What Interests You in Koryu?

Discussion in 'Koryu Bujutsu' started by Kogusoku, Nov 27, 2007.

  1. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    Just as a clarification for those studying and not studying koryu.

    Why are you interested in koryu bujutsu?

    What is it that draws you to it?

    If you are training, what keeps you in training and why have you chosen the ryuha you are currently training in?
     
  2. Senban

    Senban Banned Banned

    Well as I said elsewhere, I have only minimal experience of koryu-style training. But from that experience and from watching the footage online of various koryu, I'd say one of the outstanding points of interest for me is the mental intensity evident in senior practitioners.
     
  3. Lord Spooky

    Lord Spooky Banned Banned

    My interest in it developed further once I understood, to one degree or another, what it actually was and began to understand how it differed to the more "regular" martial arts that you can find in today's world.

    Initially my interest was in Kenjutsu but this interest was based on a very limited understanding of the subject. I also wanted to look at how a koryu was similar and how it differed to the other style I train in.

    As above my initial interest was in Kenjutsu and so I consider myself unbelievably lucky that I get to train in the style of Kenjutsu that I do. I found my current style by chance and when I wasn't actively looking for a Koryu, funny how things work out.

    What keeps me training apart form the guys and gals who I train with is the clean straightforwardness of the style plus the fact that just when one element is established 50 more become apparent.

    The combative mindset is also something that I feel is very worth while studying and again something you don’t get in many of the more modern MA.

    I’ve said in other posts I feel a Koryu is more than the sum of it’s parts and it’s these more elusive elements that keep me coming back even though I may not be able to put my finger on them.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2007
  4. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    The discipline and concentration put into every moment of training.And those "elusive" elements lord spooky speaks of and which can be seen in the photo below.


    regards koyo
     

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  5. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    That's the Nihon Kendo no kata, not koryu. It's based on koryu and since weapons based gendai budo are rather more serious, you get some, but not all of that elusive feeling in training.
     
  6. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    Agreed since these gentlemen are kendoka first and foremost.

    I did study Omori ryi iai for a few years and attended seminars headed by Ishido shihan sadlly as someone has already said these arts are lifelong commitments so I had to concentrate on my chosen (NOT CHOSON!!!!) :) art aikido/aiki ken but I try to bring the same serious discipline and concentration to my training. Who knows what I would be studying had I found a koryu art first.

    regards koyo
    Ishido shihan
     

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    Last edited: Nov 28, 2007
  7. ScottUK

    ScottUK More human than human...

    Koyo,

    Have you got a bigger version of that pic of Ishido sensei I could have please? :)
     
  8. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    Doh! Irn-bru on the computer screen! Ye bugger ye! :D

    Ishido sensei is an awesome practicioner of Muso Shinden-ryu iai.

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vgvjYQdUI]Ishido Shizufumi Sensei demonstrating Muso Shinden-ryu iai[/ame]
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2007
  9. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    Scott

    I do not know how to post large pictures.If I find out I shall certainly post it.

    About Ishido sensei, one of the guys asked what he thought of my iai he paused for a few seconds and with no change of expression said "Mr Coyle's iai is very ......enthusiastic" :love:

    The photo was taken in the Palace of Arts in Glasgow

    regards koyo
     
  10. ScottUK

    ScottUK More human than human...

    Will PM you my email addy.

    Ishido sensei is one of my favourite iai teachers, btw...
     
  11. Freyr

    Freyr Valued Member

    I find the military context most interesting I suppose - the idea that these disciplines were created solely for combat on the battlefield, and the associated mentality (and its contrast with Gendai Budo) is fascinating to me. (I suppose my interest consequently focuses more on koryu founded prior to ~1600)

    There was a clip briefly on youtube in which a gentleman by the name of Ellis Amdur demonstrated kata from several koryu at what I believe was an Aikido dojo. In it he also demonstrates the kiai of Araki-ryu - it is impressive to say the least and to an opponent it is likely to be genuinely terrifying. It certainly seemed to highlight the mindset associated with the art, and triggered my interest in koryu.

