tony leith
6th September 2002, 13:52
There's been some light hearted discussion of the howa talks given by Aosaka Sensei on another thread (those interested should go to 'Why Shorinji Kempo, some of them are classics..)
Giving howa talks is on one level fairly straightforward, if you're basically relaying the textbook or syllabus gakka, as the actual content is predefined. I think it's legitimate to offer your own reflections as well, as long as they're fairly clearly signposted. One thing that's quite difficult to manage within the confines of a normal class is discussion, but this can sometimes be really valuable as a means of clarifying thoughts on a topic, as well as a fruitful exchange of ideas.
I'd be interested to hear about different approaches to howa/gakka in the context of classes. For my part, I believe that kempo without chinkon and howa in the end isn't going to remain Shorinji kempo, and the history of other martial arts suggests that the philosophical content can be one of the earliest casualties of their translation into new cultural contexts. How do we avoid this happening to future generations of kempo practioners? Can we?
Giving howa talks is on one level fairly straightforward, if you're basically relaying the textbook or syllabus gakka, as the actual content is predefined. I think it's legitimate to offer your own reflections as well, as long as they're fairly clearly signposted. One thing that's quite difficult to manage within the confines of a normal class is discussion, but this can sometimes be really valuable as a means of clarifying thoughts on a topic, as well as a fruitful exchange of ideas.
I'd be interested to hear about different approaches to howa/gakka in the context of classes. For my part, I believe that kempo without chinkon and howa in the end isn't going to remain Shorinji kempo, and the history of other martial arts suggests that the philosophical content can be one of the earliest casualties of their translation into new cultural contexts. How do we avoid this happening to future generations of kempo practioners? Can we?