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“Certain people in the world of Japanese martial arts began to doubt that aikido was a martial art. This doubt concerning the martial nature of aikido is often voiced both in Japan and abroad. We have done our best to convey the words of O-Sensei to present-day practitioners and exemplify these principles in our own practice…”
May
16
Video: Shoji Nishio — “Restoring Aikido’s martial effectiveness”
May
16
Video: Shoji Nishio — “Aikido represents a major departure from its predecessor arts”
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“Aikido represents a major departure from its predecessor arts that focused exclusively on winning or defeating an opponent. It is natural that the way to present aikido techniques differs greatly from that of other martial arts. It goes without saying that aikido techniques are very complex and sophisticated…”
May
16
Popular! Joe Thambu’s dazzling Yoshinkan Aikido demonstration… nearly 2,000,000 views
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Joe Thambu is an Australian teacher of Yoshinkan Aikido, currently ranked 7th Dan, with over 35 years experience in the art. He began his training in 1972 and was the first person to teach and disseminate Yoshinkan Aikido in Australia. He teaches out of the Aikido Shudokan school located in Melbourne…
May
16
How it all started! “The Improbable Launch of My Career as an Aikido Historian,” by Stanley Pranin
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I had great hopes of being able to conduct research on aikido history while I was there, but got almost no cooperation from the Japanese side. I did have one success of great importance on the research side. I had Bob Frager’s articles on O-Sensei with me in Tokyo, and one day sat down to take a good look at them. I knew I had only some of the articles, but did not know how many there were in the series, or when or where they were published. Let me tell you how I solved this problem…
May
15
Video: Shoji Seki’s powerful display of technique at 10th International Aikido Congress
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Shoji Seki, 7th dan, is one of a group of Aikikai Hombu Dojo instructors who began their careers in the late 1960s. He has maintained himself in excellent physical condition, and his technique is fast and precise. Although Seki Sensei is not verbose in his explanation, he repeats the technique he is demonstrating many times, and it is possible to catch the fine points of his movements through careful observation…
May
15
Video: “Shoji Nishio — Developing an innovative Aikido system that includes the missing weapons training”
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Over a span of decades, Nishio Sensei and his senior students developed an elaborate system built on aikido’s fundamentals, but that reintroduced martial integrity and the use of weapons. The four lengthy instructional videos compiled by Nishio Sensei in the late 1990s present his unique system. Here we present highlights of these videos for the study of our audience of aikido practitioners….
May
15
Video: “Crosstraining to fill the gaps in the Aikido curriculum in Tokyo”
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Being unable to get satisfactory answers to his questions, and absent weapons training, Nishio Sensei set out to crosstrain in other martial arts to fill the gaps. He already had a background in judo and karate. Nishio Sensei expanded his training by studying the use of the jo and ken, and also took up iaido training…
May
15
Video: “Shoji Nishio’s dilemma… and his solution”
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Shoji Nishio began his aikido training at the end of 1951 when there was little activity at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Koichi Tohei, and a small cadre of relatively inexperienced instructors conducted classes. Although Nishio Sensei was captivated by aikido and the art of Founder Morihei Ueshiba, he felt disillusioned at the lack of martiality and weapons training at the central dojo. Being unable to get satisfactory answers to his questions, and absent weapons training, Nishio Sensei set out to crosstrain in other martial arts to fill the gaps…
May
15
Shoji Nishio: “The Last Photo with O-Sensei…”
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I thought that even though one practiced Judo all of his life, he could only reach this staqe. On the other hand, I thought that the depth of Aikido as budo was great. It was that incident which caused me to stop my Judo training. O-Sensei’s way of thinking appeared in practice itself. He said, “It’s wrong to use the words ‘winning and losing’. You shouldn’t think in those terms.” His words were great. As we continue to live I think it’s important to digest all of his words…
May
15
Can you deal with this? Randori against 4 armed opponents in Russia
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This video consists of a randori demonstration against four armed opponents by S.M. Botov on the occasion of the Russian Army Day. Excellent reception by audience…
May
14
Making it work! Morihiro Saito demonstrates Morotedori Kokyuho contrasted to the Aikikai Hombu Dojo approach
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This is an unusual video where Morihiro Saito, 9th dan, explains morotedori kokyuho in depth as taught by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba. He then contrasts this way of executing the technique with the current Aikikai Hombu Dojo approach. Saito Sensei offers an alternative to this technique when nage employs ura footwork…
