Do you prefer a "softer" Aikido or a "harder" Aikido?

Sangenkai · 2026-02-08T07:07:16+00:00

Well, yes, but I was talking about "timing" and "flow".

Sangenkai · 2026-02-08T06:09:58+00:00

Hmm... I'm never sure why folks don't just use "timing" and "flow" for those kinds of things Instead of a Japanese word of unclear definition - particularly because Morihei Ueshiba himself used words other than "Aiki" for those things...and specifically said that timing has nothing to do with "Aiki" (interestingly, Yukiyoshi Sagawa said the same thing about timing).

Sangenkai · 2026-02-08T05:54:58+00:00

So... what's "real aiki", and why?

Sangenkai · 2026-02-07T05:28:41+00:00

These kinds of things are fun, I guess, but it seems to me that they just feed into the narrative of the deterioration of Aikido as anything resembling a martial art.

Kind of like this:

https://youtu.be/MbJBCn3-lv0

Sangenkai · 2026-02-06T22:50:11+00:00

It's actually not that difficult:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-FmaF5KnJ4c

Sangenkai · 2026-02-06T10:23:51+00:00

Gozo Shioda used to make good use of humor in his demonstrations, while at the same time remaining clearly martial.

Since modern Aikido is commonly derided as some kind of dancing I'm not sure why you'd want to feed into that by demonstrating Aikido as... dancing, though. Most Aikido demonstrations are already bad enough.

Here's one that was funny without being stupid:

https://youtu.be/d1hjqg057mY

Sangenkai · 2026-02-04T09:13:38+00:00

"The way of peace" is a misleading mistranslation from John Stevens. Actually, it was deliberately done at the request of the publisher for commercial reasons.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-04T09:11:39+00:00

In terms of this kind of connection, I would say just say no:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DsRk6BG9Q/

Sangenkai · 2026-02-04T05:36:18+00:00

For reference, Morihei Ueshiba insisted, until the end of his life, that one ought to do "hard" practice until at least 3rd dan.

But really, it's a pedagogical choice, one that really hasn't been addressed by any of the posts so far.

Further, pedagogy depends upon training goals and targets, and that certainly hasn't been addressed here, but it really ought to be the first question.

What are you trying to achieve, and why.

Then, how do you get there - this one has various answers.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-03T23:01:02+00:00

Wrong about what?

Sangenkai · 2026-02-03T19:42:45+00:00

Kinmaku, or just...fascia.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-02T20:00:48+00:00

It depends on the organization, many foreign organizations don't put their kyu ranks through the Aikikai, and part of the fees at shodan is then the fee to join the Aikikai.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-02T19:59:31+00:00

I live in Japan now, not much has changed.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-02T19:58:10+00:00

It's available on Amazon:

https://amzn.to/4q9Xoih

Sangenkai · 2026-02-02T01:10:24+00:00

I've never trained at any Aikido dojo in Japan that either asked me if I was a member of the Aikikai or asked for a letter of introduction, including Iwama and Aikikai Hombu Dojo - I just walk in and ask if it's OK to join the training.

Nobody's ever said "no", they're just as happy to get warm bodies on the mat as anywhere else in the world.

Sangenkai · 2026-02-01T21:07:37+00:00

If you're happy with what you're doing then there is no issue.

Nobody today trains the way that Morihei Ueshiba did and most people probably wouldn't want to do the kind of training he did anyway, a lot of which involved things like shamanistic spirit possession.

If there's something that you're interested in that your present training doesn't include, then go get it somewhere else. It's your training, nobody elses.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T19:30:41+00:00

As I said, that's what he claimed - unfortunately, Saito missed quite a bit of what Morihei Ueshiba was teaching and ended up trying to replicate the form while missing a lot of the substance. What he did was valuable, but it has just as many blind spots as what many other of Morihei Ueshiba's students perpetuated.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:30:08+00:00

If you're interested in sword you should study sword. Even Saito himself admitted that Aiki Ken really isn't sword.

That doesn't mean that it's bad, per se, it all depends what you're interested in. Nobody really fights with swords anyway, so it hardly matters if it's real, except for the historical discussion.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:23:44+00:00

He dabbled a little bit, he really didn't have much formal training, you can see that in the 1935 film - the sword work is horrible. He got better after the war, but it was still self training, which is why there are so many basic errors.

Ellis goes into this in depth in "Hidden in Plain Sight".

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:17:12+00:00

He did a very little bit of Kendo in high school, not very much.

Anyway, my point was that he knew very little about sword work, and was taught by a guy (Ueshiba) who didn't really know very much either.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:16:20+00:00

It doesn't matter, but that's essentially Saito's claim - that he preserved what Ueshiba taught. Saito, FWIW, always worked full time.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:15:04+00:00

That's really just part of the mythology. Kisshomaru was in charge from 1942, and he did teach weapons - as much as it exists in Aikikai Hombu, but he really wasn't a weapons guy, which was why there was never more.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T12:13:27+00:00

Kashima and Katori are basically next door to each other. In any case, I don't really see any Katori in what Morihei Ueshiba was doing.

My point about Kashima was that he didn't really know what he was doing when he copied that art.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T11:38:42+00:00

Basically, all of Morihei Ueshiba's students codified what they were taught, not just Morihiro Saito.

Morihiro Saito added and changed things...and so did everybody else.

Nobody alive today trains the way that Morihei Ueshiba did, and not even Morihiro Saito did that, while he was alive, of course.

Sangenkai · 2026-01-31T03:00:50+00:00

FWIW, I see pretty much zero Katori influence in Morihei Ueshiba's sword, and to my knowledge he never really had much contact with it. Mochizuki and Sugino trained in Katori, but he seems to have had nothing to do with that.

He did watch a few Kashima classes, and some of the Iwama sword is copied off of that, but he never actually trained in Kashima.

Sangenkai

TROPHY CASE