An Aikido class has opened 2 miles down the road from me. The teacher has been taught by Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan. As I am aware that some schools emphasise the martial art while others the wellbeing aspect - what sort of Aikido would I expect from this lineage?
Hard questions to answer. Was he taught only by Takeda or did he have other instructors? Did he stick to the style Takeda teaches or did he deviate to make it something of his own? http://aki-usa.org/lineage/yoshinobu-takeda-shihan/ Sounds like a blend of both. I would go check it out and see what you think of it. Kinomichi aikido would be one of the lineage for the aikido i study however we don't really practice that style. Having studied under Tamura Sensei, Toshiro Suga (6th Dan) and Raymond Bish our senseis aikido looks a lot more like Toshiros who also does our grading. Just for the record. The little Kinomichi I did do was a great deal of fun, I kind of wish we spent more time on it even if it favors the art side of martial art.
His website states that he is the UK represenatative of Takedas teachings. I wouldn't know the difference between who does what if I'm honest. I just want to train at a school that is not obsessed with ki and that at least tries to elaborate on self defence. If anyone knows that takeda taught in the practical sense then perhaps I might find what I am looking for. The instructor told me he teaches as budo, which means?
well. To begin with Aikido would not be my first choice if you are looking for something that would be readily available for self defense. Aikido takes a lot of patience and dedication to develop properly. Takeda was very good, we have a student in our dojo that did a few months in his dojo and was graded by him. She enjoyed her time their and is very skilled. Again, I would go try it.
No mention of lineage, videos not that exciting + daft music = probably not too good. Probably some breakaway from Aikikai. Someone more contemporary in Aikido will give you better advice. My Aikido epoch is well behind me.
I've just found this, 6 miles in the other direction; http://www.wospweb.com/site/Carterton-Aikido-Club/index.htm Would his be nearer to what I am looking for?
More accurately, he states that he is alligned to this Takeda Shihan, The site says nothing about who he trained with before. Also Shihan is a title that does not have quite the kudos that it once had i.e. becoming more and more common.
Seems a lot more static than I'm used to. Also either he has "teh realz" or his ukes seem to be throwing themselves a lot. On a final note , he seems to have a habit of throwing his uke , then nonchalantly walking away , paying the no attention , I've seen this in a lot of buj videos , and it always bothered me.
I couldn't get any videos to work , you're best off popping along and seeing a class for yourself and seeing how you find it.
I believe Takeda-san was a student of Yamaguchi Seigo who was Technical Director of the Hombu in the 1980's so lineage is sound. Give it a go; what have you got to lose?
If he has even a gramme of Yamaguchi's water flowing contact - almost no-one could seize him and immobilise him, then the lineage would be very, very good. Being able to reproduce and transmit that water flow contact in teaching would be a much greater task. I encountered Yamaguchi in the 1980s. I have only ever encountered 1 other MA teacher with the same degree of subtlety in contact quality, namely Ian Cameron, practitioner and teacher of Wudang TaiJiQuan. A fair few Aikikai teachers from the 1980s tried to 'grow' Yamaguchi's contact quality and subtlety into their Aikido with varying degrees of success, with probably Christian Tissier being the most successful. To be fair, modelling oneself around Saito, Chiba, Tamura; would have been a little bit easier. Yamaguchi was quite unique. I take my earlier words back:- go and give it a go.
I've just found this article with the instructor, does this suggest he has actually nothing to do with these Japanese masters? http://www.japanartscentre.co.uk/aikido_interviews_alister_gillies_sensei.html
This bit is worth taking note of. "My first teacher was a man called William Coyle. Sadly he passed away quite recently, but he was an excellent teacher in the traditional style of Iwama.I learned basic kihon from him." If he spent any significant time under Coyle Sensei then he's probably worth looking at.
Why not give the class a try as Philip Smith has pointed out the club has a lineage that goes back to Japan. This means that any dan grade you are awarded is internationally recognised. Not all Aikido is.
Well I went for it and tried it out, the instructor is the bomb. There is one student there who travels 100 miles each way to train with him - he said it's because he's the best he has ever been taught by. So thanks for the advice all - I'm staying.