Wake up, your master did not allow it!

Amazing and responsible!

"I will take responsibility for this matter, and from now on I will no longer use the title of 'Liu Gangliu Mianxu Shifan'."

Talk about gossip in the Japanese martial arts circle. At the beginning of 2022, Kenji Senuma, the host of the Budokan "Suigetsuan" in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, published an article on his blog titled "Ryu Gang-ryu に关するごReportとお奇び" (About Liu Gang-ryu's report and apology ) articles. It is mentioned at the end of the article that Senuma will give up his qualifications for exempting Liu Gangliu.

To put it simply, the head of the dojo joined the Shuiyueshu Martial Arts Association in 2015 and learned Liu Gangliu's art of war. Later, in September 2019, he was granted the qualification to teach the Art of War of Liu Gangliu without permission, and became the head and lecturer of the Saitama Branch of Suigetsu School. However, in 2022, Senuma discovered that Atsushi Osano (the host of Suigetsu School) did not have the qualifications to be exempted from Liu Gangliu as he originally claimed.

In fact, Suigetsujuku was already quite controversial in the Japanese martial arts circle, and the incident became a bit different in the end. I don't want to discuss it in depth here [1] . But it is quite strange to practice martial arts until you publicly apologize. What is the story here? What exactly is a license? Can I eat it?

The emperor takes turns doing it, and will come to my house next year. (Journey to the West: Chapter Seven)

In Japanese traditional arts, "Remission [2] " is one of the forms of inheritance. Although the names of different schools are different, being granted a license usually means that the person can represent the school to the outside world, and the license is often taught at the same time as "Ji Chuan", which means that all the skills of the school have been granted, so there is a saying of "Ji Xu Chuan". statement.

However, at the beginning of Japanese martial arts, there was no such thing as exemption.

Before the Edo period, the martial arts atmosphere in Japan was relatively free. It is mentioned in "Benbang Sword Test" that "in the Middle Ages, all farmers, businessmen and merchants would carry swords." The well-known Kyoto Yoshioka constitution (boxing method) in the story of Miyamoto Musashi is a local who is engaged in dyeing work in Kyoto. etc. There are no restrictions on the qualifications for martial arts, and the control over disciples is relatively loose. The author mentioned this point in the article related to Mochenliu [3] : Negishi's brothers in Tujiao did not use the banner of violating the school rules to take revenge; and after Negishi was defeated in the martial arts competition, his disciples immediately changed schools.

At that time, although certificates such as biography and seals were issued, their effectiveness was not the same as that after the Edo period. For example, the biography of Nobutsuna Umizumi bestowed on Yagyu Zongyan is "Yin Ke Jing [4] " and "Shadow Catalog". In the seal, there are words such as "I met by chance during Shangluo, and I feel all kinds of sincere hospitality...." Yoshio Imamura believes that "the meaning of returning gifts is very strong" [5] .

Thinking about it realistically, Japanese martial arts genres did not start to be created in large numbers until the Edo period. Before that, the seals and licenses granted to martial arts were not so much related to military equipment, but rather social and elegant considerations of the upper class.

There is a saying that "the emperor takes turns to do it, and come to my house next year [6] ". After the end of the Warring States period, there were a large number of unemployed ronin and samurai, so in the early days of Edo in Japan, a large number of new schools emerged in various places. In those romantic days, kappa, tengu, passing monks, etc. could all be used as the source of genre inheritance, but no one went into the details of whether these ancestors had any inheritance of scriptures or divine scriptures. After all, practicing martial arts is such an elegant hobby, if you are still entangled in trivial matters such as paperwork, it would be too small, isn't it?

It is the place where the old people are impermanent, and where they can see the benefits (Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals: Fame)

The "Samurai Laws" promulgated in the early Edo period explicitly encouraged the samurai class to practice both civil and martial arts [7] . For example, Tadashi Ono of the Yidao style, and Shigenobu Yoshida of the Indo-style archery school all received salaries as teachers of martial arts. The feudal clans also set up feudal schools one after another to teach various civil and military subjects for the samurai in the feudal clan.

