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KIYAMASA
15th January 2009, 07:16 AM
Oh, that’s different! Now we have opportunity to be more intelligent and candid. I'm told someone in the WKF has been very astute. Perhaps noticing a Shidoist (Shido Ryu) web site, but not being used, Peter West was asked a question about my writing and the background of what we’re doing. As, why do we laugh? etc,. Supporting Peter allows for a different quality of writing. But, even so, truth can be stranger than fiction..!

Subject: Promotion of Kendo. Status: Dojo Leader. A dojo never makes money. So, if I’m ambitious, how do I get myself (and Kendo) a nice big dojo that I actually own? (Info: Fujii Sensei, 1976: “There are no Kendo dojo in Britain, yet. All dojo are based in schools, or church halls, etc,.”)
Subject: Interfacing Kendo: A Kendo authority (this is fact not criticism) that represents a collective of dojo has a problem if all ‘its’ dojo are based in venues provided by non-Kendo authorities. No matter how benign an authority might be, such dependency doesn’t support dojo autonomy. The dojo leader will be caught between three interrelating bodies of authority: A first authority, which owns his local dojo. A second, which governs his dojo from afar as a national authority. And a third authority, as the people from those two who by making rules for a dojo, interface with each other! Sorry to be so laborious, but there is a point… That structure of interface never gets Kendo enough money to do large scale promotions, of Kendo. (Example: Why would I want my dojo used to promote Olympic sport?)
So, how are both of those subjects, as problems, solved? There is only one way: Simply, go it alone. And find some way to make some big dosh. It’s a hard way. And until any dosh is made and deeds of ownership of a Kendo dojo are held in the hand, reputation is: a penniless, hermetic fool. But, are you reading this in a crowd? Aren’t all WKF Kendoka, hermetic?

Like the idea of the da Vinci code, everything in theology, which is life, has a code. Even the entirety of Kendo itself is a code, as a codicil from Japan of the past. But, what did Dan Brown, the American author of the da Vinci Code, actually do? And by doing, achieve? He walked about in London with his camera. Read about various aspects of the second Christ theme. Imagined a lot, and wrote his simple little hero and heroine story. For that, he achieved £20million in his bank account, in a very short time.
At the time of the change of Millennium, all the big movie names made £millions, making films of their versions of the second Christ theme. Dan Brown’s book, which reads like a film script anyway, also became a film. Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis and Arnie all did Christ themes. And of course, the Christ II theme provides a background for all kinds of entertainment. But did you know, the real Christ II prophecy is, of a sword philosopher? Hence the legend of King Arthur, and other stories of sword-grail heroes. But, those stories and film scripts have to be written, by ordinary people.

In 1985 an idea was put to me by some of my students. Do something in the nature of the Christ II theme? Which could possibly promote Kendo? At first, I rejected that idea. But later, in curiosity, I began to research that idea on the basis of… If I wanted to write a book (make some dojo dosh) what would it take for any man to become Christ II, in this era? It didn’t take me long to discover that, that task is impossible. Many have tried it. But everyone fails. The best version was Imitation of Christ, written by a German monk, Thomas a Kempis (c.1380 - 1471.) It’s still in publication! But, Kempis wasn’t a swordsman; so no ‘sword was drawn from a stone.’
But I also discovered a fact that I found really amazing! Some form of Christ II prophecy is a universal concept in almost all nations and groups. And despite the task of becoming a Christ existing only in the theoretical, almost all people defer the idea of solving all world’s problems, until the second Christ turns up and solves them!
I also found two items of information on that subject, that are awesome! Japan waits for the next Musashi as the second sword Christ. And in the tomb of Muhammad (peace be with him) at Mecca, there is another tomb right next to him, reserved for the second Christ. !
We Kendo fools might be an irreligious lot. But when we get a bit wiser, we can ask ourselves a question: Islam and Japan is rather alot of people! Billions of believers! Can the belief of that many people, be wrong?

