DISCUSSION on SHINDEN YŌSHIN RYŪ

This is the blog for discussion of the Shinden yoshin ryu, its mokuroku, techniques and doctrines. In these posts you'll find some detailed descriptions of things which might be helpful (even if it's not your school.)




SHINDEN YŌSHIN RYŪ, JUJUTSU
This school is a derivative of Shintō yōshin ryū by most accounts that changed its name to 'shinden' around 1910. The word 'shinden' and the word 'shinto' mean about the same thing in Japanese: "Traditional (by Japanese standards)". To clarify and explain things there are two relevant forms of Shintō yōshin ryū, the gendai and the kōryu schools. Shinden yōshin ryū is not descended or derived from the koryu schools. Some sources identified that the Shinden yōshin ryū was possibly a break away from Takagi ryū, but again and likewise, it's the same general vein of jujutsu schools (Shintō yōshin ryū is also related to the Takagi schools.) The gendai forms of either school are quite common and very prolific both in and outside of Japan itself (being encountered in most countries that have any relevant Japanese population.)

Many sources claim that the Shintō yōshin ryū is not a relative of any of these veins, and hence not a relative of Shinden yōshin ryū, but these sources seem to have confused keizu (lineage) with technical relationship. They do have completely different and disparate keizu lineages which are often not connected to any of the Takagi-kukishin lineages. But their technical content and technique names show definitive relationship.

In any event the facts of our school is really only that it's a crappy little gendai goshin-jujutsu school, nothing special or unique about it.

For the longest time I couldn't find any references to Shinden yōshin ryū on the internet, but over the years, a few have popped up -- mostly simple references to it. There are two forms of Shinden yōshin ryū, as far as I know. One has a structure and content more akin to the Takagi and Kukishin related schools (that'd be our branch.) The other branch has a structure and content a little more simplified, and is much closer to contemporary Shinto yoshin ryu. AS FAR AS I KNOW they are both just different branches of the same school. The other branch calls the techniques by simple literal names and almost never by the poetic names. For example, the other branch (and most forms of shinto yoshin ryu) call such as Oni kudaki 'Demon crusher' by the name 'Ude garame' (otherwise 'Hiji garame') , Oni buse 'Laying out a demon' they seem to call it 'Ude gatame' (otherwise, 'Hiji gatame' or 'Hiji ori' and etc.)

Shinden yōshin ryū was frequently employed by town police departments as basic training for duty. These schools are all considered good pursuits for men, since they lend themselves well to being useful for a soldier too. The school and its methods are not spurious, they are rather straight forward and to the point. In my instructors dojo, back in the 1970's and 1980's, one was expected to study and pursue a very wide variety of subjects relevant to the martial arts -- we were told that this was the way the school itself sought to instruct its students -- and that one never stopped being a student no matter what his rank. My instructor had served in the U.S. military and been stationed in Okinawa, where he used to travel to Osaka on leave. That was where the SYR dojo was, a very small group of people from what I was told. He brought back SYR after his tour of duty ended and set up shop in Florida back in 1973.

One of the things I had always appreciated about the school was its insistence on studying all kinds of stuff, when one reviews them, the SYR Hiden Mokuroku and the Mokuroku No Hyogai (List of Items Outside) show a proliferation of interesting subjects that one might not otherwise have thought connected to fighting techniques -- but now, years later, I know that its really very sensible a connection being that Jujutsu like this is meant for servicemen and police, emergency personelle and etc.


THE KATA OF THE SCHOOL
When I was being trained, and for years as an assistant instructor, the katas were almost never named. Frequently we just called them "techniques", but we did know that some stuff had names: we knew what 'oni kudaki' was, we knew what 'ganseki nage', 'koshi guruma', 'koshi ori' was and etc. But we were REALLY confused by it all. See, we thought the throw was called 'koshi guruma' and did NOT understand that the kata was called this. Nor did we understand that it was possible to see a variation of koshi guruma that didn't involve any form of a hip throw.
Now today everybody understands this stuff, back then we didn't. What I know now is that the katas, or 'techniques' as we used to call them, aren't even that special -- they're all from a common garden variety assortment of fighting techniques that are easy to get ones hands on.

