Cool story about Ueshiba

From Aikido Journal:

The founder of aikido himself obviously had a sense of humor, judging from the old movies where you see him playing a lighthearted "cat-and-mouse" game with his ukes.

A judo friend of mine experienced this at first hand in the early 60s when he was invited by O-Sensei to attack him "any way he liked".

Realizing he would probably be recognized as a judoka (the cauliflower ears were a giveaway) he decided to use the element of surprise, and to attack with a karate kick – but he never saw or felt what happened! He just flew through the air and landed with a thud. When he got up, slightly dazed, O-Sensei had apparently vanished! He turned this way and that, but could not see him – for the simple reason that the old man had sneaked in behind him and was turning around with him, in perfect sync, much to the amusement of the onlookers. It was only when my friend received a tap on the shoulder that he realized the joke was on him.

If that’s isn't a sense of humor, at the highest level of aikido, I’d like to know what is.

don't you remember, the forum dismissed O Sensei as a hack.

Never mind, somebody probably made this story up. :rolleyes:

One of the things I have always admired about O'Sensei Ueshiba is the apparent joy on his face as he practiced his art. He is always smiling.

I don't get mad.
I get stabby.

Yeah, I can see that...... I mean....all he did was get Menkyo Kaiden under Takeda Sokaku...no mean feat there. Masters teachers liscense...so what? And then to distill that (ie waterdown) and spread it ALL OVER THE WORLD? I know like 10 guys who have done that...it's easy......

When you steal all of your stuff from Bagua, succcess is garunteed.

Nice to see Takeda's name again.
Ueshiba got press, but without Takeda he'd
be nothing.

Here is an interesting bit from e-budo.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA USA
Posts: 665
Open letter
The following open letter was published on the Aikido Journal bulletin board on 06/12/2000 by AJ Editor Stanley Pranin.

The letter is re-printed below in it's entirery, and can also be found in the "Editor's Updates 2000 (Archive)" of the AJ BBS under the name "An Open Letter to the Webmaster of daito-ryu[dot]com":


An Open Letter to the Webmaster of http://www.daito-ryu.com/

Dear Sir,

My attention was recently called to the introductory article on your website on Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, its ranking system, and other subjects. As you refer to yourselves as the "Official" website of the Hombu school of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, certain points raised in your article have left me puzzled.

By way of self-introduction, let me offer a few comments on my personal involvement in Daito-ryu. Although I am not personally a practitioner of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, I have studied the history of the art beginning with Sokaku Takeda since about 1985 when I first met and interviewed the late Soke Tokimune Takeda. From that point on I have had the good fortune of having been able to interview most of the top figures of the various schools of Daito-ryu descendant from Sokaku. Also, I have published a book entitled "Daito-ryu aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters" that contains the interviews I conducted over the years. I therefore have some familiarity with the background of this wonderful art.

The first question I have with respect to your article concerns your understanding of the meaning of the "menkyo kaiden" certification. As you may know, Sokaku Takeda gave out only two of these transmission scrolls during his lifetime: one to Hisa Takuma and the other to Masao Tonedate, both of the Asahi News dojo in Osaka, in 1939. Hisa was an avid practitioner and the leader of the Asahi News dojo while Tonedate was a high-level company employee and not a serious student of Daito-ryu. I have verified this fact with one first-hand witness--Shigemi Yonekawa--and also people such as Hakaru Mori Sensei of the Daito-ryu aikijujutsu Takumakai. My comments on the menkyo kaiden below therefore exclude Tonedate who never actually taught Daito-ryu in a formal sense.

During Tokimune Takeda Sensei's tenure as Soke of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, he awarded only one menkyo kaiden. This was given to Katsuyuki Kondo Sensei of Tokyo, present head of the Shimbukan Dojo. I have personally seen the menkyo kaiden and can vouch for its authenticity.

Your article takes great pains to stress that possesion of a menkyo kaiden does not equate to a teaching licence in Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. I must confess I find this statement very odd. It is my understanding from conversations with Tokimune Sensei that the menkyo kaiden level is far beyond that of a teaching certification. In the only two instances of menkyo kaiden being awarded to active practitioners--Hisa and Kondo--both already had received the "kyoju dairi" certification. The kyoju dairi is indeed a Daito-ryu teaching certification and was awarded to about 25-30 persons by Sokaku and later his son Tokimune during their teaching careers. Parenthetically, the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, also received a Daito-ryu teaching certification qualifying him to teach the art.

