And how, pray tell, would an instructor establish whether his student (or he himself for that matter) "can't slice someone into pieces"?
Thank you for informing me of what the dojokun mean. It's a good job you showed up! And your knowledge of the Bujinkan rule meanings is amazing for someone who has never been a member. What riddle?
Some martial artist serve in the armed forces, police, special operations etc. I guess they look at these indviduals as the best. Donn Draegger served in the military.
You could have them practice killing and maiming animals, that is normally a good warm up from what I hear.
Here's an idea: Banzo: Why don't you pretend you are going along to your first lesson and the instructor asks you how old you are and why you want to learn martial arts. What would you say? Tell us what you would tell them. Maybe we could help you see whether there is any issue you might get "rejected" on. (From Bujinkan, a koryu org or any other art.)
That is a good point. Didn't realise it was translated from Japanese and something could have been lost in translation. If I'm having a bad day I simply don't go to training, don't want to waste anyone's time.
I think it worth pointing out to the OP what Koryu means and what it isn’t! Primarily, people that train in Koryu do so for one reason and that is to keep the tradition alive. As my instructor told me from the off – it is not about “me” it is about my contribution to the tradition and its onward transmission. If you look at like that, then why would any instructor worth his salts waste his or her time transmitting his knowledge to someone who wasn’t the best candidate for the position? Gary
A couple of things that need to be said, whether the OP is actually a troll or not. First, Bujinkan is actually nothing at all like the koryu. The training methodology is different, and the reasoning behind it is different. Second, the koryu are elitist. They have survived for hundreds of years because the schools believed that they did things better than other schools. However, the koryu aren't necessarily about being "hardcore" and slicing up farm animals whether they've insulted your honor or not. The koryu are about furthering the school. It's how they've survived all this time. There is an excellent short essay that Dave Lowry wrote for Meik and Diane Skoss to put on their web site for anyone that wishes to join their dojo. It sums up the feeling that most of the koryu adhere to. So you want to join the ryu?
So I'll ask again Hatori. Where have you got these ideas from? Do you have any real questions about koryu bujutsu?
One thing I have seen mentioned both in that blog and in another post, was the amount of time that needs to be put into koryu...having found a venue offering this not far from me, that only has 2 hours a week in class...what's the additional time invested on (training at home, learning from books or ...)? Are there any other links that give more information on what you have to learn, whether it be language, forms, weapons, etiquette?
All of what you have just said. However saying that you can't generalise with koryu it is going to depend on the ryu-ha and teacher.
Heh - I guess the same for a lot of MA from what little I have learned so far. But what's the angle on it will consume all your time and annoy the wife etc? The classes themselves are 2 hours a week (I prob spend more time than that in the shower lol) Hontai Yoshin Ryu Ju-Jutsu at the Budokwai was specifically where I looked at online. The linked article reminded me somewhat of meatloaf outside project mayhem in the rain being shouted at lol
Depends what you learn in those 2 hours! Chances are, you couldn't internalise 2 hours of training a week anyway - and the point is - it would be down to you to go away and work on what your instructor has taught you in those 2 hours (in your own time). My Instructor also impressed upon me that in addition to training it was important to do your academic research. You have to know your history as it were, so although 2 hours a week doesn’t sound a lot - you would be expected to a lot more leg work and "mental weightlifting" of your own and tbh you'd want to do it anyway - if you were serious about it! Gary
Anyone can kill anyone. That is a fact. We are capable of it. The question is, would we? One of my teachers have said to me: "the human body is fraught with weaknesses. Life is frail. Killing is easy. But that is not what makes us human." Next time someone talks tough ask him, "do you kill people?"
I haven't studied a bujutsu style but was interested. Its funny because I did kyokushin karate for years and I was always encouraged. That style has a fairly decent image and is more of a warrior tradition and they still don't reject. So why the need for false elitism of some bujutsu schools?
"False Elitism"? Did you read any of the details supplied in the previous posts? The job of a Koryu practitioner is to keep the tradition alive... that’s it nothing more. So if that is means that their entry criteria is "Elitist" well, so be it. But it certainly isn’t "False". Gary
