Weapons in Aikido
(Extracted from Aikido-L)

Date:    Mon, 22 Apr 2002 09:15:55 +0100
From:    Justin McCarthy
Subject: Weapons in aikido

>Justin, you do not seriously think that you
>are going to get away with ending with this
>cryptic statement, do you?  What were Parker
>Shihan's views on weapon training?  At least
>one inquiring mind wants to know.
>
>Eric
>
I was going to expand on it, honest, but had to depart the house rapidly as I was late to pickup the children!

There were lots of things that he talked about. These are the main points (summarised in my words)

1. He said that most aikido training with weapons was to help you find your centre and learn to move from it. However in Yoshinkan we have our kamae and kihon dosa for that, unlike most other styles, so weapons work was not needed for that.

2. Shioda Sensei said that using a sword was exactly the same as not using one - it should just be an extension of your body. Doesn't matter if it is
a sword, stick, hammer, club whatever.

3. A lot of aikidoka train with weapons, but then put them down and forget the sword cut, reverting to their old way of moving. For instance, when
cutting yokomen with a sword, the elbows do not stick out, but then they put the sword down and do a empty hand yokomen cut, with the elbow sticking out by their ear, like they are going to slap someone (his words!) - they have no power in their techniques.

4. Trying to take a sword away from an experienced sword practitioner is stupid. It is just not going to happen. If you want to include weapons in a
test (i.e. defending against a weapon), use knifes, clubs etc. Something with relevance.

He felt that the younger generation want to include weapons more these days without the understanding behind it.

Justin

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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002