Tetsuzan Kuroda Musoku - Vanishing Foot Ukimi - Floating Body Juntai - Immovable Body zegoku itto no koto movements

of his mind and body ontrol the o!!onent before he s"ings his s"ord The te#t belo" "as !ublished in $iki %e"s &later renamed $ikido Journal' ()* "hi h a!!eared in summer +)),- """-aikido.ournal- om /In the "orld of traditional Ja!anese martial arts0 kata or fi#ed forms onstitute the essen e of te hni1ue and guarantee the integrity of a martial system over the ourse of time- $iki %e"s editor-in- hief 2tanley 3ranin .oins 4oshinori Kono and one of Ja!an5s leading s"ordsmen0 Tetsuzan Kuroda0 the headmaster of the martial lega y of the Kuroda family0 in a dis ussion "hi h !rovides an in-de!th glim!se into the on e!t of kata and the !sy hology of samurai "arriors e#!ressed in modern terms-/ 3ranin6 $s you kno"0 the /$iki Forum/ se tion of $iki %e"s is devoted !rimarily to !resenting !eo!le outside the "orld of aikido- I "ould like to ask you several 1uestions about your family martial arts system- 4our first name0 Tetsuzan0 is rather unusual- Is that your original given name7 Kuroda 2ensei6 4es- $t first glan e it seems like an ado!ted name0 but it is a tually my real name- The fa t that it is su h an im!ortant sounding name has aused me some !roblems3ranin6 Many aikido instru tors atta h great im!ortan e to the s"ord- 8ould you des ribe the hara teristi s of your s"ord training method7 Kuroda 2ensei6 2in e "e stress kata &forms' training .ust as is done in other traditional Ja!anese martial arts0 I don5t think there is anything that an be said to be !arti ularly different in our method- I teach concrete, practical mental and physical techniques to enable students to realize the essence of the art through these kata. $ tea hing alled zegoku itto no koto has been transmitted in Ja!anese s"ordsmanshi! from olden times- 8hen onfronting an o!!onent0 one aims for a level where the movements of his mind and body control the opponent before he swings his sword- This is the highest level of s"ordsmanshi!- It seems to be a rather abstra t s!iritual tea hing0 but that5s not at all the ase- It is an "invisible" technique which consists of advanced technical movements and the workings of the spirit based on these movements. All martial arts training begins with learning how to perceive this invisible element. It may be dangerous to talk or "rite about things "hi h annot be seen "ith the naked eye0 but "e annot understand "hat the bushi &samurai "arriors' of earlier eras have be1ueathed to us unless "e re ognize the fa t that an inner vision capable of perceiving these unseen things is the basis of the martial arts2in e the vision of ordinary !eo!le is only !artially develo!ed0 they an only see those things "hi h are visible to the eye- For that reason0 !eo!le are om!letely unable to see true things9o"ever0 there are also instan es "hen !eo!le are able to easily a om!lish things that ould be onsidered im!ossible as a result of kno"ledge a 1uired through training- It sounds like a matter of religion if I talk about hearing things "hi h annot be heard or seeing things "hi h

annot be seen0 but !lease understand that I am referring sim!ly to an individual5s latent kno"ledge3ranin6 9o" "as it that you arrived at this "ay of thinking7 Kuroda 2ensei6 3reviously0 I had my doubts that this kno"ledge "as dire tly related to the martial arts0 or that the !ra ti e of martial arts kata "ould enable one to read !eo!le5s minds9o"ever0 as it is e#!ressed in the "ritings of my grandfather 4asu.i0 training in the martial arts is learning how to achieve unity of the sword and body, that is, of techniques and mind- If we ask how to achieve this unity, this answer is through the practice of kata. Everything which the traditional bushi attempted to transmit to future generations is contained in the kata. hrough kata training, first of all, our eyes become opened. $t the !resent time I have a fourth-grader among my students- If I ontrol his enter line &sei husen'0 even he is able to learly see my slightest mental movement and he immediately rea ts by "ithdra"ing slightly ba k"ard- 9e hasn5t been trained to on entrate his ons iousness on any kind of s!iritual training to see invisible things- 9e has sim!ly !ra ti ed .u.utsu and ken.utsu kata together "ith us%aturally0 the mental and !hysi al develo!ment of this boy is still immature- 9o"ever0 he is learning kata "ith eyes that are a!able of seeing- In his !ra ti e he is ons ious of "hat to do in the kata and ho" to move "hi h !art of his body in order to develo! effe tive te hni1ue- It doesn5t matter that he is a hildThis is very different from learning a kata form as merely a refined0 traditional movement or learning it e#a tly as one is taught- Therefore0 during training at my do!o I begin teaching how to understand the kata and how one should understand each individual movement. "e study why the kata have become what they are, why they must be done that way, what we are hoping to achieve by doing the kata, and what will result