Aikido and the New Warrior

by Richard Heckler, Morihei Ueshiba, Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Book Overview

Aikido and the New Warrior includes essays which illuminate Aikido concepts as they apply to many different walks of life: sports, nature, anger, martial arts training, death, and aging to name a few.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0938190512
• ISBN13: 9780938190516
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Anthology worthy of review

I read this book years ago while studying Aikido in Japan. A pretty good anthology by various practictioners of the Art. The articles provide a rather good context for understanding the Founders life, his spiritual and philosophical thoughts, reflections, and values for an embodied life. It was the philosophy of O'Sensi that provided the impetus to study and learn this Art. It led to a five year love affair with the mysterious states of consciousness I kept tripping over - and through - or invoking in my life. While I cannot demonstrate what follows via logic, I suspect that any current or former student of Aikido will support my contention that Aikido offers a profound matrix for learning, change, and personal transformation. Along the way, I discovered Tai Chi Chuan, and gave up Aikido to focus on Tai Chi. My love affair with this Art now over thirty years strong. If you have an interest in Aikido and its praxis for personal transformation, this book might provoke your interest for checking it out. Here is the disclaimer: you may never be the same again! Internal martial arts such as Aikido and Tai Chi Chuan open doorways into what Castaneda called the "second attention." If you want to find out more, sign up at your local Aikido Dojo, and then hold on for the ride of your life!

For a Broader Understanding

Let me make it clear from the get go that my four star rating is not a reflection of whether I actually like the various essays contained within this volume. Rather, my rating reflects my opinion of how much information and insight a reader will gain from this volume regarding the practice and interpretation of aikido, even if some of the essays do not jibe with me. The actual essays themselves are a mixed bag, ranging from the esoteric to the concrete, from the good to the ridiculous. That, however, is the nature of aikido. The founder of the art, Morihei Ueshiba (known to his followers as O-Sensei), did not intend for aikido to be merely a physical practice. Rather he infused aikido with a philosophy and spiritualism unique among martial arts. As Bob Aubrey puts it in the title essay, the "philosophy of Aikido thus contains a transcendental or spiritual element as well as an ethical element." This allows for the art of aikido to be interpreted and practiced very differently depending on the direction or angle with which one approaches it. Such interpretations and practices include the prominence of benevolence over violence (A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath by Terry Dobson), incorporating the principles of aikido into therapy (Aikido: A Model for Brief Strategic Therapy by Donald Saposnek), beginning one's aikido journey at an older than average age (On Getting a Black Belt at Age Fifty-Two by George Leonard) and aikido as facilitating the healing process (Aikido and Healing: Does This Stuff Really Work? by Richard Moon). Many other examples are to found within AIKIDO AND THE NEW WARRIOR, with again, some essays being much better than others. (The book starts with a biography of O-Sensei by John Stevens, which I criticized as too mystical in my review of his book THREE BUDO MASTERS.) Agree with them or not, one will have a better understanding of how aikido is approached by different people after completing this book.

not a "how-to" manual

This book is a collection of essays not so much about what Aikido is (and certainly not "how to do it"), but on how the practice of it has changed the lives or shaped the goals of the different contributors. The emphasis of the anthology seems to be an exploration of how the principles of Aikido can be successfully applied to widely divergent fields. Save the one on the cover, there are no pictures. I first read this over twenty years ago. I found most of the essays forgettable, but there is at least one lustrous pearl among them: George Leonard's, "On Getting a Black Belt at Age Fifty-Two," which appears in about the middle of the volume. So memorably written and full of genuine wisdom is that particular essay that even now, two decades after reading it, I can still reconstruct its entire structure entirely from memory, and everything about it. This piece alone justifies the price of admission.

An excellent essay collection

This was the first book I ever read on Aikido, and the only reason that I am practicing Aikido today. The essays in the book serve to illuminate Aikido concepts as the apply to many different walks of life: sports, nature, anger, martial arts training, death, aging, etc. The Terry Dobson essay, 'A Kind Hand Turneth Away Wrath' makes the book worthwhile all by its lonesome. Note that this book contains no information whatsoever on any Aikido techniques. Thank goodness. We definitely don't need another redundant Aikido book which does not offer any kind of special perspective on the martial art. If you need techniques, buy Westbrook and Ratti's "Aikido And The Dynamic Sphere, the single most comprehensive Aikido book out there. 'The New Warrior' offers many unique perspectives on the practice of Aikido which cannot be found in any other book.