Re: Basic elements of Aikido
Just noticed this thread. I only have a little time for the next couple of weeks, but a few points. Tempu Nakamura developed his own method of "yoga" after trips to India, and I believe, the Himalayas and China. He certainly brought elements of mainland Asian religion and ascetic practice back to Japan. I may be able to find out more specifics in a month or so.
Secondly, regarding Ueshiba and elements of Chinese martial arts/philosophy. He trained in Shingon mikkyo, which is, essentially, Tibetan Buddhism filtered through China. Taoism is one of the main theoretical bases within koryu. Five element theory and yin-yang dynamism is pervasive in Araki-ryu and in Jikishin Kage-ryu, to mention only two, one of which I study. Chi-kung practices - CHINESE chi-kung practices - are very old in Japan. I cannot remember if it is Hakuin or Dogen, or another famous roshi, but the story is that his health was ruined by zazen (the Japanese typically turned meditation into a self-torture) and he sought out a Taoist who taught him a chi-kung method which healed him. As I remember, it included imagining an egg broken on the crown of the head, and it slowly seeping down the body, relaxing and healing as it went. In short, what I'm saying is that Japanese Buddhists were quite familiar with Taoist practices, philosophy and cosmology. Most old ryu have esoteric teachings that are an amalgam of neo-Confucianism (a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism), mikkyo and pure Taoism.
Finally, if nowhere else, Deguchi was a spiritual omnivore. He took the intuitive, channeled folk Shinto of his wife, and elaborated it into something far more grandiose and comprehensive. Any and all spiritual training, he devoured, transmuted and under slightly new form, it all came out Omotokyo.
My two of three essays (the third still in formation) regarding Ueshba's own description of his aikido focused on his intention - what he was trying to do, by his own account, in uniting heaven and earth in man - not on an explication of the secret code of training that might be inherent in his statements. That was, by the way, my whole point regarding Tohei. Tohei says that the metaphyisical explanations were irrelevant to the art of relaxation. My point is that they weren't to Ueshiba. They were a means to another end.
Anyway, I have absolutely no doubt that the elements of Taoism and Buddhist ascetic chi-kung so permeated much that Ueshiba studied that there is no possibility that he could have gotten it any other way. Japanese martial ryu without Chinese underpinnings would be quite different. It is true that, for most ryu, this did not include ki/kokyu training, at least in the manner we think of when we think of either aikido or such arts as t'ai chi or bagua - I know, I know - as different as these arts are from each other anyway).
By the way, all of this does not require that Ueshiba went to China to get the goods (that is dubious - he didn't have enough time, nor did he speak Chinese). It is simply that such doctrines were rife, and in some ascetic trainings, and a few ryu, actual teachings beyond mere doctrine were available. There are a few ryu which include purely native Japanese folk Shinto, with exorcism, purifications, etc. But I think Mike is correct that Ueshiba's Shinto - Omotokyo - is not "folk Shinto" - it is a syncretic new religion that integrated a lot of Buddhism and Taoism. Deguchi claimed himself to be a Buddha as Ueshiba claimed to be a Buddhist "diety" - Fudomyo, just to give some examples.
Ellis Amdur
Last edited by Ellis Amdur : 05-23-2005 at 11:16 PM.
|