Volume 1 number 2 Dec 1989
An occasional publication of very limited distribution: Send your stories, comments or announcements to Kim Taylor, Dept. of Animal and Poultry Science, room 220, (519)824-4120 ext 6225.
PHOTOCOPY AND SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!
SEMINARS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Japanese Swordsmanship Society is hosting an All Japan Kendo Federation Seitei Jo seminar December 16 and 17 at the Ethnic Folk Arts Centre, 179 Varick St. Manhattan New York, NY. The price is $40.00 US. Phone (212)691-2891 for further information.
The University of Guelph Iaido club is presenting a one day workshop January 14 in room 210 athletics centre. The times are from 9:30-12:30 AM and from 2:00 to 5:00 PM. The cost will be $10.00 CDN. All are welcome.
Since the winter months are now upon us and my deck is useless I plan to get back into the workshop. As a result, Bokken, Suburito, Tanden-bo, Kai and other wooden weapons will now be produced on request. A variety of woods can be obtained and custom designs are possible. Examples of current price for an "Iwama style" Bokuto (Aikido type) are $40.00 for hickory, white ash maple or white oak, and $80.00 for ebony, cocobolo, bokote or other exotics. Any woods I have to fight with (Brazillian blackheart for one, Ironwood for another) are priced according to frustration level. Shipping etc is extra. Call or write for more information. Kim Taylor, 44 Inkerman St. Guelph Ont. N1H 3C5 (519)836-4357.
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CLUB O' THE MONTH
Name YUGEN KAN DOJO (Yugen: lit. "Something that cannot be ex plained. Must be experienced to be understood."). Affiliated to Yugen Kan Dojo, England. Associated with Kenseikai U.K. and Musashi Dojo, Ohara Japan.
Address c/o Bill Mears, P.O.Box 22, 100 Elmwood Ave, Crystal Beach, Ontario L0S 1B0. Ph: (416)894-1573.
Practice at Extreme Fitness Sports Centre. Bridgewater Country Club, Gilmore Road, Fort Erie, Ontario. Monday, Wednesday, Friday 5:30-6:30PM or later. Saturday training available by prior arrangement.
Instructor Bill Mears, Shodan Seitei Gata (IKF).
Fees $25 per annum. $5 per lesson. Monthly rates available.
Style Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu (very occasionally) and Seitei Gata.
Notes We hope to be visited in 1990 by Sensei from Great Britain who have studied under Haruna Sensei (Kyoshi 7th Dan) at Musashi Dojo in Okuyama Ken. Also, visits to and by resident Sensei can be arranged depending on demand. We are a very small dojo (more than 2 otagi is unusual!). Visitors are more than welcome, especially visiting Sensei. There is no charge for visitors from other dojos.
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TECHNICAL NOTEBOOK
SEI TEI GATA OF THE JAPAN KENDO FEDERATION
(NIHONME) USHIRO (rear to front advance)
If shomen is to the left then turn 180 degrees to the rear as follows. Move the right foot forward and place it at 90 de grees in front of the left foot. Turn the left foot so that it faces the rear, with the heel touching the heel of the right foot. Move the right foot so that it is lined up with the left and you are facing the rear.
Sei Tei Ushiro is an equivalent technique to Ushiro of the Omori Ryu of Muso Jikiden, and Atarito of Muso Shinden Ryu.
Sit in seiza. The opponent is directly behind you at a distance of 1 1/2 metres.
NUKI TSUKE
Grasp the tsuka while rising to your knees. Look to your left so that you can catch the opponent with your eye. Don't strain your neck to do this. Move the right knee over to the left as you rise so that they are touching. Turn using your right knee and left foot as pivots, moving in the counterclockwise direction 180 degrees.
Remain on the centre line after the turn. There are two methods of doing this: 1. Move the right knee next to the left, then turn. 2. As you rise bring the right knee across in front of the left. This gives more motion to the left and allows you to finish on the line, it also sticks the right foot out to the side just before the turn.
Recent teaching in Japan has been to make no motion at all with the right knee and to adjust the left foot while striking across. This method is also acceptable.
