Quote:
Ron Tisdale wrote:
Hi Peter, I'm currious about this statement
It is my understanding that Shirata Sensei had quite a focus on weapons, and that his embodiment of that focus was quite well respected by experienced weapons people. Am I off base here, or is the time period under discussion what excludes Shirata Sensei and his dojo?
Best,
Ron
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Hello Ron,
In the Founder's writings, the cut-off point is the training with the phantom swordsman in 1940 and 1942. Before this time weapons were taught in the Kobukan and at one point Kendo specialist Kiyoshi Nakakura was his son-in-law. Shirata Sensei was an early student at the Kobukan and clearly studied weapons there. Later on, he also picked up tips from Morihiro Saito. However, I am less certain whether O Sensei taught weapons in Yamagata, where Shirata was situated, after the war. Remember that there was a major gap in Shirata Sensei's public aikido training. I think it is pretty clear that Hikitsuchi Sensei learned something called
Sho-chiku-bai ken, and Shirata Sensei and Nobuyoshi Tamura both talk about this training. With Tamura, this would certainly have been after 1942 and probably with Shirata Sensei also. Where would they have done it? To judge from Fred's post, clearly not in the Tokyo Hombu under O Sensei's eyes.
Best wishes,
PAG