In 1986 I wrote a book, Spiritual Warlord, and offered it to a publisher. He replied, saying, “It must be published.” But it wasn’t his category. He also wrote, as advice, “The problem now is, what to do with it next? Try giving it to someone who knows something about writing.” Oh wot?! Ha! So, I educated myself. And scrapped and rewrote the book four times.
23 years later ! after alot of hard work and endless research I’m trying to get a book published on that subject, The Crepuscular. It’s a first book in a series titled, Christ of Swords. I designed it to sell rather alot of copies.
(I have competition, in the U.S. book market… There’s another version, badly written by a garage hand. In it, God is a fat coloured lady living in a ghetto. Heaven is a wooden chest in her lounge. Satan is an apple. And angels are boxes of chocolates. But, even that version, is a best seller. !!)

Shido Ryu is a theology, but also a dan grade system comprised of 240 Kendo waza. But it’s also a courtesy. After my book is published, people might think I represent all of Kendo! Which would be a discourtesy, and absurd. So if my Kendo is Shido Ryu, then unless other dojo advertise as being that style, there’s no reason to believe a Kendo dojo is that style.

The dojo, as a venue for Kendo only (in Britain) is not my dream. I first walked into a Kendo dojo in 1976, confused, angry and going nowhere in life. The dojo idea I picked up from Fujii Sensei. Kendo has served me so much, if I can give something back, it won’t be my ego, but my privilege.
And the laughter? Kendo is pantheistic. We can study all philosophies…
500 years BC, a Greek philosopher, Democritus advocated striving to be cheerful. He also explained atomic theory, accurately! So rocket science existed, 500 years BC! If you practise Kendo you don’t have to be happy. You only have to study rocket science if you practise Shido Ryu Kendo.

Hatamoto dojo. Phil Wright: Shido Ryu.
Post Script:
There’s a publishing problem. Rowling’s books made nearly a £billion! So, of course, vast numbers of people are tapping away on computers… And publishers are overwhelmed with offers from ‘authors’ trying to get that rich. Their ‘slush piles’ as they call their book offer options lists, are so enormous they don’t even want any more offers. In 1986 I began with a publishable book, a publishing success. But I worked on it for 23 years, improving it (so it could not be rejected). The problem now is, finding a publisher to even read my book. Rowling was rejected 12 times before she got published. But, at least her first book was read, to get rejection.
(There’s a race. Get published, gaining enough money for a Kendo dojo, before I’m thrown out of my sports centre dojo venue when an ‘Olympic excellence’ building works development is completed.)

Alison2805
15th January 2009, 07:34 AM
I first walked into a Kendo dojo in 1976, confused, angry and going nowhere in life.

Doesnt sound like anything has changed.

Fallen
15th January 2009, 08:16 AM
Seems like a rather long blurb for promoting a book. The idea of second christ and all that is interesting although I'm not entirely sold on the link between Islam and Japan and especially Japan waiting for the next "sword christ".


Can the belief of that many people, be wrong?

Almost all the people in the world believed the world was flat, did it make it true?

Cutie_honey
15th January 2009, 08:37 AM
Doesnt sound like anything has changed.

I love it!!!
Ali, I'd give you +rep if i could but i need spread more around :cheeky:

Hey Phil, jesus, J.K. or whatever your name is, can u answer some questions?
1. What drugs do you take?
2. What is the WKF?

Bucho
15th January 2009, 08:52 AM
Aren’t all WKF Kendoka, hermetic?


No, the rest of us play kendo and become friends with people from across our countries and to a lesser extent around the world.

ZtefaNNN[K]
15th January 2009, 09:27 AM
Ok.... I give up on demanding coherence, but please, try to put that little replay button to some use and stop spamming the forums with your chaotic bullcrap. Or maybe what you need is a blog to ramble freely on your own reality and space.

Inner_Silence
15th January 2009, 09:43 AM
dude! this is so boring!

maybe this will be ok to the blogosphere....

tyler
15th January 2009, 11:02 AM
'I designed it to sell rather alot of copies.'

Genius. What we're dealing with here is a genius, a poet who has chosen the path of being annoying to hone his linguistic faculty. We imagine this is written by someone who was dared and then proceeded to drink a lot of Listerene, but in fact I believe these are the words of a master writer. He's picking up where James Joyce left off with Finnegan's Wake. We ought to be hushed in awe, and counting ourselves lucky that we're lucky enough to live at the same time as him.

Masahiro
15th January 2009, 01:38 PM
dude, lay off the grass, if anything try practicing kendo.

