Yamaoka Tesshu Muto Ryu Kenjutsu: still practiced?

[giovanni de cesare]

I'm interested in Yamaoka Tesshu Muto Ryu Kenjutsu.
I would like to know if is still practiced now (at least in Japan).
If yes I would like to know how to contact the present headmaster/teacher (mail and/or e-mail address).

Thanks to all

[Shingh Sakata]

here's web site
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~mutoryu/

you'll see some video clip "hitotsu-gachi"and"tuki-kaesi"compare itto-ryu with muto-ryu.that's interesting.

there's no english pages but probably web master will understand english mail.they practice in tokyo and other place.

good night.

[giovanni de cesare]

Thanks to Shingh Sakata for the web site (www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~mutoryu/).
Unfortunately I don't know japanese.
I tried to send a message in english using the utility of the web site but was unsuccesfull.
Anyone can help me and send my original message trough that web site?

Many thanks to all

Giovanni De Cesare

[giovanni de cesare]

Yesterday I sended an e-mail to Mr. Takeaki Yabuki (yabuki@mwc.biglobe.ne.jp) but till now I haven't received any replay.
Some years ago John Stevens wroted a book about Yamaoka Tesshu and his Muto Ryu school. In that book there is a photo of the current headmaster Dr. Murakami Yasumasa Sensei. Other names reported in that book are Prof. Terayama Tanchu Katsujo and Omori Sogen Roshi.
Anyone know something about the above men?
Their addresses or how to contact them?

Thanks to all

[shieldcaster]

Kenritsu Budokan in Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken is the place. As I understand, it is the only place. I've got some contact info, but it's in Japanese and I can't read it.

Good luck.

[Earl Hartman]

When I lived in Kanazawa many years ago, there was some Itto Ryu at the Kenritsu Budokan. My senpai in the Kidotai (Riot Squad) kendo squad practiced it. Do you have the manes of the teachers? Perhaps I know some of them.

If you have a link to a page about Itto Ryu at the Kanazawa Kenritsu Budokan, I'd like to have it.

[shieldcaster]

Unfortunately, I do not have a link for you. The contact info I have says (as best as my Kanji can figure) that the head instructor at the Kenritsu is Murakami-sensei. I have a contact number if you want that. I may be heading up to the Big K (Kanazawa) this evening for some training, if I can I'll get some more adequate info for you. If I can't I know Daniel Lee has got a shite load of info about budo up here in Ishikawa.

I'll get back to you if I get any better info. As I understand, there is only about a dozen or so Muto guys left, so for future reference (and to completely state the obvious) Tesshu's Muto-ryu could be in serious danger. Just a little FYI.

L8R.

[Daniel Lee]

The October 2004 edition of Hiden magazine notes Murakami-sensei has given grandmastership to (7th generation?) Izaki Takehiro-sensei, who teaches on the westside of Tokyo. His details are also listed in that edition of the magazine.

Earl, one of the Kenritsu Budokan staff I met with mentioned there was Shinkan-ryu Kenjutsu, Itto Shoden Muto-ryu and some other Nagao Shinkai-ryu/SMR/MJER taught by separate groups there. Maybe the gentlemen you mentioned were training Muto-ryu?

[Earl Hartman]

Matt and Daniel:

Thanks for the replies.

Matt: where is Kaga-shi? Just curious. And what do you train in there? Not too many people wind up in Ishikawa-ken, so it's nice to tak to people from the old stomping grounds.

Daniel: What is Nagao-Shinkai Ryu? I assume it has some familial relationship to Nagao Ryu. Also, do you know what happened to Maeda Kogetus's Nagao Ryu group after he passed away?

I assume that whatever I saw being practiced at the Kenritsu Budokan all those years ago was some form of Itto Ryu, since they were using the oni-gote so characteristic of the style. However, I didn't ask about it. I was already doing kendo, kyudo and MJER, so I didn't have time for anything else.

Also, what is Shinkan Ryu kenjutsu? Is it a local Kaga-han style?

[shieldcaster]

Earl,

Kaga-shi is way down south, right by Fukui. It's right at the base of the mountains, and right on the beach. It's freakin' nice (a bit blue-collar at times, but a lot like home).

Right now, I'm in the process of trying to train with a menkyo kaiden (Kashima Shinryu) down in Fukui. Our schedules are conflicting a little, so training has been sparse (I am his only student). He knows that I am very interested in koryu (both historically and techinically), so he knows that I am 'having a look around' so to speak. Although I like what I see with Kashima Shinryu, training is (like I said) sparse. Ultimately, I would still like to have the opportunity to study (if only on an academic level) some of the local arts offered around here.

