I agree, Dan, and my heartfelt thanks for not invoking Japanese culture as the sole point of reference and infallible defining authority regarding this subject. Like you I have held that Chinese and Korean traditions have also made reference to this characteristic and sought its mastery in the execution of their own martial traditions. Personally, I don't think anyone gets quite so anal-compulsive about such things as the Japanese practitioners, but that is a subject best addressed all by itself. I remember only that in times past Japanese nationals would babble the subject to death with contradictory and sometimes mutually exclusive rhetoric, only to determine, in the end, that only the Japanese culture was truely able to appreciate "aiki" in all its nuances. Since then, I am happy to report that an increasing number of practitioners of various arts have begun to discuss "aiki" in biomechanical terms, and I consider the MA World well advanced for it.
Best Wishes,
Bruce
Bruce W Sims
www.midwesthapkido.com