Is modern Aikido based on the atomic bomb rather than the sword?
I'm serious about this, and I'm playing with some inquiry. Since the Bronze Age, the sword had been the height of martial technology. In the pre-war era Morihei Ueshiba appears very warlike and grimacing. Like he was going to tear you a new one. Contrast that to post-war aikido, after the atomic bomb, and there is a smiling older man running around with his arms raised towards the sky and declaring peace.
M. Ueshiba had several "conversion" experiences over the years, beginning in the 1920's. But it wasn't until WWI and his direct experience of another type of destructive power, the atomic bomb, that things appear to completely transform, and he makes a complete 180. Quote:
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Best, Chris |
Re: Is modern Aikido based on the atomic bomb rather than the sword?
Yes, in 1925 he addressed his experience as "At that moment..." He had a peak experience - which is not all that uncommon. I've had several myself over the years. What is uncommon is his direct experience of the effects and after-effects of a man-made destructive martial power the level of which, until then, he could not have fathomed.
I grew up as a little kid in the 60's. The threat for us wasn't someone with a knife, or a sword, or a gun. It was from something that was going to cause a flash in the sky and instantly fry everything thing within that region of the country. Consequently, I and the others around my age grew up as pretty chilled out people. Peace, on a larger scale, since WWII, was not been achieved by the sword, but by the atomic bomb. |
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This is tangential, but the following is an interesting article discussing evidence for whether Japan surrendured because of Nagaskai and Hiroshima or because the Soviets entered the war.
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Tsuyoshi-Hasegawa/2501 |
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Best, Chris |
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I acknowledge that the sword is symbolic as the heart of budo, but if we are talking battlefield engagement, first the spear and then a long line of missile casters have been outperforming the sword for literally thousands of years.
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Chris, I agree there was a shift by degrees over time. So, I don't think the 180 came all at once. He was moving in that direction, but hadn't made a complete shift in polarity. It's like he'd been moving a dimmer switch, and there were incremental increases in the "mood" lighting. But it wasn't until the polarity completely reached 180 degrees from the "off/war" position to the "on/peace" position that the house lights really came on. It was at that point that he truly moved into "walking the talk."
We've got to keep in mind that Ueshiba was taught by, and came from, lineages of people who passed on the arts of hurting and killing people. It was in his psyche. And he didn't suddenly release all of that after his 1925 "experience." He started talking about it. But he didn't renounce violence and become a monk. He was still teaching aiki-jujutsu under the licenses from Takeda until the mid 30's. I'd be interested in knowing from anyone who might have more specifics on the history: How long did Ueshiba openly take on challengers in the dojo? Thanks for that link, Eric. Quote:
AIkido reminds me a lot of the Spanish going into the Phillippines. (Initially the stick-armed Filipinos even managed to beat the sword-armed Spaniards.) Evenly the Spanish won, and took over the Phillippines. And the Spanish banned the practice and training of martial arts there. The Filipinos, though, keep up these "dances" they had, and wore costumes with openly concealed information. They - as well as many other cultures invaded by other countries - hide their arts in "dances." Under K. Ueshiba, Aikido essentially grabbed the old model of the emperor hierarchy pyramid, and started building right back up. Placing the Ueshiba family at the top. Post-war practitioners were quickly graded to very high dan levels and later dispatched overseas with, in many cases, a decade's worth of experience or less. With little to no training on the real internal workings of the art. And they brought up students, and created big top-down pyramids. And top-down propaganda The aikido most people see and train that looks like "dance" is, in many cases, just that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...ation_of_Japan Quote:
It's become obvious by the rise of people like Dan Harden (American), Mike Sigman (American), and Akuzawa Minoru (Chinese-trained Japanese) that there have been some major core pieces of the puzzle that have been missing from much of what has been passed off to the public as Aikido. One thing that people do in peacetime is share. We share experiences, and we share knowledge and information. Maybe we could start hanging another picture in our dojos. One to remind us that technology and open communication and sharing are more responsible for peace, and that the emperor-hierarchy-protect-at-all-costs model is exactly what got Japan in such trouble as we began moving into a more open and peaceful world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer |
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Robert, I just noticed your signature. Thank you! Right there in plain sight is the admission by a major Aikikai Shihan that they've been going for quantity over quality all this time.
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If you were wanting to truly explore the ins and outs of making the perfect steak, would you really go to McDonald's? The explosive microbrewery movement in the US didn't need to go to Budweiser. My money's on a new generation of people who are willing to step out of the ranks and freely explore, examine, and share. The proof is in the pudding. Many of them are already in place and the movement is underway. People are starting to demand a deeper level of experience. |
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Just to note: Although my practice is based in Nishio Aikido, I started aikido in 1988 at NY Aikikai. Among my first teachers were Yamada, Sugano, Donovan, Harvey, Hal, Rick, Angel, Tina, Claire, and others there. This interview with Yamada even demonstrates that he's tired of the water. I find this quite encouraging.
http://www.aikido-yamada.eu/index.php/sensei/interview/ |
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Best, Chris |
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Thanks for your input, Chris. Some of the historical accuracy and timetables were exactly what I was looking for in the topic. It's much appreciated.
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As far as I understand it TSKSR is build upon this understanding of budô. And this is really an old school - koryû. To me it is important to try to understand the meaning of "love" or "peace" in the historical, philosophical, linguistic context it was used by People like Iizasa or Ueshiba. And differentiate it from an understanding of "love, peace and happiness" like it was born in the late sixities in the US or here in Europe. Quote:
And I read about the same time, somewhere in aikido journal. Someone hurt his shoulder so he couldn't practice budô any more. This expierence made Ueshiba stop accepting challenges. When I read in Legacies of the sword, that an 8th dan aikidô challenged a pracitioner of KSSR and lost, I allways wonder whether this must have been during the sixities, when there where was a kind of connection? |
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Regarding Ueshiba's political background and acitvities, I think the unconditional surrender of the tennô must have had deep impact on him. But to be honest: Regarding his understanding of love and peace I don't see a change like it is presumed here. |
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This "Budo is not the felling of an opponent by force; nor is it a tool to lead the world to destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature" sounds like the Kokutai no Hongi on martial spirit.
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But commies invaded Korea... and here we are. |
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Not just the atom bombs but also firebombing of Tokyo ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo ) where the number of casualties on a single raid was "greater than Dresden, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki as single events."
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Best, Chris |
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You're right about the "defeatist" speech with regards to the general populace, though. Best, Chris |
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I think you could find a similar (and perhaps stronger) argument to support a claim that aikido is based upon the concept that came from the end of WWI and rebirthed following WWII - the conceptualization of a league of nations, inter-related economically and culturally in a such a manner as the overt declaration of war upon one nation would necessarily damage the league as a whole, thus deterring one member from considering such a harsh decision as to declare war upon another country. Of course, this is anecdotally constructed and loosely based upon previously successful social[ist] propaganda of that time. |
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Anyone not actively looking for a better way is moving backwards. |
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