So can anyone point to an aikido school that has a professional image? Our academy is going through an overhaul.
Is there any example of a dojo that really has their stuff together in terms of a professional image to the market place? For example there is another martial arts academy not far from here, they modern sleek website, and they have weekly schedule updates like on a calendar? A list of benefits of the academy like supplemental online video access to the art being taught. So could anyone volunteer the name of a dojo that has a great public facing image to the martial arts marketplace? Please help.

Maybe you will find this video interesting.

BJJ 4th degree Blackbelt & Submission Wrestling European Champion 2003, Björn Friedrich meets Rob John, a former Hanshi of the Aunkai* to talk about the Kote Gaeshi Wristlock. Rob is showing the small details of body mechanic that will make the lock stronger.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/RaqtE-Ja07g?si=A7gaMTvCwF_HeOjY

*The body skills school/method developed by Akuzawa Minoru

Any fun seminars going on? Feel free to share them here! At a minimum, please indicate date and location and how to sign up!

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

Have a burning question? Need a quick answer?

• "Where can I find...?"
• "Is there a dojo near...?"
• "What's the name of that thing again?"

This is the post for you.

Top-level posts usually require enough text to prompt a discussion (or they will be automatically removed). This isn't always possible if all you're looking for is a quick answer, so instead please post your query in our monthly Q&A thread!

As always please remember to abide by our community rules.

Hi, I am a starter in aikido. I really want to keep doing it. But I mix up many things: directions I don't understand movments when it is showed by sensei. I confuse which one should I use? right hand or left hand what should I do next? I keep doing everything wrong. Senpais are getting bored because of me. Because I don't understand it although it is showed again by senpais. What can i do for this condition? Also feel ashemed of this.

How is everyone’s training going this month? Anything special you are working on? What is something that is currently frustrating you? What is something that you had a breakthrough on?

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. This is a personal progress report, no matter how big or how small, so keep criticisms to a minimum. Words of support are always appreciated!
3. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

For those of you who dry your gi on a clothesline, how do you keep it from getting stiff?

I like the way my gi smells when it comes off the line (I use unscented soap on account of migraines, so when it goes through the dryer, it doesn't really smell like anything). But every time I put it on the line, it gets really stiff in a way that's, while not uncomfortable, isn't quite comfortable, and more problematic (in my opinion) , it's uncomfortable for my uke.

How should I go about fixing it so that I can get s soft gi in spite of going on the clothesline (because it doesn't happen with the rest of my clothes)?

Hi, I am new here, and I have a question. I am sorry if it was discussed elsewhere.

I am 54 and did aikdo for about 30 years until I got kids. I would love to go back to training, but I have developped big toe arthritis on one of my feet. I can move alright in shoes with stiffer sole, bur moving bare feet is quite painful. It is not bad enough to consider bone fusion and even with that it may not be possible to do the aikido. So I am kind of stuck. Did someone here have similar problem and somehow figured out how to do it? I know that working bare-feet was required in any dojo I’ve seen and certainly in one I would like to go back to (Boulder Aikikai). And it is not safe for other students that are barefoot. So that is probably not an option.

Thanks!

So today I was training, my Sensei would then give us weapons training more specifically training with the Tanto. He taught us basic moves like to tenkan and other form of locks and disarming. Which was very nice

But when we had the real practice I was paired with a San- Kyu (blue belt) boy and when he stabbed me with the Tanto, he'd occasionally stop midway through just to wait for me to dodge and stab again with a smirk on his face saying "You dodged too early" like his moves aren't even clear or precise. Or when I managed to tenkan to his side he would still try to move his knife to stab me instead of letting me connect and perform the move ??? And don't get me started when I looped over him and was supposed to disarm and let him fall he would then just harden up and not letting me disarm his Tanto nor falling down

And he said "You're using force"

It's just very frustrating when you have someone who has a weapon and is immediately thinking that they're some next level movie actor

(Sorry for the rant but I had to get it off)

Where are you training? Have you done something special? Has your dojo released a cool clip? Want to share a picture of your kamisa? This thread is where you do this.

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

There are a number of ways to classify different martial arts.

