Tag: taiji

Morihei Ueshiba, Budo en Kamae – Deel 3 [Dutch Version]
‘Tai-no-henka naar de linker- en rechterkant’ uit “Budo” 1938
*This is a Dutch translation of the article “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae – Part 3“, courtesy of Ernesto Lemke of Seikokan Aikido.
Meer over zes richtingen…
Als je “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo en Kamae” nog niet gelezen hebt dan kun je dat beter eerst doen.
En misschien wil je ook “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo en Kamae – Deel 2“, lezen die een reactie van John Stevens op het originele artikel bevat.
En laten we nu eens kijken naar de zin hierboven, ‘Tai-no-henka naar de linker- en rechterkant’, gescand uit Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei’s technische handleiding ‘Budo’. (more…)
September 10, 2013
Aikido en de Structuur van het Universum [Dutch Version]
Morihei Ueshiba Voordrachten
*This is a Dutch translation of the article “Aikido and the Structure of the Universe – Ichirei Shikon Sangen Hachiriki / 一霊四魂三元八力“, courtesy of Ernesto Lemke of Seikokan Aikido.
Ichirei Shikon Sangen Hachiriki / 一霊四魂三元八力
In ‘Kiichi Hogen en het Geheim van Aikido’ traceerden we een link tussen wat de Grondlegger van Aikido Morihei Ueshiba aankaartte als een van de ‘Geheimen’ van Aikido en Chinese militaire strategie. In ‘Morihei Ueshiba, Budo en Kamae’ legden we een verband tussen een sectie uit de technische handleiding ‘Budo’ van Morihei Ueshiba uit 1938, en enkele veel voorkomende concepten uit de Chinese krijgskunsten.
Natuurlijk is er meer. Nog veel meer. Als een rode draad loopt het dwars door alle voordrachten en essays van Morihei Ueshiba heen. Als de verbanden eenmaal zijn gelegd zal dit, denk ik, duidelijk worden. Voor de hand liggend zelfs. Wat ook duidelijk zal worden is de trainingsmethodologie die zonder twijfeltaal door de Grondlegger zelf zal worden blootgelegd.
Om te beginnen zei Morihei Ueshiba met regelmaat dat ‘Ichirei Shikon Sangen Hachiriki’ (‘Een Geest, Vier Zielen, Drie Oorsprongen, Acht Krachten’) de basisstructuur van het Universum en de basisstructuur van Aikido voorstelde. (more…)
February 28, 2013
Tetsutaka Sugawara: Aikido and Taiji
From left to right: Lujian Xing, Moriteru Ueshiba, Kisshomaru Ueshiba,
Yucai Qiu (All China Sports Federation), Tetsutaka Sugawara
from “Aikido and Chinese Martial Arts: Its Fundamental Relations”
by Tetsutaka Sugawara and Lujian Xing
“At the master level, all boxing becomes one. All is moving with the tanden.”
“Internal Strength” magazine was published by Mike Sigman in 1993 and 1994. Only six issues were ever published, and it is no longer generally available, but some of the articles have been archived on the “Internal Strength” website.
A friend of Mike’s, Mike Jones, later started “Internal Martial Arts” magazine using the same formatting as the old “Internal Strength” magazine.
Mike (Sigman) sent me this article about Tetsutaka Sugawara (菅原鉄孝) by Jason Chung from issue 6 of “Internal Martial Arts” and suggested that I post it here so that it would remain available to the general public. It was relevant to discussions that were going on in April 2000, and I hope that it you will find that it is still relevant to discussions ongoing today.
While I was living in Japan I met Tetsutaka Sugawara through one of my instructors, Hiroyuki Hasegawa (長谷川弘幸), who trained with him in Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū (天真正伝香取神道流) , and I have always been impressed by the variety and depth of his research projects.
Here is a short biography from the Sugawara Budo website (also known as the Sugawara Martial Arts Institute / 菅原総合武道研究所):
Tetsutaka Sugawara was born in Hokkaido in 1941. In 1960, he began Aikido at the Hombu Dojo, Tokyo, under O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido. In 1961, he became uchideshi under O-Sensei at the Ibaraki Dojo.
In 1964, he returned to Tokyo and entered Chuo University. In 1973, he established Minato Research and Publishing Co. (currently Sugawara Martial Arts Institute, Inc.) In 1975, he entered the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu receiving the ‘kyoshi’ instructor’s license in 1986.
April 1992, introduced Aikido to Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, Beijing University of Medical Science. November 1992, received Kyoshi-license of Okinawan Goju-ryu Karatedo by Yasuichi Miyagi. June 1993, introduced Aikido to Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medical Science in China. May 1995, received Aikido 7th Dan by Kisshomaru Ueshiba. Introduced Aikido to Chengdu Institute of Physical Education in China. Received the Lecturer’s License of Shanghai Institute of P.E. He is currently visiting 12 countries teaching Aikido and Katori Shinto Ryu. (more…)
January 13, 2013
More on Aikido and the Floating Bridge of Heaven
Ansai Yamazaki (1619-1682), founder of Suika Shinto
Ansai Yamazaki and Ama-no-ukihashi-den
Ansai Yamazaki was an Edo Period Confucian scholar who started out as a Buddhist monk and was one of the first people to spread Neo-Confucian thought in Japan.
Interestingly, Zhang San Feng（张三丰）, the legendary creator of Tajiquan in China, was also influenced by Neo-Confucian thought.
Yamazaki was also the founder of the Suika Shinto sect, and his work on Shinto theology was instrumental in breaking Shinto thought out from the specialized provenance of the shrines to a more general population. We’ll get back to how this relates to the Floating Bridge a little bit later.
合氣を学ぶものは天の浮橋に立たねばならぬ
In order to learn Aiki you must stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven.
As you can see from the above quotation, Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba seemed to think that the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” (天之浮橋) was a pretty important thing.
Still – for all of its importance in his writings it is a concept that is generally not well understood. A direct student of Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei once expressed it to me this way:
The Founder told us that we would be unable to practice martial arts if we did not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven. We were told that if we could not stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven then our training would not bring forth Aikido technique, so it was essential that we do so at all costs.
However, we didn’t understand anything about where this Floating Bridge of Heaven was. Since we didn’t understand where it was there was no way that we could stand on it, so the reality was that we just put on a good face and kept on applying techniques to each other.
If you’ve read “Aikido and the Unknown” then you may have some idea why this kind of thing is not well understood, but just in case, here’s an interesting passage from Koichi Tohei (from “Ki no Kakuritsu” / 気の確立, translated from the Japanese):
Without a doubt, Ueshiba Sensei understood Ki. If we’re talking about that point, then I think that you could say that he was a genius. However, it is unfortunate that he never taught the true nature of it to his students. Even now I don’t know if that was because he didn’t want to teach it, or if it was because he was unable to teach it.
You may also like to take a look at “Morihei Ueshiba: Untranslatable Words” for an interesting story about Koichi Tohei himself and understanding of O-Sensei. (more…)
July 1, 2012
Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae – Part 3
Tai-no-henka to the left and right, from “Budo” 1938
More on six directions…
If you haven’t read “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae” yet then you’ll probably want to go back and read that article first.
You may also want to read “Morihei Ueshiba, Budo and Kamae – Part 2“, which contains a response from John Stevens to the original article.
Now, take a look at the section above, “Tai-no-henka to the left and right”, scanned from Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei’s 1938 technical manual “Budo”. (more…)
June 24, 2012