I picked up a copy of the current issue of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts today and learned that Oscar Ratti died on 11 August 200 at 76 years of age.
He is best known as the co-author, with his wife Adele Westbrook, of the book Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere: An Illustrated Introduction, one of the best-known and most appreciated books on Aikido in English. He made otehr contributions to the martial arts, however. He was also an artist who contributed 9 covers to JAMA.
I had not known that he was born and raised in Italy, where he studied law and was a Greco-Roman wrestling champion and skilled judoka, before coming to the U.S. where he began his study of Aikido.
This is a significant loss for the Japanese arts.
He is best known as the co-author, with his wife Adele Westbrook, of the book Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere: An Illustrated Introduction, one of the best-known and most appreciated books on Aikido in English. He made otehr contributions to the martial arts, however. He was also an artist who contributed 9 covers to JAMA.
I had not known that he was born and raised in Italy, where he studied law and was a Greco-Roman wrestling champion and skilled judoka, before coming to the U.S. where he began his study of Aikido.
This is a significant loss for the Japanese arts.