Some people separate martial arts into “internal” martial arts and “external” martial arts.

External martial martial arts work more on developing the skills that seem obvious for fighting and self defence: punching, kicking, wrestling, grappling.

The conditioning of the body within these arts is focused on developing strength, power, speed and other attributes that help with the performance of those arts.

Examples of these include boxing, kick boxing, tae kwon do, wrestling, judo, karate, Brazillian jiu jitsu.

Internal martial arts on the other hand are often focused on developing something a bit less obvious.

The classic idea would be that the internal martial arts suggest we have a secret inner power that we can learn to develop with hidden knowledge that is not commonly known.

Some arts claim to develop “internal power”, or work on developing internal energy (ki, chi, prana). Some may suggest they help develop the mind or open up other abilities.

Internal power is often related to exercises designed to train and use the body in a different way to be able to generate more power than would be normal. This training be very challenging and time consuming. The short term results are likely to be less obvious and subtle.

Martial arts that are suggested to be internal martial arts include Aikido, Tai Chi, Baguazhang, Xingiquan and some styles of Kung Fu.

Demonstrations of the internal martial arts often draw a lot of curious looks and cause confusion and consternation. Generally, they have to be felt or experienced to start to understand them.

The Aikido world is on a spectrum where some people wish to practise the more martial aspect and some wish to focus on the internal aspect.

The truth is that all arts have the capacity to develop more than just self defence skills. It is for you to discover what is right for you.

https://aikidoforglasgow.com/

Lately, I started to better understand how a lot of technical finesse relies on pushing the opponent's arm in one direction while actually aiming at suddenly pushing in another right after. Like in tai no henko, to add an initial small forward pressure on the hand that grab you, before actually rotating and pull it backward/outside.

In a way, this was already always stated as an important step. Before I understood it more as simply forcing an unbalance in the opponent, but now I'm realizing more how it actually helps to explain many situations in which I hold my instructors or training mates with all my strength and they still escape, while I couldn't do the same. The best way for me to understand the concept in such situations is now to start blocking not the movement that I feel (the initial push) but just be ready to block the one I know is about to come (the following push or rotation).

Now in a way I feel like this understanding was big advancement in my aikido, and during training I'm trying to apply this more consistently here and there. But it's hard! So: does anybody here has the same approach? And if so, do you feel that over time it becomes easy enough to always apply this to randori or more realistic sparring?

I received a Shodan grade in 2005 and carried on training for a couple of years after this. Then, due to dojo politics and life taking me in different directions, I stopped training. I now live on the other side of the planet, and decided to start training again as a way to make friends and try to settle in. 17 years have passed since I last trained and I have forgotten most of what I learned. Muscle memory, fitness level, etc, are largely gone.

I spoke with the senior instructor and explained my circumstances, and he said I should wear my black belt and hakama anyway. I feel deeply uncomfortable with this as I would like to get back up to a decent level of knowledge at my own pace, without wearing something that basically flags me as having a certain level of knowledge. I categorically do not have this level of knowledge and think it would be confusing for other students, and don't want to be constantly having to explain, and perhaps feeling pressured to hurry up and get back to that level. It is a dojo where coloured belts are worn for the Kyu grades, and I have no idea what colour of belt would be appropriate for my current knowledge level. The club which awarded me Shodan had white belts until you reached Shodan.

Should I just suck it up and wear the damn things, or should I speak to the sensei again and stick to my guns/ try to find a compromise?

Edit: Thank you for your replies. My favourite is one telling me that if I don’t wear the belt I’ll be disrespecting my old club and in old times would have had to commit seppuku a couple of times over.

People who noticed that I stopped training 17 years ago partly because of dojo politics may be as amused as I am by the differences in answers here. There is a reason there are different styles of and focuses in Aikido (Yoshinkan, Iwama, Ki, etc), as people are all different.

This exercise has confirmed a couple of things for me: Never take advice from the internet. The only person who can satisfactorily answer the problem for me is me. Loyalty is earned.

I’m going to try wearing the belt and hakama, and if things go well, great. But if they don’t there are a couple of other clubs I can try, and I won’t tell them I’m a Shodan. All I can do is what feels right for me.

