Aikido Journal Online's Official Blog
In my quest for self-training, there was an opportunity I found to practice Daito ryu Aikijujutsu under Juan Ribot Sensei in south Florida, almost in my back yard so to speak (4.5 hours drive).
I have a very humble background in the martial arts that began with Hapkido in South America back in 1989 following which I explored some Chinese and Filipino arts, then progressed from Jujutsu to Aikido, Kenjutsu and eventually to Daito ryu Aikijujutsu
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“Here you can find accurate and up-to-date information on all aspects of Shuriken-do, including an historical analysis of the origins and development of the art, a list and description of most of the representative schools that taught the art, a reference section that discusses and demonstrates the technical aspects of throwing the shuriken, and a section on the design and manufacture of various types of shuriken for enthusiasts who wish to try making their own. I include the latest information on the important legal issues surrounding the use of shuriken, particularly in Australia, an attempt at a review of existing pubilcations; books, videos and DVD’s, including other websites, available on the commercial market, as well as a question and answer forum where I help visitors with any questions related to the art that they may have. Finally, for the sake of completeness, there is an archival section where I keep miscellaneous snippets of information that is hard to place within the other pages of this site”
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The article below has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
Having received all my formal education in the UK and the U.S., albeit quite a few years ago, and having some twenty years experience in teaching university students in Japan, I suppose I am in a position to make some comparisons between these western countries and Japan. Since I have also practiced aikido in these three countries, though I have spent a much longer period of training here in Japan, I can also apply the comparisons to martial arts training in a martial art like aikido. I shall start by looking at education and martial arts education generally, and in following articles examine the concepts of teaching, learning and the syllabus in more detail.
The article below has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
Aikido is not a system of fighting, but a way of not fighting, intended not to protect or enhance the ego but, potentially, to eradicate it. Its value lies in promoting qualities diametrically opposed to those advocated for use “in the street.” Speaking for myself, the day I have to face a life and death situation will be soon enough to prove the effectiveness, or otherwise, of my aikido. I have never had to use the physical techniques outside the dojo in 40 years of training, so I am not going to lose any sleep over that
“I wrote a post about the levels of knowledge in which I described a couple of imaginary scenarios of what people can see at various levels of knowledge or development. Since writing that post I read a book which made it much clearer how one can think about changing levels of knowledge and how a change from imcompetence in a subject can gradually turn into competence.
According to the model found in the book, there are four stages of change: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. I’ve written a couple of sentences about each of these stages below.
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“You know that stretching is good for you… so why aren’t you doing it? I’m shocked at the number of people, even those in the medical profession, that are so inflexible.
They all say the same thing… “I know better, but…” You might be saying this too. So let me tell you about the implications. When you don’t stretch, you don’t get any more flexible. The exact opposite happens. You become stiff as a stick.”
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“At a recent Art of Living course I attended, the instructor spoke of listening and the two types that we can be involved with.
Intellectual listening is undertaken by the conscious mind. This part of our mind assesses all that it comes in contact with and categorises it into something between what we agree with and what we disagree with. Depending on how much something we hear fits into our inner world structure, it will either be taken on board or rejected. It is a Catch 22, in that we only accept new knowledge, if we already agree with it.
There are also the snippets of wisdom that fall into our grey area, and these gems are the ones which can gradually allow us to change course. Wouldn’t it be wonderful however, to listen with child-like eagerness and with empty cups, capture every drop.”
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The article below has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
Those who merely saw the founder in an exhibition or during training in the dojo and, of course, those who were his students and were taught personally during his lifetime are, even now, unanimous in their comments. First, with regard to the awe inspired by the “piercing brilliance of the founder’s eyes” seemingly capable of penetrating an impregnable fortress; and also, the “deep impression of instantly victorious absolute strength” of spirit, mind and body; and finally, in their conclusion that his could only be described as “divine technique.”
“he laws of attraction are very popular right now. While this sounds like new-age media hype, its just old-age wisdom and there is validity to the belief that what we focus on gets manifested in our lives.
I was talking to a good friend the other day. He was worried that his training had hit a plateau and would never get any better. There was no evidence except in his fantasies. He actually has been coming along quite nicely. Because of this thought (fear) he often didn’t show up to train. Yes, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fear is like that.
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“We are living in a time where pseudoscience and superstition enjoy a great popularity; hence undermining our critical thinking and knowledge. The human brain has this tendency to seek for meaning in all the experiences that we encounter every day. According to Daniel C. Dennett, a famous professor in cognitive sciences; the fact that science admits holding only a limited amount of knowledge can become so intolerable for our spirit that we will tend to seek elsewhere some absolute truths, unchanging and therefore reassuring: dogmas. It is in these gaps left by science that we can often find the most detestable methods and discourses.”
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If you wear a policeman’s uniform, or a firefighter’s or a soldier’s, or a nurse’s and attempt to impersonate these or other properly qualified and experienced services, you will get arrested.
In Aikido it is different. You don’t need to be able to prove you can survive any emergency or have served in any authorised capacity. Simply wear a hakama, an obsolete relic of a bygone era from another culture, quote a lineage, real or fake, it does not matter and hey-presto, you can go out and teach.
There’s people “teaching” what they claim is Aikido who don’t even know the names of the basic techniques or that they exist. Or what they are. They simply flow and there it is.
And then there are the profit making businesses that mass produce a semblance of something they label “aikido” with teachers who have never had any experience resolving real violence and don’t even know if they can. Something to be proud of.
Dilettantes like to skirt around the edges of the real thing. Others even form reenactment groups so they can reenact the safe parts but have nothing to do with the real work. Movie stars get paid big money to act a part, make believe some thing real which is fake, but look good for the cameras.
Why is it that with Aikido, personal ability is not considered a qualification?
In feudal times the teachers of budo were the battle-hardened who repeatedly and consistently gained experience and returned from the fields of battle.
The fake and the opinionated, or the unskilled, and those whose arrows missed, stayed behind fertilized these fields with their theories. Nowadays these are the ones who often “teach” and “martial arts” have become a fertile field for making money and claiming a position on a pedestal built on illusion.
What’s it all about?
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The article below whose authorship is attributed to Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
The authentic core of Japanese bujutsu must remain in its progressiveness. The Universe is continually advancing and in that same truth bujutsu must also move forward. Advancing is always a safe course but if you retreat you will be cut by the enemy. Therefore, we see that Japanese budo is performed through advancing and unifying all things into Goodness. Bujutsu must be in accordance with the rotation of the heavens and the earth. The human body is a miniature universe, a small version of the cosmos. If you want to train in bujutsu unify your spirit. The body is trained according to the “Way” exactly as the spirit thinks and so we are able to unify the body as well.
