About 2 years ago we read this provocative, yet insightful, post by George Ledyard Sensei, a well known North American aikido practitioner who maintains a strong lineage to aikikai, yet practices widely with daito-ryu influenced people, internal strength, systema and I am sure many others. Read it in full here
Much food for thought and helpful in thinking about our path forward.
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“…I have lately had the pleasure of attending and participating in a number of so-called Aikido “Bridge” Seminars. These are events which cross over stylistic and organizational boundaries allowing teachers of very diverse backgrounds, who might otherwise never have encountered each other, to share their Aikido experience with any willing student, regardless of level, style or affiliation.Last year, at one of these events at which I was honored to be invited to participate, I sat after hours with a room full of teachers whose collective Aikido experience was more than three hundred years between us and had the realization that this was really the future, that we were participating in the death of the traditional organization as we have know them….”
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Great Ocean Aikido Community 
[…] excellent piece from US commentator George Ledyard, together with a rambling commentary (see on the death of the traditional organisation) Caveat: Of course the trends aren’t a “real” statistical treatment (n=3 for […]
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