The hojo?

[Musha]

If you have time to read this article about Omori sogen I think it is a very good read!

http://www.izs.org/newsite/about/Omori_Sogen.htm

The part of the text I'm interested in is when he says:

'Around the age of 20 I began questioning the value of Kendo as a practice solely concerned with winning and losing and sought instruction from Yamada Jirokichi, the fifteenth master of the Jiki Shin Kage School of fencing. The essence of this school is to "remove all bad habits and addictions acquired since birth and to restore the original pure and bright permanent body."

To do this, one practiced the Hojo, a sword form consisting of four parts patterned after the four seasons. Ten minutes of intense concentration is required to perform the exacting movements of the Hojo.'

Does any one know any thing about the hojo or has practiced it? I'm wondering how is can be so hard to almost kill you to get it perfect!?

[Musha]

http://www.cbizdw.org/Hojo%20in%20the%20Snow.jpg

[joekc6nlx]

I'm taking a long trip today with my sensei. I'll try to remember to ask him if he knows anything about it and get back to you. Ariga-sensei has been training in kendo for almost 50 years, is 7th dan, kyoshi. I'm sure he might know something about hojo.

[Curtis]

We had a demonstration of the Hojo kata here in Seattle a few years ago by Inamura sensei. He came with Kamei sensei from Kanagawa. Went over the breathing technique with a couple of the people here.

I did not have the camcorder with me however so did not get it on tape.

Kamei sensei will be in Portland, OR at the end of the month. I should ask him how Inamura sensei is doing.

[Light Samurai]

That article you posted motivated me to do over 800 cuts today, and to work out more, and to push my physical limits. thanks guys.

[don don]

See a back issue of Kendo World magazine (forget which one) for an article on Jiki Shinkage Ryu and interview with Mike Hudson sensei (Shihan Dai). There's a dojo in Tama City by the way. I can recommend it, since I've visited. If I lived as near there as you do I'd train like mad at the Hojo, assuming they were to let me train... The first time I saw them demonstrated (by Terayama sensei) it had a very powerful effect on me. Kind of "I've GOT to do this!" I was mesmerised. It reminded me of the feeling I got when I first saw Kendo. But much more of an impact. I still really want to train at Jikishinkage ryu, and one day hope to return to Japan to do this.
Please be careful of uncritical acceptance of Omori Sogen. Just because he was a priest doesn't mean there isn't a great deal about his character which will disillusion you. He was an impressive swordsman (I've got video of him doing the Hojo) but it's hard to see someone who was involved in extreme right wing politics all his life as an impressive person of religion. (Just my take on him...)
There are different groups of Jikishinkage Ryu. Check them out, but be sure to check out the Tama city one too.

[Musha]

That article you posted motivated me to do over 800 cuts today, and to work out more, and to push my physical limits. thanks guys.

I like reading about historical kendo and martial arts because alot of old high ranking people have alot of interesting storys. Just remember you can do 1000 bad cuts but it wont make a difference 50-100 correct cuts is more than enough :D.

don don, I still don't know what Omori sogen did to make people see what he says in that view.

I'd like to see some old martial arts while I'm here but some things in Japan seem so closed! I E-mailed an old kobudo dojyo but they did not seem interested in me even watching that much. It also takes about 5x the price of kendo to join some of there dojyos. I'll try find out a little about the Tama city dojyo though :).