I do have time to take on further study, but it will soon become a loyalty issue. I have a plethora of budo here at my school, but I just haven't had the initiative to walk over to the gym to participate. Hopefully, I can eventually find something that either doesn't conflict with Kashima Shinryu, or is an art that my sensei deems compatible.

I have already spoken to Daniel a bit about some work I did in the States involving languages that are becoming extinct. I would LOVE to get involved (again, if only academically) in the preservation of some of these local arts that are starting to dwindle. Daniel has mentioned a few that are already gone, and that is tragedy. There can't be that many people studying Nagao-ryu (in any of its present forms) and the last I heard (and probably for good reason) there truly is only a handful of people studying Muto-ryu.

I would say that to a great extent, the reason I came to Japan in the first place was to be a part of the preservation process for some of these arts, though, admittedly, I had no idea what Ishikawa had to offer. My experience involving koryu to this point has been sheerly on a nerdy bookworm level. I've had some opportunities to check out some koryu here and there around the world, but where I'm from it's the usual RICK'S KARATE or WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TAEKWON-DO. There is nothing wrong with these places given a certain context, etc., etc. However, I was fortunate enough to find many immigrants in my town that knew a little Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Silat... So after years of getting kicked around in someone's garage, I found a great JKD place to put it all together. I will save any further ramblings for another thread, but let's just say that I have always had an interest in koryu.

And as for Ishikawa being the ol' stompin' ground, I would appreciate any info you have to offer about Ishikawa, be it koryu, bars, beaches, onsen...you get the picture.

Daniel,

Are we at two beers, or three. Cause I think that every day I reach a new level of understanding just how helpful you have been. So if we are only at two, make it three. If we are already at three, then make it four, or three and a sake (courtesy of CLAIR, of course).

I, too, would be very interested in the answers to Earl's questions. Furthermore, I am hearing a lot of rumor about there being some closed-door instructors here in the Kaga area that do a bit of family teaching with some local traditional stuff. I will keep my ear to the ground, and let you know if I come up with anything.

I have a buddy in the States that is an absolute freak for Feudal Japan (repairs armor and resells it at an exorbitant price), working on his PhD, etc. He says that historically, a lot of bushi came to the Kaga region during the reign of Maeda Toshiie. As a result ryuha were coming outta the woodwork, even during subsequent era. There would, even by conservative estimates, still be a significant amount still lurking in the garages and family dojo of the area--theoretically. I think that Shimeno-sensei may have some great knowledge of these, which would obviously be of great interest to me.

So, there you have it: Earl, Kaga is down south; I am trying to study Kashima Shinryu, but am very intersted in any of the local stuff; I have about two decades of martial arts experience, and not a bit of it on a spiritual level (which is pitiful). And Daniel, don't leave us hangin', bro.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick soapbox about my, or anyone's, quantity of experience in here. I have trained with a hundred jokers out there, some of 'em great and some of 'em not so great. If I have come to learn one thing so far it is that (and I would say that this applies to many things) it is not always that quantity of someone's experience, but the quality--this just goes without saying. But in here, (present company excluded) people are so ready to drop how long they've been studying this or that art on a forum, as if at face value that has any actual value. Even if you are known to be an experienced and well-respected figure on the budo scene, just cause you've been out there swingin' a sword or kicking some bags since I was in diapers (or nappies) doesn't mean much by comparison.

I guess what I'm saying is that a person's character and proficiency should speak for themselves (which is obviously hard to do on a forum), and there should be no real reason for anyone to play the I've-been-doing-this-longer-than-you-have card--especially when things get nerdily competitive in here (on a forum, no less).

It comes to this: I know a lotta guys who went to high school longer than me, but that hardly makes them more qualified to go to college, does it.

[That all may belong on another thread and I'm sorry if I have it in the wrong place.]

Pax.

[Daniel Lee]

Matt and Earl,

This is great - maybe we should get a Kaga Hyakumangoku forum up and running :p

Earl,

I hear you about your studies in Kanazawa :) Nagao Shinkai-ryu turns out to be one of the branches of Nagao-ryu. I read an article in Tamagawa Library that noted Shimeno-sensei, Takeda-sensei (who mainly teaches karate, jodo and MJER) and another gentleman received some form of licence in the art many years ago. The art focuses on kodachi, and I think some iai as well.

