I hear this quite often, but Kit you haven't told us what these lessons "are". What is it that is being discussed? What are these aspects of koryu that we should be defining before we start discussing where else they might come from? What aspect of kata training is it that is so important?There is a potential that other ways - even better ways - of training some of those mental and physical attitudes may be hibernating within some of the koryu that have been properly handed down. I think this underscored the approach that the IHS started with its "Hoplology Theoretics" which,while arcane, is certainly pointing to a practical performance model that had little to do with technical skills trained in kata, but a lot to do with how kata were trained.
A recent lesson in jo that was offered to some of my training partners by Pascal Krieger sensei directly pointed to this, and it had nothing to do with technique.
Whether a ryu has lost it, or whether a particular group can approach it, or can even conceive of it, or care to are clearly the matters that underlie this discussion.
This is what Johan is looking for, and what I have never discovered in the koryu, leading me to believe that it might be teacher dependant rather than an aspect of koryu training methods. Some of my teachers in jo still teach in the same keishicho as Shimizu s. was teaching and they have revealed no particular secrets beyond the physical kata and an admonishment to train hard (be tough minded, take your lumps without complaint, wait longer before moving, make it work for real, teach the beginners well, don't injure your partner etc. etc.)
I know what parts of the curriculum I know, and to what level, without receiving a license stating that. So does everyone. Grades are not needed for that, in fact licenses for levels of mastery are dangerous things, they can create the impression in some people that they have mastered something. This can never be so. Best to simply leave people in some doubt so that they continue to practice like a beginner, as hard and as long as they can.
Licenses should be hidden in desks, not displayed for the idly curious public. The public should be shown what the sensei knows, not what paper he possesses, paper is easily bought, skills are hard-won and easy to judge for anyone with eyes to see.
For my kids too I look for a qualified teacher. I have a teaching license in Aikido for my country, it's a shodan and I took 11 years getting it. For iaido I could get a shodan in three months. In 11 more years iaido practice with all grades passed in minimum time I should have a 5dan (coincidentally, the rank at which I can put students forward for gradings) so that's the rank I'd look for if I was looking to put my kids in iaido. Absolute rank number is meaningless, license to teach within an organization is important. If, in koryu, all you get is permission to teach, that's permission to teach.Per example, in my country a lot of people start teaching once they have reached let's say shodan in whatever art. In my book a shodan does not equal a licensed teacher. If my children are going to train in one of the arts I will make sure (my children are young) they will do so with a licensed teacher (that is one of my criteria, I've got scores of others).
I've not heard of any koryu that have a separate system for teaching how to teach. Nor any University system, or modern budo system with the exception of those organizations which subscribe to the coaching levels training in their country. These levels teach how to set up a training session, how not to injure the students during practice, and at the upper levels are turned back over the specific sports/budo for the levels advancement. In koryu the decision on when you are allowed to teach is made specifically by the instructor of the potential teacher in most cases. You're given instructions to go teach. As a result you usually go teach the way you were taught, bringing in any teaching-related knowledge you may have or pick up on the way.For some reason I believe (I could be wrong) that teachers of the modern arts are more prone to adapting and modernizing teaching systems.
Another point is I don't think koryu provide for specific teaching courses, a lot of modern arts organisations provide courses to become in teacher in those arts. Maybe koryu have that built in the system but it is a bit uncertain.
In my experience it isn't a question of wanting few students, it's much more the case that koryu is simply not enjoyed by large numbers of people. Kata training is not widely popular. All you need do is look at the relative numbers of people in kendo, iaido and jodo in the kendo federations. Kendo is vastly more popular than iaido and iaido is much more popular than jodo. Poor old jodo is where you have to stand there waiting while your partner cracks you a good one in the solar plexus. What fun is that? In Kendo you can do your partner and if you're good, he can't do you back, and in iaido you get to play with real swords without any risk of damage unless you're clumsy.A lot of koryu teachers seem to prefer only a handful of students. This is something I do not understand. The training methods may not be suitable to cater to large classes but that does not mean that koryu could not be enjoyed by a lot of people.
I have read about teachers of koryu - way back in the old days in Japan who had hundreds of students. I do not see any harm in that. Blatant commercialism is out of the question of course that is not good for any art.
I'd be quite happy if there were 30 students in jodo class tomorrow evening, very shocked too. I used to teach aikido classes of 40 or 50 but those too are now down to 15-20. The budo are not popular, MMA is "more practical" and all that. It's all fine as long as there are enough students for classes to continue, I'm a student of budo not a missionary for some sort of cult, and I do something else to put food on the table. Those professional martial arts teachers I know teach something other than koryu for their daily bread. They'd be delighted with huge numbers of koryu students too, but despite advertising and promoting it within their own classes, their koryu students remain small as well.
In a nutshell, I will teach anyone who shows up in front of me in class, and there is no charge at all for the classes (only a small door fee at the front desk). Despite this, and a very high profile on the net and locally, my classes stubbornly remain between 5 and 10 students. It's not secrecy and I hope it's not crap instruction. I think it's just a lack of interest.
Kim.