Local to me are a few Aikido dojos, an Aikikai dojo, Takemusu dojo and Shodokan dojo.

From my limited understanding Aikikai is an umbrella organisation run by the Ueshiba family, which underneath that umbrella contains differing styles, but none that include sparring or competition, which would exclude the Shodokan style which seems more ‘combative’.

The Takemusu style is the style based on the time Morihei Ueshiba spent at Iwama and is commonly referred to as the Iwama style? From what I have read and seen I understand why Shodokan is different, but not why Takemusu/Iwama style is different, I’m not a practitioner but I love to research, is someone able to help elucidate the difference for me?

Any fun seminars going on? Feel free to share them here! At a minimum, please indicate date and location and how to sign up!

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

-Sabaku doesn't really mean "move". It means something more along the lines of "handle/deal with/manipulate"

-In Aiki News Issue 087, there is an article with Interviews with Nishimura and Sakurai. In that article, it mentions that people who had done kendo were deeply interested in Ueshiba Sensei's taisabaki and came to learn from him. Kendo people and high ranking kendo people already trained in how to physically move. Does anyone believe that they were going to Ueshiba just to relearn how to move their feet and body in their kendo practice?

Another article stated:

Konishi Soke demonstrated the kata Heian Nidan (which he learned from Funakoshi Sensei) to Ueshiba Sensei. However, Ueshiba Sensei remarked that Konishi Soke should drop such nonsense for such techniques are ineffective. This comment came as a blow, since Konishi Soke believed in karate and that held Ueshiba Sensei's opinions in the highest regard. Konishi Soke felt that karate still had much value and that he had the responsibility to develop it. Thus, he requested that he be allowed to continue training in karate, intending to develop the techniques so that it would be acceptable to the great teacher. After many months of research and training, Konishi Sensei developed a kata called Tai Sabaki (Body Movement). He based this kata on karate, but incorporated principles found in the teachings of Ueshiba Sensei. Though the new kata did not contain any complex movements, it consisted of a chain of actions, with no pause after each action. After the demonstration of this kata by Konishi Soke, Ueshiba Sensei remarked that, "The demonstration you did just now was satisfactory to me, and that kata is worth mastering."

-What was it Ueshiba liked in the tai sabaki kata? Certainly not an aikido movement based kata. But, nonetheless, labelled tai sabaki.

Rennis Buchner wrote "While not in aikido circles, I have heard the term tai sabaki used in refering to internal body skills. I've come across a few sensei here in Japan who have made the point that tai sabaki is more or less the gateway to said skills."

-So, we know that tai sabaki can mean something different than just physical body movement aka get out of the way of the attack. If high ranking kendo and karate people were looking to Ueshiba for tai sabaki advice, it's pretty much a given that it meant internal body skills in Ueshiba's aikido. Have you asked your teachers what that would be? What those internal body skills are and how to train them?

Have a burning question? Need a quick answer?

• "Where can I find...?"
• "Is there a dojo near...?"
• "What's the name of that thing again?"

This is the post for you.

Top-level posts usually require enough text to prompt a discussion (or they will be automatically removed). This isn't always possible if all you're looking for is a quick answer, so instead please post your query in our monthly Q&A thread!

As always please remember to abide by our community rules.

As per title: How do I politely correct a teacher without coming off as an insufferable neckbeard? "Welllllll achktuallllyy" *pushes glasses further onto nose*

In this instance it was a Japanese word often used in Aikido which he gave the wrong definition for. I kept my mouth shut on the matt then had to run for a another class, so didn't get to talk after class, but now it would feel weird to bring it up again...because it would look like I've been obsessing over it, which I have of course.

My previous entry on shihonage has drawn some attention so I thought I'd continue the series :) As previously, what I have in mind is to write a bit about the techniques I like for one specific reason: they are short. It's a trait that is very easy to quantify in contrast to such terms as "practical" or "beautiful", but in fact I believe that the conservation of space in which the technique is performed translates very well to both practicality and beauty. At least that's in my opinio is the case of hijikime osae (sometimes a bit confusingly called rokkyo).

