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Tenjikurounin
10th May 2006, 23:01
As the title states, I am sure this has been discussed before, but oh well. Can someone please describe to me or direct me to where I can find the differences in the main branches of aikido? I want to start, but I have heard that X school stresses Y techniques, and I don't know which is which. I have very limited access to the net, so I don't have time to search old threads, although I have looked breifly. Just a link to a thread where this is covered would be fine. Thank you in advance.

chrismoses
10th May 2006, 23:07
I'm afraid you will not be able to find a succinct answer to this question. There are too many variables even before you take into account politics and whatnot. Even within a group of students of the same teacher within the same organization there can be huge variations of emphasis and waza.

Tenjikurounin
10th May 2006, 23:10
Basically, I am just wondering what branch would be considerd the "softer" style. I hear tell that there are hard and soft styles of aikido. If memory serves, the Aikikai branch is the "softer" style, but I can't remember. BTW, I really appreciate the very quick response. That is just amazing.

chrismoses
10th May 2006, 23:22
Seriously, there's so much variation even within one umbrella organization that it's hard to generalize at all. It's like going onto a sportscar enthusiast website and asking who make the fast cars? Check out the options in your area and make the decision based on the feel of the place and the instructor. If you need to be portable and plan to move a lot, (and ranks matter to you) you might consider someone affiliated with the Aikikai because they are the most common organization you are likely to run into.

P Goldsbury
11th May 2006, 12:02
As the title states, I am sure this has been discussed before, but oh well. Can someone please describe to me or direct me to where I can find the differences in the main branches of aikido? I want to start, but I have heard that X school stresses Y techniques, and I don't know which is which. I have very limited access to the net, so I don't have time to search old threads, although I have looked breifly. Just a link to a thread where this is covered would be fine. Thank you in advance.

Hello,

Have you read the sticky Aikido Flavours thread? It is located at the head of the threads in this forum. It is long, but seeks to answer your question (and it is obviously the most widely read thread in this entire forum).

I am affiliated to the Aikikai, though I have had some experience of Shodokan (Tomiki) training and some of my Aikikai teachers were originally Yoshinkan--and it shows.

If you have some idea of what you are looking for, the best thing is to go to a number of dojos, watch what they do, and see which dojo best matches your idea.

If you do not have any idea of what you are looking for, you still need to go to a dojo and look at what they do, but what you are looking for might be different: the 'atmosphere' of the training; the level of attention given to each student by the instructors. It is hard to generalize here and when you begin training you will be making a leap of faith, up to a point.

In my own dojo, the five most recent students have been: a US marine; a young woman with no previous experience of any martial arts training; a young Canadian man nearly two metres tall, who spent two years doing Yoshinkan training; a young Brazilian man with some experience of capoeira; a young Japan man with no experience of the martial arts beyond high school judo. They are meshing together with the more senior students into a very good group. Our dojo is still very small, in terms of numbers, but this means that the three instructors can spend much time with each student.

Best wishes,

Tenjikurounin
11th May 2006, 17:08
Thank you, Prof. Goldsbury, for pointing me in that direction. I think I now know what branch is more my "flavor" as it were. Side question: Does anyone here have any experience with the aikido dojos in the Portland,OR area? I have heard Two Rivers Aikikai has some superb instructors.