Quote:
Christian Moses wrote:
I'd also like to go back briefly to the interview quoted a number of times in the Baseline thread ( http://www.aikidofaq.com/interviews.html). Specifically, let's look at this phrase (again…), "Finally, we ended up pitting our strength against each other. I sat down and said to Tenryu, "Please try to push me over. Push hard, there's no need to hold back." Since I knew the secret of Aikido, I could not be moved an inch." I don't have the Japanese text, so if someone felt like offering what word he was using for "secret" that would be great. |
Nice catch.
This is a somewhat juicy quote.
「．．．とうとう力比べをすることになってしまったんです。
『ぢゃ僕は坐っているから、天竜さん押して下さい。遠慮しないでもいいですよ。』
と押させたんですが、僕の方には、合気の秘法があるからビクもしない．．．」
My translation:
"...at last we ended up having a contest of strength.
'Well, I'll sit down, so you push me, Tenryu-san. You don't have to hold back!' I said and had him push me, but because I had the secret (methods) of Aiki, I didn't move an inch."
秘法
hihou, "the secret, secret method", is a nice loaded term. In general it refers to any secret methods of anything. Unlike
gokui or
ogi, two terms often translated as "secret" which refer to an essentially hidden nucleus,
hihou refers to methods which are specifically not shown to other people. Also, in Mikkyo Buddhism, it refers to, in the broad sense, all of the practices, and in the narrow sense, those particular practices that should not be taught without sound reason.
Since Ueshiba was an Omoto believer, I don't believe he meant any particular Mikkyo nuance to his words. However, I do believe since he's talking about how he kept Tenryu from pushing him over, he's referring to methods which he was in no mood to teach openly and explicitly, particularly to a large organization like the Aikikai. An organization which he was originally opposed to in the first place.