Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
In doing my research for my Aikido history project, an interesting subject arose from one of the questions I was asking my interviewee. How did seeing action in the military or war affect the early practitioners training in Aikido? Some of the early practitioners including O Sensei and Koichi Tohei saw action during wartime and had the experience of the loss of human life with the constant dangers of combat. I am sure the psychological experience of combat changed their views and methods of training but how? Possibly gaining a heightened awareness because of the dangerous circumstances of combat. Understanding the need to take an enemy out as efficiently as possible. The ordeal of close quarters combat and seeing the enemy being "taken out" in close proximity.
Could the surviving the ordeal of war time and combat be one of the reasons the founder and the early uchideshi were so "different" from the civilian Aikidokas? Perhaps having a true understanding of Katsujinkan and Satsujinkan( I hope I am using them in the right context) having taken and saved lives. |
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Good luck. dps |
Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
Interesting question.
However, whithout knowing what kind of (and how much) action they were involved in, it will be hard to say if they were affected and how the experience changed their approach to aikido. Also, people who served, like Tohei, Shirata, Mochizuki, etc. developed different ways of doing things. It seems similar war exposure didnīt caused similar ways of doing aikido. I think the difference between pre and post-WW2 was the different mindset of japanese society at large before and after Japan's defeat than the first-hand combat experience in the field of some of the early practitioners. |
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It wasn't just that Osensei fought in real modern combat, it was that he was involved in the early-20th century drive of Japan to build an Empire. Which the Japanese people thought was a great and noble thing despite all of the atrocities they inflicted on the other peoples of Asia. Furthermore, Osensei was seriously involved with a movement that wanted to spiritually transform all of Asia.
But he survived all of that and continued to teach and develop his art for another couple of decades, living through the long and painful hangover of seeing all of that fail and realizing how misguided it all was. People tend to regard post-war Aikido as being watered down and blissed out but I think you have to consider how much pain and fire was involved in transforming Aikido into that state. It should be more like Post (all) War Aikido. Probably not what you want to focus your paper on, but it might be interesting to find some Japanese folks in their 80s and 90s who lived through WWII and get a sense of how that changed the national character. I think you would find that the evolution of Aikido through that period reflects that change in attitude. |
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When I hear accounts of the effect of the war on O-Sensei and on aikido's development I'm sometimes reminded of 'An Artist in a Floating World' by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's fiction of course, but I think it provides some insight into that post-war time period in Japan. It's written from the point of view of an artist who during the war worked as a propagandist and after the war slowly begins to question his preconceptions about the war and Japan's role in it, and to question his own specific role.
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I thought the effect WWII had on M. Ueshiba is a well-documented subject? Specifically how that effected the development of aikibudo into aikido...and the transformation of the ideals behind the training (as a life path).
To utilize a somewhat related personal topic, I felt my aikido training effected me in the opposite way. The primacy of my training was in 'pre-war' aikido. The personal development and growth I received during arduous physical and philosophical training during my time as uchideshi, and doing such classes as kenshu (like a lite version of senshusei), really helped me thrive through combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The personal growth, development of spirit, focus on self-understanding, and growth of a martial spirit helped make me adapt and sustain in those situations. So that is aikido's legacy and effect on my experiences with war. Kind of related to the topic of your report, in the periphery. |
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Adam, my experiences as well with respect to war. My training in budo prepared me to deal with it, I at least like to think so. How much has war shaped my personal perspective and focus? I am not really sure to be honest, but it has to some degree, it has to.
I am always suspect of post world war II martial arts and what arose from it. I think there might have also been a co-opting of many things for the sake of making a living. That thought is always on my mind. However, I think, the totality of Ueshiba's life experiences, one of which was dealing with the horrors of war and violence certainly affected him and his philosophy. I think Cliff Judge is probably spot on..that would be my comments as well. |
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On the other hand, Kisshomaru usually cited his father's key experience in the birth of Aikido as occurring in 1925 - well before the war. Also, you have Morihiro Saito, who represented that what he was taught directly by Morihei after the war most resembled what appeared in the 1938 technical manual Budo - a pre-war publication. Then you have the "pre-war" styles, none of which were actually taught pre-war: Shodokan (Tomiki): trained before the war, developed and taught after the war Yoshinkan (Shioda): trained before the war, developed and taught after the war Yoseikan (Mochizuki): trained before the war, developed and taught after the war That is, every one of the "pre-war" styles developed their curriculum and teaching methods after the war. None of them were actually taught before the war. The only style that was actually taught pre-war was...Aikikai, by Morihei. Considering that, you might add: Aikikai (as in Kisshomaru): trained before the war, developed and taught after the war In that case, I would submit that most of today's Aikikai Aikido had indeed been shaped by the war - but by Kisshomaru, rather than Ueshiba, as a result of his attempt to adapt Aikido to the changing society in Japan and the world after the war. As for Morihei, there have been discussions about this before - but what, precisely, were the new insights cited after the war which were not cited before? Best, Chris |
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In terms of personality and administration, maybe, but I don't see that much of a correlation there. Best, Chris |
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I think the aftermath of WWII did more to shape Kisshomaru's vision of aikido than the actual war did. but, that's just my opinion. Mark |
Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
Just to toss a wrench in the gears...
