Loyalty

Well, I am not by any means the first person to consider issues of loyalty.  Even though the concept has different iterations and nuances from culture to culture, and over millenia, everyone seems to know what it means for them.  Since many millions of words have been written on this subject at large, I feel opinion is all I can personally contribute; and at that, only in one context (today, at least): loyalty in the dojo.

This is a very sticky issue.  I got kicked out of my old place over issues of loyalty - my sometime sempai (he had started befoire me, but had absented himself for 10 years or more before returning) insisted my loyalty to him should have trumped my loyalty to my teacher, the headmaster of the style, in Japan  Such loyalty meaning that I should have continued to cover for his shortcomings as I always had since his return, and then some, allowing him to teach a style he was not authorized to teach, and contributing my expertise (I was the one actually authorized to teach) in his name.  Certain dojo traditions (modeled on Japanese traditions, or at least what we interpret them to be) held up his argument, but other ideas and traditions upheld my position as well.  On my side, I did not feel like contributing to what would have amounted to a breach of personal ethics, perhaps even elevating to fraud in assisting someone without expertise to declare himself the premier Western practitioner of the style.  My teacher, Mr, Otani, as traditional an issei as ever there was, I think would have bought the moral argument over the dojo loyalty argument.  On the other hand, he would have won no matter what position he took, since it was his dojo.  In many, many ways his death was the setup for all that followed, the repercussions from which are still reverberating three years down the road.

Skip to the present day: I have my own group, my own students, and I have, at least for the time being, left aside the offending style, since the old sempai is not content to have me out of the dojo - he is angling to have me quit the ryuha in whatever way he can bring it about.  I have decided on the path of least resistance - stop pushing for whatever rights I might have, keep to my roots in my original style (which I have been continuing to teach all along), and...wait.  My senior students are well aware of, and tired of, the political intrigues, the disses and the totally predictable mediocrity of the other group (the headmaster of the style, in Japan, stands aloof).  They are all perfectly happy to pursue a curriculum that is more peaceful, and, for my part, I have plenty to do - weeks and months pass without my even thinking about the situation "over there."

All of them, except one.  While acknowledging the crappiness of the situation with a depth of understanding that surprised me, one student still advocates for pursuing the other style.  Several weeks ago I overheard him telling someone that he considers the headmaster in Japan to be his teacher, even though he has met the guy maybe 1/2 dozen times.  I arranged for this student to attend practice at the honbu in Japan, and I have trained him for three years. 

Who your teacher is can be a complicated business.  For example, the current headmaster has taught me officially only since he became headmaster - my real teacher in the style was the previous headmaster, with whom I trained for over ten years.  To his credit, the current head has acknowledged as much.  My original teacher was Otani Sensei, and even though I have trained with other (and better known, in some cases) teachers since, I continue to claim him, even though, at this point, almost no one remembers who he was, if they ever even heard of him.  My student's first teacher is a karate teacher, a man I have met and respect. If anyone should get the honor of being this guy's teacher over me, it should be him. 

When I asked the (my?) student about what I had overheard, he said I misunderstood (I did not hear the whole conversation).  Okay, but what he said next was discomforting: that while he "didn't mind" learning other things, he wanted to continue to practice the "forbidden" style over any other, and saw his role in the dojo as helping me to promote it.  I pointed out that such a path was impossible at this time, that promoting the style was the equivalent of continuing to bind myself to a situation that I found toxic for both my students and myself, but he simply repeated what he had said already.  Every opportunity he gets he flaunts his (limited) understanding of the style, in front of new students, in front of me, even though I have made it very clear that I would prefer not to have it practiced in my dojo.

So, what to do with this guy?  I cannot give him what he wants, and his continued stubbornness is making trouble for me, though possibly not as much as I think it is.  (On the other hand, I have consistently downplayed such situations, and have been screwed by them.)  I am considering the possibility of giving permission for him to go to my old place - they have tossed out the style Otani Sensei taught and wholly devote themselves to the new one.  Even though their practice is not so skilful, I think he would get a warm reception (especially since the old sempai would probably consider it a personal victory over me to have him).  He would be kept informed of the doings of the honbu - information deliberately kept from us  (more complications - the headmaster prefers to communicate with the larger, more established group, who then keeps the info to itself, unless it can make money off of it).  If the student affiliates with my old sempai, he will have a more direct line to "his" teacher than I am currently willing or able to provide. 

And I will have a more peaceful atmosphere; at least, that is my hope. 

Happogiri summer

I have continued teaching iai at a local community college as a volunteer. The center where I teach is officially "closed" for the summer, with my classes the only ones on the schedule.  It has been a real pleasure to walk in to a room that is reasonably clean every week, free of hair and stray Zumba beads.  It's the closest I have ever gotten to having my own practice space, even if it is for only a few weeks before school starts again.

Perhaps because we are the only thing on the menu, new people have come into the class practically every week.  Additionally, starting a Thursday night class at Resobox, a cultural center in Queensboro Plaza, in July, has meant that I have given practically the same lesson over and over, time after time, week after week, introducing iai to people who know next to nothing about it. 

I teach an opening exercise designed by my teacher to show people the basics of handling a sword.  The exercise, "happogiri" means to cut in eight directions, and that is exactly what happens.  We are not, however, making the same cut in each direction (which is one interpretation of the expression); we are making different cuts in each of the different directions, as well as a thrust, to make eight.  In the process, the students learn the basic stances - how to walk, and how to grip the sword properly and how to make a proper cut.  Sensei designed the exercise on two levels, with advanced students given the opportunity to perform more difficult, compound cuts, changes of direction, etc.  In terms of style, it's fairly generic, though more resembling our core style of Muso Shinden Ryu and its relatives rather than some more modern styles.

Even though I call it an opening exercise, and we normally do it at the beginning of class, and it is the first thing I show new students, happogiri is not a "warm up."  It is kihon waza - technique practice - the cuts and kamae serving to acquaint new people in a general way with how a sword is handled, at the same time allowing more experienced students (and their teacher) an opportunity to further refine their technique. 

Some people might think I would be bored to tears to be doing happogiri up to three times per week with people who start out literally not sure which side of a katana is used for cutting, but some people would be wrong.  I have no problem at all showing people over and over again.  When we do the exercise, I can hear Sensei's admonitions in my head - "Make a circle!  Breathe!  Iaido is all about circles!"  Every week I see the newbies get better and better.  I'd like to think Sensei can see them too.