something strawdog said on the don angier thread seems to sum it up differently in a way that mirrors how people often consider taiji to be "advanced":
The art is not the list of techniques. He said that Yanagi Ryu is the set of principles. He said that if I fully understood the principles I could figure out the rest.
if all of that is true, shouldn't people who have learned the list of techniques focus on the core set of principles? shouldn't they do that their entire time studying the curriculum from basic to advanced student? if they're a beginner, they focus on the core. intermediate, they learn the full list. advanced, they understand how the core principles are always expressed in that list and in other what-if scenarios?