I don't think enough happened this month to fill more than one post so I'll start off with the non-budo stuff before moving on to the budo section.
School broke up on July 18th and the theme leading up to this point was, unsurprisingly, the summer holidays and I explained about taking the Eurostar to visit my French family and I also showed the kids some family pictures. Most of the kids seemed to be spending the summer at cram school (学習塾, gakushujuku or just "juku" for short) and one of the girls was taking part in an English speech competition. Making speeches is a big deal in Japan (you make a self-introductory speech whenever joining a new group like a company or club) and I was very surprised that she chose to talk about discrimination.
It's surprising because discrimination is an integral part of living in Japan. While discrimination carries strong negative connotations in the Western mind, in the Japanese mindset it is more akin to a strong awareness of the differences between Japanese people and non-Japanese and is therefore not always negative. An example of this is being immediately handed an English menu in some restaurants or some people insisting on using English with me, even though only speak Japanese back. The roots for this mindset can most likely be traced to Nihonjinron literature (日本人論, literature that examines Japanese national and cultural identity and identifying it as fundamentally different from that of any other country) that became especially popular shortly after the Second World War. This has given rise to the idea among both Japanese and non-Japanese that Japan occupies a "special" place in the world as more different from, say, America than America is from traditional Zulu culture. This, in turn, has led to the popular belief among Japanese and no small number of non-Japanese that Japanese culture and language cannot be understood or mastered by anyone remotely foreign.
It doesn't take a genius to work out that this notion has more holes in it than Swiss cheese (after all, a number of foreign writers, writing in Japanese, have won a number of literary awards for their work) but the majority of ordinary people of any nation do not take the time to properly analyse their own viewpoints and really question their opinions. But the majority of people here do not see it as discrimination or prejudice in the negative sense that Westerners understand it, just as an acceptance that Japanese are different.
So, it's surprising that Yuko chose to speak on this subject but definitely promising that she's willing to tackle it. Although she'll be speaking mostly about the kind of discrimination she's most familiar with (ie. bullying at school), she's making references to Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement America as well as the Apartheid in South Africa so she's definitely aware of its wider relevence. I helped her with a few facts, grammar and pronunciation and the contest will be on Saturday so I'll be attending. Fingers crossed!
BUDO WARNING!
Shortly after I started going to Sugao, Yanai sensei invited me to a kendo gasshuku (合宿) in Nikko (日光) run by an accounting association. It was organised for the first weekend of July so I had to miss the Kanagawa-ken Jodo Championships but I thought it was worth it to make some kendo contacts. Besides, I'm going to the All Japan Jodo Championships (全日本杖道大会) in Octobre so I’ll get my chance to test my jodo in a taikai later. We left from Sakurashinmachi station (桜新町駅) at 8:30 and drive up to Nikko with Yanai s. not saying a whole lot but that gave me a chance to get to know Irish squad member John Doherty (by coincidence, we work for the same ALT company). We got up to Nikko at about 12:00 and started the Saturday keiko right after lunch.
Keiko started with about an hour's katageiko (形稽古) when John and I ran through all ten kendo kata under Yanai s.'s supervision. This practice was incredibly valuable and refreshing in that we covered the forms in much more depth, with sensei mentioning specific points with regards to kamae, cuts and ashi-sabaki. These points included revelations such as the fact that uchi-dachi's shomen cut in gohonme is only to chin-height and shi-dachi is far more active in hachihonme and makes much more use of sen-sen-no-sen to draw out uchi's attack. All points to work on. We then moved on to kihongeiko (基本稽古) and for about an hour and a half or so before doing some shiai practice (actually shinpan practice for the higher grades). Surprisingly enough, I was able to hold my own for most of my fights, although I was still eventually obliterated most of the time (aside from a couple of draws and one victory). It'll be a while before I try my luck in any kind of taikai. We finished off with another hour and a half or so of jigeiko (地稽古) before heading back to the Japanese-style hotel for a few beers, a soak in the onsen and dinner with more alcohol. Although it all seemed to take quite a lot of time, I reckon we all turned in relatively early at about 10-11pm.
The next morning's practice started at around 10am at a lovely traditional dojo in the Toshogu Shrine (東照宮) grounds and we were lucky enough to have Shiozawa sensei (塩澤先生), 8dan Kyoshi, join us. The keiko only lasted a couple of hours but I had some fantastic fights, including one with Shiozawa sensei. We then went to a local soba joint for beer and well-needed soba (cold buckwheat noodles) and tempura (天ぷら, deep-fried shrimp) which hit just the right spot before heading back. Yanai s. did ask whether we wanted to do any sightseeing but we decided we were too exhausted to have any chance to enjoy it and I was coming back the following weekend anyway (I'll write about that in a separate post).
