Adapting Koryu

[johan smits]

We are treating koryu as if it is one category (ryu created before 1868 or so?) But then koryu before has been adapted back in the old days is it not so? A lot of the 'younger'jujutsu styles have lost their combative edge and geared towards the selfdefence around 1840's. The styles may have been (or are tough) but surely different from the older koryu.

It may be so that people may be more interested in the idea of koryu than in it's actual practice. That may be because practitoners of modern arts are looking for their roots to become better at those arts and on the other side because of limited availabillity.
The last thing is by the way improving. You can train in maybe 7 or so or maybe even 10 different styles in koryu in Europe at the moment.

It still is a funny subject. There was a lot of argument and discussion here on e-budo - way back about people training in a style which was not considered legit back then. Katori Shinto ryu Sugino-ha. Back then it was the only thing available here in Europe. But this got a lot of people's hakama twisted all up the wrong way. And what has happended since?

Katori Shinto ryu has become really well presented overhere. That is for a large part thanks to Sugino sensei and Mochizuki sensei who started teaching their arts overhere and to the people who got interested and kept training.

So I guess if koryu people do not get their hakama's twisted too much there is a real chance koryu will get settled overhere.

Oh and by the way:
Budo in Europe in a nutshell.
Judo is a sport, jujutsu is not jujutsu and aikido is chasing guys is skirts and jojutsu is a bunch or broomstick dude's .

Happy landings,

Johan Smits