View Single Post
Old 06-03-2008, 08:01 AM   #26
DH
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,394
United_States
Offline
Re: new Ellis Amdur piece on aikido journal

Quote:
Ellis Amdur wrote: View Post
Dear Dan - I wasn't thinking of you at all. I was thinking of myself. I have a garage dojo, and frankly, I'm a lot less welcoming than you. You accept guests to practice, I do not. You issue open invites, I do not. So why a "garage or a barn?" I have a habit when I write of coupling words together for rhythm. "A garage or a barn," sounds like a community; far better than "a garage," which merely sounds lonely and depressing.
But if you want to argue with me and include yourself among the isolates who see students in terms of "suitable or please get out - now," you are welcome. The only question is if two misanthropes together are any less lonely.
Ellis
Hah! Or maybe it was unconscious.
Which misanthrope is lonely(er)?
Well hell, the only reason I opened my door after years of saying "No!" was what a certain someone said to me after plying me with mojitos. Two months later I had guests!! (blek) from all over.
Ya know, I think that guy may have been right after all.

Speaking of barns and garages- or country settings. I think that it would be an excellent expansion in both you and Peters capable hands and works on transmission / heritage / history (you know, that writing thing you two are good at) To consider what made the masters? What is the most common formula?
You're working on Takeda and what has become of Daito ryu down to Ueshiba.
Peter on Ueshiba and what has become of Aikido through Kissamaru to the present.
That's probably a fair summation of your latest work.

So, in a more general sense for the masters in Budo:
1. What was the real method of transmission that clicked VS the crap most did back then?
2. How does that play against allot of the crap we do today?
3. In the end were they or us really all that different in what it takes to master something?
I am certain, that large dojo's and big organizations had not to do with it.
Even my kid-who's turning into a powerhouse himself noted something. He had seen peoples reaction to my stuff for years. He noted how many held ranks were teachers that came from established dojos and large organizations and had heard theircomments. He said "Don't they read their own stories? It was never about them, large groups and systems. All the stories were about the guy in the barn, the guy in the country, or the mountains. Always a story about a visionaries small journey played out against samurai who were by an large just budo wallpaper.
Barns and garages may be, just maybe, not such a bad idea after all. What changes when you don't have to pay the rent, don't have to follow a set course, or have the responsibility to good and honest seekers under you to layout a comprehensive program for them, instead of spending all that time working on evolving within a small group. And then going out now and again to test what you think you learned. I'm guessing there is, over the years, a tremendous difference in growth and development. But that's just a personal subjective view. I wonder what a more objective study would reveal.
What did the masters do? Where did they come from? Were they alive, what would they think has become of the arts? What would they be doing? Maybe it's just me, but I think that would be an interesting read.
  Reply With Quote