Prior to 1942, there was no aikido. It had not been born. Morihei Ueshiba trained and taught Daito ryu for quite a while. Now, as Chris noted, Morihei Ueshiba only acknowledged the name aikido for his art. He never named it himself. Taking one more step forward, as Chris also noted, Saito was learning everything that Morihei Ueshiba taught prior to 1942. In other word, Saito was learning Daito ryu. When you look at the films of Ueshiba after 1942, 99% is stock Daito ryu techniques. Sooooo, can combat and war affect something that isn't in existence? Wouldn't it be more apt to ask if combat and war affected Ueshiba's vision of Daito ryu such that it influenced his acknowledgement of the general term aikido? What then, can be said for Sagawa and Horikawa, whose arts are also generically called aikido? Yes, I am playing Devil's advocate here. :) |
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Best, Chris |
Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
A couple more thoughts:
Morihei Ueshiba was relatively untouched by the war - he retired to Iwama in 1942 and lived out the war and most of its aftermath in seclusion. The folks in the countryside weren't even really affected by the food shortages and rationing of post-war Japan. By the time he emerged he was no longer directing the day-to-day affairs of Aikido, which were left to Kisshomaru. One huge effect of the war was that it erased the generation of students from the Kobukan. Aikido essentially started over with an entirely new group of beginners after the war. The senior people from the Kobukan either went out on their own, stopped training, or died. Rinjiro Shirata being one of the few exceptions. Things might have been quite different if that generation had continued to train and develop. Best, Chris |
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I think in that time, traveling to China was not the same as now. He certainly saw the results of the war, and he must have heard ( or seen) about the attitude of the Japanese military regime towards the local people. Just a thought in my head Eddy |
Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
Just a thought, but if you want to know the effect of war/combat on someone's aikido training, I am sure that there are a lot of current combat veterans out there who have practiced aikido before going off to war and who resumed their practice after they returned. Their experiences and thoughts might prove useful, and while they are not Morihei Ueshiba, their insights might provide you with some perspective.
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Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
I apologize I should have clarified my idea a little more. My original question should have been: Did O Sensei's participation in the Russo Japanese war affect his training and attitude about Budo? Koichi Tohei participated in WW2 and saw action also. I am not talking philosophical or the country's defeat in WW2. Did the personal experience of war and combat affect their training?
According to my source, after Koichi Tohei returned from the war O Sensei told him something changed about him and promoted him on the spot( I do realize he did this a lot.) My interviewee having felt O Sensei and took ukemi from Koichi Tohei and Doshu said there was no comparison in terms of power. He thought part of O Sensei and Koichi Tohei's power was from the fact they had seen action in comparison to Doshu who did not. The most interesting part of the interview was that O Sensei confided that one of his biggest regrets was the taking of human life. During his time in Hawaii O Sensei was quite relaxed and let his guard down about some of his experiences. He stated that during the Russo Japanese war, the Japanese solders (Including himself) would do nighttime attacks in the enemy foxholes with katana ( Due to lack of ammunition) and kill the enemy close up. The interviewed Sensei thinks that some of O Sensei's power come from the experience of cutting human beings. O Sensei never stated how many he cut down but he did participate in that experience. Interesting stuff. |
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PS: My apologies to Adam Huss and Kevin Leavitt, I don't know how I missed their contributions here, but my thought remains the same. Perhaps such veterans (if they would be willing to share), could, with some specific prompting, provide you with those insights.
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Re: Combat and war affecting the early training training of Aikido
I would say it cannot but affect it.
To put it in a nutshell every person I have ever met who has been in war has been shaken up and ends up re-evaluating life. Budo is important when it comes to this. Most people follow and get into Budo and say how it's about this and that and how they train for this and that which may happen and yet have no reality on the reality of war, actual killing. Hence the revelations of Ueshiba on the subject. Peace.G. |
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