We discuss koryu arts and how they differ from practical arts, as well as some history of Miyamoto Musashi. We also discuss aikido in the real world, particularly in the health field - among other topics.

A great discussion and one you don't want to miss!

Reg mentions this post in the discussion, which caused some uproar in the aikido community. Here it is in it's entirety:

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This group seems very responsive so I’d like to pose a question. 

Which is more important, form or function?

As most of us are aikidoka I believe many of us are too concerned with form. Don’t misunderstand me form has it’s place, for example in a test. But what about function? When I worked in the security field I used my budo on a regular basis. I never thought about things like “if they attack me with a, b or c I’ll use defense e,f or g”. They would attack and in whatever the position ended up in I would apply a technique. Many times later when reviewing the CCTV I would recognize what I had done but it was not cognitive. 

守破離 shu, ha, ri or take, break and leave is a common term in Japanese martial arts. I always think of it as form, logic and application (that’s not the dictionary or poetic translation, it’s how I think of it). In my opinion I’m more interested in seeing the function than the form. 

Any interesting thoughts on this?

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