You go on to equate the menkyo kaiden to a four-year university diploma which tens of millions of people have received, myself included. Since a person can receive such a degree at age 21 and be very inexperienced even in their field of expertise while a menkyo kaiden recipient is extremely rare and is considered to have full mastery of the art, I have been scratching my head trying to figure out the points of similarity between the two. Since you are so insistent about this issue, I can only surmise that you must be concerned with abuses by some unknown person or persons. I would be very curious to know who these people might be with "commercially oriented intentions" who are teaching Daito-ryu to the public without proper certification. Maybe you are alluding to the various Saigo-ha schools of Daito-ryu? Please clarify.

Another point regarding which I am experiencing great confusion is your understanding of who the present Soke or headmaster might be. You mention the "daughter of the late Soke" as the current headmaster to whom you are affiliated Well, as far as I know Tokimune only had two daughters: a Mrs. Oshima and a Mrs. Yokoyama, both of whom I have met. There was a relatively brief period of time when Mrs. Yokoyama acted as interim Soke while Tokimune Sensei was hospitalized in the early 1990s. She was living in Tokimune's house in front of the Daitokan dojo in Abashiri. However, Mrs. Yokoyama later withdrew from this interim position and handed over her administrative responsibilities to Katsuyuki Kondo of Tokyo. As Kondo Sensei is not a blood relative, he cannot act in the capacity of headmaster but uses the administrative titles of Hombu Dojo-cho and Somucho. These were terms used by Sokaku while he was actively teaching. The other daughter, Mrs. Oshima, has never claimed to be the Soke as far as I know, but her husband certainly has! In fact, her husband is one of three persons to claim or have claimed to be the Daito-ryu headmaster! That is another complicated matter I won't address here.

In any event, Mrs. Yokoyama is no longer involved in Daito-ryu affairs and it is Mrs. Oshima's husband who claims to be Soke. Which of Tokimune's two daughters then is it that you regard as the Soke? Surely, as the "Headquarters," you must know the background of this situation!

The next point I wish to address is your assertion of being the "Hombu Dojo" of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. Again, I am baffled because the three teachers you mention as the principals of your organization--Matsuo Sano Sensei, Shigemitsu Kato Sensei, and Kaoru Arisawa Sensei--all resigned from the Daitokan dojo of Tokimune Sensei in December 1991. Two of the three gentlemen are listed as 5th dan holders on their resignation forms. They were among a group of students to resign en masse at this time.

As you know, the Daitokan dojo was the Official Hombu Dojo of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu under Tokimune Soke. Since these three individuals you mention on your website officially resigned from the Hombu Dojo while Tokimune Soke was still living, how are we to understand them now heading the "Official Hombu Dojo?"

This makes absolutely no sense to me! Also, one is tempted to ask how, by your own logic, if they were 5th dan in 1991 and did not have kyoju dairi certification at that time, is it that they became qualified to teach? What authority awarded them their teaching certification after Tokimune Sensei's death? I am at a complete loss to explain this. Please help me by clarifying how this inexplicable state of affairs came about.

One last thing has been bothering me about your site. You offer versions in several languages including English, Italian, French, German and Russian. But you also state in one place in your chronology "here in Abashiri," a town on the northeastern tip of Hokkaido, Japan. My impression is that you are located in Japan as the "Offical Hombu Dojo." Why is there no Japanese-language version of your site, especially the parts concerning your comments on the current headmaster, the meaning of menkyo kaiden, and the Daito-ryu grading system? I can't think of any Japanese headquarters school running a website that doesn't have a version in Japanese. It just makes no sense! How am I to understand this strange omission?

I hope you will take time to address the points I raise here, if not in a reply to me, perhaps then on your website itself. If you wish to be taken seriously you will certainly want to clairfy these important issues. You are reaching thousands of people via your website and participants from our bulletin board have alluded to your activities as well. Hence, my interest and concern for "getting the facts straight."

I have taken the liberty of posting this letter and a link to your site at our website at www.aikidojournal.com.
Sincerely yours,

Stanley Pranin
Editor and Publisher of Aiki News/Aikido Journal

The editors of Aikido Journal don't play around. When it comes to lineage and transmission, they are very precise (or if they cannot be precise they give detailed explainations).

"She ain't got no muscles in her teeth."
- Cat

Dumb question: what is a "Honbu?"