slink

I don't have the exact figures in front of me but testing for any level below dan rank is somewhere between $10 and $20; enough to cover the belt price and a minor fee for paperwork processing. The price does go up slightly for dan rank but it only increases by about $5 or so. One thing I haven't seen addressed yet is whether or not you get charged a second fee if you don't pass the test the first time. My dojo only charges you once whether you pass the test on the first or tenth try. For those who do charge fees I would also be interested in learning how much of those fees are you required to charge by whatever group/organization you belong to. My sensei teaches Yoshinkan Aikido but he is not officially registered with the main Yoshinkan HQ in Japan because he can't afford it and because he doesn't want to impose ridiculous fees on his students. According to him if you teach outside of Japan you can expect to pay $1,000 for your first dan test and an additional $1,000 if you don't pass the first time. You also are required to pay $100 for a teaching certificate. Testing for second dan jumps to $2,000 and once again that's non-refundable if you don't pass the first time. You also need a new teaching certificate which is more expensive than your first one was.

I will second the point made by bushido_man96. In fact, there are some moves within the Yoshinkan Aikido syllabus which are initiated by striking your opponents head. If they block you turn that against them and if they don't you got in a free punch.

krunchyfrogg, Whether or not the school that you linked to is for you depends on what you want out of Aikido. Based on their website they seem to be into the peace, love, and joy approach to Aikido. If that is indeed the case then you could expect a light aerobic workout, techniques which would never work if your opponent provided any resistance, and little to no self-defense applications. They will likely be very nice people and the training will likely be fun. You probably will not walk away with any sore joints or bruises. If you are looking for something that could actually work outside the dojo then this place is probably not for you. Again, this is all based strictly on their website. The only way to be sure is to go try a class. As to some of the other posts in this thread I would not put any faith in someone's opinion of Aikido if they have never trained in it or only took a couple of lessons. I would say the same regarding any martial art. In regards to how well the techniques would work in the real world that would depend on how and where you train. There are unfortunately plenty of Aikido schools which teach the art in such a way that it is fun to do but not really practical. There is also, again unfortunately, no shortage of instructors who view the art in this fashion. If you want something that will allow you to defend yourself you can still find schools which will teach the art in this way as well; they are just harder to find. Finally, I would not let the criticisms about partnered training scare you away from Aikido. This sort of thing is also found in Japanese Jujitsu as well as Judo. It's there to make sure that you learn the techniques and don't injure your training partner or yourself. The free flowing training with resistance will come in at more advanced levels. Of course the amount and type of resistance will vary from school to school (see previous paragraphs). I hope that helps.

Well, when most people talk about Aikido they refer to the art that was started by Morihei Ueshiba. That's fine because the majority of Aikido can in fact be traced back to him. However, my first introduction to Aikido was through an organization called Nihon Goshin Aikido (NGA) and it claims no affiliation with Ueshiba or his family. NGA is characterized by using English names for the techniques, using Western styled attacks, being a bit rough compared to other styles, and having an intentional focus on self-defense. I currently study Yoshinkan Aikido. This style was started by Gozo Shioda who was a direct student of Ueshiba. It is also considered a hard style since we integrate strikes with our techniques. There is also a greater emphasis placed on having correct stances than one finds in many of the other styles of Aikido. It uses slightly different names for techniques than the other styles do (nikajo vs. nikyo for example). There is also a very strong emphasis on being able to use the techniques to defend yourself. The single largest group, headed by one of Ueshiba's descendants, is the Aikikai. I would refer to this a group rather than a style because depending on which dojo you walk into you can find anything from no-nonsense self-defense to people who are basically playing dress up and dancing around to any and all points in-between. There is also Shodokan which is also known as Tomiki Aikido. It was founded by Kenji Tomiki, another student of Ueshiba, and it has a strong Judo influence. It is the only Aikido style which has competitions. Another group is the Ki Society. They were founded by another student of Ueshiba's named Koichi Tohei. This group has the reputation of being mainly focused on the spiritual aspects of the art and having very little, if anything, to do with self-defense. I do not know if that reputation is deserved or not. I'm sure that I have forgotten some of the other styles. Hopefully someone can fill in the gaps.