Merg told De Angelis that Ueshiba sensei was extremely severe and did not allow the slightest infringement of the unwritten rules of conduct that governed the life of the dojo. Great work!
It is not difficult to imagine how Salvatore Merg, then cultural attach at the Italian Embassy, in a historical moment in which Italy lived the fascist experience and expressed an imperial policy in some ways similar to that of Japan, had access to some frequentations in common with Ueshiba. Again Tada confirms the above during his interview in 1994: (Merg) was the first person to speak about O-Sensei in Italy. Where Nocquet was looking for students, Merg sent them away; one was for the manifest world, the other for the hidden one. This list is admittedly incomplete, my knowledge pales in comparison to Stans, but I believe it is close. The thing that struck me most of all when I met him first was that although Prof. Merg was Italian, he had the presence of a Japanese, due to his ways of doing things, because of the way he smiled and mainly for those glasses that he wore and that gave his face a somewhat oriental look. In 1942, on behalf of the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo, he completed the translation into Italian of Noh dramaCiureiLe Anime Fedeli(The Faithful Souls), for which he also produced a series of out of text plates [28]. Merg was not a martialist, but an esotericist with deep connections to the secret world of alchemy and hermeticism. As you mentioned, this would be resource intensive to produce but would certainly be a valuable asset to the community. While Merg Sensei was in Japan he heard of Aikido and went to visit Ueshiba Dojo. Merg shared his esoteric research with famous personalities from the Italian cultural world of the time such as Massimo Scaligero and Giuseppe Tucci. If you can, make a donation to Aikido Italia Network. The character in question was, without a shadow of a doubt, Toyama Mitsuru ( ), a preeminent leader of the ultra-nationalist and pan-Asian right and the founder ofGenyosha(Black Ocean Society) andKokuryukai(Black Dragon Society) [13]. I saw a copy but the picture is really small. In light of a legal document available online and consulted by me, the subsequent reconstruction of Salvatores movements currently in circulation seems to be incorrect. The Surprising Origins of Budo: An Interview with Guillaume Erard, The Role of Ukemi in Aikido, Part 2: Interview with George Ledyard, https://aikidojournal.com/2011/08/27/roy-y-suenaka/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Y._Suenaka, http://www.aikidorva.com/rva-aikido/sensei-roy-suenaka/, https://lowcountryfuneral.com/tribute/details/24369/Roy-Suenaka/obituary.html, What Aikido is, What it is Not, and Why it is of Value, Aikido: A Message and Mission for Our Times, Doshu Seminar in California: Photo Journal Part 1, Towards A Reform of Aikido Technique: Background by Stanley Pranin. We hope to do this in the future when we have additional resources for such a project. [1] Theurgy draws its origins from the Cabballah and proposes to operate by means of the Divine (, theos = god, ergon = work). Today I have taken the challenge of rethinking this great contribution from a professional perspective through data visualization. 236-248 http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIV/236-248.pdf (Consultato il 22/07/2020), [10] Johnstone H. George, 150 Axis Diplomats in Tokyo, The Argus, 1945 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/969235# (Retrieved on), [11] Teurgia, Scuola Ermetica della Fratellanza di Miriam (-) http://www.scuolaermetica.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=5 (Retrieved on 23/07/2020), [12] Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno dItalia N. 306 del 30 Dicembre 1941-XX http://augusto.agid.gov.it/gazzette/index/download/id/1941306_SO (Retrieved on 19/07/2020), [13] Trevizo Gil and Kish Dave, Kokuryukai The Black Dragon Society, 2003 http://odh.trevizo.org/kokuryukai_history.html (Retrieved on 19/07/2020), [14] Allen Dean Beebe, Asagao, True Aiki, 2017 https://trueaiki.com/asagao/ (Retrieved on 22/07/2020), [15] Erard Guillaume: Una Provocatoria Intervista a MoriheiUeshiba, Aikido Italia Network, 1956, https://simonechierchini.com/2019/05/13/una-provocatoria-intervista-a-morihei-ueshiba/ (Retrieved on 22/07/2020), [16] Pranin Stanley, Kobukan Dojo Era Part 2, Aikido Journal, (-) http://aikidojournal.com/2002/11/18/kobukan-dojo-era-part-2/ (Retrieved on 22/07/2020), [17] Pranin Stanley, Yoshida Kotaro, The Encyclopedia of Aikido, Aikido Journal (-) https://web.archive.org/web/20071016185924/http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=783 (Retrieved on 22/07/2020), [18] Braco Luigi, Salvatore Merg 1899-1965, IniziazioneAntica, (-) https://iniziazioneantica.altervista.org/moderni/merge/salvatore_merge.htm (Retrieved on 18/07/2020), [19] Serpieri Stefano, Come Iniziai lAikido, Aikido XXXII-1, Aikikai dItalia, 2001 https://www.aikikai.it/index.php/aiki-media/riviste/product/62-aikido-xxxii (Retrieved on 18/07/2020), [20] De Angelis Renato, Private Conversations with Simone Chierchini (2020), [21] Tada Hiroshi, Aikido Shihan Hiroshi Tada: The Budo Body, Part 6 (Translated by Christopher Li), Aikido Sangenkai, 2012 https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aikido-shihan-hiroshi-tada-budo-body-part-6/ (Retrieved on 19/07/2020), [22] Tada Hiroshi, Le Persone che Hanno Contribuito a Creare lAikikaidItalia (Traduzione di Daniela Marasco), Aikido Tankyu No. Thanks so much fo the feedback.