from practicing them. Isn5t that "hat the samurai of old "ere seeking and "hat they devoted their lives to7 Kono 2ensei6 First of all0 I think one of the hara teristi s of training at Kuroda 2ensei5s do.o is that his understanding of the role of kata and the general understanding of kata in the martial arts "orld is 1uite different- I believe that from the Me.ii !eriod until modern times0 in luding before 8orld 8ar II0 kata "ere onsidered to be a substitute for a tual ombat9o"ever0 it is im!ortant to re ognize that a !erson5s body doesn5t al"ays move as he "ills it$fter understanding this0 it is these kata that free you to be ome able to move in a te hni ally orre t manner- %o"adays0 our understanding of kata is e#tremely vague- Therefore0 Kuroda 2ensei5s ideas "ill0 I think0 be of great interest to !eo!le involved in aikido3ranin6 Kuroda 2ensei0 do your thoughts on erning kata derive from the lassi al martial arts or are they uni1uely your o"n7 Kuroda 2ensei6 I think it "ould be to orre t to say that they are uni1ue to me- I ould not get anyone to tea h me the things I most "anted to kno" "hen I "as !ra ti ing kata- 9o"ever0 it is only that I0 a modern !erson0 have e#!lained the traditional kata using modern terminologyThe kata themselves have been !reserved in e#a tly their original form- $lso0 "hen I be ame able to see those invisible things0 I think I "as a tually able to see more learly "hat the samurai devoted their lives to be ause the kata "ere retained in their original formThe kata "hi h "ere transmitted to me - for e#am!le0 the ken.utsu kata - are not like "hat one sees ommonly these days "here the o!!onent "aits0 e#!osing his head0 ne k0 and body0 and "here one strikes his sto!!ed s"ord- I may be stating it ina!!ro!riately0 but in sim!le terms0

that kind of s"ord"ork is .ust a flashy dis!lay- he instant the sword and body of my opponent move, my sword has already cut him through. If you think about it arefully0 isn5t it obvious7 %o one "ould a tually stand and "ait for his head to be ut- The kata I "as taught "ere to be !ra ti ally a!!lied- If you failed to !arry the o!!onent5s s"ord0 his s"ord "ould strike your body- 8hen I "as a boy and asked someone to be my uke - even "hen I "ould ask him to strike slo"ly - his movement "as so fast for someone like me that I "as 1uite tense:riginally0 kata training "ith a !artner "as ondu ted in a "orld "here you didn5t get a se ond han e if you ouldn5t !arry the atta k- It was a world where you couldn#t offer e$cuses and say, "%et me do it again," if you made a mistake. &oing things properly in martial arts practice is e$actly the same as behaving properly in modern society. %earning not to repeat mistakes or not to offer e$cuses in kata practice is to have absolute confidence in your own techniques, abilities, and skills. Although that level of confidence might appear to be the ma$imum for your present level, it might be considered a low level if it is viewed relatively. 'uch absolute confidence is necessary at all levels of martial arts training. In other words, you must completely trust in yourself. here is nothing other than what you can do yourself. In kata training0 the !erson in the role of uke is al"ays the senior !artner- 8hen training alone you may think that "hat you are doing is satisfa tory0 but "hen your ba k and shoulder are ut and you are "arned of the distorted movement in your body "hen your o!!onent !arries your s"ord0 you have to realize that if it "ere an a tual situation you "ould be ut and die- (o e$cuses can be accepted in training where your very life is at stake. That5s ho" my father "ould e#!lain things to me "hen he raised me- It is possible to perform kata training alone. "hen your ability has progressed to the point that you can no longer see bad points in your movements, you ask a senior to teach you by receiving your uke. hen you can advance to the ne$t level and the ne$t. As a result the kata becomes faster and faster. )ovements e$ecuted at a speed visible to the eye become invisible and a speed involving no movement evolves. A gradual change in the ability of your eyes to see and the quality of your movements occurs as you continue to progress in kata training. his is why the samurai were able to stake their lives on it. %o" let5s onsider the on e!t of kata from the .u.utsu stand!oint- Training begins from a seated !osition "hi h is alled idori or etori- In the first kata there are many ste!s in our movements om!ared to aikido te hni1ues and it takes a long time to get to the !oint of thro"ing our o!!onent- Therefore0 young !eo!le0 es!e ially0 "hen "at hing our training e#!ress doubts and say things like0 /If you "ere to move that slo"ly you "ouldn5t be able to res!ond fast enough in a real situation0 "ould you7/ or /8ouldn5t it be more effe tive to train to deal "ith !un hes and ki ks from the beginning7/ :f ourse0 it is natural for !eo!le in general not to understand the meaning of these kata- $lso0 even if "e onsider the old Ja!anese lifestyle "here !eo!le s!ent a great