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View Full Version : Christopher brookmyre, & Shorinji Kempo



bu-kusa
24th August 2005, 10:49
Anyone here read his books?? They are very good if a fast paced action (i.e. James Bond stylee!) and heavy satire is your thing. Any-who of more direct reverence is that one of the main repeating characters in them has a background in Shorinji Kempo and in a particular passage it mentions she couldn’t get her Dan grade in it because she broke the collar bone of the only Scotland based instructor? Any truth here??

See….

www.brookmyre.co.uk

for more info,

thanks! :)

CityShorinji
24th August 2005, 10:57
Erm, not as far as I can remember. Though there was the tale of the visiting Japanese 5th dan that was broken by the Glasgow club.........

tb055
24th August 2005, 13:38
What is the character's name and which book(s) does she appear in? I've read a couple of Brookmyre books and enjoyed them, especially as one of his heros comes from my home town of Motherwell. :)

I doubt the story of the collar bone is based on any fact. Does anyone know if Mr Brookmyre has done any training in SK? Tony, could you shed any light on this?

Tripitaka of AA
24th August 2005, 14:46
Brookmyre = nom de plume?

tony leith
24th August 2005, 15:55
I doubt the story of the collar bone is based on any fact. Does anyone know if Mr Brookmyre has done any training in SK? Tony, could you shed any light on this?

I think I can, but bear in mind I haven't read the book which is alluded to. A couple of our students did however, and got in touch via his website. To his credit, the man replied, saying that he'd trained for a few weeks when he was at Glasgow Uni and put in the reference to Shorinjikempo because it was a bit more recondite and interesting than referring to say aikido or karate. The black belt/collarbone stuff I am perfectly prepared to put down to him writing best selling works of fiction. As far as I am aware this has no basis in fact whatever.

From CityShorinji


Erm, not as far as I can remember. Though there was the tale of the visiting Japanese 5th dan that was broken by the Glasgow club.........

Now this I know for a fact is true, because it was me who broke him (cries of 'No' and 'Surely not' from the floor). Typical. We finally get access to high dan grade instruction, I come back up from London, and first class in I break the 5th dan. Case of slight mistiming on harai uke vs mawashigeri which dislocated a finger; the scary bit was Tomo-san calmly sitting down and putting it back in without so much as a flicker on his face. Eep.

Suffice it to say this caused my fellow Glasgow kenshi more than slight annoyance. If not much surprise.

Tony 'Control' Leith

Tripitaka of AA
24th August 2005, 21:37
All quite elementary, eh Watson? Another case closed.

JL.
24th August 2005, 21:41
Gassho!



[…] the scary bit was Tomo-san calmly sitting down and putting it back in without so much as a flicker on his face. Eep.
[…]
Tony 'Control' Leith

That's real Shorinji, I suppose. REALLY impressive.
I'm so awed I don't even find any more words.

Kesshu,
______ Jan.

jailess
24th August 2005, 22:05
Here are some words: You BROKE a 5TH DAN? Ace! The Legend of Leith continues...

tony leith
25th August 2005, 10:57
Here are some words: You BROKE a 5TH DAN? Ace! The Legend of Leith continues...

Breaking anybody, of whatever grade, in training is not something I can take pride in. I should point out that although Tomo-san was indeed a 5th dan (and his knowledge and technique were very impressive), I don't think he'd had much opportunity to train in recent years i.e. before I broke him. In that light, it's perhaps a bit less surprising that he could have slightly mistimed harai uke to a less-controlled-than-it-should-have-been mawashigeri. The dislocation of the finger was just a piece of bad luck which flowed from this.

Tony Leith

PS Put it another way, I've seen him in randori, and he could have taken me out anytime he wanted. He once put one of our blue belts in his place (this was a very tall lad who'd cross trained in other styles) by sparring with him while holding his arms down at his sides, and not bothering with uke waza at all to evade attacks. Slight furimi there, hikimi there, and then strike at will. Fantastic to watch..

CityShorinji
25th August 2005, 11:33
I've seen him in randori, and he could have taken me out anytime he wanted.

You're such an easy date Tony, really.

bu-kusa
26th August 2005, 16:10
Thank you very much for the answers, I’ve just started reading his books and the passage just struck me as a strange thing for a non martial artist to mention.
For those interested the character is question was/is a miss ‘’Angelique de Xavia ‘’ and the main book its mentioned in is ‘’A BIG BOY DID IT AND RAN AWAY’’ a very, very fun and interesting book.
Anyway back to work now...... in a bit! :) and again thanks for the reply’s