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Old 11-08-2013, 09:09 AM   #24
ChrisMikk
 
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Re: Horikawa teaching Shioda?

Quote:
Christopher Li wrote: View Post
I haven't read the English version, although I enjoyed it in Japanese, as I did Aikido Jinsei - but that has nothing to do with whether or not Inoue's recollections are relevant or not.
Really? Nothing? Nothing!

Inoue is attested in this very thread as someone with impeccable character, and I know nothing about him, so I have no reason to doubt that. And I haven't read his book.

Also, not having read all your posts, I cannot be sure what "aiki" means to you.

However, here is your implicit quotation from above:
"I have ['heard Kancho described as someone who really embraced aiki'] [by] Inoue [, who] speaks a bit about Shioda's changes over the years in his latest book." -Chris Li

If aiki means something quasi-religious, which I would assume from the posts of yours I have read previously, this is at stark odds with the Shioda I have heard about from Payet-sensei and the Shioda revealed in his own books, who is stoutly uninterested in metaphysics.

Payet-sensei describes Shioda as someone who, in his later years, was more interested in drinking beer, making conversation with friends, and sitting in his office than with pondering deep meaning. In Angry White Pyjamas, Shioda's collection of clocks is described.

In Aikido Jinsei, we see a self-described obsessive collector (gold-covered objects, animals, etc) and someone whose life was all about finding good food and drink and meeting friends.

These facts suggest to me that Shioda's personality and outlook was pretty much consistent throughout his life. Since Shioda says outright in his books that he never believed in gods and couldn't follow in Ueshiba's religious outlook on life, I have to be suspect of any claims Shioda got religion.

If, in describing Shioda as embracing aiki, you refer to a change in his technical understanding or teaching, that I could buy.

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