Chapter 55: Being a good Tanto player- Is it something that is innate inside or can be taught?

This is something I've being wondering about since taking part in my first competition about two years ago. Watching the good tanto players, (the ones who win the gold) it seems that a small part of the battle of being good at tanto is having a good 'fighting' attitude.

The difficulty I find with Randori is what to do once you have hold. I seem to have the idea of breaking balance, and doing technique but seem to lose it a little after that. Whereas others, seem to just have the 'knack' of knowing what works immediately.

I came to think about this after a recent session where I was working with a lower grade who was new to tanto practice, especially full-blown Randori. My first thought was 'Gees...how do you teach this? Can you teach this? Do you start with tanto avoidence, then technique with no resistance, gradually bluiding up to the point of light Hikkitat? Or do you just let the Aikkidocca do what comes naturally when they first encounter a tanto coming towards them?

I think its a bit of both, you need a good teacher, someone who knows what works but equally I think that you also need a bit of 'fighting' instinct. There is many different ways in which Aikido can both be taught and learned, so for the moment with this in mind, I think I will try to muddle through the best way I can, finding out what works for me.