Ookami7
15th January 2009, 01:47 PM
マジで、何ですか。こちらたいへんだよ。最近あなたはすごくうらさいだよ。。。。。。だったら せからしか よ!
でわ、練習しますね。

また、狼より

Kagerou
15th January 2009, 04:17 PM
ok peeps....one last time

Don't feed the Trolls. By his reference to West Sensei he is reading the replies to these posts and it encourages him. Just let him rant away and ignore it.

Jearom
15th January 2009, 05:14 PM
マジで、何ですか。こちらたいへんだよ。最近あなたはすごくうらさいだよ。。。。。。だったら せからしか よ!
でわ、練習しますね。

また、狼より

I gotta learn japanese because I suspect the babelfish translation isn`t exactly correct:

With [maji], it is what? It is this serious. Recently you are enormously [u] and others occasion. . . . . . When is, from only the [se]! So [wa], practice stripe shank. In addition, from wolf

Peter West
15th January 2009, 06:05 PM
Sorry Phil, I have to say your logic has about as much directional stability as an electrotatic discharge.
Take for example you hypothesis that we are governed by authorities. Do you consider the BKA to be an authority? I don't. And the owners of my Village hall, are they an authority? No, again they are not. The problem is when you see them as "authorities" and believe what you perceive, then of course like anyone would, you act in accordance with your belief as if it were true, because to you it is true. Authority is a perception. If you perceive that, then you will believe it and act in submission to them. If they perceive themselves to be authorities then they will behave in accordance with their belief and be difficult, so go elsewhere. In fact the local committee for my Village Hall is a bunch of old(ish) ladies who want to keep the hall going for the benefit of the groups who use it. And at the risk of condemning myself by my own description, I'm a member of the committee too, so over the years I have become the "authority" that "governs" the use of the hall. I prefer to see it as being a guardian of the facility who encourages its use and supports the groups that use it.
Similarly with the BKA (perhaps not a bunch of old(ish) ladies... perhaps), but still, it is an administrative body responsible for ensuring that standards that match those of the ZNKR are as well as possible maintained by offering (NB offering) seminars, gradings and competitions along the lines and following regulations laid down by the ZNKR.

The only authority in my dojo is me, not the BKA, not the ZNKR, not Oshita Sensei, not the chair of the Beacon Village Hall Management Committee.

How we earn the space we train in is determined in large part by how we interact with the community in which we operate. I am not able, as far as I am aware, of raising enough money to buy land and build a dojo. But I am able to join the committee that runs a hall that I can use, to influence how the floor is treated, to influence how the property is funded and in return have space for my own needs.

I have 3 classes a week and I train 1 1/2 - 2 hours every day by myself in the mornings. on average about 20 hours a week. I have use of the hall any time no-one else is in there. eg all day new years day for a 1000 kata practice, and again on 3 Jan for another 1000 practice, all day last sunday for a kyu grade practice and grading. The cost of this:
1. £102 per month
2. 1 hour per month to attend committee meetings
3. Occasionally opening the hall for one-off bookings and taking those bookings on the phone
4. Keeping a diary of all classes and groups using the hall
5. 23 years of living in and being accepted by the community so that they will allow me this privilege

Why would I want to raise money to buy land and build a dojo?

If you feel that you are under the oppression of authorities, I suggest you release yourself from them and go and train in a field in the moonlight where you would not be answerable to anyone. (providing you keep your clothes on, don't use real swords in public, or... no, I won't go there)

Peter West
15th January 2009, 06:14 PM
Kendo is pantheistic.

Every sentence in this post could be the subject of argument, take the above for example. Is kendo Pantheistic? (I assume the use of "kendo" to include all JSA). In 28 years I have come across no God in my Kendo. The reference to "Kami" in Kamiza is not a reference to any deity, and references by founders of schools to "divine dreams" and such like is only a reference to a moment of inspired realisation.

Kendo is not pantheistic, it is not monotheistic, it is not atheistic, it is not agnostic. It is Kendo.

"Swing a sword, cut the enemy, there is nothing else"

No, that is too wordy

"Cut the enemy"

No, still too verbose....

"Cut"

Still too much

" "

something like that, but not in so many words.

