Title: Three Budo Masters
Author: John Stevens
Publisher: Kodansha International
Publication Date: May 1, 1995
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144, 4.5 x 7.5 in
Cover Price: $12
ISBN: 4770018525
Content
According to his profile at Amazon.com, “John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator, an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai.” Three Budo Masters is one of his earlier books. One of his later books, The Way of Judo, will appear in a forthcoming review.
The book is divided into three parts, each of which addresses a pioneer in their martial arts: Jigoro Kano (judo, 36 pages); Gichin Funakoshi (karate, 36 pages); and Morihei Ueshiba (aikido, 40 pages). The book concludes with a brief section that compares and contrasts the three characters. Each chapter describes the main points of each man’s life, highlighted by an assortment of pictures. Stevens notes in the preface the reason he wrote the book: “It is my sincere hope that Three Budo Masters will stimulate a reassessment of the real nature and true purpose of judo, karate, and aikido.”
Pros
In the 1990s, it was difficult to find English language biographies of many Japanese (and Okinawan, in the case of Funakoshi) martial artists. Three Budo Masters appears to have been the first English language book to spend dozens of pages on professor Kano, for example. The writing is clear and believable when covering Kano and Funakoshi. The book does not appear to make any major mistakes when talking about judo and karate, at least to the extent I could detect them.
Cons
Once Stevens ventures into the world of Morihei Ueshiba, however, it becomes more of a fairy tale. Ueshiba’s early life seems believable, but later sections appear to be fantasy. The first sign appears on page 110 where Stevens writes: “Fortunately for Ueshiba, he was blessed with a miraculous sixth sense that enabled him to divine the direction of the bullets.” The following page Stevens adds that “People near Ueshiba could sense an awesome power swirling about him, and objects in a room would rattle when he entered.” When describing a challenge match, Stevens says on page 112 that “the unarmed Ueshiba avoided even the quickest strikes, receiving each attack as a beam of light…. As he was walking among the trees, Ueshiba felt the ground tremble beneath his feet, and he was engulfed in golden rays. Suffused with light, he lost all sense of time and place, and then, suddenly, everything appeared clear and bright. ‘I saw the Divine,’ he later said, describing the experience, and ‘attained an enlightenment that was true, self conquering, swift and sure…’”
I could accept this being Ueshiba’s interpretation of an experience, but Stevens runs with it. From the same page: “Following this earth-shattering transformation, Ueshiba began to manifest incredible powers. He could displace enormous boulders, leap unbelievable distances, and dispose of any kind of attack, anywhere, anytime.”
Stevens enters full-on movie mode on pages 121-122 with the following tale:
“There are many fantastic tales told about Ueshiba during this period, perhaps the most incredible being the firing range showdown. There was an impeccable eyewitness to this amazing feat, a certain Gozo Shioda (1915 to 1994)… One day a group of military marksmen visited Kobukan to watch a demonstration. When Ueshiba found out who they were, he provokingly said ‘bullets cannot touch me…’ At the range he calmly placed himself as the target some 75 feet from 6 marksmen. As they aimed and fired, several of them were immediately knocked off their feet, and Ueshiba inexplicably stood unharmed behind them.
Everyone was dumbstruck and asked Ueshiba to repeat the miracle… Aware that something supernatural was about to occur, Shioda glued his eyes to Ueshiba’s figure. The guns went off, the marksmen went flying, and again Ueshiba ended up behind everybody, laughing… On the way back, Shioda asked his teacher, “how on Earth did you do that?” Ueshiba replied cryptically, ‘my purpose on Earth is not finished yet, so nothing can kill me. Once my task is completed, then it will be time to go. Until then, I’m perfectly safe from all harm.’ The above miracle somewhat resembles that told of Jesus, slipping through the lynch mob and walking away unhurt, in Luke 4:30.”
Stories like this, comparing a martial artist to a religious figure, unfortunately detract from the credibility of the book.
Conclusion
I give this book 4 out of 5 ninja stars.
I considered giving this book three stars for its outrageous stories about Ueshiba. However, if you accept them with healthy skepticism, the rest of the book is worth reading. I also grant it some leeway for being an early English language biography of these three martial artists. The book is no longer in print, so I recommend buying it mainly as a reference for historians and enthusiasts. I will continue to hunt for the best English language biographies available!
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