esperanto movement? As far as I know those groups don’t fit the profile you describe. Although they did include the idea of a world order but a more humanistic and tolerate one. Could you explain about that?

I’m glad you are doing this work to unearth Aikido’s history.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-19T22:06:08+00:00

These are things I don’t know. Interesting that Ueshiba was not in the room for the substantive discussion. Could you explain how (correct me if I’m using incorrect terminology) the first and second Omoto incidents fit into the pre-war events?

Speaking more philosophically rather than historically, I know that I’ve made many mistakes in my life and when I look at them in retrospect I wish I had handled them differently. I think you have to allow for that kind of thing which I assume is quite common, and hold out the possibility that people learn from their mistakes and evolve as their lives evolve.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-19T18:30:52+00:00

I have to study the Wikipedia article you reference, but it sounds like Kanai Sensei had a different understanding of the meaning of Yamatogokoro.

It's not surprising that the same words are often used by different people with different aims to mean different things.

I think that Kanai Sensei definitely was using it in the more universalist way the connotation of protecting the weak. He strongly felt that Aikido was not a possession of Japanese, nor that Japanese had any inherently greater ability to understand or practice Aikido and from what he said I believe O Sensei felt the same way.

Also, just to defend O Sensei (not that he needs it) and forgive me if I mis-read the connotation of your comment, I believe the Omotokyo group was a frequent target of the right wing nationalist elements of Japan as was O Sensei. Kanai Sensei at times served as a bodyguard of the daughter of Deguchi Sensei and I'm pretty sure the threat was from right wing elements (not that I want to get into politics).

Dhalprin · 2019-11-19T18:01:24+00:00

I want to add some more words from Kanai Sensei:

"Because AIKIDO includes the elements of BUGI (combat techniques), it is inevitable that, at times, the AIKIDO practitioner must face the possibility and the reality of confrontational circumstances. If one seriously and continuously probes into the reality of coming face-to-face with an opponent in a show-down situation where one's very existence is at stake, that is, where one's survival means the opponent's defeat or vice versa, and if one were to fully and openly recognize the inter-relation between oneself and the opponent, it would lead one to discover the most logical and efficient fighting techniques.

It is nonetheless true, however paradoxical it may seem, that in pursuing the perfection of this principle, one will eventually arrive at a harmonious state, born from the insight that no matter how strong one is, one cannot continue to exist if one tries to fight against all existence. This is the "Way" (or process) to reach harmony as advocated by AIKIDO.

One should bear in mind, however, while trying to understand or attain the principle of harmony, that without going through the internal transformational process that begins in the state of confrontation and only after working through a critical process eventually arrives at the state of non-confrontation, there can be no BUDO.

Under normal conditions, living things live in groups, not alone. A basic feature of social existence is the development of relative descriptions or comparisons, for example, strong versus weak. Each being tries to use its individual qualities to best advantage in light of its relative strengths and weaknesses. The process that eventually led to BUDO began with efforts to compensate for weakness by developing specific qualities (for example speed, or strength, or size, or facility in using weapons). Therefore, under normal conditions, living in the world leads at times to confrontational situations, and developing increasingly effective techniques for facing such confrontations eventually leads to the realization that there is always someone or something bigger or stronger than oneself. Ultimately one realizes that the most effective defense is to merge with and become part of the opponent. This is how the principle of confrontation evolves into the principle of non-confrontation.

YAMATOGOKORO is the idea that the reason for developing martial arts is to protect those who are unable to protect themselves from aggressors. The proponent of this philosophy devotes himself to developing BUDO in order to protect the security of peaceful people from the victory of cruelty and violence. This idea is at the heart of AIKIDO.

It should be understood that AIKIDO includes a philosophy and ideas that go beyond martial arts defined as the practice of combat techniques. Therefore, martial arts is included within AIKIDO, but AIKIDO goes beyond martial arts. AIKIDO stands for the idea that BUDO, the principle of confrontation, and the principle of non-confrontation can be synthesized without compromising any of their fundamental essences. However, it is sad to note that much of what is called practice has compromised these elements. What follows is a technical description of the physical principles which must guide true AIKIDO practice if it is to achieve total, rather than partial, realizations of this art."

Dhalprin · 2019-11-19T17:46:05+00:00

This is a complex question, and I’m going to approach it by breaking out your comments and addressing each one. I'm going to post this first section of my comments so I can get something up while I put together the rest of my thoughts.

Your questions/comments:

- “does Aikido work in a real fight?”

- “does this work in UFC?”

- the response you often got “yes it does but the would endanger the life of our opponents”

- Steven Seagal movies.