The last word I heard about Maeda Kougetsu or his group was in a little mamebon called Za Kobudou (http://www.kobunsha.com/book/HTML/bnk_kobudou.html) that was published in 1996. I have a feeling this might be a reprint though, since I thought Maeda passed away before 1996. Most of the people I talked with regarding koryu in Ishikawa-ken referred specifically to Shimeno-sensei and Arai-sensei/Matsumoto-sensei of Seiden Nago-ryu Taijutsu when speaking of Nagao-ryu.

Unfortunately I don't have many other specific details with me at the moment on the other style of kenjutsu I mentioned in my last post. I should make note, however, that the name of the ryu is Shinjin-ryu Kenjutsu(?[?r—¬Œ•?p), not Shinkan-ryu. There may be a reference in the Budokan book, "Kobudou Souran" (incidentally, another kaga-han kobudo, Shinkyou-ryu Kusaritama (Kusarigama) is also featured in that publication). This style was one of the systems taught within the Keibukan, the hankou (samurai school) established in 1792 by the Maeda family, but the style practiced nowadays is largely reconstructed.

Matt,

The KIT Nagao-ryu dojo has about 40 - 50 members training in it on an almost daily basis at the moment. It has one of the healthiest memberships of a koryu group in Ishikawa.

As to the beers tally: four beers is outrageous, but alright, I'll buy you a few when we meet :D I'd really like to hear more about any koryu happening in Kaga - keep us posted!

I know there are some other ex-Ishikawaites on these boards, so hopefully they'll come and join in too.

All the best,

[Earl Hartman]

Matt:

If anybody knows about budo in Kaga, it's Shimeno Sensei. He wrote the book on it. Literally. He is probably the foremost historian of budo in Kaga. I have a number of books by him which he gave me during the two years I trained with him in Nagao Ryu. I learned the 1st 24 forms (badly, I hasten to say). One of them is on Nagao Ryu, and another is on the Keimukan.

Daniel:

As far as I can tell, Maeda was a laughingstock among serious kobudo people in Japan. It does not surprise me that Shimeno S. and Arai/Matsumoto S. (Shimeno S's successors, I assume) are the go-to people for Nagao Ryu now.

It is very significant that the style is called "Seiden" (Correct/Orthodox Transmission) Nagao Ryu. I'm pretty sure that is the name that Shimeno S. gave it when he broke with Maeda. The reason for the break was that Shimeno S. became convinced that Maeda was not transmitting the techniques correctly, hence "Seiden" Nagao Ryu.

Maeda was a hell of a character. I met him for the first time when I was the "dosoku gakari" (the guy in charge of putting people's outdoor shoes in the geta-bako) at Masaoka Kazumi Sensei's funeral (he taught MJER in Kanazawa and was one of Oe S's last surviving direct students. My wife and I were his students). Everybody else showed up in dark suits and black ties. Maeda showed up fully figged out in kimono, hakama, what looked like an orange jinbaori , and a sword that looked to be at least five feet long. He had long hair that he wore loose and he looked just like Gogen Yamaguchi, the Goju Ryu karate guy. He looked like he belonged on a movie set. He just stared at me for a few seconds with that "What the heck is a gaijin doing here?" look, pulled out his sword and handed it to me and swept in without a word. One of my fonder memories from my time in Kanazawa.

I just remembered: there's also a local Kaga iai style called Kojin/Koshin Ryu. Don't know much about it, though. There were only a few guys doing it when I was there, and that's 30 years ago. Their beginning posture is quite unique: They sit on one heel with the other knee completely rasied so the foot is flat on the floor. The sword, still in its scabbard, is drawn almost all the way out of the obi so that the tsuba is restng on the rasied knee. The left hand is on the scabbard with the thumb on the tsuba and the right hand is placed lightly on the tsuka, much like the beginning of nukistuke in other styles. The draw is done by simlutaneously drawing out the sword while drawing the scabbard back to the obi. I've never seen any other nukitsuke like it.

[shieldcaster]

You guys are gettin' me pretty hot. We should roll with this. You both have a pant-load of info on this subject, and we have access to those who have a lot more info. I am here, on the ground so to speak, and would love to be involved. I, too, think we should get a Kaga Hyakumagoku-thingy going. Earl those books you've got about Kaga koryu are most certainly not in English, right? Thought so.

