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Old 11-24-2003, 12:58 PM   #21
Chris Li
 
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Dojo: Aikido Sangenkai
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 3,313
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Quote:
Frank Hale (fvhale) wrote:
Dear Chris,

Can I infer from your posts that you have a good grasp of Japanese language? If this is true, can I ask if you have had opportunity to study the written works of prominent teachers of various Japanese martial arts? You seem to be familiar with various work of M. Ueshiba in Japanese, and perhaps also of G. Funakoshi and J. Kano?
I've read just about everything available in Japanese by M. Ueshiba, less from other modern martial artists. The Funakoshi thing is fairly well known, one of his "20 principles of Karate", which states "Karate ni sente nashi" (IIRC), or "there is no first attack in Karate".
Quote:
Frank Hale (fvhale) wrote:
My private intuitive sense, as well as my limited experience with different martial arts, is that in the cultural and linguistic context of Japan, there is less "uniqueness" to the various martial arts than we perceive from what is available in English. But I may be all wrong. If you have the opportunity to look at these questions within the original cultural and linguistic context, I'd be most interested in your comments.
As a package Aikido is certainly unique, but most of the individual philosophical statements can be found in other Japanese martial arts as well, going back hundreds of years.

Best,

Chris

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