ChrisMoses

I'll join the chorus of thanks. I really appreciate your reservedly candid approach on the forums and essays you've written. I can't wait for your further explorations on these subjects. I believe "Aikido Masters" is the most important English language document on Aikido, particularly when taken with the Noma dojo photographs and "Budou Renshu".

This column reminds me of two History classes I took in College. The professor (Dr. Fisher) was the first History teacher that I'd had who really showed us the process of discovery and just how messy and obfuscated the past in fact is. Our only assignment the first quarter was to determine, "Was Constantine a Christian?" To do this, we could only use primary sources written up to 50 years after his death. We had nearly all of the existent documents available to us, so we were in a very similar vantage point as those who wrote the black and white history books. We all came away with about as many questions as answers, what exactly constituted a "Christian" in the fourth century anyway? A large portion of the available documents were correspondence to and from the Papacy. This meant that you couldn't just read what was being said, but rather had to read through the fog of formality and need for tatemae (for lack of a better term).

Anyway, thanks for this, I'm really looking forward to subsequent pieces.