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Old 09-24-2013, 09:41 PM   #23
Michael Hackett
Dojo: Kenshinkan Dojo (Aikido of North County) Vista, CA
Location: Oceanside, California
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,253
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Re: Osensei's Feet of Clay

Oh, I think I understand what the world would have looked like. My interest here was really about aikido specifically. O Sensei was apparently an ultra-nationalist before the war and certainly associated with folks so inclined. After the war he seemed to adopt this more loving and harmonious persona. I just wonder if that would have been the case if Japan had not lost the war. Obviously this is a question that can't be answered, but I wonder what the old leopard's spots would look like. He was certainly a spiritual character before the war and until his death, but that didn't stop him from his ultra-national politics in the pre-war period.

Michael
"Leave the gun. Bring the cannoli."
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