deal of time in a seated !osition0 does it make sense to think that in a "orld dominated by s"ords someone "ho is seated ould be grabbed by the la!el and atta ked "ith a dagger7 It is natural to "onder "hether they seriously !ra ti ed su h te hni1ues at a time "hen the reign of s"ord "as absolute- ;ven today0 the kata really seem to be 1uite unrealisti and uselessI take a ommon sense vie"!oint "ith res!e t to these kinds of kata- In other "ords0 I believe that kata are not substitutes for actual fighting. If there were such a thing as kata that can be used in a real situation, I would like to see them. I think that it "as in this sense that Morihei Ueshiba :-2ensei used to say that one should not atta h too mu h im!ortan e to kata- 9o"ever0 this is something that only a man of his stature0 "ho has already rea hed that

level0 an say- "e ordinary people would lose all clues about how to e$ecute real techniques if we were to re!ect the kata. %o"0 I "ould like to e#!lain "hat "e are attem!ting to learn in the kata "e !ra ti e "here the o!!onent atta ks by seizing our la!el and attem!ts to ut our right arotid artery "ith a dagger held in his right hand- The o!!onent omes to ut my ne k on the right side "ith his daggerIn this situation0 the movement re1uired is to avoid his atta k by "ithdra"ing my right shoulder "hile remaining fa ing to"ard the o!!onent "ithout breaking my enter line3ranin6 $re these the !rin i!les "hi h "ere taught by your grandfather 4asu.i7 Kuroda 2ensei6 4es- If you watch the movement in a mirror you will understand clearly too, but if you see it happen this way it doesn#t at all seem that I have avoided the attack of my opponent. 9ere0 "hat "ill ha!!en if I move my body to avoid the atta k by tilting to the left and I offer the e#!lanation that the movement of the kata did not a tually avoid the atta k7 If this should ha!!en then "hat "as transmitted by my grandfather "ould be lost- The kata0 "hi h "ere handed do"n by bushi "ho said that .u.utsu is so fast as to be invisible to the eye and that thro"ing !eo!le "as as sim!le as taking off a haori &Ja!anese half- oat'0 "ould be destroyed and disa!!ear- "hat I am trying to e$plain here is the essence of the method for avoiding an opponent#s attack. Usually "hat ha!!ens is that only the hi!s and u!!er body turn and it is not really a movement "here one dra"s ba k the right shoulder- In the beginning everyone is a beginner. It#s normal for the shoulder not to move. he purpose of the kata is to cause you to realize that you do not move. In this initial movement you must first learn to "open" your right shoulder and right chest. )oreover, you have to learn not to turn either shoulder. Under su h onditions0 it is normally im!ossible to do this movement- It5s e#a tly the same "hen you hange from right hanmi to left hanmi- 4ou need a body mani!ulation te hni1ue be ause you shift your body "hile in a turned !osition "ithout having turned your body- In this manner0 .ust by "at hing the first movement0 you understand that no one at the start an e#e ute the te hni al movement to handle an o!!onent5s thrustIf you avoid the atta k to the left "ithout understanding this !rin i!le0 this is not avoiding the atta k but merely getting out of the "ay- ;ven if you move a ording to the kata0 in the beginning you turn both shoulders0 and you are not able to move the right side of your hest9o"ever0 if you understand the meaning and !ra ti e the movement re1uired0 you "ill eventually gras! the !rin i!le transmitted from olden times that the !erson "ho first initiates an atta k "ill al"ays lose- An understanding of the qualitative difference between avoiding the attack by opening your body and "getting out of the way" is of incalculable value. If a !erson moves a ording to the kata "ithout understanding "hat the forms are really trying to tea h0 the !ra ti al as!e t of the theory that one al"ays "ins if the o!!onent initiates the atta k "ill be lost- The movements of dra"ing ba k the right shoulder and dra"ing or o!ening the left side of the hest are based on shifting the hi!s relatively to the right or left- :!ening the right side of the hest "ithout !ushing out the left shoulder0 and moreover0 shifting the body "ithout turning either shoulder0 that is0 shifting the body in a straight line along the enter line is an im!ortant movement "hi h an be used dire tly in .u.utsu or ia.utsu*ou are more quickly able to develop an inner eye through continuous practice of each individual movement in this kind of kata while communicating with your own body. 'ince in this kind of training the use of power is absolutely prohibited, you learn to move in a rela$ed manner as is suggested by the term yawara +softness,. *our progress will be greatly slowed if you put power into your movements. $fter training in this manner0 one of

