Josh Gold
The article below has been selected from the extensive archives of the Online Aikido Journal. We believe that an informed readership with knowledge of the history, techniques and philosophy of aikido is essential to the growth of the art and its adherence to the principles espoused by Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba.
Many years ago I conducted an interview with a well-known aikido shihan named Shoji Nishio. Nishio Sensei related a fascinating episode that left a deep impact on me and that I have never forgotten. Not only was the actual event he described memorable, but his analysis of the ethical differences between aikido and sport martial arts–judo specifically–was highly perceptive.
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There is a difference between having a coat stolen from a casual dojo encounter. Burglary is different. In the one case, temptation possibly led to theft. In the other, the burglar had already acquired a habit of premeditated theft. It is unfortunate to create a thief. It is also unfortunate, if one has an alternative, to leave a miscreant at large to victimize others. Bill Witt sensei is said to have apprehended a burglar at the old San Francisco dojo once. But in good martial fashion he brought overwhelming force to the situation – a pistol.
It’s a good story, however, I think that to extend the example beyond that, making a comparison of an entire art based on a single comment by one practioner (even if it is Mifune sensei), is a bit of a stretch. It certainly doesn’t do justice to the breadth of the art created by Prof. Kano.
Mifune Sensei might not have been an appropriate example due to his quick temper which got him in too many fights and delayed his promotion to 10th dan. Like Tohei Sensei he was an extremely talented and hardworking technician, but not spiritually oriented. It would have been more interesting to ask how Kano Sensei would have dealt with that kind of situation.
Quitting one’s studies with a teacher over his handling of some incident only is also immature and sounds more like an excuse too often used by dropouts when they can’t tell the truth.
There is a difference between revenge and redress. Revenge is rooted in emotions and is self serving. Redress stems from the sense of duty and desire for justice. Revenge is wrong, so is forgetting out of passivity or cowardice. Compassion forgives but does not forget.
This incident has never sat well with me. I disagree with O’Sensei on this count. He was either using an abstruse Japanese mode of diplomacy, trying to a make a point, or issuing a personal lesson to Mr. Tohei. Or on mushrooms.
NO ONE CAN “MAKE” A THIEF! Thieves choose to be thieves and the responsibility is entirely on their own heads.
Otherwise the whole world will become America where people can sue anyone for just about anything INSTEAD OF DOING THE TRULY HUMAN THING AND TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR OWN ACTIONS!
This incident is as feeble as the Neanderthal attitude of blaming a raped girl for wearing a mini skirt. Scuse me but is not the perpetrator responsible for his indulgent lack of control?
Personally, I would have told O’Sensei to go take a flying leap. His logic was in error. Blaming makes you weak and predisposed to criminality and is the opposite of personal accountability. I think O’Sensei had a lapse on that day and I would not be inclined to start a religious following based on such an error of judgement and twisted logic. Well, we all have our bad days and O’Sensei was merely human. (No fatwas please) Whilst the point about showing off is well taken, it does not justify the theft any more than for example can Mr. Morihiro Saito be blamed for someone stealing his prize bokken, a really superior item, during one of his seminars in his travels. By the way the thief is identified and he would be well advised to carefully parcel it and post it back.
I agree with Stan regarding the malfunction of revenge, but that does not preclude restitution of justice. Sometimes a fine line exists between the two. The points Stan makes about O’Sensei’s instruction to Mr. Tohei are well taken, however but he should have had the courtesy to do it in private. That public display probably led to biases which led to later politics which diminished the history of Aikido. The thief remains a thief and is entirely responsible for the theft. Look, if a hungry man steals a loaf of bread, you would give him another, not send him to a colonial penitentiary as with many of our ancestors. If a cold street person wanted your coat you would give it to him. After all what’s a mere piece of cloth? But as for sneaky grubs, without real need, indulgently stealing out of envy, personally, a good caning would be a good outcome, as such individuals undermine and corrode the whole of society.
Indulging them and promoting such grubs is a folly for which everyone ends up paying dearly.
Look around you, watch the news and draw your own conclusions and then wonder why your mortgage rates, taxes, shop prices and everything else are so exorbitant. You are subsidising everything from shoplifting to corporate corruption. Your choice. Enjoy it while you still have a semblance of society. Or take a stand and refuse to support wanton criminals who are screwing you because they think they can. As for making this error riddled incident something special, that’s a nonsense. Sober up.
Judging from the trail of tribal nuances, my guess is that the thief was a privileged relative of a dojo providing benefactor and that O’Sensei was merely saving his bacon by navigating a difficult conundrum and best as he could wing it at the time. As it happened, in this event as clumsily as when he fell flat on his face into a puddle of mud when chasing bullies who were bashing Kisshomaru. So what? Water under the bridge in a dead past. Life goes on. If there is a “spiritual” lesson to be derived from this incident, it is that it’s good to see that this “great divinity of a kami” was a human and could make mistakes and errors of judgement occasionally, just like anyone else, and we all do.
Clear jurisprudent thought. If anyone can rightly be accused of indeed “making a thief” as such, it was O’Sensei himself who is culpable of covering up for the thief, by side-tracking the issue, instead of exerting his authority and causing him to be flushed out. Which he could have and should have done instead helping him get away with his crime by sidelining. The whole incident smells of nepotistic corruption. I think letting sleeping dogs lie, and relegating this incident the irrelevance it deserves, will most likely save several people who are probably still alive some embarrassment.
My take on this is completely different. I don’t think O-Sensei was implying that the thief had no responsibility in the matter. I think he was saying that Tohei, a man of budo and one of the highest ranking aikidoka of his day, should not indulge in ostentatious behavior and be so careless. As a man of budo, such behavior was dangerous and could lead to all sorts of undesirable consequences like creating an opportunity for a potential thief.
I really enjoyed the article and the “takes” provided by the commentary. Personally, I don’t read too much into O’Sensei’s reaction. He’s not making a social/ethical point or commentary but just providing guidance to his students on the appropriate conduct of an aikidoist (much like parents providing advice to their children). There are two “sins” ok, fine, the obvious one being the theft, but then the covert “sin” (a “sin” of carelessness or lack of awareness) of showing off and neglecting one’s property (like leaving one’s car unlocked), thus leaving an opening to be exploited. Removing openings is not just a concern when physically threatened.
I make this kind of point to my children all the time when they complain about someone hurting them, pushing them, falsely accusing them, etc., when I respond to them by saying, why did you let yourself be hurt, pushed, bothered by that ridiculous remark, and so on. That doesn’t make the thief, bully, or perp any less of a grub or worm or lowlife (as we say where I come from) or any less in need of punishment or at least redress or rehabilitation (if there is such).
Actually “making a thief” is not a bad thing if done intentionally. Police could be said to “make” thieves (or better expose thieves) or Johns or sexual predators or pushers, etc., whenever they impersonate prostitutes, underage girls, drug addicts, and so on, and then make an arrest on that basis. It’s not clear that that kind of police tactic is wrong. I’d say it’s proactively cleaning house. Too bad Tohei Sensei didn’t follow up by setting a trap sometime later to catch the thief (he “made” or better exposed) by once more leaving out in the open a valuable item but this time capturing it’s theft on tape. Society is completely gone to the dogs without some well-timed redress, or what you might call holistic compassion (addressing the wrong-doer so others won’t be harmed).
SO Tohei sensei got a poch in tookus…Osensei was being a good parent…Tough love.