Aigamaeate by the numbers

Lately in class we have returned to an emphasis on kihon - that is (IMO) making sure that you get all the steps in and making them as distinct as possible.

A shadowy chicken and egg thing

A doctrine that is often attributed to Kano and his successors is that a technique is composed of three (some say 4) parts - kuzushi, tsukuri, kake (and some people add zanshin).

Big techniques can teach you BIG spirit

It's amazing how every old dead wise guy seems to say such amazing-sounding stuff.  For instance, I've been told that one old dead wise guy once said, "If you do small techniques you will have a small spirit, but if you do BIG technique then you can have a BIG spirit!"

Shomenate by the numbers

Per my last post, we've started working Junana in more of a kihon mode.  That is, static uke and explicit emphasis on making each phase of the technique (kuzushi, tsukuri, and kake) as distinct as possible.  This past week we worked shomenate and we've already seen some interesting aspects crop up in our practice.

Kuzushi, tsukuri, and kake in kihon no kata

Every teacher and organization and group and subgroup has its own distinctive practices.  Things they do because of the way they interact or the particular way that they happen to think about the art we are doing. It is easy to look at other artists doing this thing that you thought that you had the exclusive truth about and think, "That guy sucks."  If you're looking for videos of people sucking at aikido - they are super easy to find!  Heck, I guarantee I could show you a video of Tomiki Sensei and your response would be, That dude is a white belt!