    (I do not currently study, and have never studied koryu)
     
  12. Zannen!

    Zannen! Banned Banned

    I have become very interested in Koryu ever since I have arrived in Japan. I have gone to a few embu and have various martial arts. I basically am interested in training in a koryu to train in an old way of study. I mostly have been looking for kenjutsu schools, but have come across a few jujutsu / sogo bujutsu schools that seem appealling. A kenjutsu school would be "easier" politically probably given my background.
     
  13. fifthchamber

    fifthchamber Valued Member

    The sense of history has some bearing on why I study Jujutsu, the sheer time this art has been passed on lends it credibility that many other groups can only dream of...Hell, my school was around before America was even a nation...That's enough proof that what we do works well enough to be done now..

    But the real reason I do it is because whenever I change and get onto the tatami I feel more alive than at any other point up to getting out there....The person that I am while training is the same me, but the me that I want to be 24/7....Happy, energetic, and able to cope well enough to pass notice...

    It's the greatest thing in the world...Possibly bar a nice beer AFTER training..If you include the whole combination..

    Regards.
     
  14. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    Bruv, you forgot the Shoronpo! That and maybe a nice Mabou-doufu. :D

    Seriously though, yeah I am pretty much the same on this.

    The ryuha I study now, suit my psyche and characteristics to a tee and it has taken a lot of soul-searching to find it. Hindsight is always 20-20 and in mine, I should really have done a lot more homework.

    Originally it was a big factor on the school's history and prestige (The ryuha having used it's techniques in combat and how it was so influential on gendai budo). Now it is actually the mindset and the method of dissemination of knowledge that is really fascinating - The fact that so many facets of what is taught actually fit together so well that it becomes seamless and complete in it's entity that it actually becomes second nature in training as well as in actual usage.

    From the very beginning of training, naturally the basics are emphasized and when you get to higher levels, all you are really doing is just learning extrapolations and in some cases alternate applications of those basics.

    This kind of goes back to what Pascal Kreiger Sensei said about the Gokui of Shinto Muso-ryu jo once. Paraphrased, it was something like; "When I was first shown one of the gokui (Higher level secret teachings) , I had to laugh. It was almost exactly the same as what I had been taught in my first few classes as a beginner."
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2007
  15. ScottUK

    ScottUK More human than human...

    Didn't some great master (no doubt) once say that "advanced techniques are just the basics mastered"? ;)
     
  16. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    I have seen that so many times, when an advanced student "discovers" a principle working well. As you say , he is beginning to master the basics.
    I tend to just grin and say "You already knew that."

    regards koyo
     
  17. beer_belly

    beer_belly Valued Member

    Koryu has a feeling of living history and reality about it - the way the bunkai is rooted in a past social setting (even in entry sets which are just teaching you how to move in the manner of the school)- tried SCA with rattan / WMA with metal weapons befeore I ever trained in a koryu and while both were a great deal of fun, for me they lacked the sense of continuity - one being essentially a huge LARP and the other a serious attempt at recreation of something - neither pushed my psychological buttons the way the koryu do. Sort of biblical - go to Japan, train with X whose technique was begat by Y which evolved from Z to the 15th generation :) and I can see the relationship to my gendai budo so there is a sort of halo effect.
     
  18. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    Beer Belly,

    Do you train in a koryu at the moment?
     
  19. beer_belly

    beer_belly Valued Member

    Two, originally each as an extention of my gendai budo - added TRI to expand on my seitei iaido practice and SMR to expand on my seitei jodo practice. Now I do more koryu than gendai floor time....
     
  20. Kogusoku

    Kogusoku 髭また伸びた! Supporter

    Beer belly, SMR = Shinto Muso-ryu jo

    TRI = ??
     

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