Martch
15th January 2009, 06:42 PM
Peter, I agree with everything you said there but I can't help thinking those posts were like casting pearls before swine...and by that I mean the OP. Not once has Phil Wright entered into debate over any of his contributions. He either uses a proxy, or drops one of his scrambled notions on here and waits to see who bites. He's not interested in debate, only lecturing, pontificating, and (when he starts on the pseudo mystical claptrap) preaching. I think this one sided approach comes from the same idea behind this
'Shido' Kendo- he can't handle other opinions than his own, whether it's venue organisers or the BKA 'authorities'. As a result the outcome is always the same, he has to go it alone, set up his own style of Kendo, build his own dojo premesis and make himself feel superior as some sort of martyr and pioneer. It's all nonsense, and I do think the man should seek help. Meantime, unless he starts to enter into two sided debate we should leave his threads unanswered.

Peter West
15th January 2009, 07:07 PM
Hi Martin

I have known Phil since 1981, so I know more than most people on here about him. He has been training kendo since a while before I started and so from such a long time of thought he sounds authoritative. Many experienced people on here know what to make of him, but many less experienced won't, for this reason I feel that occasional considered argument creates a valuable perspective.

Martch
15th January 2009, 07:45 PM
Hi Peter. Yes i agree, your knowledge of Phil's past does help to put things into perspective for those of up who only know his online presence. I suppose I would just like him to enter into the arguement himself, rather than this constant delivery of the Thoughts of Chairman Phil...

dwez
15th January 2009, 09:03 PM
In 1986 I wrote a book, Spiritual Warlord, and offered it to a publisher. He replied, saying, “It must be published.” But it wasn’t his category.

Strangely enough that's a publisher said exactly the same thing to me, except it was 1997 and my book was a guide for new drivers and how to drive safely and how to cope with accidents when they happen. Of course I actually wanted to give my book away in the hopes it would save lives but you sell your theology if it makes you feel better, although I think the Scientologists may be a few steps ahead.

On the other hand if your book has got wizards and goblins in just like JK Rowlings I'm there and I'll collect the entire set

Christ II: the Wrath of Khan
Christ III: Tokyo Drift
Christ IV: Rise of the Machines
Christ V: The Empire Strikes Back
Christ VI: Freddy's Dead


I'm sorry Martin I so do not want to contribute to this but it's like an itch you can't scratch, like an itch in the brain...

bobdonny
15th January 2009, 09:10 PM
The only authority in my dojo is me,

Sorry cant resist :spchless:
By your prior analogies, you are also only a perceived authority from your students perspective, so therefore there is no authority in your dojo... its anarchy :)

Masahiro
15th January 2009, 11:16 PM
i like to add something to the mix of all this "delusional hoolabaloo". ..

if we are talking about a certain "Mr. Phil W_ _ _ _ _", here's my opinion. A crazy f*ck is a crazy f*ck, it doesn't matter any more who this person was in the past, what he did in the past, that's neither here nor there. He is ... (simply put). . ..."past" that! Who you are today, and what you stand for, and what you do is infinitely more telling of who you truly are than what you've done and what you said in the past. So, like i always say to people. ..therapy man, therapy,

Peter West
15th January 2009, 11:31 PM
Sorry cant resist :spchless:
By your prior analogies, you are also only a perceived authority from your students perspective, so therefore there is no authority in your dojo... its anarchy :)

On the contrary it is my perception of me combined with the perception of the students that enables me to be so. It cannot be one-sided otherwise, as you say, there is no authority. But it is only perception. If the students don't accept my authority or if I don't believe in myself, what is there for the students to believe in? But no-one outside of that relationship can impose authority.

bobdonny
16th January 2009, 02:37 AM
On the contrary it is my perception of me combined with the perception of the students that enables me to be so. It cannot be one-sided otherwise, as you say, there is no authority. But it is only perception. If the students don't accept my authority or if I don't believe in myself, what is there for the students to believe in? But no-one outside of that relationship can impose authority.

So if Mr Phil percieves an authority in the BKA or government and they also percieve this then by default they are in fact an authority? :)

Peter West
16th January 2009, 03:42 AM
So if Mr Phil percieves an authority in the BKA or government and they also percieve this then by default they are in fact an authority? :)

Yes, but if he changes his perception and learns that they need not be, then the spell is broken

Suhail_Merchant
16th January 2009, 07:27 AM
Billions of believers! Can the belief of that many people, be wrong?