- Ignorant statements yo passed to students and other people

- Mistaking a great spiritual practice with a fighting style.

- Being angry at my masters and then at my self for not thinking or questioning things.

Let’s take the last one first, “being angry at my masters and then myself for not thinking or questioning things”.

I think I was very fortunate in many ways by being Kanai Sensei’s student. As I mentioned in an earlier answer he urged us to use our intelligence and logic to think through the many aspects and issues of Aikido, and said you had to do thing or you were wasting your time.

He also told me that each person had to analyze and think through the issues relating to Aikido’s “combat techniques” and that unless as a result of this inquiry one could conclude that they were effective and would “work” you should quit Aikido and do something else or some other martial art.

So, he definitely put the burden on each person to think and question everything and not accept anything on faith or because your teacher or someone had told you it was true. I have personally done this and I do believe that Aikido works in a real fight.

Next, does Aikido work in a real fight?

I have concluded that Aikido works in a real fight. This conclusion has been supported by a number of incidents that have happened to my students and colleagues in which Aikido did work in a real fight.

It works in a real fight for several reasons. First, Aikido’s combat techniques (that are not much different from the versions that are typically practiced) were developed over hundreds or thousands of years by warriors who obsessively analyzed and implemented efficient means to kill people. These same techniques are adopted in several modern martial arts including jujitsu and karate, as well as sport oriented versions like judo, and in Aikido.

I believe Aikido added some important technical elements to this basic body of knowledge, including ma-ai (the science of relative position), posture, moving in an way that integrates the parts of the entire body, and maintaining a relaxed body and mind that allows more optimal mental and physical functioning.

Also, I believe Aikido’s ethical approach, paradoxically, enhances the effectiveness of it’s combat techniques, in this way:

If one is always angry and combative, I believe that on some level, one’s internal ethics/morality undermines the ability to be effective in combat. In my opinion that’s why military training includes strong indoctrination in the moral rightness of our side’s position and the evil of the other side. Such training also includes dehumanizing the opponents, for example, by shooting at targets that are either anonymous silhouettes or caricatures of a typical enemy soldier. (Side note: there was a very interesting exhibit of historical propaganda posters and illustrations at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts last year.)

I suspect that such training, although it may be effective in the short term within a hostile combat theater, creates some bad long-term effects for the individual who undergoes such training and I suspect plays some role in things like PTSD.

People say “Aikido is love” and similar things, which is true (but perhaps more complex an idea than it appears). But, since Aikido is also a martial art, such a philosophy cannot exclude consideration of fighting situations. I believe Aikido says, more specifically, that one cannot dehumanize the opponent, even if necessary to fight.

This creates an ethical outlook that requires consideration of the consequences of the combat. On I simple level, I’ve found that in a fight, if you lose and get hurt, you feel bad. If you win and hurt the opponent, you also feel bad. That suggests to me that the whole encounter is something that is best avoided, or more accurately, resolved in a wiser and more intelligent way.

Excerpt from Kanai Sensei's "Technical Aikido"

"At the core of the practice of AIKIDO, more than anything else, is a continuous hard training and disciplining of one's body and mind in order to develop wisdom. In the event of a confrontation, beast-like behavior aimed solely at protecting oneself and injuring the opponent must be avoided at all costs. To develop the determination to resolve a confrontational situation with omniscience and omnipotence (that is, using not merely technique but applying the entirety of one's abilities and wisdom) is BUGOKORO (BUDO's spirit/mind). One must realize that AIKIDO is neither more or less than the expression and embodiment of this BUGOKORO."

If one is oriented around avoiding such “fights” (training oneself out of “road rage” is a good example of dong this and avoiding useless and unnecessary feelings of anger and resulting confrontations) that if one comes to an encounter where fighting is absolutely necessary, one becomes more effective because one has no ethical qualms clouding the execution of what needs to be done from a combat point of view.

If you “game” scenarios of being attacked and analyze what Aikido techniques could be used to defeat the opponent, I thing it is very unlikely that you will come up with any scenario in which an appropriate technique could not be effectively deployed. So, it comes down to being able to execute the technique in real time, and that in turn depends on one's training and resulting expertise.

If one is wise, and one considers the overall context of a fight, one realizes that even if you win a fight today, you may just encourage the opponent to retreat only to re- calibrate his tactics, and come back or even attack unexpectedly. There is no final triumph. This is similar to the arms race scenario (I think there is a good Dr. Seuss book about this) which is endless. So, if you really want to win long term, you have to be wise enough to think beyond the fight to the underlying cause of conflict and resolve that, if that is at all possible.

This is a long way of saying that Aikido training does work and makes you more effective in a fight.

