Thanks, Toby, for clarifying something that indeed many people have misunderstood about my position, re: koryu and training in Japan. I never wrote: "You can't study koryu unless you come to Japan" (at least I'm fairly sure I didn't ). In fact, what I have written (I'm not going to go quote it, but it's in that article "You want koryu? Come to Japan"), is that if you want to train in a koryu outside of Japan you should choose to train with a teacher who has spent significant time in Japan (such a person, could of course, be Japanese).
I also believe it is absolutely necessary for anyone responsible for transmission of a koryu (and that means the entire curriculum; i.e. menkyo kaiden level or equivalent) to have spent time in Japan. I don't think that everyone who trains in koryu (or any Japanese budo for that matter) needs to go to Japan, though I sincerely believe that it helps (see Margaret's cogent statement just above). I do think that anyone being considered for the highest level of license (and there are only a handful of ryuha in which there is someone outside of Japan who can even do this considering) should spend time in Japan. I also believe that if your single-minded most cherished priority is to train in a koryu, then going to Japan is by far your best bet.
Now perhaps this is where the snobbish reputation comes from. It isn't a foregone conclusion that everyone who starts out on the path will end up with a license of complete transmission (hell, it isn't a foregone conclusion that everyone who wants to train in a koryu will even find a qualified instructor--there aren't that many of them around, in Japan or out). In fact, only a very very small percentage of trainees achieve the highest level. In some schools there is only one per generation. In other schools, there may be as many as a dozen at a time in a single line (it gets complicated trying to explain all the permutations--the koryu don't take easily to generalization). In many ryuha there are a fair number of the lowest level licensees running around; fewer of the next level up, and so on. The highest levels are indeed elusive (thanks, Doug, for that useful perspective!); only an elite few ever achieve it (I'm not one of them!). But that doesn't mean we can't strive for it, and if such a level of understanding of a koryu art is your goal, I still most strongly recommend living in Japan.
A quick question (I know I should know this but...), how many years did Takamura Sensei live in the West? Sometimes my experience has been that the Japanese (and I'm not saying this is the case with him, mind you) aren't fully aware of just how different our culture is from theirs, until they themselves have spent significant time here. They simply don't know how much we don't know about basics of Japanese etiquette and social/cultural behavior. Is it possible that he didn't have experience with the depths of our general cluelessness (re: how to exist in Japan) here in the West--I mean you aren't a very good example for him, being a quick study, thoughtful, observant (I'm being serious here, folks--Toby and I have met), meticulous with the cultural details...?
Again, the reason I think you must study in Japan is because the koryu today are a Japanese social group--they are more than a collection of teachings more or less based on battlefield techniques of the feudal-era bushi. To exist as a member of a koryu today, you've got to know what being a member of a ryu means, how to behave properly in various (Japanese) situations; it's all much more than technique, or even basic etiquette. Sure, the details have changed over time, but the current form of the koryu, in my opinion, must be maintained in this social structure--it is what has been transmitted--or it is not koryu (see Dave Lowry's introduction to Sword & Spirit for a far more elegant explanation of this point). I don't believe you can get the hang of this structure (let alone attempt to replicate it outside of Japan), without experience in it. I guess I am a snob, after all
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Diane Skoss
Koryu.com