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Written by Olivier Gaurin
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Olivier Gaurin is a scholar of Aikido, author of several books on Aikido as well as historical fictions set in medieval Japan. Concerned about a drift of our art towards the sport, he reminds us about the cultural aspects that are an intrinsic part of Aikido. Having lived in Japan for over 20 years, he has immersed himself into the ancestral culture of his country of adoption and shares his thoughts on how 21st century Aikidoka should apprehend their practice.
In every instant of our life, we have to face a double dilemma extremely difficult to resolve: "How to sur-vive* and why?".To say this in 2008 might sound incongruous in our situation of state providence, over protection and advanced technologies (at least in industrialized countries, provided that you belong to the better off classes i.e.: you are not a homeless or an outcast from our society of over consumption and permanent waste). Despite progress, nothing changed regarding that particular anxiety since prehistory apart from the discharges, the supports and the social interactions as well as (perhaps) the relatively recent self-consciousness about our state of distress. It is in this framework that the concept of Aiki.
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