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Richard A Tolson
1st November 2000, 16:37
Neil,
I was not trying to come off confrontational. I must have miscommunicated because I was only asking sincere questions. I have read many of Brently's posts, but know little about his background. Which would help me to form an opinion about the authority of his words. I think this is a reasonable question and should not be construed as an attack or innuendo.
I do sense in many of his posts a bias toward Roppokai and his experiences in it. This is natural, but should be noted. Brently, what other Daito-ryu styles have you trained in?
Thanks!
Sorry I just noticed that I started a new thread rather than posting this under the previous Hakko-ryu thread.

Brently Keen
3rd November 2000, 03:12
Richard,

I suppose these are reasonable questions, but I'll give no guarantees to the reasonableness of my response. ;)

I have only trained in the Roppokai branch of Daito-ryu.

Naturally I favor this style, but I don't think I'm overly biased towards the Roppokai in my posts. Usually I try to refer to Daito-ryu in general as opposed to the Roppokai branch specifically, but I guess it depends on what exactly I'm talking about. When describing my own experiences I have to refer to the Roppokai.

Let's just say my training in and exposure to other branches of Daito-ryu is limited to conversations, seminars and some informal training sessions with members/teachers of other branches, as well as with Roppokai members who used to belong to other branches. I know that doesn't help a whole lot, but I just don't see the need to validate what I say by citing all my credentials, experience and accomplishments, I don't need to pump myself up, and besides it's all subjective to you anyway.

In private, in the dojo or at a seminar is different, because there I can objectively demonstrate the validity of what I say in person. This kind of forum is very limiting, whereas in the dojo I can easily show you (or anyone) the difference between jujutsu and aiki. But on a board like this, I can explain til I'm blue in the face and few will get it.

It's difficult to form an accurate opinion about the words a person says if you don't know the person; you have to take the words themselves at their value and judge whether there's any truth to them. I don't need a badge that says I have authority, therefore everyone should buy whatever I say.

I think it was Kenji Yoshida, Don Angier's teacher who said something to the effect of, "I do not look to authority for truth, instead I look to truth for authority." I quote that often because I think it's a very wise statement. It recognizes a fundamental principle that truth (or reality) is objective and that authority (and power) are subjective.

I know I'm going beyond the scope of your questions here by opening up another whole can of worms, but the task of the martial artist is to become as intimate and familiar with reality as possible, able to not only discern truth from fiction, but truth from apparent truth.

Brently Keen

Richard A Tolson
3rd November 2000, 06:21
Brently,
Thank you for such a courteous and informative reply! This does give me more of an idea of where your ideas come from. I agree wholeheartedly that the Internet is an inadequate way to share technical ideas. Especially compared to one-on-one experience. I hope some day we can meet and train together. Some of your ideas intrigue me and I would really like to see what you do.