From: kjones@src.dec.com (Kevin Jones)
Subject: Re: Daito Ryu history II
Organization: DEC Systems Research Center
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 00:08:01 GMT

In article <1b30itINN790@uwm.edu>, byoung@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Brian P Young) writes:
 [ Much interesting material on the history of Daito Ryu ]
|> It is important to note that Uyeshiba's original students, such famous men as
|> Tomiki, Mochizuki, and Hisa, were studing Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, not aikido,
|> and received their certificates in the art from Takeda.  This is why you can
|> see a considerable difference between early styles of aikido, such as
|> Yoshinkai, and later styles such as Shinshintoitsu.
|> 
|> There are at present over 40 different styles of aikido.  The primary goals
|> range from quasi-religious to purely combative, depending on the date and
|> source of their creation.

This is an observation that I have often heard stated in a similar
form. However, closer observation really seems to argue that it is not
valid. If we take the two example styles mentioned above, Yoshinkai
and Shin-shin Toitsu, and look at the times their respective founders,
Shioda Sensei and Tohei Sensei, studied with Ueshiba O'Sensei, we see
that the art they were both exposed to initially was almost the same.

Shioda Sensei began his study of Aikido about 1937 (I'm working from
memory here so this is give or take a year). Tohei Sensei began his
study of Aikido about 1939. Now it is true that Tohei Sensei was still
a direct student of O'Sensei up to his death and that he did not
codify Shin-shin Toitsu Aikido until 1974 but it is not the case that
that he was not exposed to the harder early forms of Aikido teaching.

It seems to me that the most important factor in the direction of the
various "dialects" of Aikido is not the time period of their
inspiration but rather the temperament of their founder.

Tohei Sensei is much more interested in the application of "inner
training" to daily life than he is in "fighting", so that is the
emphasis in his art. This leads even the "combat" aspects of Shin-shin
Toitsu Aikido (and there are some - again depending largely on the
bias of the individual teacher) to have a very different emphasis and
"flavour" than other Aikido styles.

I don't know Shioda Sensei personally but I would guess from his
writings that he has a very traditional attitude and a particular
interest in immediate practicality in his technique. This again seems
to be reflected in the style he heads.

I speculate that these two styles would have the same relationship to
each other by now even if Tohei Sensei had studied in the 30's and
Shioda Sensei in the 60's.

I believe that the predilections of the individual are the strongest
influence on the way an art will develop - whether it's a "personal"
form or a worldwide style or school - and the other factors, such as
the from emphasised by their teacher, are very secondary.

Since I've seen this "depending on when they studied ..." so often
before, I thought I'd interject an alternative viewpoint.

Cheers,


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