Even when we just look at a well-performed short version of hijikime osae, we can easily get convinced that, yeah, it works. Hijikime osae doesn't require very precise moves. Unlike, say, nikyo or yonkyo, where it's important to grab the uke's hand in a very precise way, here we have a large error margin. The tori's hand should eventually grab the uke's wrist, and the tori's arm should push down somewhere above the uke's elbow, causing it to overstretch, but it's done with that sliding move that allows for adjustments. After all, every two people practicing will have forearms of different sizes, it's important to learn how to perform the technique against various opponents, and hijikime osae is a technique very tolerant of those differences between us.

Another thing is that even though certain senseis teach to use a wristlock to make the uke go down, it seems kind of redundant to do it, since it's enough for the tori to push on the uke's elbow - and it can be done with virtually the whole tori's body weight. So, even if I'm smaller, so small that I can't grab the uke's wrist properly to perform the lock, I'm probably still heavy enough to make them go down to the floor by pushing on their elbow. Or, another option, as the tori I'm in a great position to move from hijikime osae to sankyo - another technique that requires precision, so the fact that I can hold the uke's hand for precious few seconds means that I have time to figure out how to apply sankyo well.

In short, what's not to love.

Links to YouTube videos:

1. Muna dori hijikime osae by Leonardo Sodre. Personally I think that the first move - that atemi to the face that doubles as a stretch of the uke's hand - is maybe too much like something from a performance, if you know what I mean. A bit too big. On the other hand, if I interpret it as a punch to the face, well, then it's totally okay :)
2. Chudan tsuki hijikime osae - here Sodre-sensei shows how to deal with the difficulty of grabbing a punch. I think it demonstrates well the versatility of hijikime osae.
3. Jodan tsuki hijikime osae by Radosław Duda. And later some variants with tanto and a few others. Hijikime osae from jodan tsuki starts like ikkyo which means that up to some point we don't need to decide which one it will be. It's another thing that I really appreciate in some aikido techniques. I like to keep all options open as long as possible. Maybe I really wanted to do ikkyo but it didn't work out. That's okay, in martial arts things don't work out all the time. So, I'm not doing ikkyo anymore. I'm doing hijikime osae. And if someone asks me, I always wanted to do hijikime osae, it was all planned, I always wanted to do hijikime osae ;) And the other way around as well.

All for now from me,
I hope it will inspire you in your trainings :)

I know sparring, competitions etc… are very much against Aikido’s philosophy and principles. But I’m really curious, has anyone ever used it in a sparring session ? Have you ever used Aikido in a sparring context ?

Some people I know rent a dojo to do sparring sessions of Aikido only very often, I’m really thinking about joining them. I of course, acknowledge, respect and understand that it is against the principles but I sometimes wish we could do real sparring where there’s not specifically an uke and tori. Just a match to learn how to effectively use our techniques. I might think wrong tho, but I’m still curious.

How is everyone’s training going this month? Anything special you are working on? What is something that is currently frustrating you? What is something that you had a breakthrough on?

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. This is a personal progress report, no matter how big or how small, so keep criticisms to a minimum. Words of support are always appreciated!
3. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

With the IAF summit in 2 weeks I'm surprised nobody has brought this up before.
Anybody else going? What are you most excited/nervous about?

For me this is my first time after doing aikido for 9 years, and I'm just very excited (and a little overwhelmed) by the schedule.

If you're going to discuss aikido politics please keep the conversation civil.

Due to life circumstances, I have to move to a new state and by extension, away from my current dojo. And as much as I'd love to continue training aikido, the nearest school of my style is about a 2 hour drive away.

I'll probably make the trip once or twice a month, but I'd prefer having something to train during most days of the week.

That brings me to my question: are there any of you who train(ed) in both aiki and judo? If so, I'd appreciate any tips/warnings before I show up to my first class; or any conversion about how you felt your aiki skills transfered over to the new art.

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here. I have cristall clear that the only way to learn is by a dojo with a good master, of course. But in my town and region all the dojo for learning have opening times that does not conciliate with mine, at all. I fell in love with aikido thanks to an open day and a fabulous master, but very unfortunately the aviable times for lessons are impossible for me and the few dojo that exist here have similar openings time... So I'm looking to some kind of rigorous books that can teach me the correct way to perform techniques and some theory behind that. Please, anybody can help? I will really appreciate it!!

