Ok, Aikilove, I must say you said it perfect, and I for one could not agree more. I have recently started training in Daito Ryu, so I am not any type of authority in that art at this point, but I have trained Aikido for years, and I too practise strangulations and other types of defense against punches and kicks. And I learend all that from Aikido not Daito Ryu.
Not sure if your trying to start another argument or what Daito Ryu Fighter, but come on, there are similar techniques found in several martial arts all over the world. And I know that Segal HAS NOT trained in Daito Ryu. YOu should have asked him, he would have said he had not.
What you have said, Daito Ryu, is a very common misconception that an inexperienced person with limited knowledge of Aikido would have said. I am not sure if your trying to assert the superiority of your art over Aikido, or what, but lets get facts together before there is misinformation spread.
I was recently at an Aikido seminar with Isoyama Shihan, and he did some very amazing techniques, some very "hard" techniques. Now I have sen these done in Daito Ryu as well, does that mean, because I haven't seen other Aikidoka do them, that he must have learned them from Daito Ryu????? No, not likely. He was an uchi deshi of O'Sensei and that is where he learned his techniques. Now I know and most do know, that Daito Ryu is the parent art of Aikido. It is a documented fact that he used Daito Ryu as the technical basis for Aikido. He tweeked things to fit with his ideals and way of doing things. Anyway, I got off topic, but yes, there are strangles in Aikido. I have trained in chokes in Aikido, and they look just like what Seagal Shihan does!!!!!!!