As you turn around draw the blade as in Mae. When the kashira is aimed at the opponent's left shoulder cut horizontally across his forehead stopping the cut with the kissaki inside your right shoulder. The left foot is adjusted and stamped onto the ground as this cut is made.
Rotate the saya while drawing so that the blade is flat for the cut. Rotate until square to the front, foot and leg parallel to the line of the cut. The left foot is one fist width to the left of the right knee. The knees must be 90 degrees after the stamp and cut.
When turning the eyes lead the rest of the body but the head doesn't turn out of square with the chest.
The rest of this technique is the same as for Mae.
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(SANBONME) UKE NAGASHI (warding off)
This kata is different from both the Muso Shinden and the Muso Jikiden technique. The general idea behind the waza is, however, similar.
From the starting position turn 90 degrees to the right by moving the left foot to 90 degrees in front of the right foot. Turn right and line up the right foot with the left. Sit down in seiza.
The opponent approaches at a walk from the left, draws his sword and attacks with kiri otoshi.
NUKI TSUKE
Rise to your knees with your right hand grasping the side of the tsuka without the wrist depressed. Your eyes should shift to watch the opponent as you touch the handle. Move the left foot so that the heel is touching the right knee and the toes point toward the front (the opponent) at 45 degrees. At the same time as you are doing this begin drawing the blade out of the saya.
Draw up rather than horizontally.
Stand up and move the right foot forward so that the toes touch the left foot in the instep, the right foot is lined up at 90 degrees to the left foot, pointing at the opponent. As you stand up raise the sword and thrust it up to a one handed block above and in front of the face so that the opponent's edge contacts your mune.
Leave the right arm in place as you turn the body to block and then cut down. If it moves to the right the cut will be too angled, if to the left over your head the cut will be too vertical. The elbow must not bend.
At this point you are squarely facing your opponent. The opponent misses you with his cut.
The left leg is twisted as you block. Since the wrist was not depressed on the grip, it is straight to present the mune as a guard. Block with the body square to the opponent, not in the half square position (handachi) as was previously taught. This is more in line with Kendo practice.
Metsuke must be to the opponent's eyes at this point, don't look up at his sword or your block.
There must be no hesitation or stopping of the motion from draw through cut but the block must exhibit focus and power.
KIRI TSUKE
Grasp the handle with the left hand, pull the left foot straight back so that the feet are lined up parallel to one another and facing the opponent at 22 degrees to the left front. If a line were drawn from the forward position straight back, your toes would be on the same line. The hips are also facing toward the left front and a kesa giri of about 22 degrees from vertical is performed.
The right hand remains to the right of the head and forward while the sword rotates for the cut. The left hand grips the tsuka and the right hand is adjusted to the proper cutting position (tennouchi, both wrists inside). The upper body stays square for maximum power. The blade should finish with the tip just slightly below horizontal, and with the kissaki lined up at your left hip and the kashira just left of the centreline.
There is no pause between the deflection and the cut.
By bringing the foot straight back and turning the hips 15 to 22 degrees you face the opponent but don't step back away from him like you would if you swung the left foot around to line up the legs with the cut in a normal position.
The blade angle must be correct for the line of the cut. Since the opponent is leaning over the cut is close to vertical while the line of the cut on tekki is kesa.
There is an extension at the finish of the cut, the hands are not drawn back to the body. At the end of the cut the outside of the left thumb, not the kashira, should be in line with the navel the kissaki should be in front of the left hip.
The blade makes contact and begins to cut the opponent before the left foot is drawn back.
CHIBURI
Move the tsuka forward to the left front so that the kissaki moves to a position about 3 inches outside the right knee. The mune is placed on the right knee. The left hand is at chest height and the edge is facing away from yourself. The right hand must be opened and the tsuka gripped in a thumb and forefinger pinch.
Push the right knee forward to provide a platform for the blade to rest on.
NOTO
Change the right hand so that you are gripping the tsuka with the palm down. Even at this point you
must be ready for a further attack. The koiguchi is brought to the tanden and turned the same as for
Mae. The mune is brought to the koiguchi and the sword replaced as if for Mae. The difference
will be that the right hand is now turned over. The noto is horizontal as are all the noto of Sei Tei
when done in Muso Shinden style.
