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View Full Version : Why did you go to Japan? Why Koryu?



Dennis Hooker
6th February 2001, 20:12
I guess this question is directed at those of you that have spent a great deal of time in Japan seeking the elusive, or illusionary ideal of the warrior spirit as portrayed in western literature, and I assume Japanese writings as well. I do not speak or read Japanese so I have no first hand knowledge. I have read a lot of what has been translated into English and it was such ideals that set me on my, thus far, 40+-year journey. My experience in Japan was limited to R&R and the only thing I was looking for back in the world was good booze and girls to replace hooch and LBFM’s and cut some easy time.

Were you seeking the principle, or the envisage of the noble samurai, or were you seeking the fighting skill with antiquated weapons, or both? Did you have a reason for being there that was wholly related to seeking some vision? Were you on a vision quest?

I have met some mighty remarkable and fine Japanese teachers in my life and some have shaped my life after it was all but destroyed, both physically and mentally. I have also met some Japanese pricks and some braggarts that would not back up their clams as well. However, all these Japanese I have met were in the U.S. either living or visiting.

Did you find what you went after? Did the goal change after you learned a little more about what you wanted? Did you find all your teachers with feet of clay? Did you find any that wanted to be gods and played to the misconceptions of gullible minds? How did you handle these if they were also legitimate teachers within their schools?

I know I started my journey because I sought the apparition of the true nobleman, the samurai. At least as it was sold to me in the 60’s. Many of us were seeking a way to return to a society that rejected us, seeking a way to live at home again. I think now it does not matter if the concept was actually real at time, it has become real, at least as real as anything else do in my life.

Dan Harden
8th February 2001, 03:42
Dennis

There are times my boyo....that I read your stuff and it makes my heart ache. There is an indefinable "realness" to you, that I quite enjoy. You "ain't" a good writer son. Neither am I. And I for one could care less about that. I would rather try to "listen" then critique a style like some do.
Over the years, through your writings on several forums, I have come to realize a little of where you have been, and why you went in the direction you have .
I have enjoyed the ease with which you express your self. The (still) passionate first love of your arts intermixed with the jaded perspective of experience.

I do not think you will get any response here from the very ones you are trying to reach. And I hope you, like many of us, have come to look at some of their opinions with a jaundiced eye anyway.

Be well
Dan

[Edited by Dan Harden on 02-07-2001 at 10:04 PM]

ghp
8th February 2001, 07:30
Hello Dennis,

You certainly want us to bare our wretched, tortured souls, don't you?


I guess this question is directed at those of you that have spent a great deal of time in Japan seeking the elusive, or illusionary ideal of the warrior spirit as portrayed in western literature, and I assume Japanese writings as well.

My martial art journey began in Bangkok, as a high school student studying taekwondo, then kendo. It was the kendo, introduced to me by expatriate Japanese high school students, that pointed me towards Japanese budo. After returning to the States, I immediately found a recently returned civil servant who spent some years at Camp Zama. He introduced me to Mugai Ryu iaido.

Later, my thirst for more iai led me to an LA teacher -- he was Japanese, but I was still in the US.


Were you seeking the principle, or the envisage of the noble samurai, or were you seeking the fighting skill with antiquated weapons, or both?

As a teenager, I was "seeking the principle" -- the "spirit of the samurai." I revered my teacher and tried to be Japanese in spirit. He advised me to just be myself, but I thought "myself" was a samurai-zen-warrior-type. Very laughable now, in my decrepitude, I must confess. I now advise youngsters to "be yourself, you are *not* a samurai-zen-warrior!" Hahahaha (If my deceased teacher could only see me now)!

Later, as an adult, I sought -- and found -- fighting skills with antique weapons (well, "weapon"). It's funny ... as a youth I was not concerned with the fighting aspects, only the beauty and grace of movement. Yeah, I fought kumite, but I really liked kata. I was searching for "self" and "attainment" trying to "be all I could be as a wannabe samurai." But I wouldn't have known it if I bumped into it simply because I was so "ate up" with trying to be something I wasn't. Idealism isn't realistic, eh? As the cynical adult, I now revel in the effecacy of the sword and its deadly, graceful, beauty. I love the feeling of cutting through bamboo and makiwara. I find joy in holding the tsuka. I love executing a perfect (too seldom) ukenagashi with bokuto. But these are real joys, not ideals. I now revel in the physical, whereas in my youth I reveled in false-idealsim.

