That's not unique to Aikido. That's just the old way that most martial arts were taught. Kano had to learn his Jiu Jitsu in the same way.
The whole idea of martial arts for the masses was pushed out by Kano. That's another one of those positive changes Judo made to training philosophy. Kano put Judo and Kendo in the public schools and promoted it all around the world. Karate and Aikido followed this example soon after.
Just because Ueshiba originally only taught people he had personal connections to does not mean that he had a requirement for them to hold dan level rank in Judo.
Not sure I follow. You said:
Balto said:
As far as I have seen Aikido always accepted beginner students as well as experienced students from other arts.
And this simply wasn't true. Not anyone off the street could take aikido. The kind of nerd people you saw at your college Aikido club that you were part of would not have been allowed in. It was invitation, letter of recommendation only plus martial arts proficiency pre WWII, and even up to about 1955. Here is what I found so far. Keep in mind this is in response to EGDM and you.
"Before World War II,
aikido students were required to have previously studied martial arts, and have a letter of reference from their instructor. This meant that all pre-war students already possessed basic skills of uke (the attacker), including falling and striking."
Yoseikan Aikido - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"First of all, aikido is a post-World War II phenomenon. Morihei Ueshiba and his fledgling martial art were known primarily in martial arts circles, not by the general public, prior to the war. What has become aikido today has been shaped primarily by the Ueshiba family through the auspices of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo system after 1955."
“Whose Aikido Are You Practicing?” by Stanley Pranin
"Tohei Sensei: I think it was in 1940. Kisaburo Osawa came in about a week later. I had been thinking what a poor state of affairs it was that I could train on my own for a couple of weeks and come back and throw everyone in the judo dojo. "Why bother with a martial art like that?" I thought. It was then that I met Ueshiba Sensei.
Shohei Mori, one of my seniors at the judo club who had worked on the Manchurian Railway, told me about a teacher with phenomenal strength and asked if I’d like to meet him. He gave me a letter of introduction and off I went."
"I was just starting to think that if this was aikido I might as well forget it and go home. Just then Ueshiba Sensei returned. I produced my letter of introduction and he said "Ah yes, from Mr. Mori..." Then as a demonstration, he began tossing one of the larger uchideshi around the dojo.
. . .
I thought it looked kind of fake until Ueshiba Sensei told me to take off my coat and come at him. I got into a judo stance and moved in to grab him. To my great surprise, he threw me so smoothly and swiftly that I couldn’t even figure out what had happened. I knew right then that this was what I wanted to do. I asked permission to enroll immediately and began going to the dojo every day from the following morning."
Ki Aikido Singapore - Ki No Kenkyukai Singapore
"The occupation forces (General Headquarters, GHQ) outlawed martial arts. There had been judo, kendo, and aikido.
Martial arts practice had been required in school. The prohibition was in effect for eight years (1945- 1953). I was in elementary school during this time. You couldn't practice in public."
Shuji Maruyama, Founder of Kokikai Aikido | Aikido Kokikai International
Now if you are just quibbling over the blackbelt requirement well I'll post it when I find it. But think about it, use a little common sense, you need a letter of recommendation from your instructor or seniors, and martial arts (judo, karate or kendo) were required in the Japanese education system from elementary to high school. On top of that all the guys who came out of the pre war era had previous blackbelts in either judo or Shotokan Karate. Gozo Shioda was already 3rd dan blackbelt judo by the time he graduated high school and before he met Ueshiba.
But all this goes back to my main point that pre wwII, you had to have a firm base in grappling or karate or preferably both. And that's the most effective way for it to be taught for submission grappling, mma, or the street. It's only a topping off martial art, not a core martial art that you can establish a base in.
Roy Dean even talks about that in his DVD, where he says that the founder didn't learn Aikido. He learned judo, karate, jiu jitsu before he stated aikido and already had a base. But at the highest level, those topping off techniques can make a difference. Ken Chertow teaches a wrestling technique that was popular in wrestling a couple decades ago that is an Imrinage. And Billy Robinson in his advanced curriculum dvd is teaching an advanced catch wrestling technique that is a Kotegashi. If the technique works it works no matter where it came from or what the label.
Now for that mob melee stuff, yeah I think it's kind of gay but if you actually stop to think about it, there's no real good way to mimic a 5 on one attack situations without compliance, because people will get seriously hurt and things can escalate. There's got to be a little bit of compliance there. Look at a BJJ belt test though. Even though it's a one on one situation, because you have to roll with 60 guys, people will not be anywhere close to 100%, there's a bit of compliance based on the reality of, well a guy might get seriously hurt or die if everyone went 100% in a bjj belt test.