Drop to the left knee as the sword is replaced. If the feet were truly parallel and the distance between them proper then the knees will both be at 90 degrees and the left shin will be paral lel to the right foot. Stand and bring the left foot to the right. Finally, turn 22 degrees clockwise to face forward again.
Since you are slightly to the right of the original position you must adjust your position as you turn to face front.
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GLOSSARY
Bokken, wooden sword
Bokuto, wooden sword
Chiburi, shaking off the blood
Dojo, practice hall
Gata, see kata
Giri, see kiri
Handachi, half stance
Jo, wooden staff about four feet long
Kashira, fitting at the end of the handle
Kata, technique
Ken, sword
Kesa, diagonal sash across the chest
Kiri, cut
Kiri kudashi, finishing cut
Kissaki,sword tip
Koiguchi, "fish mouth", opening of scabbard
Mae, front
Metsuke, gaze
Mune, back of sword
Nihonme, second
Noto, put sword away in scabbard
Nuki, draw
Omori ryu, fundamental Iai set
Otoshi, drop
Ryu, lineage or style
Sanbonme, third
Saya, scabbard
Sei, quiet or motionless
Seitei, representative
Seiza, sitting on knees
Sensei, teacher
Shodan, first position
Shomen, top of head
Tanden, centre of gravity, in the abdomen
Tekki, opponent
Tennouchi, inside the hand, grip
Tsuka, handle
Tsuke, pointing or position
Uke, receive or receiver
Ushiro, behind
Waza, see kata
Zanshin, lingering heart, awareness.
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Reprinted from the Fighting Arts News
Occasionally in the martial arts you encounter a student who has a natural talent for translating something said into body movement. These students are a genuine pleasure to teach, correcting themselves and rarely needing to be shown more than once what to change.
Personally I can't stand these people. Not being this type of student, I have to struggle for every piece of knowledge and be corrected at least 23 times for each point learned. I suspect most of us are the same way.
Just what is it that those perfect students have that we don't. How do they learn so easily, and how do all of us learn the budo at all.
MEMORY TYPES
One thing is certain, the type of learning done in the classroom will not suffice on the dojo floor. No amount of listening and note taking will make a bit of difference to the performance of a motion. Learning and remembering the words doesn't get the job done. How many times have you been told to put one foot forward, remembered which foot is supposed to be forward, and then gone ahead and put the other foot out there for the instructor to stomp on. It's embarrassing!
Take heart, there may be a very good reason why you are not doing it correctly. Recent work on memory has been pointing toward a theory that Budo instructors seem to have known for a couple of hundred years.
Our memory for facts, words and other linguistic type things may not be the same as our memory of motions. Most research so far has concentrated on the rational memory. How we deal with words, numbers and other pieces of datum. Even here there seems to be a couple of different mechanisms of storage, one example being the difference between long and short term recollection. What has come to the surface recently however is that motional or "somatic" memory may have nothing at all to do with the mechanisms of memory studied so far.
So much for "psychocybernetics" and visualization? (More on these later.)
So what would this "somatic" memory mean. It means that the body has its own mechanism for learning and remembering what it should do. In high school we were taught that by doing the basketball drills we were setting up motor-response feedback loops or some such gobbledygook. Maybe we were just allowing the body to learn and remember.
This has some pretty profound implications as to how we should learn the budo or any other physical art. It also has some pretty stinky ramifications for us here in the University since it implies that we are probably quite unprepared to learn. After all, our training is toward the rational mind. We know how to listen and remember words, numbers and other data but nobody has ever taught us how to learn with the body.
KUCHI WAZA vs TEACHING
Why say that Budo instructors have known of this somatic memory for hundreds of years? They don't talk.
Well, that's a little extreme, they talk your ears off if you give them a chance. Just like the rest of us. What I mean is that they don't talk when they are trying to teach you how to do the movements of your art. They show you once, maybe three times then they tell you to do it. At least the good ones do, the ones that you can learn from.
There is a bit of a split in the ranks of martial arts instructors. There are those who practice kuchi waza and those who don't. Kuchi waza means mouth techniques and it is not a complimentary term. It means someone who talks at you and tells you how to do something without doing it. Someone who says and doesn't show.