Iai-wise, things feel like they are progressing quite nicely. The vast majority of the points I'm being given are difficult to incorporate but I do feel like my iai is making progress - at least I have definite points to work on now, especially for koryu. How well I've incorporated these points will also be tested in mid-August when I compete in the Kanagawa-ken Iaido Taikai (神奈川県居合道大会). Bring it on!
School broke up on July 18th and the theme leading up to this point was, unsurprisingly, the summer holidays and I explained about taking the Eurostar to visit my French family and I also showed the kids some family pictures. Most of the kids seemed to be spending the summer at cram school (学習塾, gakushujuku or just "juku" for short) and one of the girls was taking part in an English speech competition. Making speeches is a big deal in Japan (you make a self-introductory speech whenever joining a new group like a company or club) and I was very surprised that she chose to talk about discrimination.
It's surprising because discrimination is an integral part of living in Japan. While discrimination carries strong negative connotations in the Western mind, in the Japanese mindset it is more akin to a strong awareness of the differences between Japanese people and non-Japanese and is therefore not always negative. An example of this is being immediately handed an English menu in some restaurants or some people insisting on using English with me, even though only speak Japanese back. The roots for this mindset can most likely be traced to Nihonjinron literature (日本人論, literature that examines Japanese national and cultural identity and identifying it as fundamentally different from that of any other country) that became especially popular shortly after the Second World War. This has given rise to the idea among both Japanese and non-Japanese that Japan occupies a "special" place in the world as more different from, say, America than America is from traditional Zulu culture. This, in turn, has led to the popular belief among Japanese and no small number of non-Japanese that Japanese culture and language cannot be understood or mastered by anyone remotely foreign.
It doesn't take a genius to work out that this notion has more holes in it than Swiss cheese (after all, a number of foreign writers, writing in Japanese, have won a number of literary awards for their work) but the majority of ordinary people of any nation do not take the time to properly analyse their own viewpoints and really question their opinions. But the majority of people here do not see it as discrimination or prejudice in the negative sense that Westerners understand it, just as an acceptance that Japanese are different.
So, it's surprising that Yuko chose to speak on this subject but definitely promising that she's willing to tackle it. Although she'll be speaking mostly about the kind of discrimination she's most familiar with (ie. bullying at school), she's making references to Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement America as well as the Apartheid in South Africa so she's definitely aware of its wider relevence. I helped her with a few facts, grammar and pronunciation and the contest will be on Saturday so I'll be attending. Fingers crossed!
BUDO WARNING!
Shortly after I started going to Sugao, Yanai sensei invited me to a kendo gasshuku (合宿) in Nikko (日光) run by an accounting association. It was organised for the first weekend of July so I had to miss the Kanagawa-ken Jodo Championships but I thought it was worth it to make some kendo contacts. Besides, I'm going to the All Japan Jodo Championships (全日本杖道大会) in Octobre so I’ll get my chance to test my jodo in a taikai later. We left from Sakurashinmachi station (桜新町駅) at 8:30 and drive up to Nikko with Yanai s. not saying a whole lot but that gave me a chance to get to know Irish squad member John Doherty (by coincidence, we work for the same ALT company). We got up to Nikko at about 12:00 and started the Saturday keiko right after lunch.
Keiko started with about an hour's katageiko (形稽古) when John and I ran through all ten kendo kata under Yanai s.'s supervision. This practice was incredibly valuable and refreshing in that we covered the forms in much more depth, with sensei mentioning specific points with regards to kamae, cuts and ashi-sabaki. These points included revelations such as the fact that uchi-dachi's shomen cut in gohonme is only to chin-height and shi-dachi is far more active in hachihonme and makes much more use of sen-sen-no-sen to draw out uchi's attack. All points to work on. We then moved on to kihongeiko (基本稽古) and for about an hour and a half or so before doing some shiai practice (actually shinpan practice for the higher grades). Surprisingly enough, I was able to hold my own for most of my fights, although I was still eventually obliterated most of the time (aside from a couple of draws and one victory). It'll be a while before I try my luck in any kind of taikai. We finished off with another hour and a half or so of jigeiko (地稽古) before heading back to the Japanese-style hotel for a few beers, a soak in the onsen and dinner with more alcohol. Although it all seemed to take quite a lot of time, I reckon we all turned in relatively early at about 10-11pm.
Iai-wise, things feel like they are progressing quite nicely. The vast majority of the points I'm being given are difficult to incorporate but I do feel like my iai is making progress - at least I have definite points to work on now, especially for koryu. How well I've incorporated these points will also be tested in mid-August when I compete in the Kanagawa-ken Iaido Taikai (神奈川県居合道大会). Bring it on!
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