Strategy in Amatai no Shugo-ryū (Part 3)

One might well ask, “What is the difference between strategy and tactics, or between tactics and technique?” Well, they are each distinctively different; yet, they also go hand in hand. Remember, we have defined strategy as a plan of action that is intended to accomplish a specific goal. Tactics can be defined as a procedure, or a set of maneuvers which one engages in to achieve a particular end or goal. So then, strategy refers to one’s general plan of action and one’s tactics are the methods used in order to accomplish the plan.

Methods can be categorized even further into techniques. Techniques, with practice, will instill in one the intuitive response that will enable one to act within a tactical frame of mind and efficiently accomplish their strategic goals through the interaction of the sword.

As mentioned above, strategy, tactics and techniques go hand in hand and thus, often overlap. It is important to keep in mind however, the distinctions between them. Too illustrate, let us consider a reaction to a straight, downward strike with a katana. The basic goal, the strategy, is to cut the opponent without being cut. There are numerous ways to accomplish this particular goal. One tactic that could be employed to achieve this end would be to move to one’s side, then counter strike. A technique which could be utilized to do this would be for one to step forward and to the right with the right foot, whle rasing one’s sword overhead; then pivot back and out of the way with the left foot while executing a downward cut or lateral, decapitating strike.

Strategy then, is something that is accomplished by means of tactics, which in turn, consist of techniques. By being aware of the different facets of each encounter, one allows themselves the opportunity to focus their attention in such a manner that the effectiveness of one’s training is taken full advantage of. By examining an encounter in broad terms, one can determine their goal. By narrowing one’s perspective, one can then determine what tactic(s) best suit the accomplishment of that goal. Having done so, one should then select the techinque0s) which will make up the tactics and then practice them until they are literally done without conscious thought: automatic or intuitive. Practice, however, does not stop there. One needs to practice and practice more until one’s reflexive abilities and knowledge are such that we perform them at the very instant they are needed. One might consider it in this way: one’s goal is reflexive abilities and knowledge that “kick in” automatically the second they are required. The tactic to accomplish this goal is study and practice of the techniques we are taught.

As will be discussed later, the value of all of this extends well beyond the walls of the dojo. If one pursues their goals in this exact manner, one can accomplish great things and have a significant and pleasing upon their character.

Copyright 2009 by Hayato Tokugawa & Shisei-Do Publications. All rights reserved.

Strategy in Amatai no Shugo-ryū (Part 2)

To cut the opponent while avoiding being cut is in one sense largely external, because it depends, in part, on technique and strategies which are taught and learned. The second goal, to progress in the direction of perfection of character, is more internal, as it comes from within each of us; yet, it is equally as valid. Both of these objectives are keys to the proper practice of the art of swordsmanship and every subsequent goal is derived from them.

To cut an opponent while at the same time not being cut is, as noted above, a largely external goal. It relates to one’s physical actions as well as to those of their opponent. If one thinks about it, however, “to cut an opponent while not being cut” is also a theoretical goal, in that in modern Japanese society, we do not typically use the katana as a weapon. The modern trend is to place far less emphasis on the killing ability of the katana and instead focus on its character as a tool by which one adds or modifies character and self-discipline. It is however, necessary to keep in mind the true, fighting purpose of the katana. One must maintain a concept of the practical reasons for the art of swordsmanship; thus anchoring one to a sense of martial practicality. Each decision one makes; how to hold a sword, how to stand, how to move, how to think; must be based on the actual principles of fighting with the katana; otherwise one’s actions are no longer fixed in the art and its traditions.

Within our dojo, “to cut an opponent while not being cut” is taken quite seriously, both in discussion of tactics and techniques, as well as in practice. Wearing full bogu[i], it becomes a practical matter of not being “whacked” by bokken or shinai – both potentially a painful experience. The intent of such a practice, among others, is not a competition, but rather to take matters one step further in providing a real, tangible means of fixing in one’s mind in the true, practical aspects, traditions, and history of swordsmanship.

