I do a lot of thinking in pictures, so when I was looking at the series of Ueshiba pictures, another picture flashed into my head of Takuma Hisa sitting along side of Takeda Sokaku, freshly brushed Menkyo Kaiden in hand. And then a number of facts added up. Osaka was a "Big" territory for Ueshiba with Asahi being one of his dojo and Takuma being one of his students. Yes, Takeda would show up and "take over" for periods of time, but that had been happening and somehow "managed" for years. At some time, Osaka became a turning point though. Takeda decided to stay and Ueshiba seems to have never gone back . . . to Asahi, Takuma and, of course, Takeda. Within a short period of time Takeda awarded Ueshiba's former student Menkyo Kaiden (a rank that had not previously existed.) Now, Ueshiba's former student Takuma Hisa outranked Ueshiba Morihei in the only art Ueshiba was licensed to teach . . .
So here we have two photo's both proudly taken after the awarding of a Daito Ryu license by an, at once, scorned and embraced Takeda Sokaku. The latter photo in conjunction with the former would threaten, from Ueshiba's perspective, to turn everything he had worked for and achieved on its head and in a manner (using Ueshiba's student) that would be as humiliating as possible to him. Within the "world" of Daito Ryu Ueshiba's nail was decisively knocked down leaving no doubts as to who was the Daito Ryu "hammer."
The Ueshiba's response is not atypical in this type of situation, "I'm not part of your floor to be walked on, and therefore I'm no nail to you, and you're no hammer to me!" This type of response works in Japan as long as one is successful and dominant. (If you succeed you are a hero. If you fail, you are just another treacherous villan destined to live in shame and infamy.) Any overt recognition or substantial crediting of Takeda by Ueshiba would have opened him to the unthinkable judgement that was placed upon him by Takeda. Better to simply play the whole thing down and invest in the success of his own interests. If Ueshiba succeeded in a big way, and he did, any rumblings from the "peanut gallery" would just sound like so many "sour grapes" from an insubstantial sub group that obviously didn't "measure up." As has been pointed out, there undoubtedly are other photos that could have been used in those publications. But it is possible that THAT photo with Ueshiba sitting proudly by an overtly (to those in the know) erased connection to a teacher and hurtful past, may be, via a photograph, a "thumbing of the nose" in response to another photograph taken in the past that overtly (to those in the know) "thumbed its nose" at student who's unilateral actions clearly hurt the teacher. Both photos, while seemingly innocuous to the average onlooker, would send a message written with a "poison pen" to different individuals.
If I'm not mistaken Kisshomaru Ueshiba would have been old enough to be fully cognizant of the goings on of that time and would have an understandably Ueshiba bias about it all I would assume. In fact, he, not being as close to Takeda Sokaku as Ueshiba Morihei was, would probably not have the sympathetic feelings that Morihei likely had, despite events, about his relationship with Sokaku. However, he, Kisshomaru, would be well aware of the players and the stakes involved and would take whatever steps he felt were necessary to preserve the family honor and what he perceived to be the family art.
Well, that's just me "shooting from the hip" again. At least it makes a good story. I find Shioda Gozo's pre-war/post-war roll smack in the middle of Daito Ryu/Aikikai/ and Yoshinkan to be intriguing. Money, politics, and power. Shadow and Light. It all sends my head into a spirally spin!