This would seem highly unlikely, considering how Salvatore was a foreigner in a traditional Japanese pre-war dojo, with all that ensues. We must remember that at the time teaching transmission still closely resembled that of traditional Koryu, and was characterized by secrecy, severity and teaching methods that were completely unusual in comparison to those experienced by modern Budo students. I would like to thank Josh Gold for giving me the opportunity to contribute my professional knowledge to help strengthen and nurture our aikido community. After consulting with a few historical experts, we realized that there were a number of key individuals not included in the original chart. Initially, Ueshiba brought Salvatore inside the dojo and made him sit on one side, allowing him only to assist to the lessons (mitori geiko) [20]. Although I have not been able to find documentary confirmations, the relationship between Merg and Toddi seems to have been instrumental in the first achieving the role of interpreter in the ministry.
In January 1939 he produced the essayDemonologia Nipponica LOni (Japanese Demonology The Oni) for Monumenta Nipponica magazine, proving how his orientalists and esoteric interests were often joined [27]. Bonabitacola was a surgeon who was taken care of Mergs mother, suffering from diabetes.
His innate curiosity was inflamed by the numerous stories circulating about Ueshiba senseis prowess and powers and by the fame that surrounded this teacher [19]. He never saw himself as a master of Aikido and, on the other hand, he did not even need it, neither to acquire status nor much less for economic reasons, given that his social position was already widely affirmed both in orientalism and in esotericism.
Again, Im not criticizing. Good question. Hello Stan was never one to shy away from controversy, or bow to political correctness. We hope to do this in the future when we have additional resources for such a project. According to Giacomo Paudice, a leading figure of the era of the pioneers of the Italian Aikikai, Salvatore Merg would have achieved the initial degree of shodan [25]. Precisely the figure of Nocquet is useful for understanding what Merg wasnot. A tale on the type of training performed at the Merg home-dojo refers to exhausting singular exercises for the development of the hara and ukemi on cushions on the floor [24]. The second Doshu K. Ueshiba dramatically modified O-Senseis budo to comply highly restrictive rules placed on him by the American military post war occupation in Tokyo. This new chart is an interesting and attractive variation of Stan Pranins original chart depicting the chronology of O-Senseis most influential disciples. . I can understand it is probably difficult making such choices. Several of the aforementioned would shortly have influenced or made those decisions that would have brought Japan into the Second World Conflict [23]. For this version of the chart, all of the individuals included were selected by Stan Pranin. This is not to say these teachers do better aikido than others, but as Stans extensive documentation revealed their instruction and students are undeniably closest to O-Senseis technical curriculum and training style. Mrs Merg accompanied her husband to Tokyo, travelling with an Italian passport issued on August 27, 1937 [9]. We know there are a number of other direct disciples of the founder who were not included but it was outside of the scope of this project to do a rigorous analysis of everyone and make additional selection choices. We know there are a number of other direct disciples of the founder who were not included but it was outside of the scope of this project to do a rigorous analysis of everyone and make additional selection choices. However, he was told that he would not be allowed to enter the Dojo. From a certain point on, the professor preferred to direct those who he did not choose for a form of private and limited-scale teaching towards Haru Onoda, a Japanese sculpture student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. And last but not least, none of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of the late Stanley Pranin, the founder of Aikido Journal, who not only labored to put together the original chart, but performed all the historical research that serves as the informational