31/07/2023
At one point after meeting Morihei Ueshiba, Kenji Tomiki had a conversation with Jigoro Kano about the spectacular feats that Ueshiba had demonstrated to him. Kano's reply was - "there used to be many people who could do those things, but how to transmit it, that's the issue!".
Early editions of some of Kano's textbooks actually included sections on the more esoteric skills of internal power training, but those were later removed. Since Kano's focus was on an art that would be accessible to the general public through inclusion in the educational system, it's likely that those sections fell by the wayside as being too complex and difficult to transmit in a system aimed at general consumption.
A very similar process occurred in modern Aikido as Kisshomaru Ueshiba produced an art for general consumption, somewhat loosely based upon his father's training:
"I believe that the most important factor in the value of modern Budo is that anybody can practice it comfortably in any location. That is an absolute requirement, because it will then become a positive force for society. Nowadays, one cannot go up into the mountains to train like a warrior from the Sengoku Period or feudal times and then do something like declare “I have become strong” and make your appearance as a master… I suppose that there will be some people who will approve of that, but it doesn’t match the flow of today’s society. There should be a Budo that is cultivated from the midst of present times. If it is not a Budo that can live in modern times then there is no societal value."
https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/budoka-no-kotae-talking-kisshomaru-ueshiba-sensei/
One of the salient points is that it is not only the method of transmission that is important, but also what the source chooses to transmit, and for what reasons.
For this reason, the single source transmission of complex information is almost always likely to have some difficulties with either method of transmission or its content. Which is one reason why this method no longer really exists in modern education.
Unfortunately, the single source transmission not only continues in many martial traditions, it is actually glorified as a source of an appeal authority in for "purity" and "authenticity". Many things are easier to see clearly in hindsight, and as we move further from single sources such as Morihei Ueshiba it is something to consider if we want to move forward and not back.
