We must realize that there is no honor in trying to become
the focus of attention in this traditional martial arts system. Everyone
involved are all just very minor players in an evolutionary process
of development that has been going-on for over 1200 years.
This web page has been on the net for over 10 years with over 120,000 visitors ! ( long before Daito-Ryu enjoyed it's present popularity on the net ) and it has always presented the art of Daito-Ryu in an honest and unbiased manner as a service to the practitioners of this great art . ( originally, we concentrated on the Shinto-Ryu branch since all our information was obtained through the records and manuscripts of that unique religious branch . )
We will continue to include reports and information about the great art called Daito - Ryu for those who might be interested in learning why it was the preferred art of the Minamoto and Aizu clans for over 1200-years . ( We are willing to include any information that others in Daito Ryu circles might be willing to submit provided it can be verified . )
My personal view has always been that the " mats are where it's at" in regards to technique, but that long established protocol overrides modern opinions in regards to the passing of the guard of a traditional ryu . In Daito-Ryu, I was taught that anyone who breaks-away to head his/her own version without written permission of the soke is a traitor, un loyal and egotistical in nature . ( If the headmaster respected you enough to share his wasa with you, it holds that you, in turn should be loyal to him forever ! )
I have taken a very personal blood oath ( keppan ) to be true to my teachers and to the art of Daito-Ryu . This oath was not to be taken lightly by myself or accepted by my teacher, and I have done my very best to portray the art of the Minamoto & Aizu clans that I was taught, in as pure and positive a manner as possible .
This view is based on my personal oath of loyalty to my teachers and our branch of Daito-Ryu, and I find it hard to respect anyone who breaks such a blood oath in order to become the " big sensei " or to feel important at the expense of Daito - Ryu . !
Frankly ! I don't see anyone among all his students or their students who are/ were the fighting machine that Sokaku Takeda was ! ( nor, none of Uyeshiba's break-aways who were 1/10 the man of budo that he was !) , so, if anyone wants to be the " big cheeze ", let him go on a pilgrimage to prove himself worthy, or, let him/her thank god he/ she was allowed to study the same fighting system that made the likes of Tanomo Saigo, Sokaku Takeda , Shiro Saigo, Yamashita Houei or Uyeshiba the fighting legends and great persons they were back then and are today .
Our only efforts should be to use our energies
to help this evolutionary process to survive for our lifetime, others
coming after us, in-turn, doing the same, or as Masaru Yonekawa-Sensei
so clearly explained it : "Stone on Stone " So that Daito-Ryu
( under it's many names) will survive for another 1200 years.
Let's all work together to preserve the glory
and beauty that is Daito-Ryu without worrying about who is the one most
worthy to be the head of any particular branch . It does'nt matter who
heads a branch as long as they try their best to bring honor to this great
art.
Never forget that a branch ( call it what you chose
!) is just that : "A BRANCH ", never the " TREE " . And all the different
branches, regardless of who heads them, are not DAITO-RYU , but merely
a temporary segment of practitioners who are teaching a part of the 1200-year
old art of the Minamoto and Aizu fighting system .
Nobody ( regardless of how talented they are ) can
master all the different techniques of Daito-Ryu ! Some master certain
aspects, others master other segments, and they add their own signatures
and pass it on to their followers . It has been like that for 1200 years
.
The only danger is that a person might think they have actually created something new after a study of some version of Daito-Ryu and hope to get credit for it . Daito-Ryu has all the basis for all possible techniques in it's core or syllabus . We can concentrate on some aspect and clean-off it's rough edges, but we can never claim credit for creating it .
Most important to remember is that ego has no place in Daito - Ryu ! No matter how well we can do certain techniques, others can do other techniques just as well , it all evens-out as each teacher being inferior to someone else in some area while being superior in others .
It is like the late Kito-Ryu master, C.O.Neil, once said to me while we were judges at a demonstration of different jujitsu styles :" I have not seen anything new today, or in the last 20 years from all the great jujitsu teachers in North America and Japan because there are only so many ways to punch, kick, throw, jointlock, etc. , unless you are fighting an alien from another planet ! "
And that is exactly how it has been for me for many
decades ! I have attended over 100 seminars, demonstrations or clinics
by leading teachers of different martial arts in the last 20-years, and
have not seen one single technique that was new or unique . Some are applied
in a slightly different manner or situation, but, each were just part of
the standard techniques which are part of Saigo Ha Takeda-Ryu ( daito-Ryu)
syllabus .
I urge all Daito-Ryu leaders ( from Japan and the west ) to work together in order to keep this great art unified, instead of getting involved in petty politics and power struggles which will lead it to become a mere shadow of the great thing is now is ........ We owe it to the memory of all the great minds that each did their part to make this art the most complete of all Japanese fighting systems .
........Dr.John J.Williams - 9th dan Kyoju Dairii / Menkyo Kaiden Saigo Ha Aiki Bujutsu - Canada
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