With the passage of time in Edo, the trend of martial arts disappeared, and the establishment of martial arts schools gradually stagnated, while the teaching of martial arts became more refined and hierarchical. Today's Japanese martial arts "catalogue", "cut paper", "Okuden", "Kaiden" and other ranks were formed at this time. And now handed down, many handbooks with exquisite styles and illustrations also appeared later.

During the Kansei period, the entry for job application in the Akita Domain School stated: "Students over the age of 16 must have studied "University", "The Doctrine of the Mean", and "Analects of Confucius" in the library when applying for security work, and at the same time Which gym you have been in, who you have learned sword, bow, spear... and other experience should also be mentioned. [8] "Just mention martial arts-related experience, but do not ask about degree qualifications. Martial arts qualifications are not even a necessary condition for applying for security jobs, and it is self-evident that they are valued.

Times have changed. In the past, Yanagyu Zongyan wanted to get a certificate, but he also "sincerely entertained" Nobuzuna Umizumi and his party in Yanagyu Village. People in their thirties had to be fucked by brothers in their twenties. It was hard. It was only after being awarded the seal [9] that later generations will still be sour because it is "reciprocity". In the middle and late Edo period, the review standards for issuing biography were much looser. It is recorded in "Fencing Cong Tan" that Jianji Exile relaxed the criteria for granting exemptions, making it easier for disciples to pass the review [10] .

The criteria granted by martial arts biography are constantly changing with the times and society, and the teaching methods are also changing day by day. After the mid-Edo period, the ancient way of using props such as bamboo knives, cage hands, and bamboo masks became more and more popular [11] . The same is true of Liu Gangliu mentioned above. This school attaches great importance to competition, and its qualification for exemption is mainly based on the merits of the bamboo sword competition. If you win the bamboo sword test, you can be granted an exemption. Young men in their twenties naturally have an advantage. Therefore, in the Edo period, many people were granted exemption qualifications in their early twenties [12] . Because of this, Liu Gangliu was once very prosperous, and the number of followers even surpassed Beichen Yidaoliu at one time.

However, the times have changed again and again. After the Meiji era, with the release of the abolition of swords, ancient martial arts were greatly impacted. For example, the naive Shinto Shinto school, which was very popular in Shimane Prefecture, was directly banned from Jigu after the abolition of swords was issued. Later, with the establishment of the Butokukai and the Kodokan successively, the teaching and activities of kendo and judo gradually centered on these two organizations. Compared with kendo and judo, which were known as progressive and civilized at that time, the various schools of ancient martial arts are really pale in comparison, and many schools are facing the situation of no successor [13] .

It wasn't until the early Showa period that all schools of martial arts finally ushered in a turning point.

I mean everyone in this room is... (Movie "Lord of Destruction")

"Today's martial arts are technically immature, but spiritually degenerate... Anyone who has watched Tianlan in May this year will agree with this statement... (kendo competition) has completely obliterated the basics of kendo The principles and principles of judo... the same is true in judo today... [14] "

In order to celebrate the crown prince's birthday, Imperial Household Ministry held a Tianlan Trial Match at the Jining Pavilion in the Imperial Palace in Showa 9. Mainly members of Kodokan and Butokukai will compete and perform martial arts in front of the emperor and other important military and political officials. However, in the magazine "Reform" published in October of the same year, Tetsunosuke Kawauchi wrote an article bluntly saying, "Everyone here is..."

Although the ancient style of martial arts has gradually declined after the Meiji era, Kawauchi chose to speak at this time, but he came prepared. At the time of the early Showa era, right-wing assassination activities and patriotism were becoming increasingly active. In 1932, in order to curb the gradual spread of communism and to promote Japanese culture, the government bureaucrats set out to establish the "Japanese Cultural Union". Today's Kobudo Promotion Association is one of the organizations under the Japanese Federation of Letters and Literature. Tetsunosuke Kawauchi was one of the officers of the Early Promotion Association (the other was the famous Zenya Kuni [15] in the future).