The way that budo is taught is that the instructor does it, looks at you and says please do that. You do it and he looks pained. He does it again and you do it again. He looks a little sick and goes back to basics.
The practitioner of kuchi waza tells you how to do it, you do it, he tells you that was wrong and then goes on to tell you how you should have done it. If you still can't get it he goes on to a more complicated technique. At least it sounds more complicated.
Of course some things must be explained, why you do this motion here, what the metaphysical implications of this are, and other such information suitable for those who have to know. It's just that none of these things are strictly necessary to learning the art.
If you don't believe that, how do you think that a man who knows no English can teach a class full of people who speak no Japanese. It happens all the time.
HOW TO LEARN
So how do we as students help ourselves along and perhaps keep the instructor from looking a little green whenever he watches what we're doing.
The secret is contained in the way that good instructors teach. They demonstrate once, you do. This doesn't give the rational mind any chance at all to pick up all of the information needed to do the technique. It is the way that these instructors have developed to shut down your "discriminating mind" and bring out your "everyday mind". You simply can't think about it, you see, you do. Just like driving a car. See the pedestrian, miss the pedestrian, think about what you just did.
This is what those perfect students have learned. They have the knack of taking what their eyes see and translating it into body motion without getting caught up in whether this or that foot is forward. They see the technique and somehow "feel" their body moving in the same way. In effect they've already done it once by the time they stand up to try it. This doesn't mean they've thought about it!
If you want to really mess one of these people up, ask them which foot they had forward. They won't know and will have to go through the technique again to figure it out. You already know that trick, its the same as asking a golfer whether he breaths out or in on his swing. Really messes them up.
Of course I did say that these perfect students could be "told" something and correct themselves. This is true. The mechanism is the same one that messes people up when they start thinking about how they do something while trying to do it. (Hit the golf ball, step with which foot.) The mind and the body are not two separate things.
Getting back to visualization and psychocybernetics (a very 70s word for visualization). Quite simply, a good student can take something heard and bypass the rational mind to apply the information to the body. This is the same mechanism as looking at the instructor and then doing the movement. They "see" the words in their "mind's eye" and translate that sight to the "feel" of the new motion in the body.
Here is the problem. Only a good student can do this. The rest of us are trained to put "heard information" through the rational mind. If we hear it, it goes into the discriminating mind, especially if we are University students used to sitting in lecture halls and listening. This means that the words get no where near the "somatic" memory and go into rational storage instead. Therefore when we try to do the motion in the corrected way, it comes out the same as before. Our bodies have "heard" nothing at all that is new.
So how do senior students help juniors learn. Don't for goodness' sake explain what Sensei just showed them. Let them do it instead. At the most, show them but keep the kuchi waza for after practice.
WHAT THE MASTERS SAY: BASICS
Any master, any sport. They all say the same thing. "Well, I spent a lot of years on the basics and I think that's what got me where I am today". You think maybe it's all a conspiracy to hide their real secrets from us beginners? Maybe there isn't any secret. Maybe by doing so many years of basics they learned, and their bodies remember. No pill, no secret technique, no special initiation, no flashy uniform, just a lifetime of practicing the basics.
Surely this makes sense. You need a certain "library" of words and concepts before you can do nuclear physics. Why wouldn't you need a library of motion before you can do the advanced techniques of a martial art. With the basic vocabulary the instructor can go on to teach the advanced concepts without a lot of time wasted defining terms.
AH HA. Maybe that's why doing eight months worth of six martial arts doesn't get you as far as four years of one. The words and concepts of zoology aren't the same as for physics. Not to say that they aren't sort of close, which may be what tempts us to do multiple martial arts.
LEARNING FROM BOOKS
Yeah, right, like this article will teach you how to be one of those perfect students. Books have a certain use but learning a martial art?
Books can teach the history of your art, they can give you the comforting or encouraging words of teachers that are passed away, and they may even give a certain number of useful tips to those senior students who have a large enough vocabulary to understand just what the hell the writer is talking about. Books may even twig you as to whether your instructor is pulling your leg or not about what he said last class, but learn from them?
