Kendo Kyohan in English

[Kendoguy9]

Hello all,

I just thought I'd bring this to everyone's attention. Mr. Kent Enfield is translating parts of Takano Sasaburo sensei's "Kendo Kyohan" into English. This is a very important work on kendo. The link can be found here: http://kenshi247.net/blog/2009/03/10/pre-war-kendo-1-men-waza/
He has included the English and Japanese.

Many thanks to Kent for his work on this project. English speaking kendoka will certainly benifit from it, I think.

Best regards,

[Enfield]

Jeez, this is getting embarrassing. Oh, and it's Kendo Kyohon (textbook), not Kendo Kyohan (teaching method).

[Kendoguy9]

Hi Kent,

Sorry for my spelling mistake. I was at work and typing fast (since I should have been working and not reading kendo books :nono:).

Thank you for your work translating this. I'm looking forward to the last section the most.

Best regards,

[Kendoguy9]

Since we're on the topic of Takano sensei here are a few links:

Gogyo no tachi parts 1-8: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A8445AA29D49A48F
I have no idea what this should look like, but it does look a lot like the Itto-ryu I've seen and got to do.

Here is Takano sensei doing kendo kata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4InLIvlYI

The following story about Takano sensei was from an interview with Takeda Tokimune sensei in Aikido Journal:

"Since Sokaku Takeda was a man of budo he was very suspicious. He never ate anything offered by students other than his own. He would eat something if you ate it first in his presence and offered it to him, but otherwise he was very cautious. I suppose this kind of behavior could have been expected of him. He was completely alert at all times.

I once had a hard time because of his cautiousness. As you know there was a certain teacher called Sasaburo Takano. My father and I and Shuzo Shibuya visited this Sensei. A niece of Mr. Shibuya married Shigeyoshi Takano, an adopted son of Takano Sensei. That’s why Shibuya came with us. Takano Sensei was quite a strange person. He had spears and naginata on display on the beams in the entrance of his house. In the back room of his house there was a thick tiger’s skin. Takano Sensei was a very gentle person and spoke quietly while Sokaku Takeda spoke in a loud voice as if he were quarreling. Wherever he went he would speak loudly. He used to tell me that one should speak loudly so that people would understand him.

Since he was a samurai he still retained the habit of talking at the highest pitch of his voice like traditional warriors when introducing himself. (Laughter) In any event, we were talking with Takano Sensei. We were served some sweets. I ate them but my father didn’t. So, Takano Sensei wrapped them up and looked up in order to hand them to Sokaku who was sitting in front of him but found no one there. Sokaku vanished suddenly. By the time Takano Sensei had wrapped up the two sweets left there Sokaku had disappeared. I was also there with him but Sokaku disappeared as if by magic. Since I liked kenjutsu I watched every movement of Takano Sensei who was a sword master. During that time Sokaku had disappeared. My father was sitting next to me opposite Takano Sensei. Since Takano Sensei asked me where Sokaku had gone I replied that I thought he had gone to the back part of the house to greet his wife. So Takano Sensei went to the back room to find him but didn’t return for a while. When he came back he had a strange expression on his face and said: “Well, I couldn’t find him there either. Where in the world has Takeda Sensei gone?” Since we couldn’t look for Sokaku forever, I decided to go home. On our way out of the room Takano Sensei motioned for me to pre-ceed him as the son of Sokaku who was his senior. When we left the room and were in the entrance we saw Sokaku outside. Takano Sensei said, “There he is! And in such a place!” (Laughter). Then Sokaku opened the front door from outside and came in. One moment he was in the room but now he was suddenly standing in the entrance. Then we paid our respects to Takano Sensei and went home. Upon arriving, my father scolded me severely. He said, “Who do you think Takano is?” Takano Sensei was a teacher of a higher normal school. The qualifications for a teacher of a normal school in those days was the same as for the principal of a junior high school today. He was also an excellent swordsman. Sokaku scolded me for having walked in front of Takano Sensei. He said to me: “What would you do if Takano held you from behind?”

I couldn’t believe such a thing was possible. Takano Sensei was a school teacher as well as a kenjutsu master and I was a young man of about twenty. However, when I said it was impossible for Takano Sensei to do such a thing my father again scolded me. He said: “People have been killed saying that such things are impossible! Shame on you for being followed by Takano! It is naturally expected that a man of budo follows others. Walking in front of someone is the same as being killed. Don’t you understand that! Then you go back to Hokkaido!” (Laughter) It seems that in the old days what he was describing actually happened. For example, one would come to a corner and suddenly be attacked by spears. But I was living in the Showa Period (beginning 1925). I never thought of that kind of possibility, you know. Being a man of budo is quite tough, isn’t it? This was what my father’s cousin said to me. “There is a secret in the Takeda family. The family has a “kabe-nuki” (wall-passing) technique. Don’t forget that.” Although I didn’t believe that sort of technique actually existed, when Sokaku suddenly disappeared I changed my mind. My father never told me where he had gone. Don’t you think that Sokaku did strange things? (Laughter) Takano Sensei was the most surprised. My father vanished in the room where Takano Sensei usually did his reading. We never knew how he went outside. He didn’t open the door of the room. It was a western-type door which was closed from the beginning. We don’t know from where he went out of the room."

It can be found here: http://www.daitoryuonline.com/article?articleID=371

Best regards,