Interviews
Interview with Sameshima Motonari, 8th Dan Judo Senior Councilor of the Kodokan Judo Institute
This interview was conducted during the Kano Jirogo Ann...
Roundtable Discussion with Doshu and Students from Abroad
I was once told by Christian Tissier, who spent substan...
News
Column: It Ain't Necessarily So
Revisiting Assumptions: Twenty Years to Hiden Mokuroku - It Ain't Necessarily So
While the extent of the technical curriculum of some martial arts schools can be quite extensive, fellow koryu practitioners often express surprise at how large that of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu is in pa...
Ueshiba Morihei's "Escape from Osaka" - It Ain't Necessarily So
I have previously written about Hisa Takuma and Nakatsu Heizaburo, who were both the students of Ueshiba Morihei, and then Takeda Sokaku, at the dojo of the Asahi newspaper in Osaka between 1934 and 1...
Where’s My Money!!!???? - It Ain't Necessarily So
Some might find this an essay on a trivial subject—a one-hundred-year old personal debt. How this debt is interpreted, however, defines the nature of the relationship of two men: Takeda Sokaku and Ues...
Kobayashi Hirokazu, a Daito-ryu Master? - It Ain't Necessarily So
Some time ago, Aikido Journal published excerpts from an email exchange between the late Stanley Pranin and André Cognard, who runs an independent Aikido group in Europe. The article highlights a so-c...
The Influence of the Chinese Masters on O Sensei's Technique - It Ain't Necessarily So
I am regularly asked questions by readers on the subject of the influence of Chinese martial arts on the technique of O Sensei. On this, as well as other unlikely theories, my default stance is that e...
Rendez-vous with Adventure - It Ain't Necessarily So
I trained for a short time at the Kodokan, and then, for several years, with Tokaidai Sagami high school’s judō team. Tokai Daigaku, a huge complex of university campuses was the pre-eminent judō powe...
Banquo’s Ghost - It Ain't Necessarily So
Where do myths begin? Jungian psychologists assert that myths reflect primordial patterns within the unconscious. Myths, therefore, impose a one form of order on chaos. This order is based in both rea...