Quote:
Nicholas Eschenbruch wrote:
Dear all,
thank you so much for this discussion, which, amongst other things, filled me in on a lot of editorial context I was really missing in the "Secret teachings".
One question that came to my mind was this: Was Kisshomaru's interpretation of his father's message actually informed by participation in his more esoteric or mystical non-waza practices? In a sense that he had similar mystical experiences? Is anything known about that? It appears to me that understanding of a figure like O-Sensei would probably depend a lot on that.
Any thoughts or information?
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Mr Eschenbruch,
I am sorry that no one has responded to your questions, so far.
I think that there are three cultural issues here:
1. How a son regarded his father in the Meiji, Taishou, early Shouwa period in Japan;
2. How this particular son regarded his father's religious practices;
3. The impact of the war on the aikido training of both father and son.
A huge issue for interpreters of O Sensei is the extent to which his discourses are a kind of aikido
DaVinci Code: the extent to which the
Oomoto / yamato-damashii / I am the Universe / my mission is to unify the Universe aspects of his discourses/douka actually mask a comprehensive training manual, covering 'internal' training and waza.
I think that Ellis Amdur is the one who has explored these issues furthest, so far, but there is more to be done in researching both the actual training methods--and also the 'ideology' lying behind the training methods, of both Moriteru and Kisshomaru.
Best wishes,
PAG
PS. I should add that one of the great values of the Internet is that a large part of this is research is being done here, in forums such as this.