View Single Post
Old 09-25-2013, 09:21 AM   #31
Cliff Judge
Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,276
Japan
Offline
Re: Osensei's Feet of Clay

Quote:
Thomas Madden wrote: View Post
I don't think the fact that only a handful of his early students ever APPROACHED his level of skill ( never mind us guys!) could ever be considered a good thing.
That is not unique among the Aiki arts. Takeda had thousands of students, but we mostly remember Ueshiba, Horikawa, and Sagawa.

I would call this a fault of Ueshiba for either not understanding how to create a system to pass his skills on, or not wanting to pass his skills on. This is essentially why I think chasing Ueshiba's skills directly is basically a cheeky endeavor.

But the other thing to remember is that a thing like Ueshiba's skills, of which we have mostly biased first-hand accounts, is apt to be inflated in power and import over time. Ueshiba is literally a legend.
  Reply With Quote