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Thread: With Respect . . . Sugawara news?

  1. #1
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    Default With Respect . . . Sugawara news?

    I have heard rumors and, I assure you all, I merely wish to know the facts not contribute to rumors and political fighting:

    We have a training relationship with Sugawara Tetsutaka (aikido) here in the U.S. I have heard that he is on the outs with Otake-sensei of Katori fame. This does not effect me one way or the other but if some sort of official action on the part of Katori-ryu, Otake-sensei, or both has come to pass with regards to Sugawara-sensei . . . It would be nice to know. Can anyone settle this for me one way or the other.

    Of course I know that Sugawara has been teaching Katori technique, mostly in the context of adapting Katori to be used to heighten the realism of aiki weapons practice. I also understand the controversies surrounding Sugawara's informal (quasi-)Katori groups and their function in the context of Relnick-sensei's authority in the U.S. and so on and so forth. I understood that Otake and Sugawara maintained a cordial-if-official-formal relationship . . . anyway. What's going on in Japan, in actual fact?

    Has, in fact, Otake taken Sugawara's kyoshi status from him? Again, the facts of this matter will not effect me much . . . I just want to get out of the realm of hearsay and rumor. I assure you all again that I am as far from being a rumor monger as I can get. rwd
    With Respect For All and . . .
    Admiration for a Few,
    Robert W. Dillon, Jr.

  2. #2
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    I visited Otake sensei’s dojo, the Shinbukan, late last year. I have watched training there several times on trips to Japan and have always been treated well. After their practise, I asked one of Otake’s senior students this question, since I had read on a website about recent changes in the status of kyoshi licenses.
    I was told that a general misunderstanding about that license in KSR had gradually developed over the years. The “tradition” in KSR, I was told, was that just getting the license does not mean you can teach and for sure it does not mean you can teach independently. Instead, besides the license, you have to have the oral permission of the shihanke (Otake) or the iemoto (Iizasa).
    Because there was so much confusion about the licenses, the shihanke and iemoto decided to invalidate all of them and issue new ones that spelled things out more specifically. Only six of these have been given out. The recipients are listed on: tenshinsho-den-katori-shinto-ryu.org.
    I was informed that all kyoshi licenses, no matter who had given them in the past, were invalidated at this time, with no exceptions. For a culture that is supposed to be “everything’s in shades of nuance,” this statement was pretty black and white.
    Whatever relationship Sugawara may have with the KSR or with Otake is private, between them, obviously. But I don’t think it could be much clearer, given what has been said in public and what appears on the website, about the status of teaching authority within the ryu.
    I guess we can both watch this thread now to see the “Well, yeah but…” that are going to start popping up.
    Nathan Palmer

  3. #3
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    "No but yeah but yeah but yeah no but yeah no but yeah... ...but no because I'm not even like askin' ... ...because I got this paper and stuff... and like it says I can."

    Josef Vlach

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