After going through the ups and downs of Meiji and Taisho, all schools of martial arts finally see the moonlight when the clouds open. The resources and funds obtained by the Kobudo Promotion Association can be said to be life-saving straws for traditional martial arts at that time. However, in Japan at that time, there was a certain price for obtaining public resources. Organizations that were also under the Japanese Federation of Letters and Letters at that time included: Asia Club, National Essence Association, Imperial Road Association, Japanese Culture Research Association... Looking at the names of these groups, it is a bit daunting.

Matsumoto Gaku [16] , the first president of the Revitalization Association, criticized kendo and judo as follows: "Today's so-called martial arts tend to use some small skills, or stick to simple wins and losses, and gradually become more sporty, abandoning the true The essence of martial arts [17] ." And the essence of Japanese martial arts is "to carry out the spirit of martial arts, there is no other way than to practice the "style" of ancient martial arts. The "style" of "style" is the practice of Japanese spirit . 18] "

In short, Japan's traditional ancient martial art is not influenced by Europe and the United States, the kind of new martial arts with small noses and small eyes that only care about winning or losing. The focus of ancient martial arts lies in spiritual training, which is a tradition inherited from ancient sages and sages. Among them, Matsumoto Gaku paid special attention to the "type" of Kobudo. He believed that "type" was not man-made, but inherently unchanging. In other words, it is given by heaven [19] . Therefore, Matsumoto excluded both competitive martial arts and the martial arts schools created after the Meiji era from this "emerging" concept of Kobudo.

Under such a premise, the newly established Kobudo Promotion Association cooperated with the Ministry of Sports Research Institute of the Ministry of Education and Culture at that time to compile the "Founding Gymnastics" full of Japanese spirit. In 1940, during the activities related to Jijien Festival (today’s National Founding Day of Japan), more than 10,000 people performed the gymnastics together... I always feel that these political figures have some wonderful misunderstandings about martial arts [20] .

Pulling away, let's go back to Liu Gangliu.

After understanding the history of this period of ancient martial arts, we can actually understand why some people practice martial arts so well that they have to apologize publicly.

Today's so-called "Kobudo" concept was greatly influenced by the Japanese right wing in the early Showa era. According to personal preference and many misunderstandings of martial arts, the person in charge at that time insisted on incorporating traditional martial arts into a narrow concept of "ancient martial arts". However, many expositions at that time still exist in the propaganda of many schools today. The previous section mentioned Matsumoto's misreading of "type" as an example [21] .

In addition, the early martial arts inheritance was mainly based on gymnasiums, but the Zhenxing Association took schools as its member units. As a result, many gymnasiums of the same genre had no choice but to form an alliance to recommend a sect, while some genres changed their names, or used place names in front of the genre name. In today's revitalization meeting, some clan members represent several sects, or different gymnasiums deliberately add "so-and-so faction", "so-and-so biography", "swordsmanship", "war art" and so on to the name of the genre. .

As mentioned earlier, in the past when a school was opened to teach apprentices, it was not absolutely important whether there was an exemption from passing on books. After all, the focus of martial arts is not on paper. However, with the reorganization of the Kobudo Promotion Association after the war and the establishment of organizations such as the Kobudo Association, Kobudo is regarded as an intangible "cultural property." The society pays more and more attention to the "orthodoxy", "scrolls", and "exemption from transmission" of ancient martial arts.

At present, the qualifications for joining the Kobudo Promotion Association are: recommended by two or more directors, and reviewed by the permanent directors. Review what? Since Kobudo is a cultural project, of course it is a document review. Applicants must provide written information such as the relevant inheritance pedigree of the genre, the qualifications for exempting the transmission of letters granted by the individual, and personal experience. In addition, of course, the name and name of the recommender must be attached.

Such a "strict" review method will naturally produce strong exclusivity. Bu Chuanliu’s Takahide Koyama interviewed many inheritors of Kobudo in Aomori. Many of the interviewees were unable to apply for intangible cultural property because of the complex inheritance situation, and few interviewees joined Kobudo-related organizations [ 22] .

Cuiyuean mentioned above, one month after the article was cut, published another article claiming that it had contacted a certain descendant of Shifan who inherited Liu Gangliu, and was encouraged to continue Liu Gangliu's restoration research work, and at the same time It will continue to learn from ancient times and teach apprentices [23] . Shifan's descendants don't know technology but have scrolls and titles, and Cuiyuean is authorized to restore technology...you can probably imagine what will happen in the future.

