Morihei Ueshiba and Daito-ryu

"Did Morihei Ueshiba merely clone the Daitō-ryū, as it has always been claimed on that side of the fence, or did he completely reshape it and transcend its original meaning, as aikidō students have always been told?"
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Ellis Amdur [1] and Chris Li [2] give their opinions about the complex relationship between Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, and Daito-ryu.
Taken from:
[1] Chierchini, Simone, The Phenomenologist - Interview with Ellis Amdur, 2021, The Ran Network
Details: therannetwork.com/the-phenome...
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[2] Chierchini, Simone, The Translator - Interview with Christopher Li, 2021, The Ran Network
Details: therannetwork.com/the-transla...
Buy now: www.amazon.com/dp/B095GQGBRK/
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[@wagnerbull-shihan8680]

In a video of Michio Hikitsuchi he said that after the war, Ueshiba sensei called him inviting to return the training of his budo saying that his Aikido had changed from what he had done before. It was something looking for love, union etc. I have read a lot about O Sensei , the books of many of his students and almost all Stanley Pranin Material, and everthing I could get, during 5 decades. I have personally invited and had personal chats withmany high ranking people that trained directely with O Sensei, like Tamura Sensei, Kato Sensei, Sugano Sensei, Yamada Sensei, Saito Sensei, Ueno Sensei, Tani Sensei, Kitahira Sensei, Endo, Yamaguchi, Doshu Moriteru, Doshu Kishomaru, Tada Sensei, and othe famos like Terry Ezra, Christian Tissier, NovouMaekawa, Hideo Hirosawa,,,just to mention some, and I talked to then a lot.
I respect the knowloge and expettize and the opinions of Christopher Li and Ellis Amdur sensei( I have the books of both) but in this video I am sure thet missed a very important point
O Sensei was a very religious person.
He was very much influenced by Oomoto Kyo , and was a important member of the organization, and body guard of Onisaburo Deguchil.
He learned Kotodama in Oomoto Kyo, and said it was the same structure of Aikido. Kotodama is a essencial discipline of OOmoto and many other Ways in Japan.
Besides he said many times that his Aikido was a misogi, a purification shito practice
Furidama, funakogi, shin koky, Ten Kokyu, otakebi etc, exercides done in the beginning of his classes are all part Shinto rituals for spiritual purificacion in so called Misogi Shugyo,. Just o mention furidama means shaking the soul, and funakoi is originally ame no tori fune no gi, meaning fligin like a ber in the direction of Heaven, the spiritual realm. The amato futonotito. O Sensei said that Aikido was Ame no Ukihashi, that means a bridge to heaven. Said before going to Hawai that he had built a golden bridge to heaven for Japan and would build a silve one to Hawai (other countries).
After the second world war, the term Takemusu Aikido started being used , Takemussu is a Shinto god a creative god using bu (take) as instrument . Shinto is very similar then Taoism in many aspects, in technical terms us it had many aspects of the “neija” internal martial arts of the Wutang region in China like Tai Chi , Pa kua zhang .Maybe Daito Ryu had it too , is another possibility, but I have no doubt that Aikido essence are the internal marcial arts of China adapted to the use of the katana.
There are people that says O sensei trained Pa Kua when he was in Manchria teaching the japones soldiers army. O Sensei said to Henry Kono Sensei of Canada when he study in HOmbu DOjo, that to learn Aikido the secret was knowing about Ying and Yang. Shinto and Aikido dealw with O Sensei in his writings almost do not used this term , but instaead used the terms Izanami and I Izanagi the gos that created everything, l(the yaorozo no kami, the same 10 thousand things of Lao Tzi).
Takemussu is a term used to describe a creative process, martially and spiritually, but O sensei was now worried with the technical repertoire of Daito Riu speciall after the world, , , but to transform the techniques in a kind of pray.
Some said Aikido was Zen in movement but with the Shinto spirit of love and reverence for nature (Daishizen), and not the budism format.
O Sensei said clearly that Aikido as not a religion but contained the essence of all of then ,what else must be say about what he was teaching??????
It is clear what he did with Budo he learned tranforme it in a ShinBudo (spiritual martial art), and adoptes the name of Aikido beeing it a Way of life, a path to the Kami,(shinto gods). A michi (treaining ), to the spiritual World or to using western terms, to the the Garden of Eden to use a Jew Chistian terminology.
Maybe the comparison of a aikidokas colud be done with good simillarity in the sayings of O sensei, with the Cruzades warriors or the European Midle ages. .
In other words , Aikido to O sensei was a way to practice the essence of Oomoto Kyo and Shinto concepts using Daito Ryu techniques as the exercice to reach the spiritual realm.
The final idea of O Sensei that some called “Bannen Aikido”, was to enter in the inconscient of the uke and change its programing in order that the individual would reverberate with the laws of nature, of the TAO Chinese , or the DO Japanese.
Then non touch techniques were possible, how we can see in the video of his last demonstration in youtube I show the link down..
Sory Lee and Amdur Sensei,to disagree withy ou both , but this time you are mistaken.
I would like to mention that admire you work and I learned important things reading your writings. The japanese have a saying :
Saru mo ki kara ochiru ( Even the monkey fall from the trees).
Take a look please, in the moment : 34:20 of this video: th-cam.com/video/zlX7Rn8YruQ/w-d-xo.html
and you will see what I am talking about, Aiki is a felling not a technique, is a training ir othe we can develop our percpton to the spiritual realm and live better , healthier and happier:
Wagner Bull - Brazil.

