a competitive format. Such adaptations are debated between styles, with some maintaining that there is no need to adjust their methods because either the criticisms are unjustified, or that they are not training for self-defense or combat effectiveness, but spiritual, fitness or other reasons. Reasons for the difference and diversity of teachings, intention, and forms of aikido can be traced to the shift in training focus after the end of Ueshiba's seclusion in Iwama from 1942 to the mid-1950s, as he increasingly emphasized the spiritual and philosophical aspects of aikido. As a result, strikes to vital points by , entering () and initiation of techniques by , the distinction between (front side) and (back side) techniques, and the use of weapons, were all de-emphasized or eliminated from practice. Conversely, some styles of aikido place less importance on the spiritual practices emphasized by Ueshiba. According to Minoru Shibata of Aikido Journal: O-Sensei's aikido was not a continuation and extension of the old and has a distinct discontinuity with past martial and philosophical concepts. In other words, aikido practitioners who focus on aikido's roots in traditional or are said to be diverging from what Ueshiba taught, as some critics urge practitioners: [Ueshiba's] transcendence to the spiritual and universal reality were the fundamentals of the paradigm that he demonstrated. References External links AikiWeb Aikido Information site on aikido, with essays, forums, gallery, reviews, columns, wiki and other information. Japanese martial arts Dō Articles containing video clips