Several months ago, Ellis Amdur published Dueling with O-sensei: Grappling with the Myth of the Warrior Sage, a compilation of his articles from the Aikido Journal, and I was quite surprised the book had not received more attention. . . . . Despite the title and the articles’ original place of publication, Dueling with O-sensei will interest many outside of aikido circles. Often based on actual experiences, these articles give us an exciting sketch of Amdur’s life as it intersects with the world of budo on all levels: history, philosophy, personalities, and technical teachings. But
this book’s appeal hardly lies in its autobiographical qualities; its main strength comes from the ability to reveal the organic unity–or perhaps the possibility of such a union–of budo with the rest of the world, without lapsing into the saccharine praise of peace and harmony that ignores why we want to learn to kill people. It is by embracing the unique strangeness of martial arts that Amdur shows the surprising relevance of anachronism–some people consider budo a quirky hobby, and I hope they will read this book and change their mind. In topics ranging from equipping subversive elements of the society with skills of violent resistance to dealing with dangerous, mentally disturbed people, Amdur takes a martial theme and juxtaposes real-life issues with it to illustrate the difficulty of the enterprise that budo practitioners undertake. (A quick side note. His discussion of Hapkido stems from an
approach that the incessant bickermeisters of the aiki variety would do well to consider: he actually looks at the movements. But this is where I stop giving one-sentence harangues on his articles.)
Dueling with O-sensei, however, is more approachable than Rodin’s Penseur. It is filled with wit and humor, every drop of sweat and blood balanced by bouts of mirth. The anecdotes are well-told and well-placed, and Amdur is so at ease at showing how not “at ease” he has been that the readers can identify and sympathize with his shortcomings. Humility in martial arts is often a disgusting thing, especially when coupled either with the pride of submitting oneself to a greater man, or with the comfortable resignation to one’s mediocrity. Rest assured that Amdur’s variety does not grow from easy excuses, and will charm the reader as it provokes thought and laughter.
I do not want you to think the book is not without flaw. It’s just easy to overlook them. Many martial arts writers ask the dullest questions, or are so generous as to share with us their dull answers to exciting questions. Some make us suffer their illiteracy, others their limitation. Amdur does none of the above. His expertise–it is unnecessary to summarize his martial curriculum vitae, with which most people on this list are familiar. Let me note instead that he has read the arcane philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas: his breadth makes his perspective so much more intriguing. Dueling with O-sensei contains crystals from the efforts of a man whose unique combination of intelligent self-reflection, sense of purpose, and life-long training can teach us all a little something.