Hey,

After reading the recent few posts about what content we share on this subreddit, I thought to give it a try and write a bit about techniques and variants I like, and the background that I think make them interesting. I hope you will share your thoughts too, and it will be a start for some valuable discussions.

I learn aikido in the Christian Tissier line, known for broad circular movements. But at the same time the dojo I train in is often very crowded. We have little space for perfoming a technique and we need to always watch out not to hit other people with our uke. It made me appreciate and focus on technique variants which conserve space - no distant throws, no jumping, no large tenkans, and so on. Instead, the canon broad forms are compressed and quite naturally so, because the modifications come not from the sensei telling us to do it this or that way, but because we ourselves work in limited space, while all the time trying to stay true to the canon.

And I think shihonage is a good example how it works. The classic form would be start with katatedori (grabbing the wrist), followed by a step in or a tenkan, a big vertical circle of the uke's hand travelling behind their back, and then even larger ukemi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGA5b1lx2cQ
Looks nice, great for a presentation, every move is very clear, we get that part where the tori moves as if they swing a katana, etc. Basically, that's what katatedori variants are for: to study the moves.

But in time, after some years of training, especially in the dojo I train right now, I learned to appreciate techniques starting with shoulder and front grabs, both single and two-handed. The grab is stronger. There's no space for big circles. Instead, there's this more realistic feel: this is how actually someone could grab me to toss me back or to the side or hold me in place with one hand while punching with the other. On top of that, it becomes more important who is actually doing the grabbing: is the uke taller? shorter? weights more than me? While in katatedori it also matters, but the technique stays mostly the same all the time, here I need to adjust my technique. Like, in shihonage, I may want to move under the uke's shoulder and turn around, but if the uke is too short, it might make more sense to actually grab their elbow and use it to move their shoulder instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukrHjA7lkY8

I highly recommend that second video. It does not only show very well that variant I'm talking about, but also how we can add our own weight to the throw, making it powerful even though it's short - the uke falls down almost in place. (So, less risk for people training around us!).

And a final note: Both in my kickboxing training, and what I see in Bruce Bookman's videos, "Aikido Extensions", merging aikido with boxing, it's important to keep the stance short. Especially in the Tissier line, we like to stand tall, extend our arms, make big steps, and so on. In kickboxing (well, at least Dutch-style that I trained) we keep our hands close to the body, knees bent a little, the head and neck lower, hidden behind the guard. I think it fits well with aikido techniques starting with katadori and munedori. If I stand like this, I'm protected from blows, but the opponent is motivated to grab me and break my guard. And then I can try a shihonage.

So, yeah. If you're a beginner/intermediate, maybe this post will give you something to experiment with on your trainings. At least I hope so. And anyway, what are your thoughts about modifying techniques for use in limited space? Do you have your own favourite variants?

Cheers,

Where are you training? Have you done something special? Has your dojo released a cool clip? Want to share a picture of your kamisa? This thread is where you do this.

Couple of reminders:

1. Please read the rules before contributing.
2. Don’t forget to check out the Aikido Network Discord Server (all your mods are there for more instant responses if you need help on something.)

I'm aware of the popular 31 jo kata and (Saotome's?) kumi jo kata, but are there other (relatively) common jo training methods/techniques in aikido? I ask because I've really enjoyed the small amount of jo training I've done so far, but wish there was more of it. I don't necessarily mean the kata's of Jodo as taught in the ZNKR,, but I'll take what I can get.

I wish the poll thread was not comment locked, because perhaps some folks have more or different things to say than the three options presented there.

Let me start by mentioning that I do moderate a couple of very small martial-arts related communities, and I am well aware of how much work it can be to keep content and comments within your vision for what the community is for. There are different challenges between reddit and Facebook, but for example there is a small and org-specific FB group I set up in the 00s for people who wanted to talk about my specific organization. It requires *constant* vigilance just to keep out advertisements, completely irrelevant SEO bot spam, and links to youtube videos from people who mass subscribe to every single martial arts and Aikido related group and drop the same videos into all of them.

