|
|
In the classical representation of the warrior, the cherry blossom represents the beauty and transience of life: during flowering it shows a charming spectacle in which the samurai saw the magnificence of his figure reflected, wrapped in the armor, but it is enough a sudden thunderstorm that all the flowers fall to the ground, just like the samurai could fall down by a stroke of enemy's sword. The warrior, accustomed to thinking about death in battle not as a negative fact but as the only honorable way to die, reflects this philosophy in the cherry blossom.
An ancient poetic verse, still remembered, is "hana wa sakura gi, hito wa bushi", which translated means "Among flowers the cherry blossoms, among men the Warrior", (Like the cherry blossom is the best among the flowers, so, warrior is the best among men).
See more in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai
In the Budo's concept, formerly in the past Bujitsu, are included all those practices (martial arts) designed to follow the way (do) of internal knowledge, without distinction of styles. Into Shinken Dojo two distinct and apparently different martial arts are practiced, but they have many points in common, so, it's almost impossible to split them. With the mixture of kenjutsu and aikido practitioners get a different level of perception and a unique state of awareness. Practicing Shinken Shobu Ryu means achieving a "wholeness" and a full zanshin.
Kenjutsu Shinken Shobu Ryu
Kenjutsu is an ancient Japanese martial art that includes the katana's techniques. Katana is the typical sword used during the close combat.
Kenjutsu was born to fight and kill the enemies on the battlefield, developed over the centuries by the Japanese warrior class.
The handling of the sword was the basic technique taught in the schools of martial arts of feudal Japan. While presenting the similarities, the ryu (styles) of kenjutsu elaborated training many methods of handling the katana original and different from each other. Kenjutsu became an art that, even during the war, replaced other forms of exercise, making it a practice invaluable in keeping the body in training. Besides the performance of individual shots, kenjutsu provided a detailed study of factors such as distance (ma-ai), the chance to hit (suki) and the mental attitude (zanshin), more useful to take the victory. There are more than five thousand ryu kenjutsu in old Japan, the most famous is the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu.
The use of strikes (atemi) and throw techniques (nage) was widely accepted in original kenjutsu because warriors need to achieve victory at all costs. It could happen that the samurai lost all his weapons on the battlefield and was forced to fight with only hands.
The Shinken Shobu Ryu is a particular kenjutsu's style founded by Master Davide Pollione, inspired by the original purpose of fighting with the sword, to defeat the enemy in a battle, in life or death choice condition. This particular style brings out the essence of the Bushi, the ability to prevail in every situation and every type of combat. In the study of the techniques the practitioner has the opportunity to learn a very effective fighting method to defense and to attack, gaining the ability to defend themselves even by adversaries equipped with different weapons. The techniques used are a set of movements of different styles blended appropriately to extrapolate a harmonious form, but powerful and lethal at the same time.
Regarding the use of the sword, the study is full complete, starts from the typical extraction of the Iaido style, to take advantage of surprise, up to the pure kenjutsu fighting, using if necessary, shot techniques as punches, kicks or levers and throw techniques.
"The greatest effort is in following the image of how we want to be, losing awareness of what we are instead, because we are, often, much more than what we would like to be.” - Master D. Pollione
Aikido
In 1917, Master Ueshiba Morihei after graduated from the school of Daito Ryu and studied different forms of Jujitsu, acquired different techniques and theoretical ideas from other disciplines, became aware of the difficulties to disclosing a martial art combat-oriented only. He thought that the ideals to following the way, the "DO", were more suited to a modern society. So in 1938 he began teaching his new "way of divine harmony": the Aikido.
Aikido is considered a modern martial art, although Ueshiba has formed on a classic concept, giving much emphasis to the study of techniques and their refinement resulting in a more spiritual education of the student, instead of discouraging the competitive aspect of practice.
Aikido is purely defensive and its techniques are soft and elegant and its most important aspect is the relationship between body and mind. Aikido is purely defensive and its techniques are soft and elegant and its most important aspect is the relationship between body and mind. The movements are circular and resulting from a reaction to an attack, channeling the energy of the same attack against the aggressor, in this way even the most violent attack is part of a natural pattern and is neutralized. Must be considered that each technique is applied with no desire to hurt or cause serious damage to the opponent because the important part of Aikido is the realization of "KI".
Master Ueshiba, during his travels in China, coming in contact with the internal Kung Fu schools , has taken the basic principles developed in his art. Although the techniques of Aikido, on a practical level, have little in common with the Taijiquan or the Ba Gua, their profound essence is similar.
“The secret of Aikido is not like moving your feet, but how you move your mind.” - Master Ueshiba Morihei
|
