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Don_Modesto · 12-18-2003, 01:30 PM

Two days ago I prepared a note for this thread but it disappeared under Aikiweb's time limit. Oops! (My response at the time was not so moderate.)

Although I too would like to know who Mr. Delucia's teachers have been, even if he learned his aikido from a book, this is still following Osensei in practice, right? (We all do remember that episode where he was asked to teach Naginata which he promptly undertook to study by placing a pulp novel on the KAMIDANA and dreaming it's curriculum. If Mr. Delucia did that, we'd call him a fraud, right?)

I mostly support Mr. Delucia. Is what he does (juding by the site) textbook aikido? Hardly. But then, who among us follows the ideal so assiduously? Aikido has plenty of wiggle room here and there are sanctimonious bliss-ninnies cloaking their martial incapacities in universal-love rhetoric just as Mr. Delucia alleges.

If he wants to take his training into competition, it is not the venue nor his panties defining his aikido but his attitude. This is between himself and his conscience.

And if he promotes himself? It seems he stoops to commercialism and sponsorship. Well, maybe his father wasn't as wealthy as Osensei's. And remember, when that dole ran out, it was soldiers, admirals, spies, plotters, and assassins supporting the founder. Wiggle room, indeed.

More comments follow after my initials.

Quote:

Michael Young wrote:

O.K....I will not deny that O'Sensei practiced sumo, or that he wore a thu...or a loincloth...

DJM: That was a clever rejoinder, wasn't it!

....but show me a picture or tell me a story you have heard of O'Sensei or his Deshi or any other Shihan or high ranking instructor with lineage and legitimate credentials practicing AIKIDO with blood on their chest,

DJM: "Blood on their chest." Assuming you're speaking metaphorically...The story is told, of Ueshiba accepting a challenge from a judo player, crushing the man's hip thus ruining his career (apologies for providing no reference; I think I read this on Aikidojournal.com or in one of Stanley's books). Shioda boasts in his Aikido Shugyo of breaking a bottle over a man's head and then driving the broken shards into his face. One of the founder's close students was executed as a war criminal (in Aikido Masters by Stanley Pranin, if I recall aright.) Several highly regarded Ueshiba Honbu Shihan are infamous for injuring students (see editorial by Stanley Pranin.) Many went out to try their technique in the street.

What is the purpose of displaying such pictures of yourself on a web site Mr. Delucia, is it to promote Aikido or to promote yourself?

DJM: Golly. What would we make of it if he circulated pictures in which he had pinned TWO men at once and was standing over them, er, as we have seen with pictures of Osensei?

....kneepads and knee braces...loincloth...keiko-gi...hakama...O'Sensei is in a loincloth...your outfit...

DJM: No stranger to the attraction of esthetics myself, I still have to remark that all this is ephemera--cultural, historical, or utilitarian perhaps, but hardly worth serious consideration. Aikido is not defined by underwear and skirts.

....challengers were not allowed in the AIKIDO dojo...when they approached and demanded challenge they were denied or kicked out by the students.

DJM: As were some interviewers. The UCHIDESHI infamously cloistered the man from things of which he himself seemed to approve (PAG relates, "I am struck by the powerful response which O Sensei's personal presence evoked in these individuals. And a number of them have very particularly remarked on his openness to foreigners even in situations where many around him were leery and advised against taking on one or another student for reasons of nationality or social status." see http://143.207.8.139/cgi-bin/ubb/ult...c&f=9&t=000618.)

Why would O'Sensei deny challengers and do such things, if he truly was this purported great martial artist. Aikido is not combat, it is not fighting, it is not meeting aggression with aggrerssive response.

DJM: Yeah. I find that kind of disturbing, myself. Neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red herring is this aikido. When challenged, its' not fighting; when ridiculed, it is. More wiggle room.

Do I step into rings to test the effectiveness of my Aikido? No, and neither do your Mr. Delucia....you are not practicing Aikido there.

DJM: Whether he's trying to win a trophy or trying to ratchet up his level of ability with stiffer training--only he knows this in his heart.