Noda ha Niten Ichi Ryu - where does it fit in?

[ichibyoshi]

Recently here in Melbourne we were fortunate enough to witness a demo of Noda ha Niten Ichi Ryu Goho no kata. The sensei demonstrating were E. Ichikawa and Y. Haga, both kendo Kyoshi 7 dan, and members of the Hokkaido University Kenyukai. Ichikawa sensei is listed as Nitenichiryu Shihan in the official member list of the visit, although whether of a specific NTIR dojo or of the entire branch is not made clear.

I was wondering, were does the Noda-ha fit in with the other lineages of NTIR? Hokkaido is certainly a long way from what I think of as Musashi country!

b

[Steve Delaney]

AFAIK, the Noda-ha Niten Ichi-ryu hombu is in Kumamoto Prececture, Higo no kuni.

[hyaku]

Recently here in Melbourne we were fortunate enough to witness a demo of Noda ha Niten Ichi Ryu Goho no kata. The sensei demonstrating were E. Ichikawa and Y. Haga, both kendo Kyoshi 7 dan, and members of the Hokkaido University Kenyukai. Ichikawa sensei is listed as Nitenichiryu Shihan in the official member list of the visit, although whether of a specific NTIR dojo or of the entire branch is not made clear.

I was wondering, were does the Noda-ha fit in with the other lineages of NTIR? Hokkaido is certainly a long way from what I think of as Musashi country!

b

Sadly there is no connection with them and the hombu at this time. Ha seem to work well as long as one keeps in touch with the mainline throughout the generations with views and practice working in exchange.

We did have someone practicing up on Tamuke (Musashi) Yama for a while who mentioned he was connected with Nodo Ha. Tried to make contact but he has not been seen for a while.

One thing I can clearly state though is no record, there has never been and never will be a Shihan level. This sadly leads one to believe people are making rank up. Something to be avoided if a Ha is to survive. Also the fact that people have rank in kendo has no bearing whatsoever on HNIR. That goes for me too. We spend most of our time trying to seperate the facets of kendo, iaido and kenjustu, not mix them up.

The present attitude of the ryu is really embrace those that might have drifted off into making a more uniform group. Problem is Japan like many other countries have a lot of ego trippers that want to go it alone.

Even within our own realms there are a few "Want to be famous" people that seem to have completely missed the point that Musashi discouraged and disliked such an attitude.

[ichibyoshi]

Sadly there is no connection with them and the hombu at this time. Ha seem to work well as long as one keeps in touch with the mainline throughout the generations with views and practice working in exchange.

We did have someone practicing up on Tamuke (Musashi) Yama for a while who mentioned he was connected with Nodo Ha. Tried to make contact but he has not been seen for a while.

One thing I can clearly state though is no record, there has never been and never will be a Shihan level. This sadly leads one to believe people are making rank up. Something to be avoided if a Ha is to survive. Also the fact that people have rank in kendo has no bearing whatsoever on HNIR. That goes for me too. We spend most of our time trying to seperate the facets of kendo, iaido and kenjustu, not mix them up.

The present attitude of the ryu is really embrace those that might have drifted off into making a more uniform group. Problem is Japan like many other countries have a lot of ego trippers that want to go it alone.

Even within our own realms there are a few "Want to be famous" people that seem to have completely missed the point that Musashi discouraged and disliked such an attitude.

Thanks for the info Colin sensei. Interesting about the "shihan" thing. As I mentioned, it was unclear in what context the word shihan was used, and it may have been invoked by someone else, not the sensei himself. There is still an amount of looseness with the usage of such terms, by Japanese, when outside Japan, a product of the mindset that "foreigners don't know what this really means anyway". Conversely, some well-meaning assistant may have deduced from the fact that Ishikawa sensei is perhaps the head of his group/dojo/etc that he is therefore described as "shihan". It is, as you know, also a generic title in Japan. A kendo person would make this mistake.

I'm aware there's no connection between kendo ranks and NTIR. I was merely providing extra info to show what direction these sensei were coming from, as it were. I can see however that it did read as if I meant there to be some connection.

I thought it was interesting they were from Hokkaido. I was reminded of when I was in Europe years ago. Every cafe sells a version of the famous Sachertorte, but the closer you get to Vienna (and the Hotel Sacher), the more reluctant are the cafes to call it "Sachertorte". Instead it becomes just "chocolate cake"! People are often emboldened to say and do things when they know they are a (geographically) long way from accountability.

Having said that, the NTIR demonstration was quite amazing: slow and like a dance, with very interesting kiai. And the group as a whole had a great deal of integrity, with the leader of the group being Shihan (that word again!) of Hokudai Kendo Club, and a Committee member of the ZenKenRen. The trip was recognised as an official event of the 2006 Year of Aus-Japan Culture Exchange, and took place in the presence of Japanese Consular Dignitaries. Hokudai is also the Alma Mater of my kendo sensei.

b

[ichibyoshi]

AFAIK, the Noda-ha Niten Ichi-ryu hombu is in Kumamoto Prececture, Higo no kuni.

Thanks Steve. I'll chase up that connection. I think there were some Aussies who studied NTIR in Kumamoto 15 or so years ago.

b

[Steve Delaney]

Thanks Steve. I'll chase up that connection. I think there were some Aussies who studied NTIR in Kumamoto 15 or so years ago.

b

If that's the case, it will be useful to note that in Kumamoto, you don't only have Noda-ha Niten Ichi-ryu; Yhe soke of Sekiguchi-ryu iai (Higo-ryu), Yonehara Kameo studied under Aoki Tesshin and teaches HNIR in his dojo. They are also in Kumamoto-Ken.

[hyaku]

Having said that, the NTIR demonstration was quite amazing: slow and like a dance, with very interesting kiai.

Mmm interesting. Doesn't sound much like the NIR I know and practice.

[ichibyoshi]

Mmm interesting. Doesn't sound much like the NIR I know and practice.

It reminded me of some of the Satsuma Kage no Ryu I saw years ago at the annual Kagoshima-ken Kobudo Taikai, as well as having (superficial) similarities to Tatsumi Ryu Jo no kata. It was itto versus nito, using those very thin bokken.To describe in detail what happened would take a while, and I have to get to class...

b