PDA

View Full Version : training in SMR jo, koryu



charlesl
29th July 2001, 04:23
This is a big, kind of complicated (to me), and possibly not too coherent question.

Over the last couple of years I've done some academic(?) study of traditional traditional Japanese martial ways, what (I think) people are calling koryu. I've read books, like Japanese Swordsmanship and Classical Bujutsu by D. Draeger, Koryu Bujutsu and Sword and Spirit, from D. Skoss. I've read articles in Furyu and the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. I've listened to crusty old tapes of classes taught by D. Draeger in the 70's. I've read stuff posted on e-budo and other places.

I study? train in? Shindo Muso ryu jo. I started training, uh, about 4 years ago, maybe a bit longer. I took about a year off somewhere in the middle. I can't remember why, I just remember thinking it was a goofy idea, because it was so obvious to me, after training in Aikido for a few years, and doing a little bit of Judo and Karate, that this jodo stuff was for real losers, I mean who, other than Highlander fans, would waste there time practicing a martial art that involves almost exclusively training to defeat some swordwielding nutjob who's seen too many samurai movies? And I honestly can't remember how I ever stuck it out long enough to have learned all twelve kihon, because they took forever to get down and just weren't that interesting. But somehow I did.

My teacher started me out with the omote series, now I'm somewhere in the middle of the chudan series. After training for about a year I started hearing about this koryu stuff, and, found out that there's an "alternate style" of jodo, just 12 kata, but we weren't doing that.

And I read all this stuff I mentioned above on koryu. And now I wonder, am I practicing koryu? Or just SMR jo? I read about how you can't learn koryu unless you go to Japan. So if were to go to Japan, would my SMR jo training suddenly become training in koryu?

Also, uh, and this is probably just plain silly, but at what point is a person an exponent of SMR jo, or of koryu. I read the word a lot, but had to look up what it means. The closest definition I could figure was "One that speaks for, represents, or advocates." I doubt if I qualify by that definition: I definitely don't speak for, probably don't represent, and never advocate (I generally shy people away from training with my group, they're just going to come and take up time that my teacher may otherwise be giving to me, and I'm damn stingy). But maybe exponent as used isn't meant this way (I'm figuring it's not the math version).

I'm not entirely sure that the koryu element is all that important to me. SMR jo is important to me. The elements of combat that I learn are fascinating to me. The historical element is also a biggie. The wierdo, uh, "cultural" (I don't know a better word, I'm an EE/SWE by trade) "feel" are important to me as well.

Also, I'm not trying to be a smart ass, so if possible, please give me the bod.

Thanks for your time,

-Charles Lockhart
Honolulu, HI