Kongo?

[dsomers]

I've read somewhere, though I cant find it now that the style that Taira Shinken taught was called Kongo Ryu. Can anyone confirm this? Also, does anyone know what the kanji are/what they mean? Also, there's a Kata, Kongo No Kun, that's depicted in Taira Shinken's book, sorta reminds me of a shortened version of Shushi. But, John Sell's also has another version of Kongo No kun on his videos, which is totally different. Does anyone know anything about this kata, & it's lineage? Also, on Youtube, I found a Kata named Kongo Ryu No Nichougama, that definately has a Taira flavor to it. The only groups i've found doing it is the Itosu Kai. Can anyone tell me about this Kata, it's history/lineage, as well? Thanks in advance.

David

[Sanseru]

Hi David:

The kanji for Kongo on Kon are 金剛の棍 it is a reference to Buddhism I believe.

At any rate, the Kongo no Kon presented in Taira's chapter in the book "Karatedo Taikan" (1938) is a variant of Shushi no kon. There is another version of Kongo no Kon that is entirely Taira's creation, but to the best of my knowledge, only the Inoue line still do it - And it is not part of their "official" curriculum. Other lines list the kata Kongo no Kon (e.g. Nakamoto, Minowa, etc) but do not do it. I asked my teacher about this (Minowa sensei) and in his case, he stated that he simply did not learn this kata along with Tsuken bo.

Kindest regards,

[dsomers]

Hi Mario,

Have you ever heard of Taira's style being reffered to as Kongo Ryu, in your research? Or know anything about the Kata, Kongo Ryu No Nichogama? Kongo Ryu = Gold hard style?
Thanks again!

David

[Sanseru]

Hi David:

Yes, the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten (武芸流派大事典)　edited by Yamada et al. lists Taira Shinken as the founder of Kongo ryu (pp. 302).

As I mentioned earlier, in Karatedo Taikan (空手道大観) the kata is listed as Kongo no kon (金剛の棍), with the alternate name (Shushi no kon　ー周子の棍) listed in parentheses.

Cheers,

[dsomers]

Thanks Mario! Hmmm, I wonder why no one uses the name Kongo Ryu?

David

[Sanseru]

Hi David:

I don't know about Okinawa, but on the Japanese mainland at least two schools use the name for Kongo ryu - one for bojutsu and kenjutsu.

Mario