Culture/Religion necessary?

[Chris Li]

I was speaking more in terms of martial arts in general... But I can see how Aikido requires both...

Yeah, it all depends on the art, what the Gokui ("inner teachings") consist of, and how the information was encoded for transmission. Some lineages are realtively clear, some not so much.

Best,

Chris

 

[Black Belt Jedi]

The important thing to keep in mind when teaching Martial Arts, in particular Asian discplines to the masses, throwing in religious practices wouldn't suit the western audience because North America is a diverse continent and many people have diverse range of religious backgrounds and most people may feel uncomfortable with the many formal rituals that lean towards religious practices outside their norm. So I say lessen the religious aspects of Martial Arts and focus on teaching technical aspect of the system.

 

[Supra Vijai]

The important thing to keep in mind when teaching Martial Arts, in particular Asian discplines to the masses, throwing in religious practices wouldn't suit the western audience because North America is a diverse continent and many people have diverse range of religious backgrounds and most people may feel uncomfortable with the many formal rituals that lean towards religious practices outside their norm. So I say lessen the religious aspects of Martial Arts and focus on teaching technical aspect of the system.

Look overall, absolutely. Schools need to be mindful of their audience and cater for that accordingly and that will suit the majority of students. That said, for the few students that show capacity to take it one step further or those who show potential to teach themselves one day, an understanding of the art beyond the physical techniques must be provided so they can truly understand the material. For that at least, there must be some exploration of the deeper cultural or religious aspects of the art. Personally speaking, I am not Japanese, I am not Buddhist or Shinto or Taoist etc and would never claim to be but I love learning the deeper or more esoteric elements of our arts and truly feel it helps me get a much more rounded learning experience.

Apologies for any glaring spelling or grammatical errors, it's 5am and I'm on a tablet with a very touchy keypad