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Old 01-05-2014, 05:45 PM   #1
Chris Li
 
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Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

A new blog post for the New Year!

"Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki" .

Enjoy!

Chris

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Old 01-07-2014, 07:59 PM   #2
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Hello Chris,

Happy New Year!

Do you intend to translate the whole work, or just the chapter written by Inoue Sensei?

Best wishes,

P A Goldsbury
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Old 01-07-2014, 08:18 PM   #3
Chris Li
 
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Quote:
Peter A Goldsbury wrote: View Post
Hello Chris,

Happy New Year!

Do you intend to translate the whole work, or just the chapter written by Inoue Sensei?

Best wishes,
Ake Ome! (as they say these days...)

Certainly not the whole thing, although I may revisit that at some point - making a living keeps on getting in the way....

Best,

Chris

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Old 01-08-2014, 11:07 AM   #4
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Quote:
Christopher Li wrote: View Post
A new blog post for the New Year!

"Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki" .

Enjoy!

Chris
Thanks for posting. Interesting read for sure.
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Old 01-09-2014, 12:42 AM   #5
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

I skipped the book when it was on the book shelf at Junku-do Bookshop, but your translation has convinced me that I have to buy and read it. Very interesting stuff!
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Old 01-09-2014, 12:55 AM   #6
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Quote:
Tomoo Yawata wrote: View Post
I skipped the book when it was on the book shelf at Junku-do Bookshop, but your translation has convinced me that I have to buy and read it. Very interesting stuff!
Actually....I did too, but I ended up getting it after all.

Best,

Chris

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Old 03-27-2014, 12:52 PM   #7
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Now available in Croatian, courtesy of Aikido Yoshinkan Split. The original English version is available here.

Best,

Chris

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Old 03-27-2014, 06:49 PM   #8
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Shimizu Yutaka has been mentioned in the Sangenkai blogs before. One of his books, published in 2008, has the title, 『古事記と植芝盛平 合気道の神道世界』: The Kojiki and Morihei Ueshiba: Aikido and the World of Shinto. For those who can read Japanese, the book repays close and critical study.

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Old 03-27-2014, 06:56 PM   #9
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

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Peter A Goldsbury wrote: View Post
Shimizu Yutaka has been mentioned in the Sangenkai blogs before. One of his books, published in 2008, has the title, 『古事記と植芝盛平 合気"の神"--界』: The Kojiki and Morihei Ueshiba: Aikido and the World of Shinto. For those who can read Japanese, the book repays close and critical study.
I have a number of his books, they're quite interesting - but can be tough in spots.

Best,

Chris

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Old 03-27-2014, 09:05 PM   #10
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choosing the worm life

Thanks again- this is a great short-and-sweet chapter to read (I missed it before). It was great seeing this type of story through the point of view of the Yoshinkan. Also great to see the idea of "kojiki as code for body usage" explicitly stated, and so clearly.

Does anyone know what it means to "take the spirit of an earthworm?" The original Japanese may help elucidate this. Is it like, "take the wallet of a passerby?" Or, more like, "take the viewpoint of a person from another culture" (which would be akin to a teacher saying, "take the same posture that I am demonstrating")?

This is just way more shamanistic than anything I have heard regarding aikido (though I am still reading the TIE series!), so I am trying to understand exactly what I am reading. I guess my specific questions regarding the language are:

According to the verb and phrasing used, what would the earthworm have, and what would Shioda have, if the advice were followed?
Does the worm "lose his soul" to Shioda (or perhaps, if this is postmortem, the soul has become free for the taking anyway, and thus is taken by Shioda without being concomitantly lost by the worm)? And, once Shioda takes the spirit of the worm, is that to say he "has" it the way he "has" the ability to speak Japanese, or the way that he "has" the rank of 9th Dan? Or, is it more like he "has" it the way he has the identity of Shioda Gozo? (Does it become a facet of what Shioda is/has, or does Shioda become that spirit?)

OK-- well, the original Japanese may not be enough to address such questions but I throw it out there anyway. Of course, this question is for anyone not just Chris.
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Old 03-28-2014, 02:22 AM   #11
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Hello Jonathan,

Here is the Japanese text of the quotation attributed to Shioda Gozo.