We have an awesome amount of actual published material at our disposal. Fieldwork and collection is only a matter of time and elbow grease. I've got time (not bucketloads, mind you, but time), and I can lotion up my elbows today. I guess what I'm sayin' here is that I would like safely and slowly take this a notch up, if that's okay with you guys. I know that we are all engaged in our own lives in various parts of Japan and the greater planet Earth, but just in the last month vast quantities of info has been exchanged regarding this subject.

It (the subject) is just specialized enough to still be reasonably (especially from a Western viewpoint) untouched, but still interesting and important. I know that some of the local schools are small, probably by design, but I'm not suggesting that we go advertise for them. There is historical, cultural and, to a certain degree, social and psychological significance to this research.

I am by far the junior man here, and I can dig that--at least I know the position I'm in. However, that position also happens to be in Ishikawa. Unfortunately, you guys (Daniel and Earl) have all of the connections, and certainly the language--I can lay down a 'Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu,' like a native, but after that the limitations are (at least at this point) obvious.

So here we are, cursors blinking...

If anyone else is paying any attention, input would appreciated.

[Earl Hartman]

Matt:

As opposed to having a pantload of information aout kobudo in Kaga, I've pretty much told you all I know. You will need to talk to Daniel if you want more information. And since Shimeno Sensei doesn't speak English, you'd better get crackin' on your Japanese studies, with an emphasis on learning Kanazawa-ben.

[John Mark Dunn]

Ah... it's always good to hear Earl's "dosoku gakari" story again... Hey! like... budo stuff is... like... cool and stuff, but Matt, what kind of language preservation stuff were you involved in in the US? Personally I was lucky enough to help out at a "revitalizing Califonia languages" seminar at UC Berkeley and meet a number of people working with Native California languages... unfortunatley, the woman I was closest to, Jane Flippo, who spoke Yowlum'ni (a Yokutsan language from the Califonia central valley), has passed on since I've been in Japan...

[shieldcaster]

A prof I had did all of her work in SoCal and Northern Mexico. I helped her and a few others profs do some cataloguing and recording of some languages that were 'on the endangered list' on the Ozark Plateau. A Middle Eastern linguist, I had a hard time of actually trying to pick up any language skills, but I can hit the record button as easily as anyone else. And once you've got the stuff written in phonetic script, it's all good.
What it did do for me was grant me an understanding of how human knowledge can just cease. Centuries of learning and hard learned lessons gone. I've been struggling with a handful of dead languges from Mesopotamia for years, and the number of jokers who can read them are growing fewer by the day. Ironically, I'm having to ditch childhood memeries to try to learn languages so humanity won't forget who they are or where they came from. That's screwed up.
I see bujutsu in the same light. Not sure how many other people do, but I guess that's why we have this wonderful forum...

[John Mark Dunn]

I learned alot from simply being exposed to people who were trying to preserve their native languages, and understanding the differences in how the linguists I knew regarded things as opposed to the way the speakers of the languages regarded things... and that has been super helpful during my time in Japan... you're right that things just cease... and it's usually simply that whatever it is just isn't economically/energetically viable anymore so it gets left behind... with languages, it's usually a situation where there is a dominant language and a minority language... and when working within the dominant language becomes the best way to feed your family... well... it makes a lot less sense to spend your energies trying to make sure your kids learn your heritage language too... whether it be Yiddish or Yowlum'nen Trexal... unfortunately, as a roomate of mine in college pointed out... "but if those languages die out, who cares?"... which sounds harsh, but if you think about it makes a lot of sense... if there's nobody left who values it, then it doesn't matter that it's gone... unfortunately, there's also nobody left who remembers the body of human knowledge that was contained there...

Languages often get reduced to ceremonial or ritual usage, and I see a distinct parallel between that and martial arts in which the forms have been retained, but the understanding of how the forms are supposed to express dynamic principals has been fogotton...

[Earl Hartman]

A joke:

The front page of a newspaper from the year 3050 carries, in addition to the usual stuff about interdimensional space travel, colonization of distant galaxies, and the news that all disease has been eradicated, the following headline:

"Yiddish Still Dying"

[John Mark Dunn]

Ha ha ha... (actually, a lot of the best scholarly work on language death by Joshua Fishman is based on data from Yiddish in New York)...

When I was studying nihongo at college, I had a kobun professor who tried to explain to us why everybody in the Heian Period seemed to write in an unbroken series of rhetorical questions... he said "You just have to understand the deep connection between classical Japanese and Jewish humor... read this a 'So, what? My sode aren't soaked with tears as I gaze out over the grasses in the moonlight here? whaaaaat?'"