Questions on the origin of the kata and their names have always been asked. I will try to shed some light on it, but my own knowledge of the subject isn't really very good. When we were kids the common hype was that these martial arts techniques were ultimately “thousands of years old”. Times have changed and people are more willing to truthfully discuss these subjects. At one time, nobody would have ever dreamed of posting a ryuha's mokuroku to the Internet, but today, it is becoming suspicious if one doesn't. This is really because the schools have been propagating for so long that, really, the techniques are becoming common knowledge by and large. Hence there are as of this date [September 2008] a multitude of mokuroku which have been posted to the net by the Japanese (both Gendai and the older schools.) The new pathways of information have filled in many of the gaps and now we know a little bit more about the subject.

How old are the katas?
As far as anyone knows, the katas seem to be no older than maybe 250 years old (originating back in the 1700's.) In some cases maybe not even that old (a date in the 1800's is possible in some cases.) How can we tell? Some katas have names that were not coined as a language term until the early 1800's. Some katas actually bear names that come from the 20th century (for example, I know of a kata the name is the Japanese word “steering wheel [of an automobile]” and this term was not used prior to the advent of the automobile... so we know that kata is likely 20th century. Lest anyone take these remarks as ammunition and jump the pulpit to claim that our school's kata are 20th century (or worse, 21st century): no such luck. From what other schools practice the SYR kata listed here are about as old as any other. In fact, some of the kata (same name, same or very similar technique) appear in old jujutsu books from the 1940's and 1950's so it ain't like such dribble could seriously be propagated.

Where do the katas come from?
That's a bit more complex of a question. From what we have learned, it seems likely that the katas are all technique patterns developed as of the 1700's primarily for use in the field of police-work and domestic paramilitary applications within Japan itself. I need to point out that there are multiple groups living in Japan other than the Japanese themselves (such as the Ainu, Korean immigrants and etc.) These groups were, until rather recently, strictly controlled and sometimes that was the paramilitary application these arts and techniques saw. Very little battlefield combat considerations seems to have figured in. The katas apparently seem to have been developed as a means of self protection during the line of duty in police work – or in conducting domestic paramilitary occupations of disparate peoples living among the Japanese themselves. Where the kata did not come from: they are most certainly not of samurai origin. It is unlikely that the samurai were ever that nice to a commoner or a combatant (the katas will inflict harm, of course, but the samurai would likely have but killed the foe or apprehended criminal, if that much violence were necessary as the katas demonstrate.) No, the kata did not come from the samurai. What about the sword katas? Likewise, the sword kata are techniques developed after the 1700's as the sword became available to the common classes in Japanese society. The sword katas were not originated by the samurai either. The kata were developed as of and after the 1700's for use by non-samurai classes.

What do the kata names mean?
Well, this is one of my favorite subjects. The katas bear striking and unusual names, frequently quite poetic (such as “demon crusher”, ”abomination drop”, “butterfly capture” or “Hill drop”.) The name origins was a fascinating study. Turns out that some of them were known religious terms (associated with Buddhism), others were common language terms, whilst many others were archaic terms that came originally from Chinese language. I had always heard that if one knew how, there was a message encoded into each of the kata sequence names, not unlike the message encoded into the Hiden entries. Now that I know that some of the kata names come from Chinese and are not in use among the modern Japanese – this makes much more sense. It is a fact that many of these kata names, one would not have believed could be a language term but sometimes not only are they, it's actually Sino-japanese idioms (not modern Japanese at all. Chinese language idiomatic terms.) Case in point: in order to decode them as a potential message or statement, one would need to know a hefty amount of Chinese.