my students0 "ho had !ra ti ed no- onta t karate from .unior high s hool through university0 said one year after enrolling0 /U! until no" I thought that the !un hes of !rofessional bo#ers "ere fast0 but the other day "hen I sa" a bout for the first time in 1uite a "hile0 I ouldn5t hel! but think that the !un hes really looked slo"- I "ondered "hy they "ere so slo"-/ This "as his o!inion of the movements of !rofessional s!orts om!ared to the standard of the traditional kataI s!oke about this earlier0 but people#s eyes can hardly see true things. hey can#t tell what is fast or what is slow. I teach the kata slowly. Even when I do the movements of the kata slowly, they are unable to see them. rue speed is not a question of fast or slow movements. *ou can also say that the fastest movement is actually no movement at all. his is called zegoku itto. $!!arently in <hinese kem!o they also have arts like ta- heng h5uan or i h5uan "here it is said that no movement is the fastest- Although the body in this kind of movement is apparently motionless, it is actually moving. )y student une$pectedly said the same thing to me. %ooking at my seated posture he said, "Even though you are motionless your whole body is moving." Morihei Ueshiba said a similar thing on erning s!eed$s long as "e are talking about martial arts0 it is ne essary to !reserve this kind of body and mind movement- $lso0 you an regard this as a te hni al !roblem- It is e#a tly the same in iai9o" is it that I "in "hile seated holding my unsheathed s"ord at my "aist in a situation "here an o!!onent has already dra"n his s"ord and is about to atta k me "ith it7 It5s not at all !ersuasive to say that this is !ossible be ause it is an iai kata0 and you absolutely annot stake your life on it- 2in e this seems to the normal eye like a situation "here my o!!onent is already fifty meters ahead in a one hundred meter s!rint0 one "ould think that there is no han e of "inning9o"ever0 a reversal of the ir umstan es o urs "hen the te hni1ue re1uired in ia.utsu is fully e#e uted- These are the body movements of su"arigamae0 ukimi0 hidari hanshin0 saya no okuri0 and hanare- -riginally, ia!utsu was a matter, technically speaking, of not drawing the sword. hat is the kata curriculum. his is only an e$tremely natural technical level if viewed from the standpoint of a world consisting mainly of unusual movements called hiden or gokui +secrets or mysteries of an art,. .enerally speaking, a technique where the opponent is sent flying "when one merely e$tends his hand" is considered to be a secret technique, but it is nothing more than slightly e$tending one#s arm in an unusual movement when the opponent is mainly e$ecuting normal movements. That ty!e of movement "here you lightly e#tend your arm "ill have no effe t on someone trained in true martial arts- Indeed if one doesn#t strike with full spirit one is risking his life. here are always more advanced techniques, and this cannot be understood at all from the standpoint of common sense movements. /owever, from the standpoint of someone who has trained with a complete understanding of techniques from the beginning, everything will seem natural. It will simply seem to be the result of accumulated training and the degree of training. he kata are what lead one to this level. $fter I met Kono 2ensei0 I too tried to study the sub.e t of realisti iai te hni1ues in July of +))+- I did not do this as a kata but ado!ted a standing !osition- Then my o!!onent stru k me at "ill from the seigan &stan e "ith s"ord aiming at o!!onent5s eye' or .odan &u!!er' stan e "ith a bokken or shinaiTo state my on lusion first0 I an "in as long as my o!!onent strikes first- Until I had done this0 I believed that I ouldn5t rea t fast enough "hen I imagined my grandfather as my

o!!onent- I used to think that I "ould end u! getting ut every time0 and also that as long as an o!!onent had already dra"n his s"ord0 it "ould be im!ossible to handle his atta k in time9o"ever0 I realized by doing this !ra ti e "hy I managed to rea t in !lenty of time- This led me to understand a great many things- I "as then able to make !rogress in my training- he combative distance +ma, I originally thought it was necessary to adopt was the so0called "disappearing form" +kiesareta katachi,. I then had to change to the ne$t step which was the nukitsuke +split second it takes to draw and cut the sword, distance. 8hen I !ra ti ed this "ith my students0 the s!eed of the atta k "as irrelevant0 and I ould "in easily- This "as only be ause I had develo!ed the eyes to see the movement of the o!!onent5s s!irit- This inner vision is0 in Kono 2ensei5s "ords0 a s!irit of te hni al dimension alled ra!!ort or tele!athy or the "orking of the brain - I an5t find the a!!ro!riate "ords for thisIf you an understand ho" diff ult this kind of s!iritual movement or a t of dra"ing the s"ord is as a !hysi al te hni1ue0 I think you an understand ho" ia.utsu an o!e "ith ken.utsu te hni ally- In that sense this a!!lies to everything0 but I think that these iai te hni1ues are generally onsidered too lightly3ranin6 =id your grandfather think about kata in a similar "ay7 Kuroda 2ensei6 %ot at all- 9e .ust told me to use the kata !ro!erly- For e#am!le0 I "as often