Ultimate Truth

Maybe not quite how it happened

A few days ago I received a private email from a fellow Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo student complaining about the way in which they were being taught.  The student was not particularly happy with having their technique constantly corrected by the different teachers because, so the student felt, quite often the teachers had contradictory styles or had differing ways of performing such-and-such a kata.  The student wanted (what I suspect at some early stage we all may desire) an absolute, irrefutable way of performing kihon or kata:  a sort of “gospel according to Sensei”.  Of course, it would be good if the gospel could be carved on granite using a blade wrested from Miyamoto Mushashi’s hand by Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi himself and passed down in an unbroken line from Soke to Soke.

I had to tell the person that, in my limited opinion, it doesn’t exist in that fashion: as an absolute.  And even if it did, the granite gospel would list only the kata names and NOT how to perform them.   We rely on our teachers to correct our mistakes and this presumes they have a good grasp understanding of the Seishin – the true heart – of the reasons behind each movement in Jodo.  Seishin can’t be passed on as a written word or carved into a block of stone.

As a way of marshalling my thoughts on Seishin and to place the student’s concerns into a local context, in Sydney and in the flavour of Shinto Muso Ryu I study, we have some quite senior practitioners, a few of whom began their studies in Japan in the mid 1970’s as juniors under Shimizu Takaji Shihan.   Under the traditional ranking system we have (in descending order of seniority) one Menkyo holder, two Gomokuroku and one Shomokuroku.  The holder of Menkyo Kaiden out-ranks all the above, knows the ultimate secrets of our weapon arts and is intimately familiar with the Seishin behind all we do.  A Menkyo holder has been shown one of the five secret techniques, while a Menkyo Kaiden as been initiated into all five.

But, it seems even climbing to the dizzy heights of Menkyo Kaiden does not mean one can see the same things as others who ascend their own personal mountain: Menkyo Kaiden holders do not always see eye to eye with Seishin.  Consider this translated extract from a book by Nishioka Tsuneo Sensei, courtesy of the deep wisdom found at Koryu.com: 

“Once, my teacher, Shimizu Takaji Sensei (1896-1978), told me not to copy the Jo practiced by his junior fellow student Otofuji Ichizo Sensei.  Unless one carefully reflects on what Shimizu Sensei really meant, this statement can be easily misunderstood.  He knew that there were some differences between his way of using Jo and Tachi and the way in which Otofuji Sensei used these weapons.  Even in kata bujutsu, it is very natural for there to be differences in form.  That’s because different people have different levels of technical understanding and different mindsets.  This leads them to make movements in slightly different ways and they pass on these individual characteristics in their teaching.  Shimizu Sensei was afraid that young students would notice these differences, get confused or suspicious, and think one way or the other was wrong.  He seemed to have been concerned about the inevitable errors that results when a student is unable or unwilling to follow just one teacher.  He urged me to follow a single teacher, to the greatest extent possible, and to avoid confusing myself unnecessarily by looking around at other teachers.” 

Bottom line of the message seems to be:  have one and only one Teacher.  I can see, in a very small dojo or if we followed the old-school method of a Teacher selecting only one student to pass his secrets on to, this would work fine.  In a larger setting, with a fair number of high ranking Teachers, it’s just not possible - especially if these high-rankers have different Menkyo Kaiden who've influenced their development.  In such a case us juniors can be forgiven for leaving some Dojo sessions utterly confused and frustrated.  It’s a struggle to come to terms with and makes an already hard process even more difficult.

Going back to the despairing student and to that person’s battle to understand what is right and wrong I’m beginning to suspect it will take them a little longer to arrive at, what for me was, a “lightbulb moment”.  Yes, there are outward differences in technique or style but these are reflections of the Senior grade's own internal development of Seishin.  Already, in their arduous climb up their own personal Mount Menkyo Kaiden, the Seniors' views are taking in different scenery and their paths gradually diverging.  Understanding what this meant and the unspoken implications for our studies took me a long time. 

As my Seitei Jodo mentor, Nagayama Sensei, often says about things:  “Can’t be helped”.