Actual humans come to reddit to communicate on the other hand, and that opens up a different can of worms. You have to ask the question, what is this group for? How should it be moderated? By what right do I moderate it? How does my moderation improve or degrade the content of this group? By what standards is the quality of content judged? But I think the most important one in many cases is: should the quality of content take precedence over the people who are actually members of this community?

Something which I don't think is talked about as much as it should be about moderation on Reddit is the definite Stanford Prison Experiment effect. You get the privs assigned to you for a sub like this and you go well...what does this mean? What should I do here? Well I guess I better...do some mod stuff! But you don't even get to enjoy your little armband before the honeymoon is over. People complain and report about things and your phone buzzes and you have to act like you give a fuck at that moment in time. The pressure is real to just tell ALL of the kids to go sit in the corner. Just shut the fuck up. This is much easier to do when it's *your* group that *you* set up, with more or less clear ideas about what it was for. On my FB group that I set up for a very limited use, I find it super easy to delete posts and ban or turn on post approval for people who cross the very bright line of what the group is for.

But here's the thing: this is /r/Aikido. It's the sub that has the Name, the word that you can find in the dictionary. This isn't /r/BobsAikido or r/BeersAfterAikido or /r/WholesomeAikido. By virtue of it having the simple name Aikido, it belongs to people who practice Aikido, people who are interested in Aikido, people who are curious about Aikido. I'd argue that it even belongs to the proverbial callow teenagers who heard that Aikido was fake and want to share a thought along those lines that nobody else has heard before.

I am basically advocating extremely light-handed moderation. Kick bots out, delete posts that are not Aikido related. By all means, protect the space from being brigaded/flooded by bad faith meming.

But style vs style? Combat effectiveness? Let it play out. It'll go in cycles, and it *should*. Every other year we'll get a bunch of kids coming in with "if Aikido is so great why are there no MMA champions" and we'll roll our eyes. But there will be people who trot out the counter-arguments and those will get talked about and thought about. The community will handle it. The community does not need mods to prevent these conversations from happening.

The biggest wrong turn I have seen on this sub is the adoption of tone policing as the rule of the road. Mainly because it's a very American baby boomer generation, mid-western, protestant, Republican kind of "why can't we go back to the imagined past where everyone was *civil*?" pearl-clutching. And that's not everybody's culture and just isn't comfortable for all of us. Who are we again? We're people who practice Aikido, are interested in Aikido. Not all of us are passive-aggressive George W. Bush voters who are afraid to use the word fuck.

I've been doing Aikido for 30 years, who are you, really, to tell me I should not invoke the incident where Ueshiba stuck his weewee through the shoji screen in a joke?

Especially considering how it could certainly be said that the rules are not equally applied to anyone. The most prolific poster on this group basically uses it to drive clicks to his own website. He does so by posting sometimes wildly sensational pseudo-history posts which has always seemed like an ongoing, rolling troll to me. Then if you ask him, you know, "so wait...are you saying that Osensei was an actual fucking Nazi?" He goes "i'm being attacked! ad hominem ad hominem!" People think this guy has been "doing great things for Aikido" and kind of worship him, and he should absolutely be able to post stuff, I just don't think he deserves a golden ticket. He is not better than anybody.

Another guy, the poster who obviously prompted the poll, is clearly lawyering the "aikido effectiveness" rule. Rather than add another rule against arguing which style is more pure, why not just let people ask that mf if he okay. Because every time you get a couple comments deep with the dude you start to get the creepy feeling he is actually making a cry for help. It feels like the guy is lawyering the rules, and because of the tone policing, nobody can call him on it. But again....he should be allowed to post what he wants, as a member of the community. I do not think the rest of the community should have to talk around what we're all thinking.

Maybe I am off-base thinking of this group in terms of a *community* in the first place. Reddit allows for anonyminity so you can never be sure. But I think, to the extent that it is, a more open environment where the conversations, arguments, and "flame wars" are allowed to play out is the better way to serve the community. And the mods of this group are really here for that - to serve the community.

u/lunchesandbentos

Your poll question asking for feedback with comments switched off, so I'm forced to start a separate thread about it. However, I'm not confident that it won't just end up closed, if not deleted. I don't believe the poll is really a genuine effort to consult the community. Prove me wrong.