told to lo"er my hi!s- 2ometimes even "hen I took a stan e alled iaigoshi and I lo"ered my hi!s so far that my left knee almost tou hed the floor I "as told that my hi!s "ere still too high- This is the same thing that my grandfather himself "as told by my great-grandfather0 MasakuniIn general0 if you lo"er your hi!s you settle do"n0 but is that really so7 In my ase0 I never understand it in that "ay- The reason I an move faster than my young students "ho an run one hundred meters in under eleven se onds lies in the te hni1ue I a 1uired from !ra ti ing "ith lo"ered hi!s9o"ever0 sin e at that time I had not develo!ed an inner sight enabling me to see invisible te hni1ues0 I felt a strong admiration for that kind of kata form- That still hasn5t hanged8hen I "ondered "hat true forms "ere0 I imagined they "ere indeed "hat my grandfather and great-grandfather !ra ti ed "hen they "ere young and earned their menkyo &li enses'- In any event0 I think that the reason I am "hat I am today is that the kata have been !reserved in an unaltered form u! to the !resent3ranin6 =id your grandfather a tually sho" you the kata himself7 Kuroda 2ensei6 %o- 8hen he began orre ting me after I had started training here seriously0 my grandfather "as already in his last years and so he mostly taught me orally- $s a result0 about the only times I "as able to see his movements "as "hen he gave an outside demonstration- ;ven that "as only about on e a year- But0 even though I say /see0/ I tried as hard as !ossible to understand his invisible movements "hi h I ouldn5t gras! sin e I la ked the true ability to see- I "as unable to see the essen e of his movements even though he sho"ed them to me so learly- I des!erately tried to understand his movements0 "hi h "ould not have been diff ult if I had kno"n the kata- 9e didn5t even dra" my attention to the fa t that I "as overlooking the essen e of the te hni1ues- In other "ords0 my grandfather regarded training in a different light than "e do today- 9e re ognized only things he ould see as visibleIn order to e$plain what that speed was he only told me that !u!utsu was something so fast that it was invisible to the eye. I think this is fairly natural for someone to say "ho "as

raised in a martial arts onte#t from birth be ause one an only see "hat he is able to see from his o"n level of !er e!tion;arlier I talked about my student "ho onsidered the !un hes of !rofessional bo#ers to be slo"- 9is !er e!tion "as the same as my grandfather5s- :ne time my grandfather "as "at hing a !rofessional bo#ing mat h and he ommented0 /:h0 look at that idiot sti king out his fa e and "aiting to be !un hed>/ :n that o asion0 I "ondered "hat level of !er e!tion he had develo!ed to be able to .udge someone "ho ould !un h that 1ui kly%o" I finally understand "hat it "as he "as talking about- A stopwatch cannot measure the speed of techniques for someone who has been born and raised in a world where no movement is the fastest kind of movement and speed cannot be measured by instruments. echniques, or rather what can be called techniques, are fast in absolute or divine terms. hose techniques are the kata themselves. In the e#am!le of the .u.utsu kata I gave earlier0 the o!!onent first strikes to the ne k- he speed of this strike cannot be perceived by the normal eye because it is e$ecuted in a single0rhythm. I say "true speed," but even when this strike is e$ecuted relatively slowly it is the same1 it is somehow fast. *ou get the feeling that it is indeed fast and it is a speed which cannot be avoided. /owever, if you e$ecute this movement with a motionless body, the movement becomes as slow as the speed with which it is e$ecuted. -nly movements which are absolutely fast while moving slowly are true techniques. It is impossible to avoid this kind of technique or strike without inward eyes if one actually e$ecutes these movements quickly in a single rhythm. If your o!!onent is that skilled a martial artist0 "hat should you do to be ome able to onfront him7 Even if his way of moving seems the same as ordinary movement, the only way to deal with a martial artist whose movement is of a completely different nature is to learn how to use your body in the same dimension he does. he most effective shortcut to achieve this is the kata. $lso0 "e are able to easily e#!erien e this different "orld today be ause the kata "ere transmitted to us by our !rede essors- 9o"ever0 nothing "ill be !rodu ed if the ontent of the kata is destroyed- If a te hni1ue is e#e uted by someone "ho is skilled0 even if the kata has been altered0 he "ill be able to use it effe tively sin e the 1uality of ea h individual movement reveals the ability of the !erson- :n the ontrary0 even if the kata remains inta t0 if the tea her has an infle#ible mind0 he "ill learn nothing from the kata2u h a "onderful kata "ill be of no use to him(ow if we look at the movements from the kata I am using as an e$ample, the movements are so refined that they don#t appear to constitute a kata. If my grandfather had transmitted this kata with his specific body movements and showed the real way to parry, I don#t think I would have noticed the difference in body movement or direction between real body movement and !ust "getting out of the way." 3ranin6 Training e# hanges for the !ur!ose of resear hing te hni1ues and !ra ti e among different tea hers is not ommon in the aikido "orld0 but you and Kono 2ensei have engaged in training e# hanges- 9o" did you ha!!en to meet Kono 2ensei7 Kuroda 2ensei6 Kono 2ensei "anted to observe my !ra ti e and that is ho" he first ame hereKono 2ensei6 That "as in May +)?,- 8hen I visited0 "e s!ent from si# to about +@6,@ !