What are the different styles in Aikido?
There are no 'styles' of Aikido. It is like cheese cake. You can cut
it in wedges or squares or just dig in with your fork but it is still
cheese cake!
Aikido was originally developed by one man, O Sensei. Many students
who trained under O Sensei decided to spread their knowledge of Aikido
by opening their own dojos. Due, among other things, to the dynamic
nature of Aikido, different students of O Sensei interpreted his Aikido
in different ways. Thus different styles of Aikido were born. The more
common are listed here along with a brief explanation of what is different
about the style. Each style has its own strengths and weaknesses, but
all are firmly rooted in the basic concepts which make Aikido the unique
art that it is. None should be considered superior or inferior to any other,
but rather an individual must find a style which best suits him or her.
Outside factors such as geographic location may of course limit one's
options. No matter which style you choose, you are going to be taught
that particular instructors interpretation of it, and you yourself are
going to develop your own particular Aikido. One might say that there are
as many different styles of Aikido as there are practitioners.
Since this list is going to be challenging enough without looking for extra
work, we'll restrict our definition of Aikido to mean styles that clearly
trace their lineage to Ueshiba O Sensei. The classification into categories
is fairly arbitrary.
The "Old" Schools
Here we'll list the schools that developed from the pre-war teachings.
Aiki-Budo
This is the name given to the art O Sensei was teaching early in his
development. It is very close in style to previously existing Jutsu forms
such as Daito-ryu Aiki-Jutsu. It is considered to be one of the harder
forms of Aikido.
Most of the early students of O Sensei began during this period and much of
the early practice overseas was in this style (e.g. Abbe Sensei's teaching
in the UK in the 50s).
Yoseikan
This form was developed by Minoru Mochizuki, who was an early student of O
Sensei and also of Jigoro Kano Sensei at the Kodokan.
This style includes elements of Aiki-Budo together with aspects of Karate,
Judo and other arts.
Yoshinkan
This is the style taught by the late Gozo Shioda. Shioda Sensei studied
with O Sensei from the mid-30s. After the war, he was invited to begin
teaching and formed the organization known as the Yoshinkan. Unlike many
later organizations, the Yoshinkan has always maintained friendly relations
with the Aikikai both during and after O Sensei's life.
The Yoshinkan is a harder style of Aikido, generally concerned with practical
efficiency and physically robust techniques. It is taught to many branches
of the Japanese Police.
The international organization associated with the Yoshinkan style of Aikido
is known as the Yoshinkai, and has active branches in many parts of the world. In recent years, there have been a number of offshoots of this style, usually developing for political reasons.
The "Modern" Schools
This includes most of the variants taught today. Most of these "styles"
are taught by various senior students of O Sensei, with the divergences
coming after the death of the Founder. Most would claim to be teaching
the art that O Sensei taught them - and this is probably true even though
some have little in common with others! Taken together with O Sensei's
notorious obscurity in teaching style, the story of the elephant and the
blind men may give us some clue as to how this could have come about :-).
Most of us have our biases and preferences amongst the various styles but
can recognize that all have their strengths and weakness and we all have
something to learn from all of them.
The "Traditional" Schools
Aikikai
The Aikikai is the common name for the style headed by Moriteru Ueshiba,
O Sensei's grandson, as taught under the auspices of the International
Aikido Federation. Most regard this school as the mainline in Aikido
development.
In reality, this "style" is more of an umbrella than a specific style,
since it seems that many individuals within the organization teach in
quite a different manner. The Aikido taught by Ueshiba Sensei is generally
large and flowing, with an emphasis on a standard syllabus and little or
no emphasis on weapons training. Other teachers within the auspices of the
Aikikai (like Saito Sensei) place much more emphasis on weapons practice.
Iwama-ryu
The style taught by Morihiro Saito, based in the Iwama dojo, is generally
considered sufficiently stylistically different from mainstream Aikikai
that it is named individually, even though it still is part of the Aikikai.
Saito Sensei was a long time uchideshi of O Sensei, beginning in 1946 and
staying with him through his death. Many consider that Saito Sensei was the
student who spent most time directly studying with O Sensei Saito Sensei says
he is trying to preserve and teach the art exactly as it was taught to him
by the Founder. Technically, Iwama-ryu seems to resemble the Aikido O Sensei
was teaching in the early 50s mainly in the Iwama dojo. The technical
repertoire is larger than in most other styles and a great
deal of emphasis is placed on weapons training.
The "Ki" Schools
One of the most noticeable splits in the Aikido world occurred in 1974 when
Koichi Tohei, then the Chief Instructor at the Aikikai, resigned from that
organization and founded the Ki no Kenkyukai to teach Aikido with strong
emphasis on the concepts of Ki. Since that time, there has been little
interaction between the traditional schools and the Ki schools.
All of these arts tend to refer to themselves as Ki Aikido, even though
there is little contact between some of the styles.
Shin-shin Toitsu Aikido
The style founded by Koichi Tohei - Aikido with Mind and Body Unified.
Tohei Sensei places a great deal of emphasis on understanding the concept
of Ki and developing this aspect independently of the Aikido training for
application to general health and daily life.
This style is one of the softest styles of Aikido and is characterized by
soft movements that often involve the practitioner jumping or skipping
during the movement. Most schools are not concerned with practical
application of the techniques, considering them exercises to further
develop Ki.
In recent years, Tohei Sensei has been moving further and further away
from Aikido and has devoted himself almost exclusively to Ki training.
The latest news is that Ki no Kenkyukai has started an initiative to make
Shin-shin Toitsu Aikido into an International Competitive sport.
The "Sporting" Styles
One of the other big breaks in Aikido history occurred during O Sensei's
life when Kenji Tomiki proposed "rationalizing" Aikido training using
Kata and Competition. Since that time, there has been little commonality
between the Tomiki schools and the mainline Aikido schools.
In recent years there have been a number of offshoots of Tomiki-ryu that
have abandoned the idea of competition.
Tomiki-ryu
Founded by Kenji Tomiki, and early student of O Sensei and of Judo founder
Jigoro Kano. Tomiki Sensei believed that a "rationalization" of Aikido
training, along the lines that Kano Sensei followed for Judo would make it
more easily taught, particularly at the Japanese Universities. In addition,
he believed that introducing an element of competition would serve to sharpen
and focus the practice since it was no longer tested in real combat. This
latter view was the cause of a split with O Sensei who firmly believed that
there was no place for competition in Aikido training.
Tomiki-ryu is characterized by using Kata (prearranged forms) in teaching
and by holding competitions, both empty handed and with a rubber knife.
(轉載自http://www.aikidofaq.com)
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