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Old 06-02-2012, 06:46 PM   #39
David Orange
Dojo: Aozora Dojo
Location: Birmingham, AL
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Re: Morihei Ueshiba: Untranslatable Words

Quote:
Graham Christian wrote: View Post
Let's take what he did say, let's take the actual words he used and ask do you understand them? Love and light. There you are, in plain English. Do you understand?
Mmmmmm.......do you think Ueshiba actually said "love and light"....in plain English? Again....that's Tohei's translation.

If you've read Tohei's interviews with Stan Pranin, you'll see that he actually retained a bit of resentment of OSensei. And he carried a resentment of aikikai with him a long time after the split. It seems he aggressively discarded pretty much everything O Sensei talked about and just taught the outer form and described it with his own concepts. He didn't know and didn't care what Ueshiba was talking about, except that he considered it pointless.

Quote:
Graham Christian wrote: View Post
Sometimes I wonder 'Do you want to understand?' (a serious question) For a serious student who did want to understand that particular piece of information given would have to research what it meant wouldn't they?

So the next question would be where to look. Take the data given and go look in the right places and find out for yourself is the way of the student.
I know Chris is doing that as a qualified translator of Japanese, long-experienced in aikido and having access to some of the greatest aikidoka in the world.

Have you done that???? Do you want to understand (serious question).

You sum up everything so nicely, tidily and simply....in theory...that you seem not to have put into real action.

Thanks for the clarification.

David

Last edited by David Orange : 06-02-2012 at 06:50 PM.

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