-m- in a small restaurant talking about things0 in luding e!isodes about his grandfather0 4asu.i 2ensei and the latter5s father0 9iroshi Masakuni 2ensei0 and I forgot all about the time- Then0

the follo"ing month I "as invited to the first traditional martial arts demonstration of the 2aitama bran h of the =ai %ihon Butokukai asso iationKuroda 2ensei6 I kne" very little thenKono 2ensei6 2till0 the night I visited "as 1uite a sho k for me- If I had merely been told e# iting tales0 I might only have listened half-heartedly sin e there are many su h stories0 but I sensed an authenti 1uality in Kuroda 2ensei5s "ay of talking and a !o"er "hi h "as different from "hat a !erson "ould feel sim!ly hearing stories from his grandfather- I "as really over"helmed3ranin6 Then it "as after that e#!erien e that you began training e# hanges "ith Kono 2enseiKuroda 2ensei6 That started about one year after I first met Kono 2ensei- $t that time my biggest "eak !oint "as .u.utsu- I .ust did the movements of the kata se1uentially and my uke "ould take the falls9o"ever0 "hen I listened to my grandfather5s old students talk0 they "ould laugh and tell me this story6 /It "as during the "ar and "e didn5t !ra ti e .u.utsu very mu h0 but "e did do a little- :n those o asions0 even if "e "ere merely doing kata "e thought that it "ould not be fun to be thro"n by girls- 2o "e tried to resist0 but "e "ere easily thro"n- Then 2ensei "ould say to us0 A4ou shouldn5t use !o"er>5/ Booking ba k no"0 I realize that I trained stiffly0 but even still0 I "as at least ons ious of trying to be soft be ause I sa" the soft ukemi &falls' of my seniors- 9o"ever0 no matter ho" a"are of the !roblem I "as0 I remained stiff0 even though I "as trying to be soft and not use !o"er0 be ause my !artner and I "ere both rigidKono 2ensei "as the one "ho made me realize that- he difference between being soft and merely not using power is seen when the time comes to try to move and the technique either works or it doesn#t. Also, you really have to train seriously over a period of time in order to become soft when not using power. *ou can#t do it all at once. Kono 2ensei sho"ed me several kirikuzushi te hni1ues ea h time he ame to the do.o- In these te hni1ues he allo"s himself to be grabbed "ith t"o hands and I even had him tea h them to my students- Bater0 after hearing my story about my grandfather taking for"ard falls thirty-si# times on the length of one tatami mat0 he said that he first began training "ith the goal of taking t"o falls8hen he told me this over the !hone0 follo"ing his lead0 I began the same training- 8hen I tried at that time it still took about seventy !er ent of the length of the tatami for me to fall0 .ust as it had until that time- The only hint I had "as the "ords of my grandfather I had heard as a boy- 9e said0 "2oll forward and try to put your head into your crotch3" Is it that easy to !ut your head into your rot h7 2in e he "as not talking about having a !arti ular degree of body fle#ibility0 I ouldn5t figure out ho" to roll:n e0 "hen I "as absent from the do.o0 my grandfather be ame disgusted at the sight of my students doing stiff .u.utsu training and he sho"ed them ho" to roll0 saying that they ould not even roll !ro!erly- :n that o asion0 it seems that my grandfather0 "ho "as dressed in a heavy-1uilt garment0 ha!!ened to take a fall- 8hen I asked my students ho" he rolled they .ust said that they didn5t kno" and so I had no lue- $ll they said "as that he needed only a distan e of about t"elve in hes to do the rollAt that point I gave up on trying to learn this short forward roll. In order to roll forward thirty0si$ times in the space of one tatami, you almost have to end up in the same place each time you roll. Even though he was an old man and started from a