[@streamofconsciousness8312]

thank you for sharing all those thoughts, especially the idea of the pa kua being incorporated in. That makes a lot of sense.

[@streamofconsciousness8312]

bagua or circle walking is kinda like moving tenkan in aikido

[@bierbrauer11]

Hip and shoulder throws are radically different in aikido. It is a leading throw vs a jacking/leverage throw. It is the only technique I have executed in self defense mode. It did involve tucking the head of the jerk who attacked me.

[@whitecox86]

great video. Thanks!👏

[@Rakkaryusei]

I had a small brain glitch at one point in the interview- Ueshiba borrowed from Kashima Shinto-ryu, not the very different Kashima Shin-ryu

[@therannetwork]

Amended in both Italian and English captions

[@kellypurdue1990]

Agree with Wagner that Osensei was first and foremost a religous man. The question then arises as to how his belief changed his art. I think the investigations startedby Stan Pranin and continued by others, notably the two guests here , show there is little change externally. Since we cannot replicate his belief paradigm, indeed, cannot even understand his talks on the subject except in the broadest terms, i ask what did his process do to his way of thinking/being with his practice. For me the simplest way to approach this is the subjugation of ego. Looking at Osensei's earlier practice of Chingon Buddhism and his later interest in Omoto Kyo and their view on meditation/prayer giving rise to spirit possession and awareness of the many deities around them coupled with O sensei saying he was a reincarnation of 2 different deities and the times he said he didn't do an action but rather it was a kami within him. This leads me to believe this is why many comment on his being so relaxed. He utterly believed he was being taken care of as it were. He didn't view the interaction with an aggressor in the framework of having to overcome using confrontational strength, rather joining (Aiki) and moving to a martial conclusion. Henry Kono told the story of yin yang, he also mentioned training with the uchi deshi of the day and as good as they were you always knew why/how you hit the ground. With O sensei you fell down and didn't know why. Sunadomori Sensei told us O sensei said the purpose of the techniques was to remove the sediment from the joints ie move freely. Tohei Sensei said the most important thing he learned from Osensei was relax. I think a serious investigation into relax is the portal to O sensei's art

[@fredricclack7137]

Aikido Misogi HAI! 🥋

[@fredricclack7137]

👁️ Seidokan ☯️

[@blaa443blaa2]

I don't get what's the point of this conversation. What does it matter what it is called ? Main point is that those techniques have been preserved over the decades. Maybe centuries. Arts also evolve all the time as they should.

[@EthanNoble]

Matters to us martial arts nerds lol