Super O'Sensei
 

Just a rant on the criticism John Stevens and others who convey stories of the superhuman acts that Morihei Ueshiba supposedly performed.

For the most miraculous of the stories, the main source has been Gozo Shioda. Professor Stevens included these stories largely based on the source. Before the war, the students of the founder were largely divided into two groups, Omoto Kyo believers and martial arts enthusiasts. Gozo Shioda was clearly in the latter group which was reportedly openly hostile to the group which was interested more in the spiritual matters. Shioda Sensei's teachings emphasized the mechanical, technical points of Aikido. This emphasis makes his technical guides the clearest and most easily understandable of those available.

It is clear that Gozo Shioda had no interest in the mystical side of the Founder's life. This is what makes him an interesting and reliable (comparitively) witness to the things that Morihei Ueshiba did. I have heard many people doubt the stories, but I think that it is important to consider the source when making those doubts.

Did O'Sensei dodge bullets? Could he make a person fall UP a flight of stairs through kiai? I don't know, but I have no doubt that these stories are an important part in the story of Morihei Ueshiba's life. It is clear to me that Professor Stevens rightly included them in his biographies.

Charles

Who cares?

Gambatte!

Ok, I am a big fan of John Stevens' "Classical Aikido" and the traditions of Rinjiro Shirata. I am also (pretty obviously) a big fan of Shioda Kancho. But I have to say that the "biographies" fall more in line with what I would call "mythologies". As such, I think they perform their function well. They relay the stories, myths, and quite a few facts about the founder and his teachings. But since there are no or few footnotes or bibliographies...even the facts are kind of hard to cross check. They do make for good reading though.

On the other hand, you have the works of Stan Pranin. When you read these, you often see the specific questions asked of specific sources. This enables you to make intelligent decisions about some of the motivations of the person being questioned, and to cross check information from various sources. Biases are more easily revealed. You can see the training history of the person being questioned as well. All this goes to being able to make an informed decision on certain matters...Mr. Pranin usually keeps the editorializing to a strict minimum.

Both mediums are good to have, in my opinion. And if you haven't had a chance to train with Stevens Sensei, I highly recomend it. People often talk about riai...the connection of the sword to our tachi waza. Stevens Sensei's seminars make the connection perfectly clear. It is a joy to train with him.

Ron

Mike Ellefson,

I do! That's why I wrote the post.

de, ganbatte tte iwaretamo, nani wo ganbatte hoshii ka, shoujikini iu to, yoku wakaranai!

Charles

Touche'

Charles if I haven't said so already - welcome to the forums.

Re: Super O'Sensei
 

In "Aikido Shugyo" Shioda has a chapter in which he states quite clearly that he believes that Morihei Ueshiba had supernatural powers. FWIW, the dodging bullets story is in there also, told directly by Shioda, who was an eyewitness at the event.

Best,

Chris

Also in one of Shioda Sensei's books is a story of O'Sensei telling how he found from practical experience that the sword is not a practical weapon when dealing with multiple opponents. Apparently he found that his sword became too caked with blood and innards to be of much use for too long. It also seemed to get stuck in an opponent's body.

Professor Stevens wrote in the first book that O'Sensei had never killed anyone, but that was amended in the latest one. Grim, but I think it helps us understand all that Morihei Ueshiba went through to create Aikido.

Charles

p.s. Thanks Peter.

Supernatural
 

Saotome Sensei was quite outspoken on this subject. He stated that in the whole of the fifteen years that he was around O-Sensei he never saw any kind of "magic waza" as he referred to it. He was rather angry that these stories persisted in that he felt it took the focus away from the real achievement of the man who had reached an incredible level of skill.

First, I want to make very clear that I have the deepest respect for Saotome Sensei. His books, interviews, and videos have been very influential on me. If I were to live in the U.S. instead of Japan, I would definitely ask to be allowed to join his organization.

Second, although I have never met George Ledyard, I have found his posts very enlightening and the articles on his website excellent. It is clear that he knows much more on many aspects of Aikido than I.

BUT, I don't understand the above post. I think that it is reasonable to doubt the incredible stories from the distant past. However, there is plenty of video of O'Sensei doing what I'd call "magic waza!" And some of that video features Saotome Sensei.

Of course, a lot of that stuff is what Terry Dobson refered to as O'Sensei's tricks. I took the statement to mean that it is not at all part of what O'Sensei considered Aikido. A friend of mine refers to it as the marketing of Aikido.

Mr. Ledyard, please understand that this post was written with the deepest respect.

Charles

I think this thread illustrates, quite well in fact, why I find the word ki so distasteful. Nothing in Shioda's description, at least the one I read, talks about dodging bullets. It would be more accurate, perhaps, to say.

