Evil Heart - Japanese Aikido Manga!

Totally unbelievable plot - Canadian teaching Aikido in Japan. Ludicrous.

Peter Rehse wrote: Totally unbelievable plot - Canadian teaching Aikido in Japan. Ludicrous.

Haha. Just checked your homepage.

and the kicker is I know at least two more.

i've located a few copies if anyone is interested. maybe we can make arrangement$ to have them sent your way. but i'm in Japan and they're in Japanese.

Awesome! Can you hook me up? I have Nihonjin friends here in Chicago who can help me to translate them... pezalinski@gmail.com

Mr. Zalinski, check your email!

Peter Zalinski wrote: Awesome! Can you hook me up? I have Nihonjin friends here in Chicago who can help me to translate them... pezalinski@gmail.com

Dear Carl, thanks for the kind words! I haven't seen your comment before now, sorry for not replying sooner. I have some more I want to write, but I need some time to get it together, so I'll post it ASAP.
In Aiki,

Ethan

Peter Zalinski wrote: Awesome! Can you hook me up? I have Nihonjin friends here in Chicago who can help me to translate them... pezalinski@gmail.com

Hello,

I obtained all my copies (I have the whole series) from Japan Amazon. I have one account with Amazon, which also covers US Amazon and UK Amazon. So I think you can obtain the series quite easily. In my case it took four days since placing the order.

Hello Carl,

Excuse me for not replying before. Thanks very much for your kind words. I am glad to hear that you liked Evil Heart, too! I am mukyu in regard to Japanese reading skills, so I sat with my trusty Wordtank and spelled my way through most of it. I do the same thing as you mentioned -- getting totally absorbed by the story and just reading through, getting whatever kanji I can in the first reading. Then I try to discipline myself and go back and check the kanji properly afterwards. I try to write a list of the kanji I look up for future reference.

There are a lot of very good explanations in the text about the inner workings of aikido, and this is good training for when I have to translate for Japanese aikido sensei. If I am lucky I remember a fraction of the complicated terms, but everything helps!

When I was in Hombu Dojo in November 2007 for a morning practice in Doshu Sensei's class, I had the chance to ask him afterwards if he knew of the Evil Heart series. Initially he said hehadn'tn't heard of it. He asked his young helper in the office, and he had read it. It turns out that the writer of the series is a woman (Taketomi Tomo) and she trains occasionally at Hombu Dojo. I mentioned that I thought that the series depicted aikido very well, both technically as well as from a spiritual viewpoint -- and Doshu Sensei seemed happy to hear this. In general, I think the older generation of Japanese seems to consider Manga as being not quite worthy of respect as an art form or of any real literary merit. But I think it is great that the series was made -- and so many people have read it. It really is a great presentation of aikido. And the fact that the gaijin sensei is portrayed so respectfully says a whole lot. I can see by other posts here that there are real life Daniel Sensei out there in Japan -- gambatte kudasai!

I feel inspired to go back and read Kihen again, after writing this -- and yes-when will the next one in the series come? It can't end with Kihen. We could write to the author and ask for more!
I hope to see you in Japan some time.

In Aiki,

Ethan Weisgard

Thanks Ethan.

I ended up taking JLPT 2kyu in December after all, but I'm not sure how I did. If I failed, you can expect to hear silence from me on this matter when the results come out next month. The reading/grammar section really sucked, but this manga series was good practice beforehand!

Ethan Weisgard wrote: In general, I think the older generation of Japanese seems to consider Manga as being not quite worthy of respect as an art form or of any real literary merit.

I think some older people missed Tezuka's boat in the late fifties when manga really took off, but I think the Japanese generally hold comics in higher esteem than the West. Back home they are largely associated with very young kids and boys in their early teens. There are some adult comics and graphic novels, but they're nowhere near as popular as here. I like the fact that manga are for everyone, even girls. It's not unusual to see my middle-aged female colleagues reading one on a lunch break. It's one cultural aspect I'm happy to see spreading overseas and this manga in particular is a real bridge-builder.

Catch you in Iwama soon I hope.

Carl

Hello Carl,

I hope the results turn out ok for the 2 kyu test. I looked at some of the stuff in the test and decided I wasn't ready for it!
It's true that there is a kind of recognition of Manga in Japan, but I still run into older Japanese people who don't quite take it seriously.

Are you going to Tanabe and Kumano with the Ibaraki Shibu Dojo group for the events in conjunction with O-Sensei's annivrsary?

In Aiki,

Ethan

Hi Ethan

Maybe we need to read more manga? It's certainly a fun way to study.

Ethan Weisgard wrote: Are you going to Tanabe and Kumano with the Ibaraki Shibu Dojo group for the events in conjunction with O-Sensei's annivrsary?

I'm not sure if I'll still be around…

Can anyone give me my career back if I stay another year?

Carl

There's a fan sub here.

http://sakurahana.com/forum/active-p...vil-heart.html