| Iwama is a later version of Aikikai that arose around Ueshiba well after his son had basically taken over. There's more emphasis on weapon forms and "magic," basically. The latter of which can also be found in "Ki Aikido" dojos, though that's a nebulous term. In other cases, weapon forms are approached as a tool for refining movement in general as it carries over to unarmed techniques.
There really isn't much of a tangible difference between most of the styles since there's a fair amount of tolerance for personal flair, though it may not appear that way to an observer.
Yoshinkan is probably the most deviant of the styles because the techniques are significantly truncated and involve subtler movements.
Shodokan involves competition, which makes it different in spirit, though I can't really say what impact that has had on the style itself one way or the other. |