Would the sub like the moderators to control for posts and comments that try to tell you how or what you should practice (The One True WayTM) rather than accepting that there are a multitude of styles and people should just do what makes them happy (assuming they are in a safe and healthy environment)?

I believe this was in response to Mark Murray's post asking if you train like Ueshiba. The post clearly was written to point out the folly in people making claims about their own Aikido being The One True Way, given people doing Aikido now don't practice as he did.

The thing is, people don't always agree about how Aikido should be practiced, but more than that, if you prevent people posting beliefs that can be proven untrue, how can they be discussed and the truth of matters revealed? This is a problem in online discussion lately, where the answer when controversial topics come up seems to just be to shut down discussion, rather than work through the issues. As long as people aren't spam commenting, or being directly abusive towards each other, I think it's necessary to have such topics brought up.

This why, I think what is one of the top 5% subreddits has nearly zero posts made (excluding Chris Li's regular contributions).

The moderators don’t personally believe such posts and comments to be conducive to a supportive community, and is rather condescending—we handle the Discord Server with a heavier hand, as we do not allow style v. style (in a “better or worse” sense) and unsolicited stylistic corrections or criticisms and find that despite having representation across dozens of styles and lineages, we can converse about Aikido (including techniques!) by finding commonality, community, and peer to peer exchange.

The result on the Discord is that it's near impossible to discuss even technique there, as anything related to making technique "better" is considered a discussion of effectiveness, and thus risks a ban. Thus, there is near no actual Aikido discussion. Even when there is, if you don't disclaim that you're not talking about effectiveness, then you're threatened immediately with a ban.

When complex topics come up, there's at least one moderator (your friend!) who mocks the discussion. God forbid we attempt to discuss making techniques challenging, as blocking technique in any way will just be labelled as abuse (which is hilarious given two of your friends, and instructors in your dojo practice BJJ).

I honestly find this kind of imposition to be hypocritical, and this is really just a way to impose the beliefs of yourself and that of your friends about Aikido, and how it should be practiced, on the forum -- the exact opposite of what you are claiming this to be about.

As well, since we're on the topic of moderation, you have one person who continually trolls comments on here, yet because they are a friend, their trolling isn't moderated. How is that "conductive to a supportive community"?

This post does not allow comments,

And that's conductive to what? I think you're setting up an implication that discussion of what Aikido "is" will no longer be permitted, because a small handful of people can't handle dealing with robust discussion, especially when it heads into topics they aren't knowledgeable about.

Prove me wrong. Let's discuss this, or are you just going to shut me down and complain about me on the Discord?

Votes are anonymous, even to the creator and the moderators.

There seems to be some confusion: the rule would specifically stop people from making unsolicited stylistic corrections in comments and “why you should train MY way” posts and “if you’re not doing xyz, then it’s not good enough.”

Would the sub like the moderators to control for posts and comments that try to tell you how or what you should practice (The One True WayTM) rather than accepting that there are a multitude of styles and people should just do what makes them happy (assuming they are in a safe and healthy environment)? The moderators don’t personally believe such posts and comments to be conducive to a supportive community, and is rather condescending—we handle the Discord Server with a heavier hand, as we do not allow style v. style (in a “better or worse” sense) and unsolicited stylistic corrections or criticisms and find that despite having representation across dozens of styles and lineages, we can converse about Aikido (including techniques!) by finding commonality, community, and peer to peer exchange.

The only reason we have not implemented that rule was because we inherited the SubReddit, versus having built the Discord chat server—however, we’ve received feedback (and several mod messages over the years) asking for some guidance on this issue.

You can join the Discord by following this link: https://discord.gg/gfyDgczfGN

It is a private server so you do have to read the rules before being able to contribute.

This post does not allow comments, as it’s just an anonymous poll. We are happy to leave it alone as well, if the general consensus is that it’s fine—since we do have the more heavily moderated Discord available to those who would contribute more to discussion if they didn’t have to be worried about being told their (safely conducted) practice is lacking in secret sauce.

View Poll