User:Kosigrim/kendo-archive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Still the patterning of consciousness!
Still the patterning of consciousness![1]

Muga-mushin is a compound term of muga and mushin. Muga literally means no-self (derived from the Sanskrit an-atman) and Mushin no-mind (also from the Sanskrit a-citta). What is negated is the empirical body-mind as an ontological independent state of existence. Muga and mushin point to the same thing - the state of egolessness - but from different perspectives. Muga refers to the negation of the physical state, mushin to the mental state of empirical existence. To understand better mushin one needs to understand acitta- or simply its Sanskrit-root citta. Citta is not easily rendered into English. As is the case with so many other Sanskrit terms, there does not seem to be a precise equivalent for it in our vocabulary. Previous translations have proposed a variety of renderings, such as 'mind-stuff', 'thinking-principle', and similar compound words. In many instances, citta seems to convey consciousness, mind, intellect or psychic mass that orders and illuminates sensations coming from without - can serve as a mirror for objects, without the senses interposing between it and its object. Thus the non-initiate is incapable of gaining freedom, because his mind, instead of being stable (still, non-fluctuating) is constantly violated by the activity of the senses, by the subconscious, and by the 'thrust for life'.

The concept of Mushin/Acitta has been traveling throughout the ages undergoing series of contextual simplifications by different philosophical and empirical systems evolving from one to another. It has arrived to the present days still embellished in the colors of mystery. Disregarding the cascade of reductionistic efforts that were meant to make the Mushin/Acitta concept more accessible to the non-initiate, the attainment of Mushin/Acitta inescapably goes through the harsh path of self-perpetuated long practice and interiorization.


Reductionistic Steps in the Evolution of Muga-mushin Concept and Application

Contents

[edit] See also

Confrontational interactions of KI - used in primitive foms of combat.
Confrontational interactions of KI - used in primitive foms of combat.
2. Two types of KIs (confrontation and harmony) are interacting - kendoka uses seme.
2. Two types of KIs (confrontation and harmony) are interacting - kendoka uses seme.
3. The two types of KIs(confrontation and harmony) are balanced - kendoka uses kizeme.
3. The two types of KIs(confrontation and harmony) are balanced - kendoka uses kizeme.

Kizeme is a Japanese term describing the advanced form of seme when a kendo player has succeeded in causing shift in the mind (attention) of the opponent.[10] Kendoka at that stage takes the offensive mainly through Ki, succeeding in disconcerting the opponent via KI-projection and at much higher skill level without visible gesture.[11]

Kizeme is act of combat unknown in many other martial arts (such as Judo or Karate) in which the awareness of the practitioners is limited to the most directly perceptible elements: speed, strength and sheer aggressiveness. The last can be used to delineate 3 levels of combat (see the 3 sketches on your right).[12] These 3 levels were elegantly described in a compelling allegory by Issai Chosan (1727) Neko no Myojutsu ("The Cat's Eerie Skill").[13] Kizeme is depicted as the perfect skill in martial art, where non-violence is still an artifice that can be detected and exploited to dismiss the natuarlly embedded aggression in the ego and reach harmony - the state of Muga-mushin.

An instructive attestation of kizeme can be seen in a demonstration kendo match at Noma dojo by Moriji Mochida (ju-dan hanshi) during the Emperor's Cup (1940).
Ippon-men scored in the very end of the match by Mochida sensei using Kizeme at perfect 'Ma-ai' (available on DVD, see the third volume).
"Swordsmanship is basically the exercising of the Life Force and, therefore, at the beginning of the study the Life Force is exercised by means of technique”[14].

[edit] See also

Tsuki (throat thrust) - delivered by Naoki Eiga sensei during 12th World Kendo Championship (Glasgow, Scotland, 2003)
Tsuki (throat thrust) [15]- delivered by Naoki Eiga sensei during 12th World Kendo Championship (Glasgow, Scotland, 2003)[16]