Oh, and I also love medieval European swords and archery [I shoot in a yew longbow]. So I'm a bit more true to my real self than ever before.

Yup, youth is wasted on the young!


I have met some mighty remarkable and fine Japanese teachers in my life and some have shaped my life after it was all but destroyed, both physically and mentally. I have also met some Japanese pricks and some braggarts that would not back up their clams as well. However, all these Japanese I have met were in the U.S. either living or visiting.

Well, I'm here to tell you that after only 5 years in Japan, I can tell you those same types live there as well. I've met humble, "low-born" teachers who have climbed the highest ranks of budo -- they were very open and, well ... human, with all mankind's vices and virtues. Conversely, I've met the arrogant -- and skilled -- kendo champion who looked down his nose at "foreign bastards" ... until I confronted him. He is still an arrogant s.o.b ... but he avoided me thereafter. I've also had the privledge to study under a retired steel executive -- very highly placed, socially; the great thing is that he and all the others [excluding a prig or two] got along regardless of social category -- [which is also important in Japan]-- the love of budo was the bonding agent. Yup, you've got the "usual suspects" in Japan as well as the US.


Did you find what you went after? Did the goal change after you learned a little more about what you wanted? Did you find all your teachers with feet of clay? Did you find any that wanted to be gods and played to the misconceptions of gullible minds? How did you handle these if they were also legitimate teachers within their schools?

The goal changed as I matured along the path. If I were to have gone to Japan as a teenager, I'm sure I would have been disappointed to discover that some teachers did some nasty things in China [so the stories go]; or that some smoked and/or drank to excess. I even saw one sneak into a bedroom where a woman guest was staying -- she was sleeping in the teacher's children's room. I was so disgusted that I went outside for a walk; when I returned, he still had not returned to his wife's room. [This incident might have happened in the US or Japan .... I want to be fuzzy here.]

As far as "finding what I went after", I went to Japan at the sobering age of 38 (10 years ago) -- so I had no delusions of what "should" have been. I just took each individual as a human, not a god.

I did not find any teacher in Japan who wanted to be the god-head and rule over our lives, or craft us into a cult to serve their whims and ego (they're there, though; witness Asahara of "Aum [Om] Shinrikyo"). One teacher would end class after the closing bows and walk down the line shaking hands, thanking everyone for attending. He always wanted us to call him by his first name outside the dojo. A fine iaijutsu teacher, polisher, and karate fighter ... I could not make myself call him anything but "sensei" regardless of his protestations.


I know I started my journey because I sought the apparition of the true nobleman, the samurai. At least as it was sold to me in the 60’s.

I think most of us were sold that bill of goods in those days. But, thanks to Donn F. Draeger sensei and others of his calling, the true word was finally being disseminated in the 1970s. More and more, we could begin to read accurate information untainted by the two most prevalent types of budo-pablum: the "peace-love-dove" stuff; and the "Sanjuro-Yojimbo" fantasy.

Yeah, old age is a pain (literally), but it sure beats inexperience and pseudo-intellectual idealism.

Regards,
Guy the Jaded

Dennis Hooker
8th February 2001, 13:38
Hello Dan, good to hear form you again. You’re probably right about the response to this. If some were made off the forum that would be OK too, and I would not reveal them to anyone else. It would ease my troubled mind some if folks would open up a bit. I’m trying to squeeze my mind through one of those tight places right now. If you know what I mean? I’m doing some, way past middle age, reflecting on my life and if I made a right choice by not going back to Japan to study. I was invited to come and live with an Aikido “10” Dan and be his student after taking falls for him at a Tenth Anniversary Memorial Demonstration in Honor of Ueshiba Senseis' death. I passed it up to remain with my teacher and I have no regrets really. I know I made the right choice for me but I’m trying to fill in a few blanks now. This must seem like ranting of an illogical mind, but as you pointed out I not too good at saying things in this kind of forum and I accept that.

Take Care Friend Dan
Dennis



Originally posted by Dan Harden
Dennis

There are times my boyo....that I read your stuff and it makes my heart ache. There is an indefinable "realness" to you, that I quite enjoy. You "ain't" a good writer son. Neither am I. And I for one could care less about that. I would rather try to "listen" then critique a style like some do.
Over the years, through your writings on several forums, I have come to realize a little of where you have been, and why you went in the direction you have .
I have enjoyed the ease with which you express your self. The (still) passionate first love of your arts intermixed with the jaded perspective of experience.