standing position, he rolled in a space of about twelve inches in a way that was impossible to perceive with the eyes. Kono 2ensei0 "ho is not a member of this do.o0 "as trying to learn this sort of lofty te hni1ue and he a tually started to train- I remember at that time my eyes being o!ened too- $lso0 I think that on that o asion0 "hen my eyes "ere o!ened to basi ukemi0 I first began to re onsider .u.utsu0 "hi h had been until then my "eak !ointI re orded my !rogress in this ukemi over a !eriod of time on videota!e- I have fond re olle tions of my im!rovement- $fter beginning around the start of May +)??0 "hen I ould do t"o for"ard rolls0 it "ent 1ui kly6 May CDEthree timesF May C)Efour timesF May ,+Esi# times- Then0 in June0 the !a e "as as follo"s6 June ,Eeight timesF June )Et"elve timesF June +CEeighteen timesF June +GEthirty-seven timesF June +)Eforty-three times- I don#t roll in this ukemi. )y leg doesn#t strike the floor either. I came to understand gradually after I tried to do it. Kono 2ensei6 I "as truly amazed at his enthusiasm for training and the s!eed of his !rogressIn our training e# hange in February +)?) his movements still felt .erky0 but four months later in June0 he ould e#e ute the movements smoothly and it felt as if you "ere being !ulled into his te hni1ue- It "as like a "hite belt !rogressing in four months to fourth or fifth dan in another martial art3ranin6 I "ould like to have Kuroda 2ensei e#!lain here in detail ho" he reevaluated his family .u.utsu0 kno"n as 2hishin Takuma-ryu0 and about the so- alled invisible movementsKuroda 2ensei6 My e# hange training at that time "ith Kono 2ensei really aused me to study hard- My students didn5t understand ho" they "ere be oming unbalan ed0 nor did I understand anything e# e!t that my e#e ution of the kata "hi h had !reviously been rigid had no" be ome soft$t that time0 Kono 2ensei "as taking falls for me and "as able to HreadI my body movements- I remember that listening to him "as .ust like hearing an e#!lanation of Kono 2ensei5s movements rather than my o"n- This e# hange training "ith him !rovided an o!!ortunity to !ra ti e observing my movements in detail$fter that0 my students0 "ho ame on e a "eek0 said that every "eek the training "as hanging- It ontinued to hange so often that students "ho al"ays ame even said that it "as different ea h lass- I set aside ken.utsu and ia.utsu and did nothing but .u.utsu- I felt as if I "as at hing u! in a single stret h on the .u.utsu in our urri ulum that I had u! until then avoided- If I became soft then my partner became soft and both of us seemed to try to compete to remove power from our movements. /owever, as always, I e$ecuted the kata as they were handed down unchanged. %ittle by little, one after another, the kata forced me to face a new level of diffculty. he very same kata constantly changed as I was changing and this gave me no time even to consider attempting to alter them. "hen I understood how to unbalance uke#s hips even when I grabbed his soft hand which had no power in it, I realized that I had come to develop an inner sight before I was conscious of it. he sharpness of my technique improved as I trained relying on this inner vision and I gradually began to use less and less power. Then I had Kono 2ensei look at my te hni1ues and that !roved to be the best study and validation of "hat I "as doing2oon after that my students started saying they ouldn5t see my movements- I first thought that they were saying something to the effect that they couldn#t see my movements because I e$ecuted them quickly in a single rhythm. $t that time - the situation is still the

same - be ause there "as no one more advan ed than me and I ouldn5t see the a tual movements of a more advan ed !erson0 I asked a lot of detailed 1uestions of my students su h as0 H9o" "as the movement I .ust did7I or H9o" is this7I and I "as om!letely de!endent on their ability to !er eive invisible things- Then the students0 "ho in the beginning had res!onded that they didn5t understand0 be ame able to see- Bittle by little they be ame able to !oint out the details of the distortions in my movements- I thought to myself ho" hel!ful if "ould have been to have someone of at least my level to sho" me the same movements0 but that too is a matter of fateMy training !rogressed es!e ially during that !eriod "hen I had my students "at h my !ra ti e every day- They told me that my movements "ere invisible- Just after they enrolled they said that I "as fast0 but my later movements "ere invisible to the eye om!ared to my earlier "ay of moving- They said that they ould only understand the beginning and end of the movements- 2oon0 even "hen I "ould move unintentionally they "ould say they ouldn5t see it- I said0 HJeally7I and asked "hi h movement "as invisible- %aturally0 "hen I did the movement looking in the mirror0 sin e I "as moving ons iously it felt fast and I a tually e#!erien ed it as being fast0 des!ite the fa t I "as "at hing deliberately- $t that time0 I "as a tually able to e#!erien e for the first time "hat are variously referred to as 4disappearing movements,5 4speed invisible to the eye,5 4divine speed,5 and su h things9o"ever0 "hen I a tually did this kind of fast movement in !ra ti e0 even ordinary !eo!le ould tell it "as fast0 but it "as a false s!eed like that re orded "ith a sto!"at h- he speed of a true movement is not like this and the beginning and end of the movement are almost simultaneous. herefore, when I do the kata at normal speed or slowly, my students and people who are capable to some e$tent of seeing these things can understand the instantaneous changes