mushinaiki

I would be careful of the pit falls of taking literally the interpretations that have been presented from Japanese to English. Having lived some years in Japan, and also having Japanese students in my Dojo, it can be quite a laugh seeing how people interpret such things according to their agenda. I am sure Peter Goldsbury can inform you on such matters as well. There are many Japanese words that need to be understood by context, and spiritual context can be the most difficult.
And Hiroshi Tada: "An Aikidoka should be able to consistently cut down an opponent with the first blow" (Italy, 2002)
I think I addressed this in the article as kiriotoshi, as in, the preeminent technique of itto ryu, the art of Tesshu yamaoka (and also Takeda)
[John of the Cross (among others). In the eastern tradition you have Shingon Buddhism and the syncretist blend called Omoto, as can be seen from Onisaburo Deguchi. My time in the Jesuits allowed me to study this in some depth.]
Peter, after you said you studied history as well,I find it a little disturbing how our lives seem to be mirrored, although not a Jesuit, I too was raised in a strict Christian environment and was being groomed to be a man of god. This gave me exposure to John of the cross, a man whose writings I liked very much. Although these days I am an have been for almost 20 years a Daoist and a strict vegetarian, my second subject at uni was Asian studies, especially religion and philosophy.

I also believe I said that I don't disagree with what Aiki brings to Aikido in the context of all over body coordination. I just believe that Ueshiba moved passed that image. I never said he couldn't do it, but I believe he stopped teaching it. There is a lot of evidence to say that he taught with different emphasis the prewar to the postwar students. Michio Hikitsuchi states that the training intent was different. The war had a profound effect on him, far deeper than those of us that have lived in peace times can imagine.

I believe he joined the army as his loyal duty to his emperor, and also to rebel against Dad just a little.
There is zero evidence he used a sword in Mongolia.
As eco warrior stated earlier, he joined a spiritual community in omoto, he prayed daily, and has been described by other Japanese contempories as the most spiritual/religious man in Japan- though I would have to search for that quote. He took Terry Dobson on a trip to Osaka(if I remember correctly) and did nothing but stay in his room and pray for three entire days.......
Takeda was of such spiritual quality he would stab dogs to death that barked at him in the street. He carried concealed weapons on his person at all times. He never surrendered his life to the Dao(do in Aikido) he protected his life against it at all times. Understanding what the Dao is and what makes knowing this path different is a topic for another time, and another ten pages. But studying something in the western context, and following the Dao are completely different things, one is about believing in the control of a destiny or situation, the other is surrendering such control. This smacks at the heart of the issue with western minds attempting to follow any "DO", and attempting to achieve or understand what the founder set out to achieve when he said Aikido is following the way of the universe, because the way is impartial(Dao de Jing 5).
We can't just read and try tounderstand such concepts and disagree with them because we have studied our own version of his Aikido. He understood them from a Japanese perspective. To him, the Dao or way was the way of Lao Tsu, just as his image of reconciling the world was the one of Confucius. Our lack of understanding is our lack of understanding...........