I have question that has long since plagued my mind. How do you, as
Yoshinkan practitioners, reconcile the fact that you devote so much of
your time to a martial art that isn't really 'martial'. I mean, we
understand that the training curriculum is quite standardized with a
strict focus on kihon, but the curriculum does not have any venue for
actually testing the effectiveness of aikido in violent situations. We
train the kihon, develop the principals, and improve our timing and
power through jiyu waza. But how do you reconcile the fact that this is
a 'martial' art without any means of testing its martial quality. This
certainly isn't a dig at aikido, considering that I practice it quite
regularly and have been for over a decade. I'm just curious to see how
the wider aikido community reconciles this aspect of the art. Or is
this aspect of it even important to many of you?

CBB