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Old 02-22-2016, 04:44 PM   #30
Cliff Judge
Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,276
Japan
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Re: Am I Really Practicing Budo?

Hi Ellis,

Thanks for the tidbits if info on the Chinese systems. One might quibble that the koryu systems have slightly better documentation but you do not,actually, see much historical evidence that such and such a ryu was practiced by so and so who particupated in an actual battle. Or duel for that matter. I don't have any turf to dig my heels into here because I think Budo is one of those terms whose definition is left open-ended. Many people would include Chinese systems, and various kinds of pugilism or even sport under the moniker.

Whether or not I can ever be the same as a person who pursued my chosen ryuha 150 years ago in mind, body, character, or attitude, I don't think its too crazy to imagine the he and I do have some things in common. The stuff I think is cool about doing koryu - in particular, the idea that its an art handed down by warriors of old - I really imagine he felt the same way, perhaps down to the daydreaming about training while toiling at his office job in Edo or whatever province.

Quote:
Ellis Amdur wrote: View Post
From another angle, training in budo of any sort is 'problematic.' As Peter Goldsbury so ably shows, how can we 'claim' to be doing aikido, when other than the shapes of the techniques on the mat, we have very little connection with what Ueshiba Morihei was doing - from a cultural, spiritual, political and social perspective?
IMO, if anyone ever thought of Aikido as the exact practice of Osensei, I humbly submit that they misunderstood the nature of training.

Would having a connection to Ueshiba culturally, spiritually, politically and socially even be possible? Or at all desirable? Culturally, I would argue on some level there is a connection that everyone gets simply by stepping onto the mat with a certain level of commitment to come back agagin and train regularly - you then become part of a culture that was began by Osensei (though we may argue to what degree).

I think that Ueshiba "was doing" a great number of things with his life. One of them was creating a martial art known as Aikido. I am pretty sure he meant for that to happen - for his art to propagate after his death, and to spread around the world. Maybe he meant for it to look differently, or to bring about the goals of Imperial Japan, or to end all war and bring the kami into directly physical manifestation on this earth. Maybe he meant for Aikido practitioners to be able to exhibit the kind of internal power that practitioners of Chinese arts pursue. I don't know. I think at the end of the day the best thing he could possibly hope for is that in the 21st century there are people all over the world moving around on mats attempting to improve the shape of their technique. If he wanted something different, its on him and that ship has sailed.

Form is pretty important over here, after all.
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