Homma Shihan has proven himself a very prolific writer and artist. I have never met him, but I have been impressed with his books. His dedication to a healthy lifestyle and community service is a credit to him and his students. From the Nippon-Kan website's column from 2/2/2014:
Homma Sensei points out that O Sensei was less of a saint and less of a genius than we are led to believe. That the tricks were not what they looked to be. He admits he would take part in demonstrations with O Sensei and faked them:
I assisted the Founder during the demonstrations where the Founder demonstrated that he could not be pushed over by students pushing him with their hands to his forehead. I would stand in the position closest to the Founder with my hand on his head or his hip with other students pushing behind me. During those demonstrations I never pushed with force on the Founder and held back the exertion of the other students pushing behind me with all of my strength.
Homma Shihan was part of the lie that opened the door for generations of liars, and fakes. Now we have an Art that is less than the myth.
If a robber emptied a bank vault, we also criminally charge the person who deliberately left the vault open for the thief. Homma Sensei is confessing he was part of the lie that opened the door for many charlatans. I appreciate that he had respectful intentions, and he felt more loyalty to his teacher/patient than he did to the truth and future generations at the time. History will benefit from Homma Shihan's honesty. Other associations could benefit from his example, ie so many Shihan, all "direct live-in students of the Founder" during the time period that O Sensei was reportedly not living in Tokyo?
Homma Sensei is not alone in his deciding to set the record straight years later. Stanley Pranin admits to having never met O Sensei, but he also gives a harsh interpretation of the history of O Sensei. From the Aikido Journal newsletter, August 22/2013:
By the time aikido began to spread in the postwar era in Japan and abroad, the Founder was already an anachronism. He was elderly, selfish, cantankerous, spoke at times incomprehensibly, and moved in ways that only the most astute observer could follow. He was too much trouble to deal with, and he was consequently marginalized in the dojo he had built.
So what happened? Morihei’s words were edited and “prettified,” and made to sound like a sage. When rendered into English and other languages, what we have are “free” translations that are not identified as such. We are at least two levels removed from his original words. O-Sensei’s techniques that were poorly explained and too hard to learn were eschewed in favor of the approaches of the Founder’s son, Kisshomaru and Koichi Tohei, in particular. His weapon studies were judged to be amateurish and incomplete, and thus irrelevant to the art.
Where does that leave us?
It means that the Founder of aikido, perhaps the art’s finest exponent, and the man who conceived of the system of ethics that underpins the art, is not a major factor in discussions of aikido, be they of a technical or philosophical nature. O-Sensei’s influence is akin to a far off echo, weak and distorted. As a result, aikido has been impoverished.
To end on a positive note, if Morihei Ueshiba’s ideas were ever to be understood and widely discussed, the art’s potential as a martial art and a powerful social force would be greatly magnified.
O Sensei is said to have had liver cancer, and liver disease does interfere with a patient's mental state as enzyme levels become toxic. His temper and confusion are understandable in that context. The psychological stress of his life around the war was more than enough to elicit some PTSD as well. His deterioration of skills and cognitive abilities would have made sense.
It was the claim that O Sensei got stronger with age that was the miracle. While still respecting the man, Homma Shihan and Pranin Sensei both seem to be implying that the reality is less than many Aikido people were lead to believe. The marketing campaign around O Sensei doesn't sound like something O Sensei instigated. Was the extent of the marketing necessary? People still train in Modern Arnis while knowing that Professor Remy Presas died before his time of a brain tumour. He still has loyal students and a surviving art. Kano Jigoro died of pneumonia, and Judo has survived and continued to grow.
I've even had low ranked Karate students tell me, "Gichen Funakoshi wasn't the best ever." They don't even try to look like him these days. Students are inspired to think they might surpass him! This forms the justification for bringing psychology, kinestheology, updated techniques and modern training methods into Shotokan Karate Dojos. (How successful they are is another debate.)
In contrast, Aikido created a legend, and now we notice even his direct students are so much less than the mythic standard. At least O Sensei hasn't become Chang San Feng (yet) - the seven foot tall founder of Taijiquan who could throw arrows without using a bow with enough force to drive them through giant tree trunks. Morihei Ueshiba is still held up as "a reincarnation of the Buddah," and "history's greatest martial artist."
There is so much evidence (or "evidence") that one needs to wade through now. I wish I knew what to think about Morihei Ueshiba, the man. I still meditate in the dojo, and I still practice. I look at the picture on the wall and I see an ideal to strive for. I still talk to the Shomen during hard times. I train because I like to, not for any other reason than that. Maybe I see O Sensei as a better man than he ever was, and so what? So what if I am striving for a real standard set by the Founder or an imaginary standard that never existed?
The defining feature of Generation X is that we have no heros, and we destroy anyone who has the audacity to stand above and apart. Everyone is human in some way, or has something about them that we can judge or lose respect for. Presidents, Leaders, Royalty, the Rich, the Famous, the Super-Intelligent, the Gifted, the Holy - sooner or later, we prove to ourselves how pathetic and squalid you all are. The hard part for the rest of us is moving forward anyway, allowing ourselves to believe in something and someone anyway. I believe in something about this Art.
I remember Sensei looked poorly one seminar. I was taking ukemi for him. I never faked ukemi for him. I continued to hold with full power, and I struck with full speed. I couldn't touch him. He was too fast, too powerful...and too pale. He was admitted to hospital soon after. When I realized how sick he was I didn't know how he could stand, let alone move so well and so effectively. While he was embarrassed by his "weakness," I continued to be shocked.
He never asked us to fake it, and he never made any magical claims. He demanded polite behavior, but not that we "drink the Kool-Aid." He just trained. He would let us test him, and he stood up to all our tests. I couldn't touch a dying man decades older than me when I was in the best shape of my life. That is what inspires me. He was fully human, and that makes things I still cannot understand (let alone do) attainable. Of course it was a difficult life. Sensei never wanted veneration for himself. He just loved his teacher and the martial arts. I made different choices, and that is on me.
One of the most important lessons I learned from him was that masters are merely people who worked very hard. We can all be masters ourselves, if we just pay the brutal and never-ending price. That won't make us enlightened saints, or gurus, or well-rounded human beings, or people deserving of respect. It won't mean we are automatically on the "right" side of history. Just people who forged their bodies and minds with effort. Hopefully, something worth passing on comes of it.
