“The best koryu have been passed down from generation to generation from the time of the samurai. The best warriors distilled their knowledge of practical fighting techniques and the skills necessary to survive a life-and-death struggle, and taught them faithfully to their students, who, through long and hard study, and deep insight into the techniques, mastered the techniques themselves and, in turn, passed them on unchanged to their students. And so on through the ages.
If that view is correct, then koryu represent not only a priceless cultural/anthropological heritage, but also an invaluable insight into effective combat techniques. Unlike modern “budo”, these koryu “bujutsu”, having been handed down from the time when life-and-death battles were a reality, must reflect true, killing techniques.”
Please click here to read entire article.
“When you consider a pistol as a weapon, there are characteristics which make it effective in certain situations and useless in others. It has a limited number of shots before it must be reloaded. It inflicts substantial damage but only through a very narrow line. It has a limited effective range due to its narrow attack line. A gun has limited effectiveness in close quarters. It is difficult to use in motion and so forth.
“In my practice as a somatic educator, I often have clients who are working on issues around anger and violence. In working with these people, I usually start with Being In Movement body awareness training and end with Aikido practice. About ten years ago, I taught a course in a lockup facility for violent adolescents. Many of them were bigger and stronger than I. I’ll always remember one particularly big, tough kid. After doing some Aikido, he looked at me with great puzzlement and asked, “How come you can move us and we can’t move you?” And my reply was very simple: “That’s because you are big and young and strong and I’m little and old and weak!” What I was doing with the Aikido was undermining his and our culture’s understanding of what strength is.
It is said that common sense is no longer common but I would like to stay optimistic about human potential’s ability to became active and continually reactivate itself.
“Although it seems to resemble wrestling, yet it differs materially from wrestling as practiced in England, its main principle being not to match strength against strength, but to gain victory by yielding to strength.
“It had to come some time. This is my first “Top Whatever” list. I’m sure throngs of Diggers will pick it to pieces… Ha! Anyway, these are the falls that give me the most grief — especially with a new partner or someone I know I don’t trust.
Working at jo practice with Travis the other day, I met his attack by pressing down on his staff, then releasing it for him to re-attack. Travis remarked that I was releasing far too much, leaving him more or less free to do whatever he pleased with his own jo. What is needed here, he indicated, was a very small side movement of my jo, just enough to free him to begin to raise his jo upward for a new attack, but not enough to allow him to move his jo easily in another direction. 
There is an 
“One day a student asked: “Although I have been studying the way for years, I haven’t been enlightened. The teachers of old have said: ‘Don’t depend on intelligence and learning.’ So I believe that even if I am slow and have little wisdom, I should not become discouraged. Is there anything to learn from the teachers of old about this?”
“These words are a product of the Founder’s divine inspiration from God. The mission of Aikido was bestowed upon the Founder from heaven. How many people alive today are living life conscious of their life’s mission?
On June 17-21, 2009, the Third International San Francisco Aikido Project sponsored by the 