Naoki Eiga Sensei started kendo with having admiration for his brother Hideyuki. Eiga brothers dominated the national championships and Eiga's wife (Naomi) was a kendo player too. Naomi was a Eiga's junior in Donghae University and member of same kendo dojo. It is Kazuo Furukawa Sensei who made Eiga a world champion[17]. Japan kendo community call him 'Tsuki's Furukawa'. A good teacher is the person that can improve the ability of the pupil using systematic and scientifically sound methods.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali by Georg Feuerstein. Inner Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont, 1989.
  2. ^ Yoga, Immortality and Freedom by Willard R. Trask. Bollingen Series LVI, Princeton University Press, 1990.
  3. ^ The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali by Georg Feuerstein. Inner Traditions International, 1989.
  4. ^ Zen and Confucius in the Art of Swordmanship by Reinhard Kammer. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978.
  5. ^ Zen, The way of the Sword by Winston L. King. Oxford University Press, 1993
  6. ^ Samurai Strategies by Boye lafayette De Mente. Tittle Publishing, 2005.
  7. ^ Kendo, Its Philosophy History and Means to Personal Growth by Minoru Kiyota. Kegan Paul International, 1995, p.3
  8. ^ Modern Educational Theories and Traditional Japanese Martial arts Training Methods by John J. Donohue. Journal of Asian Martial Arts 14(2), 2005.
  9. ^ SPORTS, The Complete Visual Reference by Fraçois Fortin, Firefly Books, 2000, p295.
  10. ^ Ki and the Way of the Martial Arts by Kenji Tokitsu, Shambhala, 2003, pp.31-36
  11. ^ The Technical and Psychological Methodology of Kendo by Oya Minoru, Kendo World 1(4) 2002 pp.5-9, 2(1) 2003, pp.24-7
  12. ^ Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings, by Kenji Tokitsu, Shambhala, 2004, p.330
  13. ^ The Overlook Martial Arts Reader V2 ed. by John Donohue, The Overlook Press, 2004, pp.106-113
  14. ^ Issai Chozan, Tengu-geijutsu-ron (Discourse on the Art of the Mountain Demons, 1729) trans. in Zen and Confucius in the Art of Swordmanship by Reinhard Kammer. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978
  15. ^ Fundamental Kendo by AJKF, Japan Publications, Inc., 1973, p.44
  16. ^ Tada Ichigeki ni Kakeru DVD
  17. ^ 12th World Kendo Championship Report by Alex Bennett in Kendo World 2(2), 2003, pp.10-25

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Kyoshi 8th Dan Ishizuka Sensei from Osaka during the kendo seminar at OSULA Dojo (Osaka Sangyo University, L.A.) Feb. 22, 2004
Kyoshi 8th Dan Ishizuka Sensei from Osaka during the kendo seminar at OSULA Dojo (Osaka Sangyo University, L.A.) Feb. 22, 2004

Sensei Yoshifumi Ishizuka, Kyoshi 8th Dan (Osaka Police) has been visiting dojos outside of Japan for the last 5 years to teach kendo.

[edit] Culture and traditions

Osaka castle- - An Edo-era splendor
Osaka castle- - An Edo-era splendor

Osaka kendo dojos have a long history going back to the most significant cultural development in the Tokugawa (Edo period) - the culture of the townspeople. The creative energy of the townspeople was manifested in all artistic areas - prose fiction, haiku poetry, kabuki theatre[1] and particularly swrodsmanship. During this time of peace and prosperity, samurai wore no armor, dexterity of skills were required, which laid a foundation for the modern kendo[2]. During the Meiji restoration when the samurai's special status was disolved, at local level the new police system considered themselves to be the heirs to the Tokugawa samurai. Today Osaka Police shelters several hanshi such as Kaku Toshohiko, Honorary Instructor and Shihan for the Osaka University of Dentistry and Kansai Electric Company[3], Okuzono Kuniyoshi, Professor of Kendo at the Police Academy (retired), Vice President of Outline of All Japan Kendo Federation (AJKF)[4].

[edit] Ishizuka's Kendo Fundamentals

The many masters who have molded Kendo through its long period of growth have created a large organized body of teqniques of great sophistication. These man have perfected both Kendo technical method and Kendo theory. The only way to growth and development in Kendo is to study under a good teacher and to reslove and master the basics (fundamentals) of the art[5]. Below is a gallery of some Kendo fundamentals shown by Ishizuka Sensei during his visits in southern California (Los Angeles and San Diego).

Formal kneeling position, or seiza.

Correct grip (Nigiri) - the left hand is aligned with the center of the body (Chushin, Hara or Dantian).

The Shinai should form a natural extension of the arms.

A version of Chudan-no-kamae, a threat is projected at the opponent’s throat by way of the point of ones shinai.

Shomen-uchi - center men strike with relaxed shoulders and elbow not stretched.

Shomen-uchi when upper body is not leaning forward.

An attack step (jumping in - fumi-komi).

Sensei Ishizuka as moto-dachi during practice and using mawashi - shifting his body out of the attack line.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Japan, A Short History by Mikuso Hane, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2000, p.54
  2. ^ Kendo, Its Philosophy History and Means to Personal Growth by Minoru Kiyota. Kegan Paul International, 1995, p.61.
  3. ^ Hanshi Says... Kendo World 3(2), 2005, pp. 36-39.
  4. ^ Hanshi Says... Kendo World 3(1), 2004, pp.18-21.
  5. ^ Fundamental Kendo by AJKF, Japan Publications, Inc., 1973, on the soft cover

[edit] External Links

[edit] See also