foundation the chart is built upon. Founder of the style in Aikido called Wadokai Aikido. After the war he returned to Italy and became an instructor in a school for Eastern languages. Toyama and Uchida were very active in Manchuria and Mongolia, the scene of the political-militaristic adventures of Ueshiba and Deguchi of 1924 [16]. We know that OSensei moved to Iwama in the 1940s and a few. Little by little curiosity took hold of me, more and more often I went near that closed door, silent as a feline, to look through the keyhole; but the light coming from the opposite window showed only moving shadows and little more. There is another anecdote about Mergs Kobukan times, also reported years later by Mergs students, according to which Salvatore said that Ueshiba sensei had engaged some of his disciples in a special type of training aimed at controlling their internal emotions. It was the end of esoteric exchanges, of martial studies, of Mergs professional life in Japan: Salvatore was locked for about a year in a concentration camp in a Japanese location unknown to us [1]. Thanks so much fo the feedback.
Salvatore Merg ended his earthly existence on January 22, 1965. The content of the diary, which was initially yielded during that difficult period of Mergs life, would later form the core of his workLArte di Divenire Simile agli Dei. De Angelis reports that Salvatore had told him that he had eaten a few times at the Ueshiba home [20], which we know has also happened to other Japanese characters of the time, for example Junichi Haga [26]. It is rumoured that they also organized violence and even sanctioned the murder of foreigners and liberal politicians [14].
Another connection between Toyama and Ueshiba can be found in the figure of Yoshida Kotaro, a direct pupil of Sokaku Takeda, who in 1915 was responsible for introducing Morihei Ueshiba to Takeda at Engarus Hisada Inn in Hokkaido [14] [17]. As a consequence of this traumatic event, in addition to his social and professional life, Merg also lost all his earthly possessions, and this helps to understand why little or nothing has come to posterity of the Japanese period of Salvatore. Once in Japan, the initiate Merg soon set to work to make contacts with circles of common interest and sympathy. Although Salvatore Merg was the first westerner ever to teach Aikido outside of Japan, after having resided there for about 6 years, his name has in all respects remained unknown both in his native country and abroad.
Por ello hubo una celebracin este ao a la que acudieron 600 aikidokas de 20 paises y donde estuvo presente Doshu Ueshiba Moriteru. Merg had been chosen by his teacher, Giuliano Kremmerz, and his had been an initiatory and individual path. The persistence and sincerity in the commitment shown by Merg towards training had therefore helped him to gain the attention, respect and, as far as possible given the cultural limits, the friendship of Morihei Ueshiba [20]. In the room in which he was directed sat a no longer young man intent on reading a book, who did not even deign him a glance, while remaining focused on his book. The following 9 years of his life were thus keenly devoted to esoteric studies under the guidance of Kremmerz [1], which was facilitated by the fact that Salvatore had been hired by the Italian State Railways, facilitating his frequent travel between Italy and France [1]. Salvatore Merg was profoundly different from Andr Nocquet and his cultural approach in some ways almost opposite. A chart as described could help clear the smoke, and correct a lot of revisionist history. 5, 1993 https://simonechierchini.com/2011/09/11/le-persone-che-hanno-contribuito-a-creare-laikikai-ditalia/ (Retrieved on 20/07/2020), [23] Pranin Stanley, Kobukan Dojo Era, Part 1, Aikido Journal, 2014 http://aikidojournal.com/2014/12/10/kobukan-dojo-era-part-1/ (Retrieved on 18/07/2020), [24] Robustini Pasquale, Il Primo Occidentale da Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido Roma Nord, 2014 http://www.aikidoromanord.org/il-primo-occidentale-da-morihei-ueshiba/ (Retrieved on 18/07/2020), [25] Giacomo Paudice, Dieci Anni di Aikido nella Cultura Italiana, Spirito del Giappone, Aikikai dItalia, 1974, [26] Chierchini Simone, 10 Famose Sfide di Aikido, Aikido Italia Network, 2020, https://simonechierchini.com/2020/04/02/10-famose-sfide-di-aikido/ (Retrieved on 18/07/2020), [27] Monumenta Nipponica,Vol. Since April 1931, Morihei had opened his private dojo in the Ushigome area (today Shinjuku), which he called Kobukan. Furthermore, Merg was never and never became a martial artist in the contemporary sense of the word, that is, a professional master of Budo, interested in everything that Nocquet, for example, had put in place before and after his experience in Japan. In the 1940s, the dojo location was on the outskirts of Tokyo and about an hour away by train from the Italian Embassy, where Merg spent most of his time [19].
