Re: Saito Sensei 1964 22 kata?
It's worth pondering, however, that if it was so that both Saito sensei (according to an early interview from the 70's perhaps I believe found in aikidojournal), Tomita, Shioda (look att yoshinkan kamae!), you and I (just to name a few) believe it's good to at least go through a phase with deep and wide stance, is it then "good" to change, or evolve if you like, the "kihon" stance into a much smaller one like what happend in Iwama and what is seen as "basic" today in most Iwama dojos?
Another issue worth pondering (at least to me) is what you mentioned that other people that don't train "Iwama style" aikido would recognise and identify with the techniques from this old video from the 60's. Would they still do that if looking at the basic techniques and training in an Iwama style dojo today?
A third interesting point that you brought up is the inviting or drawing out ukes attack (or even attacking yourself to elicit a responce). In the old manual budo renshu edited by o-sensei he clearly wrote regarding suwari waza ikkyo omote that: shite (nage) attack aite (uke) with a (sho)menuchi - uke block. And ikkyo ura waza: Shite fills himself with ki and invite uke. Uke attacks with (sho)menuchi - Shite performs ikkyo ura.
Even later films of O-sensei one can see him do this. His hands are always up there drawing out uke.