[Earl Hartman]

I know Dr. Fishman, actually. He spends part of the year at Stanford. His wife, Gella, is a publshed Yiddish poet of some renown (in Yiddish-speaking circles, at any rate).

Your Japanese professor couldn't possibly have said that, right?

Right?

[John Mark Dunn]

No... really... he was a funny guy... much to the chagrin of the foreign exchange students who couldn't figure out what the hell was going on...

But sorry, didn't mean to get you off your topic... digression is the better part of valor...

[shieldcaster]

I was expecting a JEWS IN SPACE reference from your newspaper comment. So, I guess I'll be the one to supply it. John, your prof has got a broad spectrum of cultural reference, that's very good. Sounds like he's got a wacked sense of humor. Hell, next thing ya know, someone'll be connecting a Lost Tribe to the Heian period...sheesh, those guys are everywhere.

[John Mark Dunn]

er... he was... like... making a joke... BUT NOW that you mention it, you should hear Earl's Tengu-Jewish connection theory!

[shieldcaster]

Yeah, man, I got the joke angle of that whole transaction. And I have read Earl's Lost Tengu Tribe theory--which, admittedly is as kosher as any other Lost Tribe theorry I've heard. But like I said, those guys are everywhere...AND, it wouldn't really suprise me much if someone tried to claim a Iraelite/Israeli origin for budo/bujutsu, even if they have down-graded to Krav Maga these days. Jeeze, dude, I should stop there...

[Earl Hartman]

I actually met a Japanese guy who swore up and down that Moses was buried somewhere in Japan. He even showed me a picture of his grave. It was very strange.

I don't buy any of the "the Japanese are one of the 10 Lost Tribes" stuff, although it's fun listening to the theories. News Flash: You know why they're called "The 10 Lost Tribes"? It's because they're lost!!. OK?

One of my favorite theories is how the Grand Shrine at Ise, and most Shinto shrines in general, are laid out like Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Therefore, it is obvious that yada yada yada, blah blah blah.. Interesting, but it don't prove nuthin'.

Re: Tengu, I just find it fascinating that the Tengu are so obviously not Japanese. They don't even look East Asian. Beards, big noses, the little yamabushi hats that look like tefillin (the head piece of the phylacteries) and wings that look like prayer shawls. So I invented my own theory, just as a joke.

I suppose it's just as good as any "Hey! The Japanese and the Jews both use water for ritual purification! So obviously..." theory.

[shieldcaster]

Now that you mention it, the beards on Ancient Jews and Tengu are very similar...It is interesting, to be sure--and I'd say well worth a BS book or Mysteries TV program. Never heard the Solomon's Temple connection.

[George Kohler]

Originally posted by Earl Hartman
I suppose it's just as good as any "Hey! The Japanese and the Jews both use water for ritual purification! So obviously..." theory.

Let's not forget the Tora no maki.

[Earl Hartman]

Oy.

You forgot the rim-shot sound effects, George.

Buh-da-BUM, tsssshhhh!!!

[Daniel Lee]

Speaking of mysteries ;), I once read a paper by a Japanese linguist in Egypt who claimed Arabic was the mother language of Japanese, based on a grab-bag of about 20 or so words. Great entertainment!

Oh, Earl and Matt,

Let's not forget that Oshimizu-machi (http://www.town.oshimizu.ishikawa.jp/index2.html), that sleepy little town slightly north of Kanazawa in Ishikawa-ken, is "where Moses travelled from Mt. Sinai, and lived on to the grand old age of 583". Holy Geriatric Fountain of Youth, Batman!

:nin:

[Earl Hartman]

Daniel:

Well, considering that I heard the Moses-is-buried-in-Japan story in Kanazawa from a guy who was introduced to me by Shimeno Sensei, Oshimizu-machi could very well be the place he was talking about.

He, Shimeno Sensei and I were sitting down together and having coffee or something, and he started telling me his story. I think I pissed him off by not taking it seriously. He had pictures of Moses' gravestone and everyting, so how could I doubt it, right?

Holy Cosmic Coincidences, Batman! I just remembered! Numbers, Chapter 20, where Moses brings forth water from the rock:

"And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly"

The name of the town, Oshimizu, means to "push water"!!!!!

This can't be a coincidence, man!!!!!