The perfection of character, an internal end, relates directly to the state of one’s mind and spirit. It is equally a real goal although difficult to achieve. It is possible through practice to improve one’s awareness, thought patterns, self-discipline, even one’s integrity and ability to live harmoniously within the community, in keeping with the principles of Wa-Dō. Granted, there is no actual need to develop the skills of sword fighting; yet, there does exist a true need for one to refine themselves and to work toward the betterment of themselves and their community.

The more one follows their quest to accomplish the first goal, the more one makes press along the path to the second. Time spent well in practicing kata, in drills, and in other training with the sword, the more the internal goals are achieved. Therefore, when one speaks of strategy, one addresses both the most successful ways to use a sword and the most effective ways to utilizing swordsmanship to fashion one’s spirit.

---

[i] Bogu (防具 ) is the specially developed protective armor used in Japanese martial arts, particulary in Kendō. A complete set consist of: men (面 ), the facefask and shoulder protector or helmet; the dō (胴 ) or torso protector; the kote (小手 ) or hand and forearm protectors (long, extended gloves); tare (垂) the leg and groin protector.

The men which protects the face, neck and shoulders, consists of a facemask with several horizontal metal bars, running across the entire width of the face, from the chin to the upper forehead. To this is attached a long, rectangular, thick cloth padding, which curves over the top of the head and extends to cover the shoulders. A plate to protect the throat is also attached to the bottom of the facemask. The men is held in place with a pair of cords, which wrap around the head and are tied at the back. Note that the men is left open for ventilation and thus the back of the head is left unprotected. This is primarily due to the fact that there is no prescribed nor permitted stroke to the back of the head.

The main component of the dō is the curved stomach and chest protector. In its modern form, the dō has a distinct bulge, which helps convey the force of a strike away from the soft, middle areas of the torso. Lacquered bamboo has traditionally used however, molded plastic or fiberglass is now frequently used instead. The dō is held in place from the shoulders by two diagonal ties from the shoulders and a small set of ties at the back.

The kote are gloves that resemble long-sleeved mittens, designed specifically for Kendō. While they look cumbersome, they indeed provide a high degree of mobility for hands and writs in gripping in gripping and wielding the shina (the traditional split bamboo “sword” of Kendō.

The tare is a thick, padded, cloth belt that wraps around the waist and ties under the front flap. The padded flaps that hang from the belt protect both the upper legs as well as the groin area.

Copyright 2009 by Sekishinkan Tokguawa Dojo/Takayama Budokai, Shisei-Do Dojo, Shisei-Do Publications, and Hayato Tokugawa. All rights reserved.

Strategy in Amatai no Shugo-ryū (Part I)

Saya no uchi. Saya no uchi no kachi. Victory with the sword still in the scabbard. The words almost shout at the swordsman, exhorts him, to remember that physical combat is always the last resort. No matter how confident one may think they are, how many techniques they may know, a master of strategy will always find a way to win without fighting. This is a message that is not unique to our dojo; rather, it has been passed down through the ages.

Sun Tsu once said:

To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence;

Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

Did not Miyamoto Musashi make this a central point of his Go Rin No Sho, The book of the Five Rings? Did not Yagyū Munenori, founder of the Edo Branch of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū from which Amatai no Shugo-ryu draws so much, preach this very thing time and again?

The path to mastery of Amatai no Shugo-ryū, Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, or any form of Kenjutsu is long indeed. Before anyone can achieve success by virtue of intellect or willpower, they must have a deep understanding of the principles of swordsmanship and of a nature which will allow them to act in keeping with those principles. One can only acquire this through constant, long-term practice and the study of strategy; which includes the old texts by those Musashi and Yagyū Munenori, among others.

Simply put, strategy is a plan of action with the intention of accomplishing a specific objective. A true swordsman practices his art with two very definite objectives in mind:

n To cut the opponent while avoiding being cut.

n To progress in the direction of perfection of character.

To cut the opponent while avoiding being cut is in one sense largely external, because it depends, in part, on technique and strategies which are taught and learned. The second goal, to progress in the direction of perfection of character, is more internal, as it comes from within each of us; yet, it is equally as valid. Both of these objectives are keys to the proper practice of the art of swordsmanship and every subsequent goal is derived from them.

CHA-DO: It's Not Just For Ladies!