I do not think you will get any response here from the very ones you are trying to reach. And I hope you, like many of us, have come to look at some of their opinions with a jaundiced eye anyway.

Be well
Dan

[Edited by Dan Harden on 02-07-2001 at 10:04 PM]

gmellis
9th February 2001, 01:12
I am still comparably young, and just came to Japan a little over three years ago, so perhaps my perspective is not as broad and deep as some of the senpai on this forum. But what the hell.
__________________________________________________________
I’m doing some, way past middle age, reflecting on my life and if I made a right choice by not going back to Japan to study. I was invited to come and live with an Aikido ?E0?EDan and be his student after taking falls for him at a Tenth Anniversary Memorial Demonstration in Honor of Ueshiba Senseis' death. I passed it up to remain with my teacher and I have no regrets really. I know I made the right choice for me but I’m trying to fill in a few blanks now.
__________________________________________________________
As you most assuredly know, the grass is always greener on the other side. When I was still in college, all I could think about was getting the hell out of college to come here and study hardcore traditional MAs with acknowledged masters of their craft. As a result, I disdained being in the U.S., and resented having to get through 4 years of college just so I could work legally here, and so on. Naturally, when I first arrived (as for all of us I suppose) I was so psyched to finally be here. It was like a dream come true. I looked back on my life as a college "prisoner" with a sigh of relief that it was over. And you know what? I regret having had that attitude. Because there are alot of wonderful things about America (and any country I imagine) that you don't appreciate until they are not there. And there just that many more wasted grains of sand in this hour-glass life of mine that ebbed away without my letting the grains brush through my fingers. A real pity.
I belong to a school that very tightly restricts who is allowed to teach and who isn't (about as strict as they come, really), and to even be considered as a serious candidate for that seemingly futile achievement will require you to train week after week, year after year, for several DECADES, in addition to having a high mastery of the language in all areas, as well as other time-consuming skills. Several decades. The reknowned trailblazer of koryu research himself got about as close as they come to getting permission to teach at my school and he was a man of most extraordinary vigor, determination and dedication, renouncing a family life to pursue his quest. Even he never opened a school. So, where is all this rambling leading to? Beats me. I think about it alot. Several decades for no assurances of anything. I see friends buying houses and having children, settling down and, while they will never be Bruce Lees or Donn Draegers, they manage in some form or another to fit in some training while having a fulfilling family life in a comfortable home (with central heating!). While I consider myself lucky for getting this far and am grateful that fate dealt me this hand, and while i have carved out a career and life that will enable me to train here for as long as need be, I sometimes wonder if it isn't people like you Dennis that are the blessed ones, people who havent been completely swayed by this Koryu-style siren song that has made them zealots and feel the need to go on a quest to a land so far from home. You seem like a really cool guy. A genuine person with real humaneness and warmth. That in itself, tells me that whatever decisions you've made in life, while perhaps not the ones you would make now with hindsight, have made you the man you are today. A man that many people who know you on this site seem to cherish and respect deeply. That tells me everything I need to know. Am I tear-jerking? I do that sometimes. Pehaps I watch too many 1940s and 50s romance movies. Anyway. Look at me. Some would call me one of the luckiest wankers around. Being able to train under the direct tutelage of one the the Koryu world's most respected teachers. Perhaps so. But I pale in comparison to people like yourself that are decent. I am still at war with many demons (perhaps youth?) that make me a very un-self-actualized man. The martial accomplishments of people don't mean $%%# if they are not decent human beings. Am I talking about Zen mind or lovey-dovey agape here? No. What good is it to have a person who is a living weapon, as dangerous as a katana, if they do not have the virtue and decency to control themselves and not harm innocent people (physically or emotionally)? No. I believe that whatever choices we make in life are the right choices, becuase they are true to whatever elements are pulling on us at that point in time, and they bring us in contact with experiences that play a role in our development. I am who i am now becuase of where i've been. The issue isn't whether you made the right choices. It's whether you like who you are. But i'm only 28, and still very shallow, so what do i know.

[Edited by gmellis on 02-08-2001 at 07:16 PM]

carl mcclafferty
9th February 2001, 14:02
Folks:

My Martial arts started just before I went over seas. After I came back from Vietnam I was a thirty year old in a 20 year old body. My illusions of any samurai spirit gone, replaced by the reality of survival. Knowing that training for war whether as a soldier in any army or any century was based on kill or die the most basic of instincts. My training shortly there after was based on street survival, not because I was in any specific danger, just in that basic mind set.