「あんたはもう充分、体術ができておる。これからは神になる修行をしなければんならん。そのためには、道端のミミズでもなんでもいいから、その霊を取ることじや。そうすれ ば、あなたは神になれる。と、こう植芝先生は言うんだ。俺はまだ、神様にはなりたくねえな」。

There are two ways of writing mimizu in Chinese characters: 蚯, 蚓, or more generally together, as in 蚯蚓, but Inoue, or Jiromaru, or the book's editor, uses katakana. The Japanese is quite straightforward and it is not clear from the text that Morihei Ueshiba considered that anything important hangs on the choice of the object. It might be a favourite phrase of Deguchi and there are a number of Japanese proverbs using the word.

Whatever it is, one has to take (取る) the soul (霊).

P A Goldsbury
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Old 03-28-2014, 12:15 PM   #12
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Thanks Professor!

I wonder what's the significance of using kana for the worm. Agreed that the text itself makes clear that the worm is just an example, not itself important.

But my main question is still unresolved, I think only because I am not a Japanese speaker. Regarding the verb 取る toru, used here-- I see from wiktionary that its meanings include capture (as in board games), as well as simply picking things up. Also, to steal and to harvest. So, I think I get the picture (as shamanistic as I was thinking).

But to clarify, is it true that this verb would not be used in these cases:
1. take this posture (use one's self to assume a state)
2. take the job (accept a role)
3. take instruction/direction (receive info)

Whereas it could be used for things like:
4. take it with you (keep in possession)
5. take all your belongings (gather items)

As well as the above mentioned "to harvest, steal, or capture" (although of course there could also be more specific verbs for some examples too).

So this raises another question, what spirit(s) did O-sensei himself take? Those of some things he found on the forest floor? Or, did having the kami Daigensui Myo-o installed in his hara as a youth take care of things right off the bat?
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Old 03-28-2014, 12:46 PM   #13
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

The statement is out of context, so it's hard to say, but Onisaburo Deguchi saw the earthworm as a manifestation of the Dragon God (Ryujin/Owatatsumi). Accordingly, he saw the human spirit as subordinate to that of the earthworm.

Further, Ueshiba stated at one point that this god (Ryujin) is the source of all Ki.

There's also a Ryujin Village in Tanabe, but that's probably coincidental.

Best,

Chris

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Old 03-29-2014, 08:51 PM   #14
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Quote:
Jonathan Wong wrote: View Post
Thanks Professor!

I wonder what's the significance of using kana for the worm. Agreed that the text itself makes clear that the worm is just an example, not itself important.
Morihei Ueshiba cribbed quite a lot from Deguchi, but I think you need to look at Deguchi's writings to see how much. Deguchi wrote a lot -- and I mean a lot. He was also an expert at metaphor and word-play, which Ueshiba would have understood.

As for katakana, for a start you have Inoue quoting Shioda quoting Uesiba -- which is then published / edited by Jiromaru or the publisher's editor. When I was preparing TIE 25, I came across the word saniwa, which was one of the terms used in Omoto to designate the mediator, or go-between, between a medium and the spirit that possesses the medium. This is a case of kamigakari, but there are other terms used also. There are a number of ways to write the noun saniwa in Chinese characters, but Ueshiba used the katakana サニワ and he also used it as a verb, as in saniwa suru. He seems to have used it to denote one's accurate perception of the physical/psychological state one is in.

There is so much, which M Ueshiba takes for granted, that we do not know. I was quite astonished, for example, to read about Kawatsura Bonji and his theories of the soul. It makes the mediaeval scholastic discussions about angels on pin-heads light reading by comparison.

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Old 11-19-2014, 04:01 PM   #15
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Now available in Spanish (part 1), courtesy of Aikido en línea. The original English version is available on the Aikido Sangenkai blog.

Best,

Chris

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Old 11-25-2014, 04:52 PM   #16
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Re: Aikido Shihan Kyoichi Inoue - Learning from the Kojiki

Part two of the Spanish translation now available, courtesy of Aikido en linea. The original English version is available on the Aikido Sangenkai blog.

Best,

Chris

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