[Daniel Lee]

Bwahahaha!! :D That's gotta be true if the guy had pictures, eh! Gee you've got some great stories Earl. :)

"Push Water" too? Holy Coincidences, Batman!

[shieldcaster]

Great Batman reference, Daniel--you nerd. Or...am...I the nerd for getting it...?

I'll have to check that place out. Sounds like a great picnic opportunity for the fam. Hell, someone from the Ishikawa tourism board should go public this--the prefecture'd be crawlin' with crazies from Tel Aviv to Texas. There is awlays a market for this kind of thing in religious circles.

About the Japanese vs. Arabic thing. Hmmm...there's always some guy out there trying to connect this language with that language. I did actually know i guy who was quite an accomplished Japanese linguist (or linguist of Japanese, I should say) who was learning Old Kingdom heiroglyphics with me who had some of the same claims (with OK heiroglyphics and Ancient Chinese). I did see with my own eyes many pictographs and heiroglyphs that were unmistakeably similar, but since I don't know any Chinese from any period, I couldn't be certain about the contextual meanings. But since modern Egyptian dialectical Arabic has a boatload of carryovers from old school Egyptian, and Japanese script, as I hear, is a borrow from Chinese, there could be something there-->Daniel, maybe a PhD opportunity for you there...

Man, Moses buried in Ishikawa, this place just keeps gettin' better.

L8R.

[Mike_E]

I just moved to Nagano prefecture, Okaya City.

I got in contact with Nihon Kobudo Kouryoku kyoukai for some info on dojos in the area.
They listed the itto shouden muto ryu as having a contact address in Okaya. I'll be writing (there's no phone number) and I'll let you know...

I've heard that this is actually kendo rather than using a sword. Any enlightenment would be...

Anyhows, if anyone knows of kobudo practiced in Nagano please let me know.

best

[shieldcaster]

Yeah, man, kendo-ish. Sword stuff, but still done with only practice gear. You could call it kendo, but I think the relationship would only be superficial.

In any case, I do hope you can train with them. I'd be interested to hear how it goes. And more than just a littel bit jealous.

Have a good one...and keep us posted.

[Daniel Lee]

Hi Mike,

The only traditional martial arts training I could find in the Hiden magazine dojo guide was Hakko-ryu Jujutsu (Nagano city), Daito-ryu (Suzaka city) and Karate/Aikikai/Mugai-ryu Iai (Matsumoto city). The Itto Shoden Muto-ryu certainly sounds interesting too.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a moment now, though. Assuming you go and take up study in a rare koryu there for several years, then move back to your home country, are you prepared to travel back for regular training each year? Since an art like Muto-ryu is rare even in Japan (only being taught in Nagano-ken, Ishikawa-ken and Tokyo), if you were to return home, there probably wouldn't be anyone there to teach you or train with you. It may take even twenty years before you're of a standard your teachers consider acceptable to instruct juniors, so would you be prepared to train by yourself if you did move home again? Ask permission to watch the training, go observe, then ask yourself these questions. I think it will save you in the long-run.

Now, considering you've done some serious soul-searching, you might want to choose the more commonly available arts I've just mentioned, or plunge completely into the more obsecure art for a long-term study. All the best with whichever path you choose.

Hi Matt,

Hope things are well for you in onsen territory :) Any plans for a trip to Tokyo?

[Alex Dale]

Guys,


I never saw this thread back when it was actually going on. What an interesting exchange!


On June 26th I'll be headed to Japan for a month (I'll be based in Tokyo, but I'll be travelling around alone a lot) and would love to get together with some of you guys to discuss this stuff. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you're interested.


Regards,

[shieldcaster]

Daniel! Long time, to talk. Things are good up here, the humidity is just now starting to set in, but the nights are still nice and cool. Which is nice. Hope things are going well for you down there on the other side of the mountains. Training hard and working hard, I imagine.

I think I will be down your way once or twice before the Kobudo Embu in November. If a get some dates, you will be the first to know. Likewise, if you make it up here anytime, let me know.

Mike,

If you can get ahold of Stevens' *Sword of No Sword* that might help to give a bit of background on Muto-ryu and Yamaoka Tesshu. Dan is right on, though, there is no such thing as a fulfilling casual study of koryu. It's a big decision, I'd say. I mean, well, that is to say that it was a big decision for me...and everyone else I know who studies koryu.

Best of luck with your searching. And, still keep us posted.

Alex, if you you find yourself in Ishikawa don't hesitate to get in touch.

Matt.