It wasn't until thirteen years later that a kind teacher weaned me into more sword work, kata and kumitachi and less survival based training. I see now that it was the beginning of my (I don't what to call it). The last twenty years I've been blessed with really good, talented Japanese teachers. I visit with them every year and most come here to visit with us. So do I train with Yamada, Otake, Saruta to obtain some some samurai spirit. No I train because I need to. (You'd probably need to be me to understand that last statement, I could never explain it).

Carl McClafferty

Earl Hartman
9th February 2001, 20:45
Saw too many chanbara movies as a kid. Wanted to be a samurai to impress my girlfriend so she wouldn't think I was a pussy. Went to Japan and got the shit beaten out of me for a while just to prove it. Learned from some really good teachers. Met some assholes. Met some really good people. Married one of them. Still practice. There's some good stuff in budo. Discovering more every day. Overall, I think it was worth it.

Dennis Hooker
16th February 2001, 18:41
I want to thank you all for the insight you have given me, both on and off the forum. Sometimes I may lament over the choices I have made but I don’t know if I would have changed anything given my current insight, or hindsight for that matter. Seems things went along as they should have. Even so, it gives an old man pause to reflect on what might have been. I know quite a few fellows my age that when young were looking for a culture to plug into. Having no historical culture of their own beyond parents and perhaps grandparents they sought to adopt a culture, as I see it. They needed a place to set their roots and found it in a most unusual place and related it to a most peculiar time and subculture. Maybe it had to do with the white knight mentality we had as children. Knighthood at King Arthur’s court was not achievable but it seemed being a Samurai was. It was at lest a change to connect to a culture some of us seemed to know more about than that culture of our unknown ancestors. My father encouraged this in me even though my family went back to Thomas Hooker and the founding of the colonies. Even though he lost half his skull in a battle with the Japanese in the South Pacific and lived as a POW for a time. He knew there was something worthwhile to be had for some of them and never resisted my association with my teachers.

As has been pointed out to me perhaps this is not a place or forum for such words as these? Sometimes a guy just needs to say something and hear something said from certain people. He has got to go where they dwell if it is to be done. I do not apologize to those of you that thought I was out of place asking these questions and were so brash in your response. You can kiss my ass.

Those of you that were kind enough to answer both on and off the list I thank you. You helped me out more than you know.

bob elder
5th March 2001, 00:55
Wow, finally a breath of fresh air. And ain't it just like an Aikido move to throw ( or restore) someone to balance. After all the broo haha on other forums man am I glad to see this. Imagine an honost appraisal of your past and present reasoning processses . Honest questions with no justifications or hidden barbs. Uh, there were no hidden things there, were there? I'm pretty dumb and miss a lot. But I bet no one reading that including the hard core lurkers didn't for one moment remember something so far back in their psyche that I bet many were shocked at their progress, or lack thereof. Man, it made me realize some things. Like how friggin lucky I am. I tied up with the real deals right off the bat. I also count my blessings to be at the Shindai Aikiai Dojo. Where anything is possible. Like the other night when you left early, we put a remote controlled fart machine behind your mat. Everytime someone leaned over near it, we let it rip! Man was that a blast! You should have seen the looks on the faces. Oh , wait, did I just mess up? Dang it, guess I haven't come very far after all. Bob Elder

bob elder
5th March 2001, 01:17
Wow, finally a breath of fresh air. And ain't it just like an Aikido move to throw ( or restore) someone to balance. After all the broo haha on other forums man am I glad to see this. Imagine an honost appraisal of your past and present reasoning processses . Honest questions with no justifications or hidden barbs. Uh, there were no hidden things there, were there? I'm pretty dumb and miss a lot. But I bet no one reading that including the hard core lurkers didn't for one moment remember something so far back in their psyche that I bet many were shocked at their progress, or lack thereof. Man, it made me realize some things. Like how friggin lucky I am. I tied up with the real deals right off the bat. I also count my blessings to be at the Shindai Aikiai Dojo. Where anything is possible. Like the other night when you left early, we put a remote controlled fart machine behind your mat. Everytime someone leaned over near it, we let it rip! Man was that a blast! You should have seen the looks on the faces. Oh , wait, did I just mess up? Dang it, guess I haven't come very far after all. Bob Elder

bob elder
5th March 2001, 02:26
Sorry, don't know how that got on twice. Once is more than enough! Bob El Der