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David Valadez wrote:
Hi All,
Looking for a bit of research assistance. Has anyone seen Osensei's phrase, "I am the universe," in it's actual Japanese - not an editor's Japanese and not in a Translator's English. If so, could you please let me know what that Japanese was, and/or if you can write out the kanji, that would be even better.
Much thanks in advance,
dmv
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Hello David,
One place which comes close is p.22 of "Aikido Kaiso Ueshiba Morihei-den", written by Kisshomaru Ueshiba. The phrase is in quotation marks and so it would seem that Kisshomary is quoting and he actually states in the paragraph that his father was wont to utter such phrases.
However, I have some experience in translating Japanese written in the Taisho/early Showa era and I know that authors were somewhat loose with quotation mark The phrase contains the folowing characters (with radicals and the revised Nelson numbering): 62/2028; 26/633; 40/1309; 40/1318. The establsihed readings are "GO - waga"; "SOKU" - "sunawa(chi)" (which Kisshomaru gives as okurigana in the text; and the usual "UTCHUU", for "Universe".
I once gave the phrase to one of my Japanese graduate students and he confessed that he was unable to read the first two characters. He thought it might be GO-SOKU. However, Kissshomaru's gloss of "sunawachi" suggests something more like "waga sunawachi..." When I next meet Okumura Sensei I will ask him. In the meantime, perhaps you might ask Prof. Grapard...
Best regards,