From: gummitch@techbook.com (Jeff Frane)
Subject: Re: Aikido styles
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 220-0636
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 18:07:30 GMT

giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere) writes:

>Is there a FAQ or primer somewhere on the history of Aikido and more 
>specifically the various styles that have been started since O Sensei's
>death?  I'm currently studying Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, which I find
>interesting because of its heavy emphasis on ki development.  Is this the
>main difference between it and the other styles?  Does each school of
>Aikido recognize the legitimacy of the others or do they all hate each
>other?  This is just out of curiosity that I'm asking, I don't want this
>to degenerate into a flamewar.  I'm certainly not in any position to
>judge any style to being "better" than any other.

Taking a running shot at this question:  It seems to me that there are
two principal ways in which the various aikido styles vary from each
other, two interrelated ways.

First is emphasis.  It seems that everyone who studied aikido, either
with the Founder or with other teachers, gained a different lesson from
it and this lesson colors their approach.  Koichi Tohei obviously
developed a strong sense that ki training was the central point (heh
heh), while other students of O'Sensei came to different conclusions.
Hence, their training style is quite different.  Even within what I
would consider the "mainstream" of aikido in the US -- the United States
Aikido Federation and Saotome's Ueshiba Schools of Aikido -- the
differences among the shihans is striking.  Traveling from one region to
another to train would almost lead you to believe it was a different
art.

The second big influence was timing.  The Founder's art of Aikido (or
whatever term he was using at the time) changed dramatically over the
years.  Teachers who trained with him before the war, for example, have
a remarkably different approach than those who trained with him during
the 1960s, shortly before his death.  Therefore, the schools that were
founded by his earlier students, while true to the Founder's teaching at
the time, are quite different than those run by his later students.

Then, again, aikido is not fixed in stone.  While some teachers are
passing along the art they learned as faithfully as they can, others are
continuing to learn and change, and their art changes as well.

As far as the schools' attitudes toward each other, once again there is
a lot of variation.  A group of aikidoka in California are publishing a
non-sectarian magazine, Aikido Today, which makes a concerted effort to
include all the variations of aikido and lists as many events in their
calendar as they are notified about, regardless of affiliation.  In
general, though, there doesn't seem to be a lot of "mixing", in some
cases because there is residual bad feeling from earlier separations
(such as when Mr Tohei left Hombu Dojo after O'Sensei's death) or from
conflicts over territory.  Then again, there is the matter of ego; few
of the leading aikido teachers are what you would call shrinking
violets.

Primarily, though, I'd say relations with "other" aikidoka was
determined by the attitude at the local level.  Fortunately, my own
experience has been that my teachers have been respectful of other
approaches to aikido and at times have even encouraged me to train or
observe other styles.  On the down side, I had occasion to spend a few
months training with [mumble mumble] who never tired of telling his
students that only he and his teacher had the answer and that all other
approaches were WRONG WRONG WRONG.  This worked for him for a time
because there was almost no competition from other aikido styles but in
the last few years we've had a boom here in Portland; some of his
students, disillusioned with him, were astonished to discover how valid
and even exciting these "wrong" dojos were when they visited them.

Whew.  A windy answer.  Anyway, I'm sure glad _I'm_ on the One True
Path. :-)

--Jeff Frane
  Multnomah Aikikai

>And a related point:  what style of Aikido did Steven Segal study?  Is
>he still a participant in that style or have they "disowned" him?

>-- 
> Eric Giguere                                    giguere@csg.UWaterloo.CA
>          So is Windows NT short for "Windows, NOT?"  
-- 
gummitch@techbook.COM  Public Access UNIX at (503) 220-0636 (1200/2400) 


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