Even during the Meiji Era, the Era of Enlightened Rule, it was required, pre-marriage training for women. In the preceding Tokugawa Period, its study was encouraged among samurai and its practice the mark of a cultured gentleman. In the current Heisei Era, the time of Emperor Akihito it is becoming a much-sought out weapon in Japan’s war on stress. It is Cha-no-yu, Cha-Dō: the tea ceremony.

Throughout Japan, on any evening, and particularly on weekends, you may find Japanese men, business men, merchants, engineers, academics, gathered together in suburban tea houses, wearing kimono, hakama, and haori, to immerse themselves in traditional Japanese culture and in particular, this traditional Japanese art as a means of shedding off the stress and strain of modern life. How? With what would be termed in the West as a “tea party.” On any evening at the Urasenke School of Tea, one can find an ever increasing number of Japanese men studying the traditions and art of tea; indeed, on some evenings the number of male pupils (largely men over 40) outnumbers women. Japanese people, regardless of age or gender, are rediscovering the beauty and emotional calming effects of Cha-Dō, as a transcendental interlude, a time of peace and re-focusing one’s life. Numerous magazines have recently produced articles, even special “tea” editions, which were quickly sold out as Japan discovers that “new” is not always better and the old ways, tradition, can have a place of significance in the life of the modern Japanese man.

“Cha…it’s not just for ladies anymore!”

The Tokugawa Period: An Overview of the Western Concept

My view of historical scholarship is that of an attempt to write about the events of the past and as such, it is dependant upon documents from the period(s) being studied. I have also pointed out that many historians, particularly in the West tend to “cherry-pick” their documents, selecting records that tend to match their preconceived notions of history. The result is that such written history fails, sometimes miserably, to provide clarity and truth.

I do not exempt Japanese historians from blame in this matter of imbalanced or distorted history, particularly in the portrayal of the Tokugawa Shōgunate and the period of Japanese history that it encompasses, 1603 to 1868; as a period marked by military dictatorship and oppression. In viewing the Mieji Restoration and the years that followed, one can come to understand how such distortions were possible. Meiji historians took on the attitude and viewpoint of the era, an obsession with Westernization. The entire country was lost in all things Western: Western culture, Western technology, Western politics, even Western scholarship. What was past, what was “Tokugawa” was cast away as unenlightened and thus, of no value to the “New Japan” and the age of Enlightened Rule.

With the end of World War II, during the Showa Era, historians both in the West and in Japan, looked for reasons for the war. Ultimately, their collective fingers pointed at the Tokugawa Period, not only as the Japanese dark ages, but as the root cause of the wars that followed the conclusion of that era. Japanese feudalism was equated with authoritarianism rather than the Confucian concept of a decentralized political system as evidenced in the Zhou Dynasty, a concept idealized by the Tokugawa. Certainly Japanese feudalism (hōken) was not compatible with liberal Western post-war views, often tainted by not so hidden traces of Marxism, political correctness and the European 18^th century “enlightened” view of Europe’s feudalism as their own dark ages. These historians thus superimposed their viewpoint over Japanese history, tainting what lay beneath.

Western history, particularly that of Europe is viewed as having three major eras: a classical era, a feudal era, and a modern era. Japanese history is far more complex, with a myriad of twists and turns, hundreds if not thousands of threads interwoven much the same as a fine tapestry. To overlay Japanese history with the restricted views of Western scholarship simply does not work: it is to ignore the depth and character of Japanese history and culture.

In conclusion, one should be more inclined to view the Tokugawa Period as a forerunner of modern Japanese social and political concepts rather than as the dark depths of tyranny. The Tokugawa brought unity to Japan, for the first time, an actual feeling of nation and country, unique in the Asia and the world, which continues to live in contemporary Japanese values.

THE EDO PERIOD'S POPULATION

THE EDO PERIODS'S POPULATION

Do you know how many people there were in Japan during the Edo Period? It is said that there were some thirty million (30,000,000) with the samurai population at about 2 million. The samurai therefore accounted for from 6.7% to 7% of the total Japanese population. At tat time there was no large-scale census conducted on a national level; rather, it was performed by each province and clan, to be recorded in the 宗門人別改帳 (Shumon Ninbetsu Aratame cho, しゅうもんにんべつあらためちょう) or Residential Register.

