Transparent Power A Secret Teaching Revealed-The Extraordinary Martial Artist Yukiyoshi Sagawa

by Tatsuo Kimura

2009

Library's review

Transparent Power became a Japanese language non-fiction bestseller in Japan, yet for over a decade no full English translation ever saw the light of day. One reason is the unusual content-a private record of the travels and esoteric teachings of one of the greatest modern martial arts legends in
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Japan (in fact, the true heir to the tradition that also gave rise to the art known as Aikido).

This book is not about learning physical techniques to overpower opponents. Instead, the true story of Transparent Power is about a mysterious force that one man discovered over a century ago, howit was transmitted to one of his disciples, and how the latter sensei (teacher) learned to develop it anduse it at will. Although there men happened to be martial artists, they could just as easily have been dentists or lawyers ofr mathematicians.

In fact, the author of Transparent Power is a math teacher-a respected professor at a major university whose life is firmly grounded in logic, rational thought and empirical study. But when he happened to meet one of the men who had mastered this force they called Aiki, he discovered something beyond his wildest imagination: that ogic and reason come up empty-handed when faced with the blunt reality of a controllable force that can totally negate the strength of a large man and then send him flying across the room. Not a martial arts 'throw' or a 'technique' using muscles, but a genuine, experiential POWER that allows a 95 year-old man to toss 30 year-old bodybuilders, judo and karate masters around like beanbags.

The author, Dr. Kimura, is still teaching mathematics. But his life changed completely through daily encounters with this mysterious force and with Sagawa Sensei, the only teacher alive who could command it. Transparent Power is Kumura's record of both Sagawa's life and teachings and what little is known about Sagawa's own teacher, the man who discovered Aiki.

Tatsuo Kimura began his study of martial arts with kendo from age 12, reaching the rank of 3rd dan. He practiced aikido from age 15 to age 30, studying with Morihei Ueshiba sesnsei and Seigo Yamaguchi Sensei (9th dan Shihan of Aikikai Hombu Dojo), and received the rank of 5th dan. He studied Kashima Shin-ryu sword under Minoru Inaba Sensei for some years beginning at age 23.

His first visit with Sagawa Sensei was 28 November, 1978, and Sensei finally allowed him to become a student beginning 8 January, 1979. From that time he trained with Sagawa Sensei more than any other student, over 4,000 times. In 1993 Sagawa Sensei awarded him the kyoju dairi license, and in 1994 he completed 10-gen jikiden koshu.

Dr. Kimura is a Professor of Mathematics with numerous published books and papers in that field. He is also the author of Discovering Aiki: My 20 Years With Yukiyoshi Sagawa Sensei.

You don't receive the opponent's force, you pevent him from using it. You don't let him impinge on you. You don't bear the brunt of his power. because of the way this art works, you can use it even when yu are old. Aiki completely transcends age, but without Aiki, you can't perform well when you're old.'

Sagawa, a direct disciple of Sokaku Takeda, insists that Aiki is definitely not a mysterious art, it can be entirely logically explained. However, most any observation of Sensei's technique leaves the viewer with the feeling that something magical has occurred.

This best-selling book has sold over 60,000 copies in its original Japanese, currently in its 15th printing. Now at long last the authrized English translation is in your hands. This book not only brings to life Yukiyoushi Sagawa, a ruly remarkable teacher who had a life-changing impact on hundreds of people, but also begins to reveal the intangible but awe-inspiring thing called Aiki, which is really the core idea of this book and the force that transformed Sagawa's life.

This is not a martial arts book-it is much, much more. It is an inspriation to anyone who is ready to accept the idea that the human condition is not limited by what we can see and hear and feel. The sensei about whom Kimura writes were not geniuses or mystics or Occultists. they were ordinary, down-to-earth people who came into contact with a real force beyond anything they had ever imagined, and so learned how to control it and employ it. Before his death, Sagawa said that he had always tried to keep the essence of this force a secret, but had finally relented and would teach Kimura its inner secrets. In Transparent Power, Kimura reveals what he has learned: that Aiki is a force inside us, perhaps just out of reach, untapped but not unavailable. And yet, it is very real, as he and hundreds of others who have encountered it can attest.

The message of Transparent Power is one of inspiration and hope. It says that the very existence of this power reveals the true nature of human potential to be infinitely greater than we believe.

Contents

Photos
Foreword: The unparalleled martial artist Yukiyoshi Sagawa
Preface to the English edition
Introduction (to the original Japanese edition)
Publisher's note
A short biography
Sayings of Sagawa Sensei-About aiki; About training (shugyo) (On discipine; On the heart/spirit (kokoro); On thinking; Advice for training
About Sokaku Takeda Sensei-On the history of teaching aiki; Studying with Takeda Sensei
More sayings of Sagawa Sensei
Sagawa Sensei's techniques
Epilogue
Postscript
Appendix I The true bujutsu
Appendix II Interview: From master to maste
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ISBN

1893447103 / 9781893447103

Publication

MAAT Press 130 East Grand Avenue South San Francisco, CA 94080-4803
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