
Originally Posted by
bushikan
Nice find Fred,
That is Hakudo Sensei and Zendo Sensei (his son) preforming kata at the Yushinkan dojo. Really it's just a small clip of a larger demonstration (as you already thought). In that particular demo he and Zendo Sensei demonstraited kata from Chudan and one kata from Jodan. It is one of my favorate demos of Hakudo sensei as (as always) the kata are preformed flawlessly.
Just to be thorough so I'm not missing anything
, but the demonstration you mentioned: Is that the one featured on that Aikido DVD? (Forgotten the title) If so, does that DVD feature the full demo?

Originally Posted by
bushikan
There is a dvd of some of Hakudo Sensei's preformaces on the DVD Nihon no Bi to Kokoro: Meijin. It is a rather rare DVD now a days so it might be hard to find.
Is "DVD Nihon no Bi to Kokoro: Meijin" the full and correct title?
I'm gonna keep my eye out for it.

Originally Posted by
bushikan
There is also another video of Hakudo Sensei preforming at the Yushinkan with Sugehara Shinro Shihan. In the demo kata from Shodan and Chudan are demonstraited. Though it is a rare video and as far as I know Ogawa Sensei is one of the few to have a copy. I have one too
That copy, I pressume, is not for outsiders? 

Originally Posted by
bushikan
I also have video of Ogawa Sensei preforming our Nakayama ha Shinto Muso Ryu demonstraiting kata from Shoden, Chudan, Joden and Tsumeiai no Kurai from Muso Shinden Ryu (however that is not oursiders to see)
Dang..

Originally Posted by
bushikan
Actually Monday was the O-Haka-Mairi for Hakudo Sensei, Zendo Sensei, and Negishi Sensei. The Yushinkan (as it does every year) cleaned their graves and the area around them. We the met the Nakayama Family and escorted them to the temple and took part in a service with them. Afterwards giving our final respects to them at their graves followed by a dinner with the famliy. The reason I bring this us is because the current Maitriarch of the Nakayama Family (for privacy reason I will not give her name) was actually talking about her memories of her father (Zendo Sensei) preforming Jo at the Yushinkan when she was a child. She commented on how popular Jo has become in Japan and how happy she is that her father's and granfather's version is still being preserved today along with their other arts (Shindo Munen Ryu Kenjutsu, Muso Shinden Ryu Iaijutsu, other techniques).
Its good to hear that the Nakayama family is still active.

Originally Posted by
bushikan
** note **= I did not make a mistake with the names. Hakudo Sensei completely restructured the kata of SMR when his created his own version.
The sets are structured:
Shodan (Omote)-12
Chudan (Chuden)-10
Joden (a combination of Kage, Samidare, and Shiaiguchi)-20 plus
Kage (Gokui) not for outsiders to know
I've heard a bit about Nakayama Hakudos "remixing" of SMR. My understanding is that this reorganisation wasnt too popular with the more conservative SMR Senseis of the time and that it led to a falling out with the main SMR crowd.
At least thats just the geist of it. I havent heard any specific details. 

Originally Posted by
bushikan
That kata for Shoden and Chuden are mixed and matched. Interestingly Hakudo Sensei did not change the order of the kata in Omote or Chuden... rather he left the names in the same order as he recieved them from Uchida Sensei. For example Monomi is the 7th kata on the list replaces Kasumi which comes after Kasa no Shita. Making Kasumi the 9th kata in the set (rather than the 7th).
This is very interesting. Unlike Shiraishi Hanjiro, who is the root of the Tokyo & Fukuoka Jo-branches, Uchida recieved his full Menkyo in the Haruyoshi SMR-branch during the late Edo-period.
Shiraishi Hanjiro on the other hand trained with and recieved a "joint"-license from both the Haruyoshi and Jigyo branches in the Meiji-period.
The question is thus if the order of specific kata was different in the two branches... Or if perhaps either Uchida or Shiraishi & descendants changed the order for some reason.
We will probably never know for sure..(I'm gonna ask a the powers that be though) but its interesting anyways. 

Originally Posted by
bushikan
An example of fusion is Ushiro Zue (Zen/Go). Hakudo Sensei fused the two varriants together calling the kata "Mata Ushiro Zue". Very interesting kata to see.
Now that I would really like to see a demo of
.

Originally Posted by
bushikan
Hakudo sensei also added a bunch of other features and techniques.
One example is Kiri-tsuke. In orthodox versions of SMR (Tokyo or Fukuoka version) the technqiues Kiri-Tsuke requires near perfect distance to use. What I mean from that is that Kiritsuke can not be used in close proximity to your opponent... so if your opponent closes the distance to fast Kiritsuke no longer becomes an option. Hakudo Sensei thinking back on his training in (Shindo) Munen Ryu thought that the closer you are to your opponent.... the safer you will be (as it prohibits him from using his sword as well). So he developed a version of Kiri-Tsuke that allows for such a situation. You can see Zendo sensei demonstrait Kiri-Tsuke (though very briefly in the video). You can see that when he does it Hakudo Sensei is nearly on-top of him. The technque also allows for us to grapple (via. jo) with our opponent more directly (you can see Zendo Sensei doing that as well). Hakudo Sensei also developed a more advanced spinning version Kiri-Tsuke which is performed at higher levels (Chuden/Joden). It is very hard to do and, but extreamly deceptive (also allowing us to grapple with our opponents a little easier).
Regarding the kuritsuke. The kuritsuke that Zendo performs in the above clip looks simply that it is much closer than what we (Tokyo, Fukuoka etc) are taught. But I see no reason why we cannot use "our" version effectively, at least not based on my own experience. Of course we strain to keep the maai as we are taught, but should the opponent get closer, or should we as shidachi step too close we can still perform a kuritsuke, albeit a little closer than what we are used too. I might have misread/misunderstood your post but my impression is that a closer distance isn't a real problem.
Dont forget that the kuritsuke found in chudan, such as the one in "Harai dome" utilizes the exact same close-distance as Zendo demonstrates in the earlier clip.

Originally Posted by
bushikan
Anyway I hope this helps
Aye it does. There havent been much Jo-discussion here lately
Fredrik Hall
"To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous." /Confucius