Alas, both of them are peers, so they can replace each other.

【Japanese Martial Arts Anecdote】:

Facebook fans
Grid column

Notes:

[1] Suigetsu School is quite controversial in the Japanese martial arts circle. Although its host, Atsushi Kosano, claims that he has inherited many ancient martial arts, some schools have never been heard of, and some have great doubts about the inheritance experience. . There is a saying that Xiao Sano only briefly practiced certain genres, and claimed that he is qualified to inherit; or the teaching of some genres is basically carried out in the form of video records. In recent years, a certain gymnasium owned by Yagyu has been in conflict with Jun Sano. In early 2022, it was directly revealed on Facebook that Liu Gangliu of Shuiyueshu had doubts about the inheritance of Shuiyueshu. After a while, Cuiyuean declared that he would continue to study Liu Gangliu, restore the genre, and continue to teach apprentices to open the museum... Maybe that's the way it is. Refer to the blog "Thinking of Cuiyuean", "Liu Gangliu に关するごReportとお惊び", website: https://saitamagyoda.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2055.html , access date: 2022 /11/10, Yagyu Xinyan Liu Hirose Dojo Facebook, website: https://www.facebook.com/yagyusingan/posts/472739620905114 , access date: 2022/11/10

[2] "Exemption" means permission to carry out specific matters in Japanese, and usually contains official and authoritative meanings. For example, in the "Personal Trading Prohibition" promulgated during the Kamakura period, it is written: "Mortal relationships are strictly prohibited for buying things. However, those who are in famine years are exempted." process について〉). As far as art and martial arts are concerned, the promulgation of the exemption not only recognizes the degree of the recipient, but also further confirms the authority of the clan/teacher.

[3] You can refer to another article of the author "Your Senior Brother Is Not Your Senior Brother"

[4] "Yinke" was originally a Japanese Buddhist term, referring to the proof of enlightenment given by a Zen master to his disciples. In modern creations, Yinke is often equated with the "exemption" of later generations (for example, in the game "Taiko Lizhi Biography V"). However, in terms of time, Kamizumi granted Yanagyu Zong a strict seal certificate in the eighth year of Yonglu, and the "Ying Catalog" of the new video stream catalog in the ninth year of Yonglu. It is regarded as what later generations call "exemption". In short, the background of the times and the inheritance of martial arts at that time were different from those in the Edo period, and it is difficult to directly compare them.

[5] Quoted from Yoshio Imamura's "Yagyu Clan--The Genealogy of the Xinyin Stream" quoted from Akabane Tatsuo's "Research on the Xinyin Stream (疋田伝)". For matters related to Yanagyu Sogen and Yagyu Xinyinryu, please refer to another article of the author "Yagyu Xinyinryu's No Sword Taken"

[6] Quoted from Chapter 7 of "Journey to the West"

[7] During the era of the Tokugawa shogunate, except for samurai, other classes were generally forbidden to carry knives. The teaching of martial arts, at least on the surface, was restricted to the warrior class. In "Warrior Laws", there is a saying that "samurai should practice both civil and martial arts", and although the court nobles are not expressly prohibited from practicing martial arts, it is mentioned in "Public Family Laws" that "public households should be diligent and diligent. "Study, don't slack off", encouraging literary affairs and not mentioning military equipment at all is a passive ban on martial arts; and in "Tokugawa Ban Kao" there is a clear prohibition on teaching martial arts to local people. Refer to Shimokawa Chao's "剣道の発达" pp202-208

[8] Refer to Eizo Kudo <Modern samurai ni おける Wuyun の position づけ>

[9] According to the part of Yagyu Zongyan in the "Biography of Martial Arts in This Dynasty", after Nobuzuna Kamizumi accepted Zongyan's entry, he went to another place with Suzuki Yibo (Izumori), leaving Hita Bungoro to teach Zongyan swordsmanship. Zong Yan was 35 years old at the time, and Hirota was 28 years old (there are also sayings that he was 25 years old).

