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What is SHINZUI AIKIDO™
?
Arts bearing
the name "aikido" are not all the same. The name Shinzui Aikido
was adopted by Perry Lambert to reference our particular
style of aikido since the art of aikido, in terms of practice methods,
teaching methods, and how the art is understood, has spun in a multitude
of directions since the death of the Founder in 1969. Shinzui Aikido
infuses the teachings of O'Sensei, Koichi Tohei, and
Roy Suenaka through the eyes of Perry Lambert and through the teachings of
Ki Shin Kai Aikido Organization Shihans, Steve Steele and Fen Ackerman.
AIKIDO: (合気道) The way of
harmony; the way of peace; the way to harmonize mind, body, and spirit.
SHINZUI: True
meaning; essence; quintessence; soul; core.
We strive to maintain the essence of
traditional Japanese budo in our training.
What makes our aikido unique?
Our perspective: We view aikido
as a martial art. Our underlying philosophy, or our guiding compass
so-to-speak, suggests that the techniques we practice be effective in
real-life self-defense situations. We carefully balance
our martial viewpoints with the aikido philosophy of harmony, and
non-resistance.
Our heritage: We are fortunate
to have a direct, traceable lineage to the Founder of aikido, Morihei
Ueshiba, which has contributed toward our assimilation of credible,
undiluted information. (more...)
Our curriculum: Our curriculum
was developed from the teachings of O'Sensei as interpreted by Koichi
Tohei, and Roy Suenaka - two of O'Sensei's direct students, and two of the
aikido world's most knowledgeable and respected instructors.
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AIKIDO
from
The Spirit of Aikido, Kisshomaru Uyeshiba, pp 14-15.
Aikido is essentially a modern manifestation
of the Japanese martial arts (budo). It is orthodox in that it inherits
the spiritual and martial tradition of ancient Japan, first recorded in
the eighth-century literary and historical works, Kojiki (Record of
Ancient Matters) and Nihongi (Chronicle of Japan). This does not mean
that aikido blindly carries on the tradition of the ancient martial arts,
merely preserving and maintain its original form in the modern world.
The ancient fighting arts are a historical
and cultural legacy, originating on the battlefield in periods of civil
strife and later formalized as budo, the Way of martial arts, in the
Tokugawa period (1603-1868). They need to be properly assessed and
appreciated. In their original form they are unacceptable to people today
and are out of place in the modern world, which in the case of Japan
begins with the Meiji Restoration (1868).
The founder of Aikido, Master Uyeshiba
Morihei, was born on December 14, 1883. Living in the turbulent time of
Japan's modernization, he dedicated himself to establishing a martial art
that would meet the needs of contemporary people but would not be an
anachronism. The following factors were at the core of Master Uyeshiba's
primary concerns: an abiding love for traditional martial arts, the care
that it not be misunderstood and a deep wish to revive the spiritual
quality of budo. He sought to achieve his goal through a relentless
quest, given substance by constant training in the martial arts, for the
truth of budo throughout the vicissitudes of modern Japanese history.
Ultimately, Master Uyeshiba concluded that
the true spirit of budo is not to be found in a competitive and combative
atmosphere where brute strength dominates and victory at any cost is the
paramount objective. He concluded that it is to be realized in the quest
for perfection as a human being, both in the mind and body, through
cumulative training and practice with kindred spirits in the martial
arts. For him only such a true manifestation of budo can have a raison
d'etre in modern world, and when that quality exists, it lies beyond any
particular culture or age. His goal deeply religious in nature, is
summarized in a single statement: the unification of the fundamental
creative principle, ki, permeating the universe, and the individual Ki,
inseparable from breath power, of each person. Through constant training
of mind and body, the individual ki harmonizes with universal ki, and this
unity appears in the dynamic, flowing movement of ki-power which is free
and fluid, indestructible and invincible. This is the essence of Japanese
martial arts as embodied in Aikido.
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