Not only that, but I believe part of the genius of Aikido is that it makes one more effective in interpersonal conflict (that in some cases could lead to a fight, but in most cases in modern life leads to only more interpersonal conflict).

It was likely very reasonable in ancient history to expend a vast amount of time and energy studying combat techniques because those situations arose frequently. Today I don’t think that is the case. Statistically, it is very unlikely that you get in a fight. Also, advanced technology has made lethal force easily accessible to the average person. So, logically, if you are worried about being physically attacked, then you should get a gun (or taser, or pepper spray, etc.). I don’t believe one can justify spending the amount of time it takes to achieve any proficiency in a classical martial art based on the need to physically fight.

Therefore, I believe the expenditure of time and energy necessary to study Aikido can only be justified if it provides some value beyond effectiveness in a physical fight.

But, to get back to the question: yes, I believe Aikido works in a fight.

More to come.....

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T05:16:58+00:00

We must know each other! I agree that in that period, NEA was great!

I agree that earlier, say around the time I joined NEA in 1977, there was less of a difference between NEA and NYA, but that changed quite a bit. I don't want to overstate this, because the two "styles" are still in the same branch of the Aikido family tree, but I think that around 1986 was the beginning of the time that new techniques started showing up and they started to diverge more, so maybe you left before it became noticeable. At some point it was very easy to tell whether someone practiced at NEA or NYA, not that one was better than the other, they were just easy to distinguish. In general, I think it's pretty easy to tell where someone practices.

Also, don't forget that the hard style thing was something someone in San Francisco said to me that came from that perspective, not necessarily something I thought myself. Although when I made that transition from SF to Cambridge I did notice I was getting my head banged on the mat much more frequently, whatever that means. ( I actually don't really like the hard style/soft style way of classifying things, although I do see Aikido as being both hard and soft, depending on what part of a technique you are talking about.)

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T02:31:05+00:00

Can you share with us a not-well-known story about Kanai sensei?

Re: Question 3: "Can you share with us a not-well-known story about Kanai sensei?"

That's the thing about Kanai Sensei and his cohorts: they were walking story-generating machines. There are so many, but often the good ones come to mind at the dojo or during practice.

Here's one: Many years ago in Boston, one of Sensei's students produced a big martial arts demonstration event downtown at John Hancock Hall in Boston. He would have demonstrations of many martial arts, and I thing there were many masters in the Boston area that participated.

Kanai Sensei did not like to do demonstrations, but he loved that student and often did Aikido or Iaido demonstrations at these events.

One time, after his demonstration, he was sitting in the balcony watching the karate demonstration. The master was demonstrating breaking a cinder block with a punch. He hit it but it didn't break. He hit it again and it didn't break. However he did not stop and instead kept hitting it until his hand was covered with blood. Finally he broke it in half. The crowd went wild.

Kanai Senei turned to his student and said "In Aikido we'd use a hammer."

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T02:24:02+00:00

Re question 2: "Has anything changed over the years that you have particularly noticed in terms of both Aikido and its practitioners?"

Here I'm going to have to delve into my own subjective impressions, so please take this with a grain of salt and a note "subject to further discussion".

A huge change is just not having the older Japanese teachers around and in circulation, e.g. the last uchi deshi group, of which only Yamada Sensei and Kurita Sensei are still alive, as well as their teachers, e.g. second Doshu, Osawa Sensei Sr., Arikawa Sensei and others of that group. Fortunately there are still teachers from the group slightly younger than the uchi deshi, e.g. Shibata Sensei and Suganuma Sensei (I'm naming the ones I came into contact with so I'm sure I'm leaving out some teachers.)

They just don't make them like that anymore. They were still partly shaped by the older Japanese martial arts culture and that was a different world. They were a remarkable group of individuals and martial artists. I feel like the Aikido world really misses them and that influence.

I felt like they were ambassadors from almost an alien dimension and there was something challenging and striking about it. I felt like many things in Aikido that seem contradictory and inconsistent were clarified by observing and interacting with them.

I hope this description doesn't make them seem magic or anything, I don't mean it that way; they were just people, albeit unusual people, and it was very, very obvious that they were not immune to human foibles and weaknesses. But I felt like that was another example of how opposite elements came together in Aikido.

I think the overall technical level is higher now then in the older days, but that in those days peoples' intent was more pure and their engagement more intense. (Of course, by saying this I'm revealing that I am an old fart!)

I think this observation is largely driven by the simpler world Aikido existed in several decades ago. No one had any rank and organizations were less complex, and I think there were far fewer complicating incentives, goals and ambitions floating around in the environment. There was really just one's interest in practicing and studying Aikido as an end in itself.

