Mixed Jodo-groups performing in Kyoto. Kage!

[Fred27]

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCF6s6LPmbY&feature=related

2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHK1qHXzKYY&feature=related

3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiT37WQzDsI&feature=related

1 Seitei group by the looks of it

2 One of the few times we see kata from the Kage series being performed.

3 Chudan and kage series. The couple on the right are performing Suio-ryu Jojutsu.

Enjoy!

[Kim Taylor]

Cool beans, I was sitting over in the corner, were you there Fred? I haven't even looked at my photos and video yet.

Even more interesting to me were the 8dan iaido and jodo tests the next day.

Kim Taylor

[Fred27]

Cool beans, I was sitting over in the corner, were you there Fred? I haven't even looked at my photos and video yet.

Even more interesting to me were the 8dan iaido and jodo tests the next day.

Kim Taylor

Nah I wasnt there. In fact I'll be going to Japan for the first time ever this July for a SMR Gasshuku. I got some time in Tokyo and I hope there'll be some MA embu like this Kyoto one.

[xvikingx]

Fred that's the Kyoto Taikai. It's held every year during golden week. Jodo is done on the first day around noon. I have a number of pictures up on my flickr account including Isshin-ryu, etc. Oroshi has some up too and I'm sure there will be more up soon.

[Oroshi]

I have about 30 jodo pictures that will be uploaded when I get a minute spare. There are 80 or so iai pictures to come after that.

[Fred27]

Sweeeeeeeet! You wouldnt happen to know which groups were there? Kaminoda Senseis group (and Kaminoda himself) appeared to have been there. You know which Fukuoka jodo Sensei was there?

[Oroshi]

There were two Hanshi from Fukuoka: Tominaga sensei and Namitome sensei. There were several other Kyoshi and Renshi from Fukuoka too. All but two groups were doing Shinto Muso-ryu.

[Fred27]

There were two Hanshi from Fukuoka: Tominaga sensei and Namitome sensei. There were several other Kyoshi and Renshi from Fukuoka too. All but two groups were doing Shinto Muso-ryu.

Man I wish I could have seen that in person :ninja:

[Oroshi]

All my jodo photos are up now: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oroshi/sets/72157617988047316/

[Kim Taylor]

In the last set of four pairs there were Namitome sensei, Shiiya sensei, Kaminoda sensei and Matsui sensei. It was quite a shock to see how many of them we have trained with over the years, something I need to get across to our students so maybe they'll pay a little more attention in the seminars....

Well, maybe.

Fred anyone in the kendo federation can participate in the taikai, as long as you are renshi rokudan (or just rokudan if you're from outside Japan). The demos go from low to high grades and in the iaido section one of the last three 9dans was the final demonstration.

The jodo and the iaido section started with a demo of the seitei forms, jodo was done with Shiiya sensei from Tokyo and, I believe, Tominaga sensei from Fukuoka. Something that you might find interesting.

On the 8dan panel was Namitome sensei as chief shimpan and 8 other hanshi including Shiiya s. and Furukawa s. Three or four of the nanadan sensei that have visited Guelph were challenging.

All of which is to say that the jodo section is not huge and it is much closer than folks seem to think. We trained at the Tokyo Budokan with Furukawa sensei before the demos and a week later in Fukuoka with Namitome sensei and there was no friction that I could detect. Their instructions in Seitei jo were identical so they all talk to one another. (It was a hoot to be told what the 8dan challengers were doing wrong in their test.)

Incidentally, there were 38 people challenging for 8dan, 10 went through to the second round and three passed, one from the Budokan.

In iaido it was 150, then 13 with 5 passing the second round.

Kim.

[Rennis]

Cool beans, I was sitting over in the corner, were you there Fred? I haven't even looked at my photos and video yet.

Crap, I didn't realize you were threre or I would have looked for you.

[Fred27]

All of which is to say that the jodo section is not huge and it is much closer than folks seem to think. We trained at the Tokyo Budokan with Furukawa sensei before the demos and a week later in Fukuoka with Namitome sensei and there was no friction that I could detect. Their instructions in Seitei jo were identical so they all talk to one another.

Kim.

Sweet! And kinda fitting that the one thing they can relate too, dont mind talking about and not arguing about, is seitei jodo. ;)

[Kim Taylor]

Crap, I didn't realize you were threre or I would have looked for you.

Hmph, you likely saw me. I was the fat bald foreigner in shorts and a loud shirt who got dragged into the waiting area to say hello to a bunch of the senior Jodo sensei. Shiiya sensei told me I was dressed like a bum and Eto sensei waved me off to the side so I wasn't so obvious.


Sweet! And kinda fitting that the one thing they can relate too, dont mind talking about and not arguing about, is seitei jodo.

