Aikido
Grades
(Extracted from Aikido-L)
On Tue, 19 Mar 2002 10:33:40 +0000, Justin McCarthy wrote:
>...we later found out that Abbe sensei had
> received a letter from the Hombu dojo to
> advise that all Western students should
> be held back from promotions in grade,
> this was obviously to enhance the grades
> of any visiting Japanese.
>
>Henry Ellis
Sensei, I'd be interested to hear if you still feel this is true today?
I wonder whether we are also partly responsible, by attributing far greater
value to the lower Dan grades than is the norm in Japan, and thus making it
tougher on ourselves and our own students?
Justin
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Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 16:28:46 +0000
From: Henry Ellis
Subject: Re: Aikido grades?
Justin
I would say yes to both of your questions. I consider that students of the
Martial Arts in the west place a great deal of importance on possessing a
"black belt" where as in Japan perhaps its no big deal
Kind regards
Henry Ellis
Ellis Schools of Traditional Aikido
www.angelfire.com/al/ellisaikido
www.esta.fsnet.co.uk
Checkout articles on the sites below
National Aikido Communication Database
www.aikido-database.co.uk
InYourCity.com
USAdojo.com
CyberKwoon.com
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Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 19:07:37 +0000
From: Hooker Dennis
Subject: Re: Aikido grades?
And I would say becoming less so each decade as the culture of bushido is kept
alive primarily by western interest. I believe it was the English historian
Toynbee that once said "culture is born of a nation but when it is accepted in
the outside world it will die in the nation of it's birth never to be reborn"
like Christianity, Buddhism, Democracy etc. and I believe bushido is the basis
for a large part of the Japanese culture. It being replaced by Demming-ism after
the war. Yes budo is as much a part of our eclectic western culture as baseball
is to the emerging eclectic culture of Japan. So rank is the established
standard of recognition, and even if it is less accepted in Japan it is no less
marketed.
Dennis Hooker
www.shindai.com
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Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 10:01:16 +0000
From: Justin McCarthy <Justin.McCarthy@SYBASE.COM>
Subject: Re: Aikido grades?
Deming's work in Japan had more influence on Japanese culture than it did on
American, until the West started to see an economic threat from what
Japan was doing. Japan may change the way it sees budo if/when it sees the West
threatening its status in a similar way, but I think the nature of budo will
prevent this from happening for some time to come.
Does budo have more impact/influence/awareness in the USA than in Japan? Perhaps
someone with experience of both cultures could comment?
Justin
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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002