X for beginners, An introduction to Y, Z made easy. Run away. Look for books for seniors and instructors, read them now and then in a year or two when they may say something else. Just don't expect your somatic memory to get anything out of words on a page.
Of course those damn perfect students probably can.
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MAILING LIST
Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu
Mitsuru Asaoka, 2445 Cape Horn Ave. Coquitlam B.C. Canada. V3K 1K1
Goyo Ohmi, 43 Milington Cr. Ajax Ontario, Canada. L1T 1R3
Luther Tsai, St. Micheals Collage U. of Toronto, 81 St. Mary St. Box 180, Toronto Ontario, Canada. M5S 1J4.
New York City Kendo Club, c/o Noboru Kataoka 46 West 83rd Street New York NY. USA 10024 (212) 874-6161
Roy Kennedy, 124 Glen Springs Dr. Scarborough Ontario, Canada. M1W 1X8
University of Guelph Iaido, c/o Mr. Kimberley Taylor, Department of Animal Science, University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario, Canada. N1G 2W1.
Katsuo Yamaguchi, 3-24-1 Shinbori Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo Japan 189. (0425-65-9146)
Yasuo Yamashibu, Tonda-cho-1-4-2, Okayama Japan 700. (0862-25- 5471) (FAX 0862-23-9433)
Yugenkan Dojo, c/o Mr. Bill Mears, 100 Elmwood Ave. Crystal Beach Ontario, Canada. L0S
1B0. (416)871-7772 ext. 314
Muso Shinden Ryu
Stephen Cruise, 10 Glenborough Pk. Willowdale Ontario Canada. M2R 2G5
Gregory Dana, 62 South St. Chestnut Hill Mass. USA. 02167.
Hatashita Dojo, 831 Broadview St. Toronto Ontario, Canada. M4K 2P9
Japanese Swordsmanship Society, PO Box 1116 Rockafeller Stn. New York, New York. USA 10185
l'Aikido de la Montagne, 3734 Avenue du Parc, Montreal Quebec, Canada. H2X 2J1.
New England Aikikai, 2000 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge Mass. USA. 02140
F. Y. Okimura, 7557 de Normanville, Montreal Quebec, Canada. H2R 2V2.
Renbukan Dojo, c/o Mr. Tamio Tateno, 207 Nelson St. Brantford Ontario, Canada. N3S 4C2.
Pierre-Paul Rivet, 12 Desmarteau Boucherville Quebec. J4B 1Z9.
Marion M. Taylor, 32 Bedford Court Amherst, MA USA 01002 (413)256-0219
Valley Aikido, c/o Paul Sylvain, 131 King St. Northampton Mass. USA. 02140
Zanshin, Ecole D'Aikido et Iaido, c/o Donna Winslow, 5425 Bor deaux #503D, Montreal Quebec,
Canada. H2H 2P9
Others
Roy Asa, c/o Japan Camera Centre, 88 Lesmill Rd. (Don Mills) Toronto Ontario, Canada. M3B 2T5. (FAX (416)445-0519)
Central YMCA Aikikai, c/o Stuart Rae 375 Brunswick Ave. #504, Toronto Ontario, Canada. M5R 2Z3
Doshikan Kendo Club, c/o Shozo Kato 124 East 79th St. Apt 3A New York NY. USA 10021(212)535-6470
International Kendo Federation c/o Nippon-Budokan 2 Kitanomaru- koen Chiyoda-ku Tokyo Japan. 102 (211-5804, 211-5805)
JCCC 123 Wynford Dr. Toronto Ontario Canada. M3C 1K1
Ken Zen Institute, c/o Kenjun Kasahara 152-158 West 26th Street New York NY. USA 10001 (212)741-2281
Robert Savoie 532 Avenue Duluth E. Montreal Quebec Canada. H2L 1A9 (514)288-8679 or 842-0342
Please note: Any individuals wanting to stay on the mailing list, let us know before the next issue. Postage and photocopying is expensive.
By the way, is this thing going out to a vacuum? A little feedback would make us feel better, how about a letter or two to tell us what you would like to see in the newsletter, better yet, how about some stories.