Edo’s (Tokyō’s) population began an upward trend from the Kaei era (1624 – 1644) and continued to increases through the Genroku era (1688 – 1704), when the population of the city was the largest urban population in the world; to the Tenmei era (1787) figures of 1,626,500, according the census performed in 1721 and then again in 1736. While the proportion of samurai in the national population did not significantly change through the Edo Period, the percentage was significantly higher in Edo, due to the policy of Sankinkoutai (the system of alternate annual attendance between the home of a daimyō in Edo and his home in his fief).

The general analysis of the Edo (Tokyō) population was as follows:

Farmers – 80%

Tradesmen – 10%

Samurai – 7%

Other – 3%

On a slightly different vein:

A scholar of Japanese history at Havard Universtiy, Harold Bolitho, wrote the following:

The Tokugawa Period, in fact, was a time of almost total samurai dominance; they dominated government, they dominated society, the dominated city life, they dominated education, they also dominated cultural life, providing most of the painter, most of the poets, most of the playwrights, and most of all the philosophers, mathematicians, and botanists…there was no government apart form them, no laws but what they devised, and no order save what they imposed.

Note that the word “dominated” is repeated – extensively. This ia a good writing technique by which to instill an image that one wants to impose on readers; yet actually, as I read this statement by Professor Bolitho, I could not but help to imagine the citizens of Japan in a jail, with no means of escape! What a terrible thought! According to the Professor, there was no freedom for the Japanese people; however, what he said was not entirely true; certainly, he need to add some supplementary notes or commentary. Keep in mind that the merchant culture of Edo flourished during the Edo period under the Tokugawa. Such things as Ukiyo-e or Kabuki, human splendor and tragedy there to see and experience in theaters or as woodblock prints found in the shops of the Yoshiwara, Edo’s largest, licensed “red light” district, thrived. Even the kimono was a product of the refined town culture, an outgrowth of the merchant class of the socially stable Edo Period.

It is easy for one to write that the samurai dominated Japanese society, laws, art, culture, etc.; yet in truth, how can a samurai population of approximately 7% dominate 93% of the entire Japanese population. Simple logic would dictate that it is not so easy to do. If 93% of the population was to riot or revolt, could the samurai put it down? Certainly not. Yet, the Tokugawa Shōgunate lasted for over 200 years. How could the Bakufu keep peace in a nation for such a long period of time? Simply wielding the sword and the power of a privileged class cannot dominate much of anything. Early in its history, the Tokugawa Shōgunate found a great way to “control” its citizens. This is not a simple topic and requires far more room and time than is available here today, but we will discuss it again soon; but for now, think about this, using your imagination. If you were samurai, a member of the privileged class, how would you bring peace to Japanese society? Before the Tokugawa Period, your job was fighting, but now that is no longer necessary because Japan has peace. What do you do? Do you sleep all day? Probably not. Nevertheless, if your people do not obey, do you bring them into submission by force? Remember that 93 % of the population watches you; how you speak and behave, solely on the basis of your social ranking. What could the samurai, the 7%, possibly use to control the other 93% of Japan? I think it was their dignity.

Yamaga Soko (1622 – 1685) said, “The peasant’s job is to plow a field, a craftsman’s job is to make things, the merchant’s job is to sell and buy [or barter].” What then is the samurai’s job? Think with all your heart about the question. The true answer will not come by just reading a book, but by also thinking with all your heart about what a samurai’s job was. Yamaga further added, “A samurai’s job is to achieive Jinrin no Michi in the world. Jinrin no Michi (人倫の道) is the way of humanity, morality. Jinrin means moral principle, that is, to behave in a moral way. Michi means the way, path, or journey. This is the most basic principle that a samurai must realize in Shidō a samurai code far different from Bushidō.

More on Tokugawa society and the samurai next time.

Submitted by Aoi Tokugawa-sensei

Copyright 2009 by Shisei-Do Publications and Aoi Tokugawa. All rights reserved.