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Old 01-22-2008, 04:01 AM   #47
Peter Goldsbury
 
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Dojo: Hiroshima Kokusai Dojo
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Re: Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation 5

Hello Erick,

A few more comments.

Quote:
Erick Mead wrote: View Post
From my perspective Aikido presents a set of problems that challenge both the relativist and the absolute understandings of reality, and so it is a good meeting ground, actually.
PAG. Yes. This is my perspective, also.

Quote:
Erick Mead wrote: View Post
Plainly, the cultural intensity underlying "yamato damashii" has been put to other ends, some good, some not, just as the original concept was put to different ends, some good and others absolutely not. That transformation is plainly evident among your students. To less salutary results, it is a far larger problem that does in fact transcend cultures. For our Columbines, Japan has hikikomori and parasaito shinguru, and less negatively, but no less concerning, otaku.
PAG. I tend to agree with you here. However, I suggest that the transformation is evident, not just among the students, but among those who teach them, especially in Japan's high schools. The 'cultural intensity' began much earlier that World War II and is the result of a large number of factors. I think that hikikomori, parasaito shinguru and otaku are different manifestations of a certain cultural mania, as are bosozoku, kyouiku mama, ijime, and study groups that teach earnest participants how to sing karaoke songs correctly.

The other point I would make here is that in the US aikido is clearly seen as a 'counter-culture' to a large degree. Here, aikido is eminently 'cultural'. It is part of the cultural furniture, but more a liitle-used piece with pretensions to antiquity, than an item in constant daily use.

Best wishes,

PAG

P A Goldsbury
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