BOJITSU and SHINTAIDO - E

2A
lA
lA-4A
The movement DAI JODAN KI RI a ROSHI. Cutting tram above and lowering the body. The hips are also lowered with the hands. This is
a very powerful cutting movement and creates a very strong koshi and centre. We keep the hands open in Shintaido. 4A is applied to the
Bokuto.
BOJITSU and SHINTAIDO
by KEN WAIGHT
1 have had several enquines about
Shintaido
and its relationship
to
Bojutsu. A some of the readers of
this magazine might have noticed,
1 have mentioned
it in previous
articles and al 0 we had a mail
article published
last year. 1 am
only going to try briefly to explain
how Shinraido
i related ta the
Martial
Art
without getting too
involve d hi torically. Shintaido is a
new movernent art. It wa opened
to the public about ten years ago.
Ir is now practiced
in America,
England, France and Brazil. These
groups are ail quite srnall and in
experimental
stages.
Why
was
Shintaido
created?
Or
maybe
through
what aspirations?
That
would be rather a long and difficult
2
question and one 1 am not fitted to
answer.
1 hope this will reveal
something
though. It was created
through the matrix of Martial Arts
with the awareness of a changing
consciousnes
and society.
Even
from pre-war times it is obvious
that
there
have
been
extreme
changes in our world due to communications, technology. How then
can a modern person relate to old
systems and ways in such a rapidly
changing world? This 1 think wa
felt deeply and gave great inspiration for the creation of Shintaido.
To capture the heart (1 mean this
word in its deepest sense) of these
old ways would require
a very
special type of person and school
to study at. It would also take a
long tirne if the e above conditions
were available. Take for exarnple
schools of Zen and Confucionism
which influenced the early schools
of Budo. The concepts, language,
rnethods used are so alien to our
modern ways and thought as to be
of another world. Go to any old
temple or shrine and see young
Japanese walking around and you
will understand, or look at a modern
ab tract painting or assemblage and
then an early Italian work. The
concepts, 'terrninology',
etc., were
brought forth through a different
culture
and consciousness.
This
highlights very briefly the problems
of understanding
and relating OUfselves to old ways. Today the fact
that we do have much information
International Budo- December 1978
and technology doesn't necessarily
mean that we have understanding.
Our knowledge deepens along with
our being and this develops our
understanding.
We develop rather
one-sided in this era.
One aim of Shintaido
was to
reveal some of these great discoveries
which
would
be more
understandable
to our present age.
These
truths,
which
had been
locked away either in secret chools
or just by the fact of distance in
time and consciousness, had become
quite obscure. AIso, today's life in
cities and towns is particularly ununified and farther
from nature.
Shintaido
approached
these problems in a dynamic way to give birth
to a new understanding.
Truth flows
through the evolution of life and is
expressed in many forms. At different times this awareness is greater
3A
4A
1B-6B
This is Jodan Kiri Harai. A movement 1
have explained before in Bojitsu. Here Vou
can see the application to both Bo and
Bokuto.
1B
th an others. What sorne ancients
have seen and recorded are great
treasures
for our modern age to
reftect on; it is a question of understanding
them.
Particularly
the
Martial
Arts lend themselves
to
misinterpretation.
A person can
only understand
them at the level
of his being and not of his knowledge. We must take great care to
develop al! sides of our keiko. If we
study Martial Arts a a sport, which
they are becoming, that is fine, but
we must then remember they have
become another thing than that for
which they were created. It is evident then that another form should
be made to express their original
aspirations.
l wish to add that for
people who are beginning or look-
International Budo- December 1978
3
28
ing for a school to take great care
in their choice. People tend to use
the word 'sensei' very lightly here.
Beginners
are u ually dazzled
by
techniques,
some instructors
might
even be very proficient
technically,
but this doesn't
mean
they are
sensei, and in fact many people of
tbis order are still in the first level
of Keiko.
Also, people seem to
make their own style
or chools
(ryu in Japane e), without
great
38
48
thinking.
The
different
ryus III
Japan were often brought about by
a deep struggle
with the original
school plus in pirations
t o further
it. It was not an easily accomplished
4
thing and only the geriiuses of
Martial
Art were able to do this.
Unfortunately,
our history of the
arts is short here and we fall fouI
of hallow insight.
International Budo- Oecember 1978
58
1C
An application from part of the basics of
Shintaido.
You might have seen sorne of the
forms in earlier
photographs.
1
have put them in an order so as to
be able to relate them to each other.
This doesn't mean that we study
the forms in Shintaido to use for
the boh or bokutoh although that
is possible. I have only given a few
of the forms we study. Sorne of
them have no visual relationship
but can be applied through
the
feeling and movement
discovered
in them.
If anybody wishes to ask any
further questions
in more detail,
you can contact me and 1 hope 1
will be able to answer them. Our
address
is in the back of the
magazine.
International Budo-Oecember
1978
5