Customer Reviews

The Secret Teachings of Aikido

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The founder Osensei Ueshiba explains in great detail all the profound spiritual and philosophical aspects of the art. All the information in the book is from lectures that master Ueshiba did back in the past when Aikido was born. Great book for understanding the essence of this marvelous path that is Aikido. A must have for the serious practitioner.

This is an extraordinary book that was recommended to me by a longtime teacher of Aikido; it's highly respected by other teachers I know who have made Aikido their life's focus for many, many years. The preface, by Moriteru Ueshiba, the son of Morihei Ueshiba, explains that this is a translation of lectures that present the inner teachings of Aikido, describing the core of the Founder's spirit and interpretation of the techniques. He says he would be very happy if those who engage in heartfelt Aikido training make this book of the Founder's lessons their daily companion and study his words often. Again - this is a translation, not an interpretation, of profound thinking. John Stevens, the translator, is a Buddhist priest, teacher of Eastern philosophy, and a high ranking Aikido teacher in Japan. He says in the book, "All serious students of Aikido must study Morihei's words and make their own interpretation of his marvelous philosophy of the Art of Peace." He added only minimal explanations in brackets, so it's quite clear that those few touches are his own - for example, the kind of thing he adds in brackets is illustrated here: "Unification of mind and body will lead to the development of fundamental techniques. Techniques that are created by the nen [single-minded concentration, direct perception of the truth] are unlimited in scope. Techniques must reflect universal principles. For this we need true nen." I would really encourage you to use the Amazon feature that lets you "look inside" and see for yourself what it's like - It's a beautiful book worth keeping out and referring to often.

This book was a challenge. But in a good way. The spiritual aspect is what I was looking for, but often found myself scratching my head. You really have to open your mind and soak it all in, to understand what he means. But you can see clearly that this man was indeed a giant. A passionate man with love for everything and a truly humble servant to all. We could learn alot from O-Sensei. It was an excellent read. Couldnt put it down.

I think the first thing that should be noted is this book came out twenty years after the founder died. Aikido has become an industry. Everybody and their brother is writing books about Aiki. And this work is no different. The overwhelming majority of the so called quotes of the founder are things that are poorly understood so the actual author interjected what he thought was meant. One item that comes to mind in the book it is stated that "Matter descends and sprit ascends." This is western thought of the middle ages. This is the "body is bad sprit is good" ideals that led to self-flagellation. I can see the founder saying the body sinks as the ki flows upward. This is a technique not a philosophical explanation. I suspect that the person that actually wrote this work ( translating is one thing but changing what is said is another) didn't understand what the founder was talking about so they filled in the blanks with their own biases. But this book does have some great pictures.