Yes. That doesn't mean it is, but it can be.




He also explained atomic theory, accurately! So rocket science existed, 500 years BC!

Old-school atomism to rocket science. Quite a leap.



Anyway, this is some crazy Bravo Sierra.

SanguineKendoka
20th January 2009, 12:36 AM
I must not post.

Posting is the mind-killer.
Posting is the little-death that encourages wierd rants and trolls.
I will face Crazy Phil's chittering.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the chittering has gone there will be nothing.

Only decent posts will remain.

Peter West
20th January 2009, 01:11 AM
Originally Posted by KIYAMASA
He also explained atomic theory, accurately! So rocket science existed, 500 years BC!

No he didn't, but even if he did, atomic theory (whatever you might mean by that) has got nothing to do with rocket science.

Oh, are you referring to nuclear missiles? By atomic theory do you mean nuclear fission? If so, then I've got news for you, the rocket goes on the back end, the warhead goes on the front end. they're not the same thing. That's like saying "my men cuts are bad because of my footwork, so I'll get a podiatrist to mend my shinai"

don don
20th January 2009, 04:40 AM
Is anyone else in favour of this guy getting his own web site so that only people who care can read it, and keep it off K.W?
:(

Neil Gendzwill
20th January 2009, 04:49 AM
He hasn't done anything wrong here and is at least posting himself. If you don't want to draw more attention to him, stop responding. You guys all remind me of the time I caught the same dumb fish 10 times in an hour using the same lure.

Peter West
20th January 2009, 05:30 AM
You guys all remind me of the time I caught the same dumb fish 10 times in an hour using the same lure.

Einstein's definition of insanity apparently was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

H.Sandsleth
20th January 2009, 06:21 AM
Nice oji waza...:laugh:

Maku-san
20th January 2009, 07:10 AM
He hasn't done anything wrong here and is at least posting himself. If you don't want to draw more attention to him, stop responding. You guys all remind me of the time I caught the same dumb fish 10 times in an hour using the same lure.

At least you caught 10 fish... I've yet to catch one!!! :cry:

hyuna
20th January 2009, 08:12 AM
But it’s also a courtesy. After my book is published, people might think I represent all of Kendo! Which would be a discourtesy, and absurd. So if my Kendo is Shido Ryu, then unless other dojo advertise as being that style, there’s no reason to believe a Kendo dojo is that style.
I'm glad to read that you recognize the potential for confusion.

There is a keyboard manufacturer called New Standard Keyboards. They make computer keyboards and, of course, they sell a "New Standard Keyboard." This is, of course, quite different from a keyboard that follows some kind of new layout that follows some industry standard layout. Nevertheless, this company has chosen a name that happens to be very misleading. Not that I am accusing the company of being deliberately misleading, or anything like that, however, my point is that if you use words that have some kind of nominal meaning as part of your dojo name, then it can be very confusing.

In this case, the risk of confusion comes from use of the word "kendo" in "Shido Ryu Kendo." I dare say that adding "Shido Ryu" is not sufficient for most English speakers to clearly understand that your Shido Ryu Kendo does not represent all Kendo for the same reason that calling a dojo "Arthur's Shido Ryu kendo" does not clearly differentiate it from your Shido Ryu kendo, despite addition of the specifier "Arthur's."

Thank you for your consideration.

xvikingx
20th January 2009, 08:24 AM
I gotta learn japanese...
Nah. Considering he is not Japanese it would just be a hell of a lot easier if he wrote in English.


*I keep hearing this cry to stop feeding the trolls, but I for one appreciate the efforts of Mr. Wright. I find his bullshit very entertaining and anxiously wait for more crazy rambling.

Atonito
20th January 2009, 05:26 PM
I love this guys posts. I get two good laughs from them, the first after reading his ioncoherent ramblings and rthe second when I read all the responses...brilliant stuff!

Ookami7
21st January 2009, 11:14 AM
Yeah like xvikingx said, I`m just rambling. Pay no attention to it.
Basically I can get into trouble and usually back outta said trouble with my Japanese language skills.
But my grammar is pretty bad. That and some of it was hogen anyways.

This is not the Japanese you want..... pay no attention to it.