The Purpose of Jujutsu

It is extremely important to understand that jujutsu is really a very diverse series of arts, and that it is not always approached the same way from school to school. But in any event, the primary purpose of jujutsu never really changes. The purpose of jujutsu, in anyone's approach, is always junbi 準備 “preparation”. To be ready. To make provision for oneself.

What kind of provision and preparation depends upon the focus of the school in question. Some are schools of sports jujutsu, and these prepare to win or lose the match. Some are self defense schools and these prepare to meet and prevail over the threat. Some are schools meant to assist those whom engage in military or emergency service to their society – these prepare for the duties of that service. Still others inter-combine these various functions, and so can be found carrying out an inter-combination of them. Shinden yōshin ryū is for common class people, a school that seeks to prepare one for military and emergency service and the course of duty. Thereafter, it serves as a self defense school (the duty oriented teachings are redirected to be of use in one's daily life as a form of self protection via preparation for and defense of one's own life interests.) Wherein one does not serve (along paramilitary or emergency service lines) then one practices hoshinjutsu self protection. That is the obvious nature of things. Does shinden yōshin ryū practice sports? No, but some of our instructors did engage in judo practice to cover that aspect of martial arts (the SYR was presented as the self defense tactics in their dojos.) There is no address of sports or sportsmanship in the shinden yōshin ryū.

JUNBI 準備 “PREPARATION”
Junbi, preparation, is extremely important. As a Japanese language term, it has also the connotation of “guarding” so it means “guarding oneself and one's life” just as well. This is exactly how we understand it: guarding oneself and one's life interests. Of this preparation, there is also yobi 予備 reserve or additional preparations, that is to say that one has acted sufficiently so that there is room to spare (alleviating further concern for oneself and household.) One also must avoid occurances of Hon matsutentō 本末転倒 "miscarriage of intention" which might occur from misjudging the importance of things or not executing full and proper preparation. And in all of this one must always consider the necessity of 支度金 Shitaku-kin, money to cover the cost of preparations or arrangements. This one, of course, covers any expenses of education and training, supplies and equipment and so forth. You can be fortunate and get free education from such as this blog to help you... there are all kinds of free stuff, if one pokes around. Cut costs in whatever reasonable fashion that one can, affording more money towards other areas of preparation and provision.

Traditionally, among the preparations one should seek to become familiar with and master are the subjects of the Bunmon or classical education subjects. Among them some form of: Bungei the literary arts, shozoku membership, jinei camp, tenmon and chimon, the study of meteorology and of geography (all of these for paramilitary and personal applications.) Rekigaku the study of Calendars. Medical arts such as Yakujiryōhō, treatment by medicine and diet. Honzōgaku the study of medicinal herbs (of course, all of these for paramilitary and personal applications.) Ekigaku the study of divination methods. Kyōmon study of religion (Buddhism, originally.) Shigaku the study of history and etc (again, all of these for paramilitary and personal applications.) These and many besides are common. Concerning jujutsu practices, the more important of these is of course bungei (文芸), the literary arts, the study of how to read and write, how to make literature and documents. This is so because in order to pursue the studies and practices of the other arts, one needs to be able to read the books and materials written on the subject. Also, one must be able to make and to read proper documents and records. This is elementary to budō (martial arts) even in the West, where the MA schools offer students a variety of documents and certificates of study and participation. Certainly it is true of the Japanese who make a proliferation of (such records as) denshō books, makimono scrolls and etc. Needless to say that some familiarity with the Japanese practices might prove handy if it would allow one to recognize authentic and/or forged documents... but also, document forgery is a standard practice of budō (has to do with paramilitary applications of budō, forging enemy documents is a standard military endeavor, of course.) Bungei as a term not only covers the basic literary arts, but also the refined arts, since usage of these in the compilation of texts and documents is common (for example, to make text illustrations and etc.) Needless to say, the literary arts were employed in the writing of these web pages!
Naturally, the classical examples above are modified for modern context, but the job of doing so is simple and quite logical. In fact, much of this reorientation [of the classical material] has been reflected in the pages of this web site. One can see from what was recorded here how to do it, and what sort of subjects to focus on. One's own person, life and life interests.

