The following translation is an excerpt from an article of AIKIDO SHIMBUN; the official newsletter of Hombu Dojo. The article titled "To the spirit of the past doshu" was written by Moriteru Ueshiba dojo-cho for the January 20th 1999 edition of Aikido Shimbun "The techniques and way of Aikido that the founder O-Sensei left us, was not always easily understood by everyone. Doshu, my father, changed these so they would be easily understood, and he gave all of his life to spread this. For that reason he left behind many books that he had written. I grew up watching Doshu return from keiko to study and write for long hours and even with my child's eyes I could see the importance of this work This clearly states that the former Doshu made changes to O-Sensei's Aikido. The Aikido as taught in Iwama strictly follows the techniques and way of Aikido as left to us by the founder. " I always wondered what hombu/doshu style Aikidoka thought about this. It was first published in 1999.
Now i dont want people getting upset by this and saying i made it up or that i think Iwama is the only good Aikido out there. Its just an inertesting statment about the changes in modern Aikido. Saito sensei would always say that you should never limit your training and be open to all other styles. His only demand was that the true Basics for developing strong hips and ki-no-nagare was developed in Iwama with Aikiken and Aikijo. Once again before people start getting there g-strings in a twist Iwama is not the only good Aikido out there i should know.
The whole statment was stressed by Doshu, he made an earlier statment thanking Saito sensei for preserving his grandfathers techniques with his original books and movies. You cant deny Kissumura changed his fathers Way of training. The difference is plain to see. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. The first Doshu was a great teacher. Most students where told by O-sensei to go away and develope there won Aiki anyway. It is good that we have many interpretions and also a place where we can find the origin of the basics and a place to truly understand Aikiken/jo, taijutsu= Aikido
Sorry Steff I found that letter on the Iwama-Turkey site and you have definitely misquoted it. http://www.iwama-ryu-tr.org/popup.html The quote finishes at the word 'work'. Other people have added in the last 2 sentences:- 'This clearly states that the former Doshu made changes to O-Sensei's Aikido. The Aikido as taught in Iwama strictly follows the techniques and way of Aikido as left to us by the founder.' Those words were not spoken by Moriteru. Apart from that..the quote is 5 years old and surely you have to admit it is a very aggressive thing to post, don't you think? This all seems to come from a certain movement within Iwama which seems to imply that Saito's ryu is the only 'real' aikido. I just don't see the need for it in friendly forums.
Wrong my friend its quouted wrong in that site. The original is available in the Iwama dojo and its fully translated as whats above sorry mate. But Iwama is by no where the real aikido. Its the true home of AIkido. and the basics thats all.
if iwama is no where near the real aikido what style do you consider to be real aikido,don't take the question the wrong way i'm really interested.
I'm not a world renowned expert on martial arts. However it seems pretty stupid to think you can teach an art to countless numbers of people and expect it to never change and grow and evolve. Some of the changes that get made are good and some are bad. That's just apart of life we have to accept and get on with. I don't realy see any usfull purpose to this thread.
aikidos a way of life,it is to solve all conflict in a non-aggressive matter.wouldnt people have there own way of doing it?.......................................................
so that means people over time start learning what works best for them and learns the stuff that way,if your going to learn it all depends on your sensei,which mine is a good one
"True Aikido" is nothing more or less than what is held within the heart of the student. Tomiki, Shodokan, Aikikai, Yoshinkan, Iwama, etc etc etc.. IT'S ALL AIKIDO I find it 'odd' the debates that are vastly emerging since Saito Sensei's passing are along the same lines.. "Iwama is the only true aikido " or "If you want to practice the founder's aikido, practice Iwama" etc etc. In the short 17 years that I studied, I never once encountered these statements in the abundance they appear today. Again 'personally' I think its the ego/political posturing of a small number of people "Who should know better" I cannot begin (nor do I really want to) understand the Iwama Ryu's stance with regards to the Aikikai. Saito Sensei has the right to do whatever he desires with the organisation his father devoted his entire life too however, again 'personally' I found it 'odd' that after his father's passing he pulled Iwama Ryu away from Hombu dojo. His choice, his organisation.