Any contribution, however small, will be gratefully accepted.Thanks!Simone Chierchini Founder of Aikido Italia Network, [] Salvatore Merg, the First Westerner Student of Morihei Ueshiba [], Insert your email address to receive an email notification when we publish a new article, Get a notification when a new article is published, http://www.scuolaermetica.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=588:un-sentiero-nel-tempo&catid=58:salvatore-merge&Itemid=112, https://iniziazioneantica.altervista.org/18001900/bonabitacola/giovanni_bonabitacola.htm, https://cesnur.com/gli-ordini-martinisti-e-lermetismo-kremmerziano/lermetismo-kremmerziano/, https://guillaumeerard.com/aikido/articles-aikido/biography-of-andre-nocquet-the-first-foreign-student-of-morihei-ueshiba/, https://guillaumeerard.com/aikido/articles-aikido/history-of-the-aikikai-hombu-dojo/, http://www.accademiaprocesi.it/placido-procesi/, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Silvio_Rivetta, http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIV/236-248.pdf, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/969235#, http://www.scuolaermetica.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=5, http://augusto.agid.gov.it/gazzette/index/download/id/1941306_SO, http://odh.trevizo.org/kokuryukai_history.html, https://simonechierchini.com/2019/05/13/una-provocatoria-intervista-a-morihei-ueshiba/, http://aikidojournal.com/2002/11/18/kobukan-dojo-era-part-2/, https://web.archive.org/web/20071016185924/http://www.aikidojournal.com/encyclopedia?entryID=783, https://iniziazioneantica.altervista.org/moderni/merge/salvatore_merge.htm, https://www.aikikai.it/index.php/aiki-media/riviste/product/62-aikido-xxxii, https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aikido-shihan-hiroshi-tada-budo-body-part-6/, https://simonechierchini.com/2011/09/11/le-persone-che-hanno-contribuito-a-creare-laikikai-ditalia/, http://aikidojournal.com/2014/12/10/kobukan-dojo-era-part-1/, http://www.aikidoromanord.org/il-primo-occidentale-da-morihei-ueshiba/, https://simonechierchini.com/2020/04/02/10-famose-sfide-di-aikido/, http://www.ilgentiluomogabino.it/library/anime/le_anime_fedeli.pdf, https://opac.bncf.firenze.sbn.it/opac/controller?action=search_byautoresearch&query_fieldname_1=vidtutti&query_querystring_1=SBLV232483, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evi_Zamperini_Pucci, https://aikidojournal.com/2016/09/24/interview-with-morihei-ueshiba-and-kisshomaru-ueshiba/, https://guillaumeerard.com/aikido/articles-aikido/biography-of-kisshomaru-ueshiba-second-doshu-of-aikido/, Salvatore Merg, il Primo Occidentale alla Corte di Ueshiba Aikido Italia Network, Nuove considerazioni storiche sul Tenshin Shden Katori Shint Ry, Lo Stile di Allenamento allAikikai Hombu Dj, The Forgiver - Interview with Ichiro Shishiya, Maria Beatrice Toro Intervista MarcoAliprandini, Associazione di Cultura Tradizionale Giapponese.
