Looking for a few hard-to-find books...

Hello all... It's time for me to once again post the "short list" of Aikido titles that I am looking for. These are obscure, so don't feel bad if you've never heard of them:

1) "Aikido" published by Ramboro Books
2) "Women in Aikido" by Sharon Seymour (NOT the one by A. Siegel)
3) "Intermediate Aikido" by Wayne Tourda
4) "Aikido: A Supplement to Dojo Training" by Jeffrey Baygents

If you have any of these, I'd like to hear from you, even if you are not interested in selling them, because I'd at least like to get a cover scan and 1 or 2 line summary to put up on the AJ Bibliography, since neither I nor the other "book geeks" over there have access to these titles. Thanking you muchly!

Hi Clark, sorry for replying to such an old message, but did you ever found those books? I have a copy of "Intermediate Aikido" and I believe "Women in Aikido" by Sharon Seymour was actually never published, but I've never been able to find "Aikido: A Supplement to Dojo Training" and I had never heard of the Ramboro Books title before.

Alberto Di Meglio wrote: Hi Clark, sorry for replying to such an old message, but did you ever found those books? I have a copy of "Intermediate Aikido" and I believe "Women in Aikido" by Sharon Seymour was actually never published, but I've never been able to find "Aikido: A Supplement to Dojo Training" and I had never heard of the Ramboro Books title before.

Hi Alberto... You are correct that Sharon Seymour never wrote the book. I swapped e-mails with her, and she said it was the enthusiasm of her teacher at the prospect of her writing the book that triggered the erroneous listings...

As for the others, I did acquire a copy of the Tourda book, but the other two still elude me to this day. They remain (to my knowledge) the only two aikido books published in English that I don't have in my library, excepting these newfangled internet data-mining compilations, which I do not acknowledge as legitimate written works, deserving no investment of anybody's time or money (particularly mine... ). The Ramboro publication is actually a small photo book for kids.

Thanks for the info. If you ever come across those remaining books, I'd like to know they do exist and I would love to have a scan of the cover. My collection is not at your level of completeness, but I'm working on it :-) And I fully share your opinion about those ridicoulous collections of internet articles, they are infecting all domains, not just aikido.

All the best.

Alberto Di Meglio wrote: Thanks for the info. If you ever come across those remaining books, I'd like to know they do exist and I would love to have a scan of the cover.

Alberto, I have confirmed that both the remaining books do exist. In fact, I found the Ramboro publication for sale on Ebay a couple years ago, and purchased it. Unfortunately it was lost in shipping...

If you'd like cover images of any other titles, the Aikido Journal online bibliography has scans for the bulk of my library.

Hi Clark...how many Aikido Books in english are out there? Are you also collecting Aikido books in japanese, french and in other languages?

I have also started my collection and its really addicting.

Rommel Miel wrote: Hi Clark...how many Aikido Books in english are out there? Are you also collecting Aikido books in japanese, french and in other languages? I have also started my collection and its really addicting.

"How many" depends somewhat on your particular definition of what comprises an "aikido book"... By my embarrassingly subjective definition, roughly 285 at this point. This includes the few DRJJ titles, along with a couple on jo, bokken or hanbo, and does not include fiction books (except for "Obese White Gentleman") or encyclopedic works of various MA's, where aikido is only a small component therein. I do include many books on general budo when they are written from an aikido perspective, or by an aikido teacher based on their aiki experiences.

As for my library, I only do English (or bilingual, of which there are many) because I don't feel compelled to acquire books I can't read (and I have enough trouble with just the English language... ).

There are many foreign language titles I would love to see translated into English, but there is simply not enough money to be made doing this. Of particular interest would be those of Tissier Sensei, and he has told me that he's "thinking about it", but it's not on his hot list of prospective projects.

Hi Clark,

So, which books would you rescue if your collection was under hypothetical threat (no you can't say all of them), say 4/5? Would your reason be for how important they have been in your aikido journey or for the love of the book itself (rarity, beauty etc)?

Just curious, as my life in aikido all started when I picked up a book at friends house, began reading and my life changed from that point on. Books can be powerful things

regards

Mark

Mark Freeman wrote: So, which books would you rescue if your collection was under hypothetical threat (no you can't say all of them), say 4/5? Would your reason be for how important they have been in your aikido journey or for the love of the book itself (rarity, beauty etc)?

Wow Mark, that is one intriguing question, and probably one that I might answer somewhat differently each time it was asked... Fortunately, the majority of those books that I find the most informative are easily replaced, so I would probably grab a few that aren't so readily available. Saito's "Traditional" set would probably emerge with me, along with Tohei's "The Way to Union with Ki", Shioda's "Aikido Shugyo", O'Sensei's "Budo Renshu" (the 70's Larry Bieri translation), and a couple things I have with O'Sensei's sig/seal.

Going over your size limit, to be sure, but there are also a couple pieces with stories attached that I won't identify here, as there is really no point of reference for anybody but me. And I'd definitely save some signed/inscribed volumes I've been fortunate enough to receive over the years from some special authors/teachers, but most importantly, friends, that have so unselfishly and profoundly enriched me along my journey.

But in retrospect, when it comes down to it, it's really not the books themselves, but the joyful sharing of time, space and ideas with those so much wiser than I am that really holds value for me. And the best part about that is that I don't have to lug those experiences away in a box; they're part of me always.

Clark Bateman wrote: Wow Mark, that is one intriguing question, and probably one that I might answer somewhat differently each time it was asked... Fortunately, the majority of those books that I find the most informative are easily replaced, so I would probably grab a few that aren't so readily available. Saito's "Traditional" set would probably emerge with me, along with Tohei's "The Way to Union with Ki", Shioda's "Aikido Shugyo", O'Sensei's "Budo Renshu" (the 70's Larry Bieri translation), and a couple things I have with O'Sensei's sig/seal.

Thanks for your reply Clark, very interesting. I will definitely search out the Tohei book as it was his "Aikido in Daily Life" that started my journey off. Also Shioda's "Aikido Shugyo" opened my mind up to the wider world of Aikido as up until then I had been fairly narrowly focused on the Ki side of things. Which I guess is understandable, as most new students to the art start to believe that they have found the 'true' way in their chosen style/teacher

Happy reading/training

regards

Mark