Decline in Aikido

Discussion in 'Aikido' started by Prizewriter, Nov 8, 2014.

  1. FunnyBadger

    FunnyBadger I love food :)

    A comedy door mat and a free latte or is it just hairdressers that do that?
     
  2. Cen Garsden

    Cen Garsden Flamin' Wobbygong

    My personal take on (a) decline in Aikido is more based off my observation and participation in schools here. I would be curious if any aikidoka from elsewhere could fill me in if this occurs elsewhere.

    I have to state two things first; that I'm aware of the "vertical" social structure of Japanese culture (thus Aikido) as compared to the western "horizonal" one, and that loyalty to a teacher is in no way a bad thing and indeed very important.

    This leads me to my point. I trained as a deshi of Takayasu Shihan for quite some time. While I have had many sensei, when I say/write sensei I am referring to him (that is to say when I'm talking about Aikido). Sensei is a practitioner of the Iwama style, and is a Shihan of the Aikikai. The director of the Aikikai in Australia is another Shihan (whose name I won't mention).

    I've trained at quite a lot of Aikikai dojo. It rapidly becomes apparent that I have experience, and the more switched on yudansha usually notice "a bit of Iwama in my waza". I'm quite open about my background if asked about it, and I cannot count the amount of Aikikai yudansha who launch into veiled insults of my teacher and the Iwama tradition in general. This being said by people who have not met sensei and appear to be clueless that he is a Shihan of the very same organisation they are in. Aikikai teachers in sensei's own city will not recognise a yudansha graded by sensei with certification issued from the Hombu even though their own certs come from the same place.

    All this kind of thing may not be obvious to a beginner, but it rapidly becomes apparent. And all this flies directly in the non competative teachings of the Founder, who was clearly talking about more than just keiko. The kind of thing I am talking about is pretty much a "dealbreaker" to a curious budding martial artist, who these days can simply walk down the street in most suburbs and join a dojo/training hall/gym of many martial arts which can be learned far quicker than Aikido and which lack the internal bickering of the same.

    In short all the trashy youtube videos in the world aren't killing Aikido. It seems to be doing a good enough job of doing that to itself. I would also like to mention it pains me greatly to write that.

    EDIT: Being a bit depressed about having wrote that, let's bring some postivity back in. Shinkei, great demo vid! I noticed the webpage has Thambu Shihan demonstrating too. I briefly trained at his dojo, and externally have trained with several of his former deshi. A good friend of mine was his uchideshi as well. Thambu is a great technician.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2016
  3. Prizewriter

    Prizewriter Moved on

    Salient points, but I would add that I can't think of a single martial art (even MMA) that doesn't suffer from bickering or politics. Some similar issues I've come across in martial arts:


    • People within the ITF claiming they are teaching the real TKD, others aren't


    • GJJ vs BJJ... people claiming one is the real McCoy while the other is merely "sportive"


    • Tai Chi is even worse than Aikido for what someone on another forum once referred to as "lineage queens". Not overly fond of the term but I get their bemusement.
     
  4. Cen Garsden

    Cen Garsden Flamin' Wobbygong

    I too appreciate the general jist of "linage queens", hahaha, crude but to the point!

    I don't want to come across as embittered, and my being perhaps a little too candid was merely an attempt to clarify my point. Aikido perhaps suffers from both it's relative youth (as a distinct art) and it's actual ideology is what I was trying to say. I find it fine that say someone from the Yoshinkan style can't maintain their rank as such in a Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido dojo and vice versa, the styles have distinct methodological differences.

    My friend who runs an "MMA" school is trained in Brazilian jiu jitsu for example, his primary art and that is what he teaches. In order to avoid the political hoo haa of GJJ v BJJ he says he teaches MMA. He ended up confronted by some old training partners about it, and to paraphrase his answer: "Well Maeda was a judoka, so I wanted to call my club a Judo school. I didn't want to annoy the local Judo guys though, so I called it MMA. It's just Kito-ryu crossed with Tenshin Shin'yo-ryu." I like that kind of swag.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2016
  5. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    this part is actually a bit depressing. we should all be so lucky to train iwama style.
     
  6. 47MartialMan

    47MartialMan Valued Member

    Aikido's "Golden Era" was when Seagal first arrive in movies
     

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