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Old 09-15-2008, 12:06 AM   #34
Josh Reyer
 
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Location: Aichi-ken, Nagoya-shi
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Re: Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation 10

Quote:
Allen Beebe wrote: View Post
So the assertion is: Ueshiba named his ken system "A,B,C Ken" because it conveniently stratified three Shinkage kumitachi associated with Hikitsuchi, while other Deshi (Shirata, Saito, Takaoka, more?) used the appellation "A,B,C Ken" because Ueshiba used it . . . as a referent for three Shinkage kumitachi (associated with Hikitsuchi) while their ken may not have, or be limited to, these three kumitachi"?
Um, no. My "assertion" is this:
  • Ueshiba used the phrase "Sho-Chiku-Bai no Kempo".
  • This term was applied by him to three separate Shinkage Ryu kata that he saw and then reworked and linked together for his own art.
  • The best research to-date suggests that Ueshiba's knowledge of Shinkage Ryu was via Gejo Kosaburo.
  • Aside from this, "Sho-Chiku-Bai" has no relation to Shinkage Ryu, and is not a phrase that has appeared in any of the major densho, nor has it appeared in the minor densho that I have seen.

I'll add this: if there are other versions of aikiken that have links or provenance to Shinkage Ryu, and are referred to or linked to "Sho-Chiku-Bai no Kempo", this would again be a case of the term being applied by Ueshiba to his ken, and did not come from Shinkage Ryu.

I make no other "assertions" about the provenance of "Sho-Chiku-Bai no Kempo". I merely wanted to address the idea that Ueshiba got it from Shinkage Ryu. I have no idea where he actually got it from, and was merely attempting to provide some cultural and linguistic perspective.

To further clarify on the last point, I did not say, nor mean to imply that Sho-Chiku-Bai should just be translated as "A, B, C". My point was merely that in Japanese the phrase represents three things that are linked, and yet separate, and as such may have certainly appeared useful to Ueshiba to describe his concept of .

Josh Reyer

The lyf so short, the crafte so longe to lerne,
Th'assay so harde, so sharpe the conquerynge...
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