[10] It is mentioned in "Fencing Cong Tan" that in the tradition of Jianjiliu, if a disciple wants to be granted a waiver, he must first have a trial match with the master. If you do not meet the standard, you must continue to practice and continue to compete until you can match the master. However, after the mid-Edo period, this condition was gradually relaxed, and even the master would play guiding chess and give secret signs during the competition, so that the students could pass smoothly. Refer to the "Jiangjian Congtan" section on Jianjiliu.

[11] Refer to Shimokawa Chao's "Sword Road の 発达" pp265-283

[12] The swordsmanship genre in the Edo period was often based on Xingjigu, supplemented by the trial combination of bamboo swords. The purpose of using the bamboo sword protective gear for the competition is to let the disciples learn the combination, handling of the sword and various judgments. For example, the older schools such as the Yidao style will warn the disciples not to abuse the bamboo sword. This is because the purpose of using the bamboo knife is not to fight for strength, but to improve oneself. However, there is a gap in ideas between genres. For example, Liu Gangliu emphasizes that the results of the competition are used as the criterion for strength and weakness, which naturally attracts more youthful and passionate young people. However, perhaps due to the fact that it is free and easy to obtain, many disciples have studied other genres after graduation. In the "Imperial Kingdom Yingminglu" in the 21st year of Meiji, there were 385 disciples of Liu Gangliu, and 111 of them also practiced Wudao style. Refer to Ushio Shimokawa's "Swordsmanship の発达" pp278-280, and Murabayashi Masami's "The Characteristics of Liugang Style Swordsmanship"

[13] Refer to Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japanese Budo Theory" pp427-431

[14] Tetsunosuke Kawauchi, "Nippon Budo and Nen-ryu の Mysteries", edited by Misei Yamamoto, "Reformation" magazine, October 1934, pp147-148. Quoting from Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japan の Budolun" p457, the Chinese is the author's own translation.

[15] For matters related to Zenya Kuni, please refer to another article of the author "Forget about Aiki, have you heard of Zenya Kuni?" >

[16] Matsumoto Gaku used to be the secretary of the Golden Rooster Academy, which was often involved in the early Showa Blood League and May 15 assassinations.

[17] The preface of Tetsusaburo Kawauchi's "Japanese Budo-ryuzu", quoted from Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japan の Budo Theory" p459. Chinese is translated by the author

[18] "Metropolis News" No. 17195, February 11, 1937. Quoted from Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japanese Budolun" p472. The Chinese is the author's own translation.

[19] Refer to Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japanese Budo Theory" p493

[20] As mentioned above, ancient martial arts also have ancient forms such as competition and trial combination. In addition, not only the teaching form, but also the inheritance history of martial arts and the focus of teaching, etc., the expositions of Matsumoto Gaku and others are actually quite suspicious. For related discussions, please refer to Tetsuya Nakajima's "Modern Japanese Budolun" pp488-494

[21] According to Matsumoto's point of view: "type" is given by heaven, and cannot be changed arbitrarily by humans. In other words, the ancient martial art passed down from generation to generation through the type is eternal. In the "Forty Years History of the Kobudo Association of Japan" published in 2019, Yoshio Mito, who was then a permanent director of the association, mentioned that "(inheritance of Kobudo) 'No point added, no point subtracted' is just to maintain Orthodox... Japanese ancient Budo has a history of thousands of years, although there are other ancient cultures in the world, but there are only a handful of them that can be maintained so far without changing." Quoted from "Nippon Kobudo" by the Japan Kobudo Association Forty-year History of the Association" p349, quoted from Adachi Kenji's ""Ancient Budao" 伝结の Historical Anthropological Research" p21

[22] Referring to Takahide Koyama’s <Aomori Prefecture における前级の武の伝结と変容>, there are various situations in which local martial arts in Aomori are passed on. The Buden-ryu swordsmanship, including Koyama himself, did not participate in the Kobudo Promotion Association.

[23] Refer to the blog "Cuiyue Temple Random Thoughts" "Deliberation", website: https://saitamagyoda.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2057.html , access date: 2022/11/10.