Invariably over the years, if we have hosted or attended aikido courses, we will have noticed on many of them the inconspicuous tripod in the corner of the dojo recording our every movement. As a host of many courses I too have engaged in the use of a video camera to record, for posterity mainly, the events of the course and the people taking part including the instruction given by the visiting sensei.
However, in my opinion, these 'home movies' should just be a bit of history to look back on in a club or association's past or an immediate post-seminar aide memoir for instructors to recall issues and techniques shown, to assist them in transferring the information to the local students immediately after the sensei has departed.
However, an issue was recently raised which requires more thought and an alternative view on capturing moving images of a person's aikido, especially that shown by an instructor.
I am sure that there are not many people, if any, that can honestly say that the way that they practise aikido today bears any resemblance to the aikido they practised when they started, or from several years ago, or even last year. Aikido is a never ending education, a continuing learning process of refinement and improvement. We change as we get older, we mature, we develop and this is reflected in our approach and execution of our aikido. And believe me when I emphasise the word 'our' aikido. For we do not practise other peoples' aikido, ours is unique to us. While we may learn from our instructors over the years, we develop our own signature.
I have trained with and heard many instructors and students refer to the way that they practise aikido as 'the way that O-Sensei taught it', or the way that Saito taught it, or Yamada or Shioda, you get the picture? That comment can only mean that either they believe that O-Sensei never developed his aikido or they are referring to a fleeting moment in O-Sensei's aikido life.
If you watch footage of Professor Ueshiba you will see that his aikido of pre-war (WWII) differs dramatically from his 1960's aikido. Of course it does, he was developing, refining, and honing his understanding of the aikido that he presented to the world. He never presented aikido as the finished article, he even referred to himself as 'merely a student of the Way' right up to his death in 1969.
Associations that claim to teach aikido the way Sensei X taught it, can only describe the way that sensei taught it at a fleeting time in their aikido training, as I have no doubt that the sensei in question will have grown and developed since that moment. Reviving old footage of a teacher and believing that they still practise aikido in this way is very short sighted and lacks the deeper understanding of the essence of aikido. Therefore I can understand why some teachers would rather not have footage of themselves from several years ago resurected for assimilation when they themselves have moved on. Showing old footage and inferring that it represents how a particular instructor practises aikido today, is short sighted and not a true representation of their ongoing development. It is unfair to hold what they practised several years ago as gospel today. It simply is not so.
I truly believe that aikido can be described as flowing like a crystal clear stream, fluid, graceful, powerful, ever moving. The moment the water stops flowing it becomes stale, cloudy, discoloured and rancid like a stagnant pond.
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