Is this kind of material more 'jujutsu' than the physical methods of self defense technique? Well, it is all co-equally jujutsu but it is a fact that the self defense techniques resulted first from the study and application of the literary arts. All ryūha and systems resulted from the study and application of the literary arts. No school or system of budō actually ignores or does not apply the literary arts, but focus upon them differs as does the approach to jujutsu. Rather than to say that this is more jujutsu than the mere physical techniques of self defense, it is appropriate to say that the literary arts are as much jujutsu as are the techniques themselves. It is all co-equally jujutsu.

SHINDEN YŌSHIN RYŪ
Our school has a unique approach and emphasis to the martial traditions and subsequently to it's jujutsu. The emphasis of junbi, preparation, is specific and profound. Shinden yōshin ryū seeks to prepare it's adherents for the relevant role(s) and duties of (para-) military service, which includes emergency service (firemen, medical attendants and personnel so on and so forth.) This preparation is structured very logically (as indicated in the documents of this web-site) so that, in the event that one does not serve society in such capacities, then the teachings equate back into one's own daily life and affairs as a useful corpus of information that helps the adherent live. Shinden yōshin ryū is certainly not alone in this approach to the martial arts, but it is one school which profoundly insists upon this approach and frankly if this isn't apparent: it's probably not really the Shinden yōshin ryū being taught.

The preparation being structured so that if one does not serve society in any (para-) military capacity, then the teachings equate directly back into one's own daily life and affairs as useful assistance to the adherent's life and household is a paramount matter of importance. Due to military conscription and similar non-voluntary services, it is considered possible, if not likely, that one would encounter service anyway (and even if you do not, your son probably would.) So the school tries to prepare, via instruction, for this probability. Even if you do not thus serve, likely one of your sons would, and that by receiving the teachings you might be able to better adjust to service-life or to help your son to do so – and thus strengthen our nation or society's efforts. But also, wherein we do not serve, the very same teachings are perfect life assistance to us. This also strengthens our nation or society, but better yet, provides us with much personal help and advice!

The emphasis of this junbi, preparation, is not in such a fashion as suggests or demands the putting aside of one's own life or life interests (NEVER, the tradition is quite specific about this.) But instead it accepts the probability of service as part of that life (part of life as a member of society.) Case in point, it teaches that an end to the service, or conscription (when non-voluntary), must come and even that transition (back to regular civilian life) must be prepared for. On this subject, from the documents of another school associated with SYR, it quotes [something along the lines of]: “...when it's is over, the battlefield is just a farmer's field.” This means that, even despite that the war occurred there, the land is usually only where agriculture or commerce is practiced. Likewise, one's life returns to normal after service time is finished.
The jujutsu fighting techniques within our curriculum are viewed only as useful and necessary means of bodily protection to be employed if and when we are threatened during the course of service, or daily life. They are said only to constitute 1/5 of the relevant corpus. By some reckonings, only 1/7 of the relevant corpus. That is to say that the approach of Shinden yōshin ryū is such that fighting techniques (as opposed to these other relevant vectors of preparation) makes up only a mere 1/5 to 1/7 of the junbi (preparations.) To provide an example, for clarification, the following three components of preparation are always practiced and taught, no matter which instructor (or their personal approach):

1) Isshinjō no keizai “Personal business affairs”
2) Kinkyū'iryō “(Emergency) medical assistance”
3) Jikitō hoshinjutsu “Personal self protection”

These demonstrate three of the five components of junbi as taught by our school. What comes after these components is sometimes dictated by who the instructor is (since the needs of the student body may differ, some flexibility is practiced.) In some branch schools, there are seven categories, in others, only five. I was taught five categories (seems to me that often the others are just a rehash of one of the five anyway!!)


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