Quote:
Peter Rehse wrote:
Thanks for that Peter - as usual your understanding makes perfect sense to me. The above does not really answer my question concerning the connection between Ueshiba's views on competition and religion but that might be too specific and difficult to get a handle on. Cheers
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Hello again, Peter,
I think it is true that the reason why Kenji Tomiki studied the Omoto-kyo texts was to make sense of Morihei Ueshiba's explanations. You can see this in the introduction to the
Budo Renshu volume (1933), which was also used for the
Budo volume (1938).
Budo Renshu was published a few years after Tomiki started training with Ueshiba in 1927 and he was clearly a senior member of the Kobukan by this time. (This is the impression I received from private conversations with Fumiaki Shishida.)
Deguchi started dictating
Reikai Monogatari late in 1921 soon after his release on bail after the first suppression and revised his political theology after his return from Mongolia in 1924. So Morihei Ueshiba was in Ayabe during this revision and Tomiki would have had a ringside seat both for Ueshiba's practical study of
jujutsu (recorded in the diaries of Admiral Takeshita) and for the creation of Ueshiba's theological cosmology.
So I think it is correct that the connection between Ueshiba's religious views and the ban on competition is not direct. The central fulcrum of connection is Ueshiba's Omoto-based theological cosmology and this relationship with his idea of
bujutsu. The fundamental difference between this theologically-based
bujutsu/budo and 'western' sports would be an important corollary.
Best wishes,
PAG