PDA

View Full Version : Hiden Shorinji Kempo



Robert Liljeblad
12th June 2002, 08:55
Hi,

Does anyone know if there exists any English translation of the book ”Hiden Shorinji Kempo” that So Doshin wrote in the 60’s. If not an official translation, does anyone know if there exists any unofficial translations of this book.

Br,

tony leith
20th June 2002, 17:48
I don't know about 'Hidden shorinji kempo', but there was a book simply called (I believe) Shorinji kempo written by Kaiso which I have in a second generation photocopy (the book itself having been out of print for some time). Most of the content is fairly familiar from the textbook, albeit with probably a more extensive elaboration of Kongo Zen as a philosophy. I also seem to remember Mizuno Sensei saying that it was encountering this book that inspired him to start training in Shorinji Kempo.

Tony Leith

Anders Pettersson
22nd June 2002, 17:21
_||_
Gassho.

Actually it should be Hiden and not Hidden. Hiden is Japanese for secret.

As far as I know there is no translation of this book. I also tried to see if it was available at the "Internet shopping" page on the Hombu home page, but I could not find it. Maybe it is it is not available in Japanese either anymore?

The book I believe Tony is referring to is called "What is Shorinji Kempo?" and is sometimes available on e-bay and such sites, but for a lot of money. :mad: I wouldn't pay that.
I also have some photocopies of this book and in my opinion there are some parts that are good and some that are not so good.

/Anders

tony leith
25th June 2002, 16:07
Sorry, I wasn't intending to impugn anybody's English (if you saw what my typing was like before I review these submissions you'd understand my humility before anybody's ability to use a second language not much less fluently than I can my first and only one)

From what I can see, until very recently the leadership of Shorinji Kempo has been very cautious about releasing texts which could be used as a basis for technical instruction, at least in the rest of the world. Presumably there are materials which are not generally available - one thing I would love to see if it's locked in an underground vault somewhere in Honbu is any extant footage of Kaiso doing Kempo. I've seen a fleeting glimpse of him throwing somebody while on a visit to the Shaolin temple site in the mid to late 70s, but one imagines there is footage from earlier than that..

I do respect and understand the reasons for the WSKO insistence on direct transmission of the technical and philosophical content of SK from teacher to student, but it would be fascinating to see Kaiso practising the art which he created/synthesised