They don't argue about koryu Fred, what would be the point? They just say "this is how they do it in Fukuoka" or "this is how they do it in Tokyo" and while we were in Tokyo doing koryu the sensei who had our little group said "when you go visit Namitome sensei do it the way he does it".

It's the students who get all bent out of shape about "differences", the top guys, in my experience, don't worry about it. They do worry about whose student you are and are careful how they teach, with good reason. Being a "child of both worlds" we have some real difficulties with our koryu here in Canada since we mix ourselves up all the time (mostly my fault there). Best to do one "style" at a time.

I do think that there has been a bit of horse trading over seitei gata in the last few years, I've found things from Fukuoka showing up in what the Tokyo guys were teaching and Tokyo things showing up in what the Fukuoka guys were teaching. There has been some serious effort made to "standardize seitei" (should be redundant) and make it consistent for everyone.

All that said, I'm sure there are some guys who dislike other guys, but that isn't any reason not to get along when they have to in the ZNKR functions. It's no different than here in the West.

Kim.

[Fred27]

They don't argue about koryu Fred, what would be the point? They just say "this is how they do it in Fukuoka" or "this is how they do it in Tokyo" and while we were in Tokyo doing koryu the sensei who had our little group said "when you go visit Namitome sensei do it the way he does it".

It's the students who get all bent out of shape about "differences", the top guys, in my experience, don't worry about it. They do worry about whose student you are and are careful how they teach, with good reason. Being a "child of both worlds" we have some real difficulties with our koryu here in Canada since we mix ourselves up all the time (mostly my fault there). Best to do one "style" at a time.

Kim.

Yeh maybe yer right...Though we both know that some teachers who would rather pull off their skin and roll around in salt than to converse with each other.

[Kim Taylor]

Yeh maybe yer right...Though we both know that some teachers who would rather pull off their skin and roll around in salt than to converse with each other.

Well that's sort of what I'm trying to say isn't happening at the moment, not in the ZNKR, not the guys I know.

I've been hearing for years about how these guys can't stand each other etc. etc. but those who are active in the organization and at the top are all talking to each other.

I've actually never seen the problems that we hear about constantly in the West. What I do see is students who assume their teacher doesn't get along with some other teacher... and then you see them all at a seminar or a grading. The guys in the ZNKR talk with each other more than we might imagine, and they've always been aware of what's happening overseas.

Talking between organizations? That may be a different story, some folks leave, are booted, have never been in... so maybe hard feelings there, or most likely just no particular reason to talk to each other.

Can't say it doesn't happen but it isn't happening with the guys I know... but then again I'm dealing with guys who are active in the same organization so it would be expected that they make an effort to get along. Those who don't would naturally be on the sidelines (and out of my usual sight I suppose).

I seem to be going on about this but I need to deal with it, Jodo in North America needs to start thinking "america's zone" rather than country by country, there's not enough of us to rate the attention of the IKF any other way.

Kim.

[xvikingx]

Hmph, you likely saw me. I was the fat bald foreigner in shorts and a loud shirt who got dragged into the waiting area to say hello to a bunch of the senior Jodo sensei. Shiiya sensei told me I was dressed like a bum and Eto sensei waved me off to the side so I wasn't so obvious.
I remember seeing you there. You gave me the stink eye when I walked by you outside.

[Jerry O'Brien]

Well that's sort of what I'm trying to say isn't happening at the moment, not in the ZNKR, not the guys I know.

I've been hearing for years about how these guys can't stand each other etc. etc. but those who are active in the organization and at the top are all talking to each other.

I've actually never seen the problems that we hear about constantly in the West. What I do see is students who assume their teacher doesn't get along with some other teacher... and then you see them all at a seminar or a grading. The guys in the ZNKR talk with each other more than we might imagine, and they've always been aware of what's happening overseas.


Kim.

Kim:
You obviously don't understand the nuance of "Tatemae" (建前). Which can be an alien concept in our culture. With us, it's more of "what you see is what you get." When inside the closed group you will see more of the "Honne" come out.:glasses:

JerryO

[Kim Taylor]

I remember seeing you there. You gave me the stink eye when I walked by you outside.

Surely not! Certainly not intentionally.

Or perhaps it's the way I look at everyone these days since my eyes are getting worse and if I don't have the right glasses on it actually hurts to try and focus so I get the thousand yard stare.

Kim.

[xvikingx]

Surely not! Certainly not intentionally.

Or perhaps it's the way I look at everyone these days since my eyes are getting worse and if I don't have the right glasses on it actually hurts to try and focus so I get the thousand yard stare.

Kim.
No worries. My face must have that effect on people!
Now that I know what you look like I'll say hi next time.