The
Iaido Journal Apr 2006
Review: Iaido: Muso Shinden ryu
Iaido: Muso
Shinden ryu
by Kyou Ichisuke
2004 paperback. 158 pages (illus.). (Japanese language)
Airyudo, Chiyoda ku, Tokyo 03-3233-2525 Fax
03-3233-2526 ISBN4-7502-0252-5
¥1800
review copyright © 2006 Deborah Klens-Bigman, Ph.D., all rights
reserved
Kyou Ichisuke's Iaido: Muso Shinden Ryu is an outline of all three
levels of Muso Shinden Ryu practice, from the shoden Omori Ryu, through
the chuden Hasegawa Eishin Ryu, to the okuden Okuiai. It is one
of several MSR books recently brought out by Tokyo publisher
Airyudo.
Several things struck me about the book from the beginning.
First, Kyou is very young. I have done Muso Shinden Ryu iaido for
20 years, and while I think he has some talent, I had some reservations
that someone so young could successfully put out such a comprehensive
work.
Secondly, Kyou does not mention his teacher. Though I cannot be
sure, the omission suggests he did not have his instructor's permission
to write the book. That may not affect the quality of the
techniques he presents (at least, not any more than youth or
inexperience), but in a tradition-bound art form like iaido, one
expects the tradition to be observed. That Kyou saw fit to
disregard his teacher indicates a certain lack of respect.
Further, there is no example of opening or closing reishiki. To
non-iai practitioners, this may not seem important; however, each style
of iai has its own particular manner of bowing and handling the
sword. Leaving out reishiki suggests to the uninitiated that
there must be some ordinary bow involved that is not worth concern; to
real practitioners, who know one can fail a ranking test with poor
reishiki, it seems a crucial omission.
That said, the text and layout are clear and well-organized, beginning
with some basic techniques, such as noto, kirioroshi and
furikaburi. A brief, preliminary essay notes the common
characteristics of each level of kata. Each kata in each set is
described in a brief text description and photos. A text box
comments in more depth on each one. Though his descriptions are
very straightforward, Kyou habitually compares aspects of MSR to other
styles he has studied in the intro essays and commentaries.
Outside of being a poor writing technique (readers can't comprehend
what he is saying if they don't know the styles he is referring to) the
name-dropping of other styles throughout an MSR text seems, especially
in the absence of any reference to any teachers, hubristic and annoying.
While the descriptions of various kata are clear, they are
limited. There are no photos of bunkai (application of technique)
to give us additional context for the actions in each kata. For
someone who is already familiar with MSR and the specific kata, this is
not much of a problem, but the book serves as a poor introduction to
anyone not already familiar with the forms and techniques.
As is the case with many recent works on MSR, the clearest set of forms
is the shoden set, the Omori Ryu. There are fewer photos as the
book advances through the chuden and okuden sets. For example,
the okuden kata Kabezoi has an unusual noto. Though Kyou
describes the noto in his commentary, he does not show it. Since
the Kabezoi noto really is quite different from others in the set, and
there was no effort to save space earlier in the book by having fewer
photos, I wonder why such an important point was not illustrated.
Muso Shinden Ryu has had no soke (headmaster) since Nakayama Hakudo,
who died in the 1950's having (perhaps deliberately) not named an
heir. There are therefore some technical differences in MSR ha
(branches) according to how different senior teachers interpreted or
altered the forms. These differences are generally small, and
never so much as to prevent two MSR practitioners from reaching some
sort of gentlemen's agreement in order to practice together if they
wished. So it is with Kyou, and if I was more acquainted with the
different MSR ha I might be able to figure out exactly where he is
from. Kyou's MSR features no overhand draws, which figure in one
kata in each level where I come from. Kyou illustrates an extra
form in the okuden suwari waza, Misumi, that is sort of between Towaki
and Shihogiri, that I have not seen in other sources. As also
often happens, the arrangement of forms here is slightly different, and
some of the nomenclature varies. However, these variations really
do not change the character of the forms overall.
On the other hand, though talented for a young practitioner, Kyou shows
some technical errors that any teacher would correct. He has the
common habit of raising his left hand at the end of a cut in order to
lower the kissaki of the sword, rather than evenly finishing a cut with
both hands. Raising the left hand takes some of the power out of
the cut, since the shibori (literally "wringing out") of the cut is
weakened. In the photos of the chuden section, it looks as though
Kyou is not altogether sure where his target is in the three central
kata: Ukigumo, Yamaoroshi and Iwanami. This is a common error in
practicing Hasegawa that utilizing bunkai could correct. The
multitude of photos shows the difficulty in photographing or explaining
the Hasegawa forms in two dimensions; however illustrating the bunkai
would have made this section much clearer.
I feel Kyou's stances are too high in the okuden tachiwaza, though
nowadays it is not unusual to see someone standing up straight when
performing these forms. Kyou's interpretation of the okuden
tachiwaza kata Sodesurigaeshi is definitely suspect, however. In
this kata, the swordsman is clearing the way through a crowd of people
in order to dispatch an enemy with a single cut. In order to do
this, he draws his sword and extends his arms wide, holding the blade
flat to avoid injuring bystanders before making the large, overhead
cut. In Kyou's version, the blade tip is extended straight back
behind the swordsman (I guess any stragglers would have to duck or be
skewered).
As always, I tend to ask myself two questions when looking at books of
this type: why write this book, and who is it for?
If the reader does not understand Japanese, the book's usefulness as a
reference is limited to the technique and Omori sections, which are the
most clearly laid out and photographed (though a couple of times the
photos are out of sequence). There is one section where Kyou
illustrates proper furikaburi for MSR and how it might be different for
another style, which may create confusion for the non-reader of
Japanese who has no other indication of which is correct. Like
lots of different ha, most of the differences are in chuden and okuden
sections. Unless one comes from the same MSR lineage, some of the
variations in technique will be hard to explain to anyone who thinks
there is only "one" MSR, so the book may therefore be less useful for a
teacher.
For readers who already know Muso Shinden Ryu, there is not much new
here, but for those who are intellectually curious about what others do
in their MSR practice, the variations in details of kata, and
especially for readers who can read some Japanese, the book can be
worthwhile.
As to why write it, that's a good question. Though he is
talented, the author is too young for a senior practitioner to take
seriously. The disregard for traditional aspects of practice,
such as reishiki and honoring his teacher, are disturbing. On the
other hand, Kyou's youth and good looks might attract younger people to
an art form that has an increasingly small number of practitioners, and
that's not bad. Perhaps, with ten years more experience, Kyou
will be a positive presence in the iai world. At the moment, he
is more of a novelty, and perhaps, weirdly, a rebel.
However, for those searching for references, there are better books out
there. One of the best for Muso Shinden Ryu is Yamatsuta
Shigeyoshi's Iaido Hongi: Muso Shinden Ryu, both the original and the
bilingual English version (translated by Sheryl Hogg, also from
Airyudo, 2004). Though there are fewer photographs overall, the
book is more useful (especially the bilingual version for English
speakers). Yamatsuta shows proper MSR reishiki and the bunkai for
many forms. Also, as a long-time iai practitioner, Yamatsuta's
technique is very very good (I particularly like the photos that show
his powerful hands). Putting the two books side-by-side
emphasizes a real contrast. Kyou's book is nicely produced, but
Iaido Hongi shows what age and experience can accomplish.