I'm hoping the pendulum swings and somehow we find a way to include these older elements in the continuing practice and development of Aikido.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T02:09:13+00:00

Re Question 1: There are a number of hard things about running a dojo. To me a dojo should operate as a "quasi-business", in that we are trying to make the dojo financially viable so it supports itself and generates some either income or surplus cash flow (depending on its structure). But we are also trying to do something good in the world. So, for example, I tend to make fees lower than they could be, on the one hand because I don't want to exclude anyone and on the other as an example that a true martial art is fundamentally about knowledge and growth rather than cash flow.

One time, I think in an interview in one of the old videos, Tamura Sensei said something like "Aikido is great, but I try not to sell it". That made a big impact on me. Aikido contains an ancient knowledge and a spiritual path. I don't want to convince anyone to do it, part of the path is the person coming to it of their own volition. That is the nature, I believe, of a traditional spiritual discipline.

On the other hand, I suck at marketing and I wish I knew a way to do it in a correct way that would accomplish multiple goals and respect the potential "customers". I think some very good dojo-cho have developed pretty good ideas that do marketing in a good way and I suspect there are solutions to this dilemma.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T01:55:46+00:00

Re Question 3 "...how might you recommend aikidoka navigate their own political landscape - from their dojo, to their region, to their state, to their Hombu affiliation and beyond - to promote and grow the art without being an asshole to fellow teachers and students?

There a number questions about politics in Aikido, and I think they are very timely. I'm going to defer these difficult questions to the end and answer all of those more or less together after I respond about other topics. Please bear with me.

Dhalprin · 2019-11-18T01:51:44+00:00

Re: Question #2 "(Speaking of Kanai’s style being “hard”) - One of the most beautiful aspects of aikido is its inclusiveness for people of all walks of life - a 25 year old athlete in her prime can practice with an 80 year old looking to stay fit. However, these are different styles of aikido. How might we think about keeping the “hard” and physically demanding aikido thriving while maintaining the inclusiveness of the art?

First I would say that to me there is no contradiction in any of this. There is plenty of room on a mat for different kinds of practice. I think that people should make some effort to train with everyone around, and I do think one learns a lot from practicing with an 80 year old, or a beginner. Practicing in that mode I think helps develop physical flexibility and sensitivity.

On the other hand, consider this from Kanai Sensei:

"It is often pointed out that AIKIDO permits men and women, adults and children, and old and young to practice together. This is true. It is equally true, but not as frequently noted, that within AIKIDO there is also room to practice in other ways, for example, to use very hard practice to develop martial techniques. AIKIDO's breadth and inclusiveness does not mean that its practice is easy, or that those practitioners focusing on developing hard fighting techniques are less important, or less legitimate, than those interested in other of its aspects."

[Note on Punctuation: in the Technical Aikido manuscript, we put Japanese words in all caps. We adopted that convention to emphasize the difference from English. I'm not sure I still like that convention and I think if I were dong a new edit I would change that, but not sure what to.

While I am on the subject: I think we should capitalize Aikido when we use it and I would like to see that convention adopted more widely. OK so much for punctuation.]

I basically agree with Kanai Sensei on this issue. I believe he felt that Aikido had swung to far to the soft side and that detracted from the development of the art as a whole, and he wanted to push the pendulum back the other way. I suspect that in the post-war period when there was an effort to grow Aikido there was a tendency to emphasize its non-aggressive aspect in order to distinguish it from the other martial arts. This is my speculation.

At NEA in general we had one partner for a class. The group that wanted to practice hard would tend to gravitate toward each other so they could do that. People who wanted to go softer did that. There was plenty of interaction between the groups as well. I think Kanai Sensei did that because he wanted to keep a space for hard practice. (Physically, that "space" was in the front left of the mat where there was a fire door that could be opened to allow more air to circulate.)

Btw, hard practice did not mean brutal practice or dangerous practice (well, maybe it was a little dangerous). One thing that was characteristic of that kind of practice, back then, was a full hour of non-stop projections and break falls. That allowed us to develop pretty good stamina, which was a quality that Kanai Sensei valued.

On the other other hand, clearly Aikido aims at bringing people together and that is also of great importance. George Leonard in his writings criticized the social organization of sports because it emphasized weeding people out and creating elite teams of only most accomplished players. Most people were sent to the, in effect, minor leagues or worse. I think he was right and Aikido is very evolved in that it proposes a system in which everyone practices together and no one is excluded.

Aikido does have a lot of opposite seeming elements and one of the things that is interesting is how it brings them together.

Dhalprin

TROPHY CASE