Japanese or not?
The details of how transmission is made and to whom is best dealt with by the experts, which i am not. Actually I am rather glad that I am in Aikido where there isn't this issue and peeple are stuck judging you by how good you are on the mat. Not so much to debate that way.
But I would like to point out that as we speak thing s are changing in Japan. Not only is it an issue of some discussion whether a foreigner can really imbibe a martial ryu as it was meant to be, it is probably getting just as difficult for most modern Japanese to do so. What does the average modern Japanese have in common with the samurai of old. Less and less with each passing generation I would say. In many of the arts, not just the martial arts but many of the traditional cultural arts, the students that are the most dedicated are foreigners not Japanese. In many of the arts the participation on the part of the Japanese practicioners is more in the style of a hobby. Part of their heritage, something enriching in their lives but not as a way of life. Many of my acquaintances have studied various arts in Japan for substantial periods of time. Their reports indicate that the Japanese are not the senior people in the arts they are pursuing. Americans, French, Germans, I am sure other countries as well are there in Japan throwing their whole lives into their training. They work to train, they devote every resource in their lives to their training. It is not lost on the older Japanese masters that in many cases if they wish to pass on what they have learned in a lifetime of training it is going to have to be to a foriegner. That being so we are either going to open up the conception of what it is to be a legitimate teacher of Koryu (or other arts) to include non-Japanese teachers or we will simply have to state that the koryu (or traditional arts) are defunct and then we can get on with training. This is going to be true in the non-classical arts as well. The best Aikido in the world is not being done in Japan anymore (with the exception of the few old timers who are still alive). Just as Buddhism moved from India to SE Asia, to China, to Tibet, to Mongolia, and to Japan only to die out in its country of origin I see that trend in Japanese martial arts unless there is a renaissance of interest within the younger generation of Japanese. Will that be the death of the arts? I don't think so any more than it killed Buddhism. It'll just be different. Then we can sit around on e-budo debating whose difference is the real authentic differnce.
George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Defensive Tactics Options
Bellevue, WA