1. The soldiers lined up and readied their weapons.

2. Morihei Ueshiba, recognizing their intent to fire, moved towards them at a rapid speed.

3. The soliers fired.

4. Morihei Ueshiba was not hit.

5. Morihei Ueshiba threw one of the soldiers.

There are a lot of reasons the soldiers may have missed. Possibly, they didn't want to kill someone, least of all a respected martial arts instructor, or, it's just plain hard to hit a moving target. To say that he dodged bullets is putting hyperbole before the facts, of which we have precious little in this case.

Lastly, I don't know why we should take Gozo Shioda's word as gospel. Everyone that I've ever known has a blind spot in certain areas and it's not rare that it's an area in which they have a certain level of expertise. I doubt Gozo Shioda was anymore immune to this than anyone else. In short, he was human just like all the rest of us.

Erik,

I haven't read any translations (other than Professor Stevens) that may be out there, but in the original account only your #1 and #4 are clearly correct. According to Shioda Sensei, O'Sensei disappeared and then reappeared behind everyone and did the whole thing twice.

The point of my original post was not to rehash any arguments that probably occured on other threads, just to make clear the source of the stories so that they be judged rightly.

I, personally, highly doubt the stories. Everyone who has posted here apparently does as well. I just can't figure out why Shioda Sensei would either distort things or make them up.

Charles

To elaborate (from Shioda's original account in Japanese), they tried to shoot Ueshiba twice, from a distance of around 25 meters. Shioda couldn't see him move the first time, so he tried to watch carefully the second time, but still couldn't see him move across that distance. His comment on the incident was that he could not think of it as anything other than "divine techniques" ("kami-waza").
I have no idea what Shioda was like in terms of truthfullness or story-telling.

I do agree, however, with the original sentiment about John Stevens. He takes a lot of criticism for over-exaggeration, but when I read the original Japanese sources I realized that the "over-exaggeration" rested more with the sources than the reporter. True or not, those stories are an important part of Aikido history.

Best,

Chris

I wrote about what Shioda sensei wrote in his book on the Aikido-L mailing list back in January. It's a bit out of context, but here's what I wrote:
I then wrote a day later in response to someone who had a hard time believing that an Olympic-trained marksman would ever even aim a loaded gun at another human being, except in dire self-defense:
Hope that gives a more "detailed" account of what Shioda sensei wrote. (Translation from his Japanese is mine, though...)

-- Jun

See Jun's post. I was extrapolating the golden balls out of the eyes, or whatever it exactly was, as reading intent.
I don't think he did. I think one of two things happened. Gun shots are distracting, particularly when you aren't used to them, and these weapons may or may not have thrown off smoke which would further add to the distraction. Add the heightened effect of someone possibly being shot and it's very likely perceptions were distorted. It's possible to run 25 meters in roughly 3 seconds. Hence, I think Morihei Ueshiba may have just moved quickly and it seemed like it all happened in the blink of an eye.

Alternatively, it's often hard to see our teachers as they really are. There is a tendency, if we aren't really careful, to give them powers and abilities which they don't have. There may have been some of that going on as well.

Charles,

There was no disrespect intended in my post. It's just the deshi of O'Sensei that I have trained with (for the most part) talked about O'Sensei's tangible aura and power, not of his ability to matrix his way out of a firing squad.

Lending more than what is humanly possible to a person's ability, IMHO, doesn't do the amazing art he developed or its practitioners any favors.

All the Best,

I read the original years ago when I took out all the books on Aikido from the library in an attempt to improve my Japanese reading ability. I must admit that I don't remember half of what Jun wrote.

While I take my training very seriously, I take these stories with an extremely light heart. I have taken no offense from anyone, and I hope no one has felt any from me. If people could put up with one more rant from me, I'd like to say that there is WAY too much contention on these forums over things that are not important.

Charles

Have any of you read "Total Aikido (something or other" by Suenaka Sensei? My memory of the names and titles is not so good, but i seem to remember that he was an acquaintance of O'Sensei for on several occasions. In the biography section about his time with O'Sensei he mentions some of these 'powers'. An example, I think was of his use of the kotodama sounds. Also, as mentioned above, his prescence was overwhelming, his Ki almost a physical prescence and his use of Kiai amazing. I cannot remember the precise details of these encounters, but the general gist was that he believed O'Sensai to be capable of some not quite scientifically explainable stuff. Hearing on this site, and in reading various material on Aikido and O'sensei, this i feel is believable, ar rather, I want to believe these are true. Anyhow, it does no harm to Aikido to have these stories, as something to aspire to.



Many thanks,

Adam

Re: Supernatural
 

George,

Which stories does he characterize thus?--

Doging bullets?

Knowing when someone arrived at the station across town?

Knocking over cars with a KIAI?

Hearing bugs on the SHOJI?

Anticipating attacks by DESHI?

Eating when hungry?...

Thanks.

Terrific book. I do recall Suenaka Sensei's account of being knocked nearly unconscious when O'Sensei struck him inth head with a chopstick!

Anybody know where I can learn the 31 count hashi kata?:D