From: stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com (Todd I. Stark)
Subject: Re: Akido -vs- Akijitsu
Summary: and historical digression on Jutsu vs Do in general
Keywords: Aikido Aikijutsu Daito-Ryu AkiFletchler
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date:  5 OCT 92 11:38:31    


esot@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Eric Sotnak) writes...
>psun@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Peter C. Sun) writes:
>>
>>	Can someone please explain to me the difference between Akido 
>>	and Akijitsu? A local school teaches Akijitsu which i'm
>>	completely unfamiliar with... what are the differences?
> 
>  The most significant differnce is probably political affiliation, but
>Aikijutsu (notice the additional "i", please) generally has a broader
>taxonomy (more names for techniques, though not necessarily more
>techniques), greater emphasis on techniques designed to inflict fairly
>serious damage, somewhat less emphasis on fluidity and movement, and somewhat
>more emphasis on striking techniques.
>  These are, however, generalizations.  Your mileage may vary from dojo to
>dojo.
>--

re: AikiJUTSU vs. AikiDO

The use of the 'jutsu' in modern times generally reflects one or both
of two things :
	1) an adherence to an older tradition, a ryu established before
		modern Budo,
	2) an intention to reverse the trend from technical in practice  to 
		ethical elements, and re-emphasize the technical elements,
		or military elements.

I don't know if this will help clarify or further confuse the issue,
but to elaborate on the 'political' issues and their relation to the
technical ones ... the general trend in modern era in peacetime Japan has been 
to transform the former military systems (Bugei, or Bujutsu) into art forms
that have a more explicitly valuable peacetime purpose (Budo), stressing
spiritual perfection more than military effectiveness, although both
elements are found in both the Bugei and Budo forms, with the
emphasis reversed.  The ethical code followed in the past by most Bugeisha, 
the code of Bushido, was apparently in spirit intended to 'civilize' the 
noble warrior class.   The modern Budo go a step farther in this direction,
even to the point of de-emphasizing the technical elements, as well as
softening them for sportive (as in Judo) or other 'peaceful' purposes.

The last few generations of Japanese warriors (Bushi) to carry swords
still practiced the military ryu (schools) of their ancestors for the most part.
Among these ryu were the various Jujutsu and Aikijutsu schools.  It was
very common in the 19th and early 20th century for Bugeisha to study a number
of these arts, as they were becoming more popular due to the ever-rising 
unpopularity of the sword-carrying, top-knot wearing vestiges of the war-like 
past.   Significant among the late ryu of this sort was the Daito-Ryu
Aikijutsu of Sogaku Takeda, who was forced in his lifetime to stop wearing
his swords.   Much of what is called 'Aikijutsu' is related to the
the Daito-Ryu.   Much of the Aikido syllabus was taken from aspects
of the Daito-Ryu catalog, transformed somewhat by the Aikido founder,
though Ueshiba also certainly studied other ryu in his lifetime before
founding Aiki-Budo or Aikido.

In addition, Korean Hapkido also has a connection to the Daito-Ryu,
through Takeda, I believe.

So the result is, as suggested by other posts, that the 'Aikijutsu'
syllabus tends to be larger and more detailed and contain the more severe
waza, while the Aikido syllabus is in comparison somewhat streamlined and
integrated with the unique philosophy of its founder.   Hapkido has a
uniquely Korean slant to it, but is from my experience more closely
aligned with the Daito-Ryu than with Aikido.

This can of course be reversed in any individual case by the idiosyncrasies
of an individual school or instructor.  

These are my own understandings and observations ... I offer no references at 
this time though I can dig some up if desired.

							kind regards,

							todd