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Thread: Zen Bow Zen Arrow - The life of Master Awa Kenzo

  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by ichibyoshi View Post
    Dunno if it's been mentioned already (my guess is not) but you might try an essay called Twentieth Century Budo and Mystic Experience by Suzuki Sadami of the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies. You'll have to buy a book though (how old skool is that?), Budo Perspectives, vol 1, edited by Alex Bennett (ISBN 4990169433) (C) 2005 Kendo World Publications, Auckland.

    It has more info on Awa sensei's early life and thought than any other book or essay I have read (i.e. Herrigel, Yamada and Stephens) and a decent-sized bibiliography (all Japanese language texts of course). Less tendentious to boot.

    You can buy it here. Well worth the $25.00.

    b
    Hello Ben,

    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    Well, I have read Suzuki's essay and I must confess to being highly unimpressed with the lack of scholarship displayed in reference to Morihei Ueshiba and aikido. The essay, allegedly,

    "will focus on the kyudo of Awa Kenzo that Herrigel encountered, and by comparing his experiences with Ueshiba Morihei, I will pursue an outline of the history of budo within the purview of contemporary and modern Japanese thought and cultural history" (Bennett, p.18).

    Now Suzuki is a Japanese professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies and therefore is in a position to gain easy access to the wealth of material on Morihei Ueshiba in Japanese. However, he is content to discuss Awa Kenzo and Morihei Ueshiba on the basis of quotations of Ueshiba in English and at third hand.

    The discussion appears on p.37 of his essay. He uses Peter Payne's Martial Arts: The Spiritual Dimension, published by Thames & Hudson in 1981. Actually, I was training in London at the time Payne was preparing the book and recognize many of the photographs. It is quite a good book, well illustrated, but makes no pretensions to being an academic work.

    Suzuki takes issue with a quotation from Payne in which Ueshiba refers to God as the 'Creator of the Universe' and suggests that Payne made a loose translation. In fact, Payne took all the quotations of Ueshiba in his own book from another book, Aikido, a work by Kisshomaru Ueshiba published in 1975. The wording is exactly the same and the 'Creator of the Universe' part appears on p,154 of the edition that I possess.

    If Suzuki had dug a little, he could have found the Japanese original of Ueshiba's statement. It took me just a few minutes. The statement appears on p.47 of Aikido, one of two Japanese original works of which Kisshomaru Ueshiba's book in English is a translation. The original of the phrase was clearly aware of the mind of God, the Creator of the Universe is konu uchu wo souzou sareta kami no kokoro ga, hakkiri rikai dekiriyouni natta.

    I am in no position to judge the quality of Prof Suzuki's research on Awa Kenzo, but, given the main topic of the paper (quoted above), the general sloppiness of the discussion on Ueshiba makes me wonder.
    Peter Goldsbury,
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    Hello Peter.

    Since this thread has little to do with meditation, and more to do with philosophy (with occasional diversions to archery technique), could we move it to the Budo no Kokoro subforum?

    TIA.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  3. #63
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    Done.

    All good wishes for the New Year.

    PAG
    Peter Goldsbury,
    Forum Administrator,
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    Peter:

    That seems like a bad translation. I think "came to clearly understand the mind of the god who created the universe" is more accurate.

    Whether this is "G-d" in the Jewish/Christian/Muslim sense is not clear. I doubt it, since Ueshiba wasn't a Christian AFAIK. He was Omoto Kyo, right? Not sure what they believe or what their god/gods is/are like.
    Earl Hartman

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    Quote Originally Posted by Earl Hartman View Post
    Peter:

    That seems like a bad translation. I think "came to clearly understand the mind of the god who created the universe" is more accurate.

    Whether this is "G-d" in the Jewish/Christian/Muslim sense is not clear. I doubt it, since Ueshiba wasn't a Christian AFAIK. He was Omoto Kyo, right? Not sure what they believe or what their god/gods is/are like.
    Hello Earl,

    Yes, indeed it is a poor translation, but Payne knew no Japanese, as far as I recall. He lifted the quoted passages from Kisshomaru Ueshiba's book, which was translated into English by Kazuaki Takahashi and Roy Maurer Jr. The Japanese originals are freely available here in Japan and I think Suzuki should have used these in his essay.

    Best wishes,

    PAG
    Peter Goldsbury,
    Forum Administrator,
    Hiroshima, Japan

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    Hi Peter

    Akemashite omedetou to you and thanks for your reply. I must admit I glossed over the aikido-related content in the essay and bibliography. I'm disappointed to hear that there were a few holes in the the essay's scholarship from your perspective, however it is always good to have informed input. My poor Japanese skills condemn me, like many others, to take at face value many of the conclusions drawn by academics in the JMA field. I just get excited when when new and pertinent information is available in English.

    b

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    Something which struck me about the Budo volume was Friday's piece dismissing the conventional wisdom Budo/Bujutsu evolving from utility (JUTSU?) to spiritual discipline (DO?) He suggests that from inception, the KORYU BUJUTSU were intrinsically antiquarian pursuits. He reasons from the premise that most of the RYU pivoted on the sword, but actual battles depended on the bow, primarily, and later the gun, spear, rocks...

    I only skimmed other articles, but what I saw was the typical teleological view of bujutsu --> budo. Has anyone better read than I (esp. Jpn literate) seen Jpn scholarship supporting Friday? Anyone attacking his thesis would be interesting, too.

    Interesting thread. Thanks, all.
    Don J. Modesto
    Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
    ------------------------
    http://theaikidodojo.com/

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    Quote Originally Posted by Earl Hartman View Post
    Joe:

    I've got both of Sakurai's books; if anything, "Shasei" is more of a hagiography that "Oi Naru Sha no Michi no Oshie" is, if such a thing is possible.

    I've been reading "Oi Naru" trying to get a better idea of Awa's philosophy; one thing I found was that he conceived of kyudo as having 10 progressively higher levels.
    Are we referring to books that quote Awa or books by Awa?
    Richard Katz
    richard808 Attt geemail daht calm

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    I've never heard of anyone writing his own hagiography. It would be quite unseemly, I think.

    By the phrase "Sakurai's books", I intended to convey the meaning that these books were written by a man named Sakurai Yasunoske, one of Awa's students and the foremost authority on him.

    I am not aware that Awa wrote any books.
    Earl Hartman

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    Earl, what about those books about the various politicians running for Prez? Wouldn't those fit the category of hagiographies reportedly written by the principal?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph Svinth View Post
    Earl, what about those books about the various politicians running for Prez? Wouldn't those fit the category of hagiographies reportedly written by the principal?
    Not sure to which books you are referring, but if they were indeed written by the principals, then it sort of proves my point about unseemliness, doesn't it?

    But that is to be expected of politicians, of course.
    Earl Hartman

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