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Old 02-08-2013, 12:41 AM   #12
Chris Li
 
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Re: Is modern Aikido based on the atomic bomb rather than the sword?

Quote:
Dan Richards wrote: View Post
We've got to keep in mind that Ueshiba was taught by, and came from, lineages of people who passed on the arts of hurting and killing people. It was in his psyche. And he didn't suddenly release all of that after his 1925 "experience." He started talking about it. But he didn't renounce violence and become a monk. He was still teaching aiki-jujutsu under the licenses from Takeda until the mid 30's.
I wrote a little about it in this post, but Budo as a device for peaceful purposes is hardly a modern invention, it came along long before Ueshiba.

Quote:
Dan Richards wrote: View Post
Which even adds the idea here that wasn't just Ueshiba. I mean, the American-occupied Japan outlawed martial arts. After the war, all the do versions were formulated. Watered down versions closer to gymnastics courses all given at the Budokan. That's when Konishi, Kano, and others had to come up with and submit a systematic curriculum that was approved by the government. Karate-do was reformatted. The name "aikido" was suggested at that point. Ueshiba didn't come up with it.
There certainly was a general "peace craze" in Japan after the war, but a couple of points about the passage above:
  1. Martial arts were never outlawed in post-war Japan, that's a myth and a misconception. They were removed as part of the standard public school curriculum. Kisshomaru points this out in particular in "Aikido Ichiro".
  2. The government overseen systemization occurred pre-war with the Dai-Nihon Butokukai (around 1942 for Aikido), and that's when the name change happened, there really was none of that post-war. All the "do" versions came about pre-war, not post-war.

Best,

Chris

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