in the true movements and say they are both fast. -n the contrary, when I e$ert myself to do a movement attempting to show a bad e$ample to beginning students, the same people say my movements are slow. /owever, beginners are the opposite, as I mentioned earlier, and can#t tell what is fast and what is slow. In any event0 I "as finally able to understand that original !u!utsu was fast enough even to cope with the sword- herefore, I now understand the role of atemi +strikes to vital points, in !u!utsu. "hen your opponent is someone without inner sight, you can e$ecute an atemi on him to any vital point without being parried. I am very !leased that this "ay of using the body e#ists and that I an e#e ute these te hni1ues to a ertain e#tent- 6rom this e$ample, I can say that punches and kicks in !u!utsu should be cultivated through the kata practice of the original !u!utsu. Kono 2ensei6 :f ourse0 I think this is something shared by all arts in luding ken.utsu and ia.utsu0 and does not in lude only .u.utsu- $lso0 I think Kuroda 2ensei5s !rogress in .u.utsu is related to the fa t that he trained for a long time starting as a boy "ith 4asu.i 2ensei in an art "hi h in or!orates the use of "ea!onsKuroda 2ensei5s sudden !rogress in .u.utsu !roves to me "hat I have been insisting on for a long time- That is0 martial training "hi h in or!orates "ea!ons su h as the katana is an e#tremely im!ortant fa tor in 1ualitative im!rovement in tai.utsu &em!ty-handed te hni1ues' and I am very !leased at this- I "as really sur!rised at Kuroda 2ensei5s rate of !rogress- 2in e

im!rovement in .u.utsu te hni1ues is naturally related to an im!rovement in ken.utsu and ia.utsu0 I believe it is an ideal kind of !rogress for martial arts trainingKuroda 2ensei6 I am very !leased that Kono 2ensei al"ays evaluates me highly0 but from the time I "as a boy I "as al"ays sneaking out of training and I never re eived training the "ay my grandfather and those before him did- This has al"ays aused me embarrassmentTherefore0 I "ould again like to stress the fa t that su h em!hasis being !la ed on someone like me and also the fa t that I have a 1uired something "hi h auses me to be evaluated highly is a tually thanks to the kata%o"0 as Kono 2ensei has mentioned0 it is true that at the time I "as engrossed in training in the kata of my family tradition there "eren5t very many students- $s a result0 I !ra ti ed ken.utsu and ia.utsu kata by myself- 3arti ularly0 in iai0 I "ould !ra ti e dra"ing the s"ord over and over0 but I ouldn5t do it- I ouldn5t master the s"ord-dra"ing te hni1ue- I ould see myself that something "as "rong- ;ven though I kne" that I "as doing it "rong0 there "as no one to tea h me ho" to dra" the s"ord orre tly- My grandfather "ould o asionally ome into the do.o and "at h me0 but in the beginning he "ould make omments su h as0 H4our hi!s are too high0I or HThe movement of your left hand holding the s abbard &okuri' is too slo"-I 9o"ever0 after a "hile he sto!!ed saying anything$ ording to my father0 I "as the only one my grandfather "ould "at h silently even though he "as so stri t in iai- 9o"ever0 I had no idea "hat he found satisfa tory in my movement sin e I "as struggling to dra" the s"ord in the same "ay my grandfather did- If0 at that stage0 it "as suff ient to dra" the s"ord in that "ay0 "hat about s"ord-dra"ing at the ne#t level7 :n e0 "hen I "as doing the okuta hi te hni1ue in ken.utsu I ould feel the heaviness of my body- The more I tried to move 1ui kly0 the more resistan e I felt at various stages- Then he told me "ith his usual smile0 H4our training is not bad0 butKI I "anted to kno" ho" to lear the ne#t obsta le0 but his "ords "ere ut off "ith his smile4ou often hear the "ord tanden & enter !oint .ust belo" the navel' mentioned in the martial arts- 9o"ever0 sin e I "as struggling "ith the kata0 the hardest as!e t of training0 I never "as ons ious of this on e!t even on e during training- That5s true even todayLenerally s!eaking0 "e see many !eo!le "ho end u! getting too stu k on the on e!t of tanden be ause they are too ons ious of it before they are even able to move their bodies freely- %o"0 after I begin to feel a sense of lightness due to the buoyan y of my body and my body movements seem to disa!!ear0 it feels like there is nothing from my ne k do"n"ard$t the same time0 there is something I realized in February +))C "hen I stood before a mirror intending to !ra ti e suburi &s"ord-s"inging !ra ti e'- 8hen I took a stan e0 my hi!s "ere really lo"0 and again I felt the Hlo"ness of my hi!sI as if they "ere sinking- Then0 "hen I looked at my stan e from the side0 I realized that my abdomen suddenly !ushed out"ard slightly- $t first0 I thought that I had a slight !aun h0 but then I realized "hat I had dis overed and I smiled in satisfa tion$t any rate0 if "e !ra ti e on entrating on the kata and ourselves0 the traditional kata "ill ertainly lead us to develo! infinite te hni1ues- $ll I "ould like is to leave for !osterity and transmit to others the true form of the kata-