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Old 04-12-2012, 08:17 PM   #244
Byron Foster
Dojo: Aikikai
Location: Los Angeles
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 20
United_States
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Re: The Founder's Teaching Ability

From Dan Harden
Quote:
Sagawa
What did we find out about Sagawa, years later?
What did Sagawa say as well? "We were told to teach only one or two people the real art."
He admitted in his 90's that he got his aiki from solo training. What did he say about that?
That in 60 years......he never taught it!
He revealed that Takeda told him not to talk about it (meaning Takeda did it and showed him the model)
He admitted that he never taught anyone till near the end of his career.
He also said never teach white people
As an aside have you ever met a grandmaster level Internal artist who was NOT Asian????
Any of this sound familiar enough to vet my statement?
I bought a book from a well know Wushu instructor living in Vancouver Canada. I had a few classes with him years ago.

Qigong Empowerment. A guide to Medical, Taoist Buddhist Wushu energy cultivation.

In the preface, the author Shou-yu Liang makes the following interesting statement:

"There are other methods that we have not had my teachers' permission to present in this volume. We have, therefore, refrained from presenting them at this time. When my teachers grant me the permission, we will present them to interested individuals".

So one interpretation of this is that the old men back in China were okay putting some harmless stretching and breathing techniques for health into a book to share with everyone, but they were no okay with a book that may be called "Techniques to develop powerful martial artists".

The last sentence "When my teachers grant me the permission, we will present them to interested individuals" is really interesting. He is not saying that when they get permission to teach "the goods", it will not go into a book for everyone to read, but will be doled out to a few "interested individuals".

This really seems to support the above statements by Dan Harden regarding the willingness of traditional teachers to share the true foundations of their arts.

http://www.amazon.com/Qigong-Empower.../dp/1889659029

Personal review. Actually the book is quite good for what it is. I am confident that people smarter than me will be able to figure some things out from this book.
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