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'Ryu', what it is? |
Newsletter 06/03
Shotokan ryu, Goju ryu, Eishin ryu, Muso Shinden ryu, Ohara ryu, Ogasawara ryu and the list goes on, with the term ‘’ryu’’ being the common denominator. But what exactly a ‘’ryu’’ is? The easy answer is "style" or "school" or, in a more general sense ‘’a certain way of doing something’’. Is it so simple? It seems that upon further reflection, -ryu, referred to martial arts, encompasses much more than just a "style" or ‘’school’’.
Application of form is the hallmark of a ryu, however there is more than that. Firstly, the Japanese kanji read ryu or nagare in an alternative reading, means "to flow, flowing... system or school". In Japan, when -ryu is appended to a word as part of a school of art, it signifies a particular system or style of that art.
Most traditional Japanese martial arts started in the medieval era. According to tradition the founder of a style experienced a kind of a divine revelation, which inspired him in creating his style or school. It is worthy to note that these experts, already having developed a vast arsenal of technical knowledge, through a study of martial methods and in most of the times, actual experience in battle, having exhausted and reached their limits in technical expertise, they consciously underwent shugyo, or rigorous training, that forged the unison of their mind, body and spirit.
Conducted in confinement, in the sacred ground of a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, or in a hidden refuge in the wilderness or mountaintop, the essence of shugyo was to crack through the surface layer of the physical world to the awareness of the secrets of the spiritual universe. By exhausting daily awareness, the practitioner attains a new and enlightening insight. During this period of intense training, meditation, and fasting, the founder would have a revelation, which would gave him the key to true mastery of his art. Just a simple phrase or very rudimentary technique(s), was the key that unlocked all the subsequent methods that the founder would develop. Therefore the revelation was tenshin shoden, or ‘’knowledge inherited from the heavens’’, or muso, ‘’pure heavenly knowledge’’. Note that this has not to do with martial arts only but with every form of art.
This pure knowledge, passed at the beginning to the first generation, should always flow back to the founder, if it is to remain pure. So, the term -ryu or nagare is ‘’a flow back to the wellsprings of the style’’.
I want to clarify a must to be understood point. As westerners we believe that society is moving forward towards a better and a more glorious future. Knowledge and history is linear so life should always improve. This is not the case in Oriental culture. Time and knowledge are not necessarily linear, but it may comprised by a repeating circle or a spiral of sorts, where certain themes repeat endlessly through centuries, just like the seasons repeat themselves through time. According to Buddhist philosophy, Buddha had cut this spiral pattern, by attaining enlightenment. Life has entered a new age, mappo, in which the wisdom of our ancestors would decay, new innovations will not be necessarily better than the original teaching, everything after Buddha will be slightly less than Buddha, until the new Buddha will emerge. The world, especially when in a midst of war, seems heading for destruction (although Heraclitus says ‘’war is the father of everything’’).
I hope you are still with me.
This concept of decay has relevance to what is a ryu. Martial arts who do not follow the founder’s methods and concepts and they break the direct transmission (jikiden) of his guidance, they are heading to degradation. Innovation for the sake of "modernizing" or upgrading a ryu is considered to be degradation. That is why a ryu strives to maintain its defined characteristics, as postulated by its founder.
At the same time nothing may stay unchanged. Water lying still in the river stagnates. Ryu is a river that flows, in this case through time. It is the prerogative of the soke of the ryu to redefine or upgraded ryu’s curriculum, provided they remain in the context of the inherent philosophical and technical characteristics of the ryu.
In modern -do arts, as judo and kendo, formal kata were developed by committees, who attempted to be in line with the trend that things can always be improved with time and human ingenuity. Karatedo, retains its ryu systems, thus a Shito-ryu kusanku kata will be different from a Shotokan style kankudai or a Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu kusanku. However basic standardization has been developed with the implementation of the heian or pinan kata, designed by Itosu and redefined by Funakoshi. These kata, being developed in a scientific manner, are always open to redefinition and improvement. (we are all aware of the different variations in the kata). These innovations are not possible in classical ryu, since any changes would come through another divine revelation, or some very deep soul-searching, at the very least. And visits by divinities, of course, have always been rather rare.
If a ryu is a faction of a classical art, a -ha or ryuha is a faction of a faction; it is a variation of a ryu established by one of its outstanding disciples, who has not broken completely with the teachings of the ryu, but has developed a variation of it which, while being markedly different from the original line, yet retains the basic characteristics of the ryu. It creates then a different lineage than the original line, a tributary, if you will, of the main river. Thus, the Tani ha Shito ryu is the approach of Tani sensei to Shito ryu, while Kase Ha Shôtôkan Ryu Karate-Dô is Kase sensei’s approach to Shotokan karatedo. And we are all aware how Kase sensei is approaching his way, -ha, of Shotokan karate, while maintaining the principles of Yoshitaka Funakoshi and Funakoshi Gitsin.
There is something that needs to be pointed out here. I am not against innovation or cross training in different ryu or martial arts. Done in the proper way, cross-fertilization of technique is good for the growth of a modern do form. All great sensei has gone through this. Karatedo has benefited (although some may think differently) from the interchange of methods between different ryu; but it is disastrous when people with surface technical knowledge only, attempt to mix and match different methods in order to create their own "innovative" instantly "classical" style.
Innovation is
necessary in a sport to further it as a sportive endeavor. But a ryu is not a
sport, it is a tradition, and in order to maintain its integrity has to maintain
contact with its origins. A classical ryu is not a classical ryu if innovation
makes it totally unrecognizable. Many argue that classical ‘’ryu’’ forms are
irrelevant today. A "street wise" mix of sometimes unrelated techniques, they
claim, comprises the contemporary approach to martial arts. This logic
confronts the very reason a ryu has survived through time. The fact that a
system or style has been extracted from "practical" contemporary situations,
does not allow it to grow old. To the contrary a classical ryu is timeless,
not timely. A ryu does not flow from the present, but from the past, through
the present, and into the future. Like a river it flows from its source,
carrying its load and leading us, through the present, into the future.