GeneChing
11-28-2007, 10:58 AM
Be sure to follow the link - there's some nice pics of cutting practice in full armor. I really admire the way the Japanese have preserved their traditional arts.
A cut above the rest (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0005/lens223.htm)
Photos by Daily Yomiuri Photographer Makoto Miyazaki
Kobudo, which is the precursor to kendo, judo and other martial arts, started as a mix of different combat skills.
The martial art developed through the mid-Muromachi period (1336-1573) and into the Edo period (1603-1867), branching into different schools of discipline.
There are said to have been up to 1,000 martial arts schools by the late Edo period. About 500 are still around today.
This new series of Photoscape/Aspects of Budo articles will highlight classical martial arts practiced around the country. This article, the first in the series, introduces the Shojitsuken Rikataichi-ryu school and its distinguished practice of Katchu Battojutsu (swordsmanship in armor).
Many techniques practiced at the school are based on the swordsmanship of the Imaeda school. A characteristic style of the school involves the swordsman who, after delivering the fatal blow, pinches the bloodstained sword between his thumb and index finger to clean it before sheathing.
Masaru Kanzaki, who comes from Okayama Prefecture, is the school's current shihan, or headmaster.
In the mid-17th century, Imaeda Sachu Fujiwara no Ryodai, who learned Imaeda swordsmanship from his family, established the school, which integrated the techniques he learned with those of other schools. The original training hall was located at the Tsuyama clan's estate in Edo, present-day Tokyo.
Hongo Sanetomi, a samurai from the Tsuyama clan who was the eighth master of the school, moved the training hall to the clan's domain that was located in what is now northeastern Okayama Prefecture. The school has been based there ever since.
Even in regular training, practitioners use real swords, not wooden or other mock swords, and they wear a suit of heavy armor, which limits motion.
The school is considered one of the toughest for learning swordsmanship.
Kanzaki said not only was it true that the school's techniques were difficult to master, but also that the philosophy taught by the school was hard to understand.
Because the founder of the school was deeply associated with a Zen temple, the school pursues martial arts with the accent placed on theory. This means each skill that has to be learned comes with difficult concepts.
Unique stepping styles are featured, including tsuri-ashi, in which the swordsman raises one of his feet in order to move faster after cutting down an opponent, and shumoku-ashi, in which the swordsman overruns a mark and stumbles.
The school's swordsmanship is distinguished by its way of cutting up from below in order to intimidate the opponent and to not miss the vital organs.
Inchuken is the technique fighting in the dark. Holding the sword half drawn by the right hand and holding the sheath's belt in the left hand, the swordsman moves forward to probe for the opponent with the point of the sheath. When the sheath touches the opponent, the sword is easy to fully unsheath, allowing the swordsman to cut down the opponent in a single motion.
Training with real swords means the slightest mistake could inflict critical injuries. Kanzaki instructs proteges to draw real swords at least once a day in order to get used to the feel of handling a real sword.
Students of the school plan to demonstrate the old martial art jointly with those from other schools at a martial arts festival to be held in Paris in March.
A cut above the rest (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0005/lens223.htm)
Photos by Daily Yomiuri Photographer Makoto Miyazaki
Kobudo, which is the precursor to kendo, judo and other martial arts, started as a mix of different combat skills.
The martial art developed through the mid-Muromachi period (1336-1573) and into the Edo period (1603-1867), branching into different schools of discipline.
There are said to have been up to 1,000 martial arts schools by the late Edo period. About 500 are still around today.
This new series of Photoscape/Aspects of Budo articles will highlight classical martial arts practiced around the country. This article, the first in the series, introduces the Shojitsuken Rikataichi-ryu school and its distinguished practice of Katchu Battojutsu (swordsmanship in armor).
Many techniques practiced at the school are based on the swordsmanship of the Imaeda school. A characteristic style of the school involves the swordsman who, after delivering the fatal blow, pinches the bloodstained sword between his thumb and index finger to clean it before sheathing.
Masaru Kanzaki, who comes from Okayama Prefecture, is the school's current shihan, or headmaster.
In the mid-17th century, Imaeda Sachu Fujiwara no Ryodai, who learned Imaeda swordsmanship from his family, established the school, which integrated the techniques he learned with those of other schools. The original training hall was located at the Tsuyama clan's estate in Edo, present-day Tokyo.
Hongo Sanetomi, a samurai from the Tsuyama clan who was the eighth master of the school, moved the training hall to the clan's domain that was located in what is now northeastern Okayama Prefecture. The school has been based there ever since.
Even in regular training, practitioners use real swords, not wooden or other mock swords, and they wear a suit of heavy armor, which limits motion.
The school is considered one of the toughest for learning swordsmanship.
Kanzaki said not only was it true that the school's techniques were difficult to master, but also that the philosophy taught by the school was hard to understand.
Because the founder of the school was deeply associated with a Zen temple, the school pursues martial arts with the accent placed on theory. This means each skill that has to be learned comes with difficult concepts.
Unique stepping styles are featured, including tsuri-ashi, in which the swordsman raises one of his feet in order to move faster after cutting down an opponent, and shumoku-ashi, in which the swordsman overruns a mark and stumbles.
The school's swordsmanship is distinguished by its way of cutting up from below in order to intimidate the opponent and to not miss the vital organs.
Inchuken is the technique fighting in the dark. Holding the sword half drawn by the right hand and holding the sheath's belt in the left hand, the swordsman moves forward to probe for the opponent with the point of the sheath. When the sheath touches the opponent, the sword is easy to fully unsheath, allowing the swordsman to cut down the opponent in a single motion.
Training with real swords means the slightest mistake could inflict critical injuries. Kanzaki instructs proteges to draw real swords at least once a day in order to get used to the feel of handling a real sword.
Students of the school plan to demonstrate the old martial art jointly with those from other schools at a martial arts festival to be held in Paris in March.