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Old 06-16-2009, 05:42 PM   #3
Peter Goldsbury
 
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Dojo: Hiroshima Kokusai Dojo
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
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Re: Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation 13

Quote:
Keith Larman wrote: View Post
You know, there is an old chestnut that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything. I may need that long just to digest this article... And in case it isn't already abundantly clear, I'm not complaining. Love it! Thanks for everything! Your articles have been depleting my printer ink for a while now... So much to learn and only one lifetime.
Hello Keith,

Well, I suppose it's a change from making swords...

How is your Japanese? I thought long and hard about subjecting AikiWeb readers to the bare text of the Man'yoshu. However, it underlies so much Japanese thinking about kotodama--and this is never discussed in aikido books on kotodama.

Another thing is that the actual text of the Man'yoshu, and of the ancient chronicles like the Kojiki, which O Sensei studied, rests on very shallow foundations. It was a revelation to read nativists like Motoori Norinaga, who actually established the text of these works. Ultranationalism is a very mild term when applied to them. Motoori's whole purpose in writing 44 volumes of commentary on the Kojiki was to prove a point: that there was a unique Japanese language--which of course, possessed kotodama--that had been corrupted by the 'wicked' Chinese.

Anyway, this is for Column 14.

Best wishes,

PAG

P A Goldsbury
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