Relativization of the Kata Concept of Ryoen Minamoto through Fieldwork:

We report a study of the dojos (training halls) of the Shinkage-Ryu (teaching style) school of Japanese sword fencing, a foundational martial art, through fieldwork and an examination of the kata concept of Minamoto Ryouen based on the results. Earlier research on martial arts, not limited to Minamoto, was conducted mainly through literature reviews. In those studies, however, the realities of martial art practices that are not clearly evident in the literature were not identified. The originality of the present study lies in its investigation of the actual conditions of martial art practices on the basis of fieldwork. This study focuses on kata, which is a core practice method unique to martial arts. However, previous literature searches on kata have not achieved notable results. It is rare for shosa (conduct and movements) associated with kata to be described in detail in the martial arts literature, although descriptions of the spiritual nature and physical sense have been described from the standpoint of oriental thought patterns. This is because kata is based on practice and not described in words. The present fieldwork examined the manner in which kata is practiced. How can fieldwork reveal aspects of kata that have been unaddressed in literature studies? Unless this issue is solved, the significance of fieldwork will not be demonstrated. Here, we critically relativize the kata concept of Ryoen Minamoto, in view of the lack of previous efforts to do this. Study of the kata concept revealed that Minamoto discovered the principle of repeating the same physical movement as its basis. Furthermore, Minamoto considered that the character and individuality of the creator disappeared during the course of acquiring universality as part of traditional culture. However, Minamoto asserted that kata tends to be a form of practice in which formalized procedures are merely repeated, and that therefore there is a risk that such practice will become a mere formality. In the Shinkage-Ryu dojos surveyed in this study, 2 concepts – omotetachi and toho – were used to represent kata. Omotetachi corresponds to the kata concept of Minamoto. The purpose of teaching and practicing omotetachi in the dojo is to acquire toho. Toho is regarded as the basic use of the sword in Shinkage-Ryu and comprises 3 elements: (1) the vector of the sword, (2) to step ahead to where the tip of the opponent’s bamboo sword falls, and (3) to swing the sword in a single movement. In Shinkage-Ryu, the bamboo sword used is of the same length as the opponent’s sword and building the ability to strike the opponent’s fist takes up the majority of the training, reducing any handicap based on physical build and establishing a fair fight at a given distance from the opponent. In addition, omotetachi is constructed in such a way that, if one keeps the movements of (2) and (3), then one need to focus only on (1), or the angle of the sword between oneself and the opponent, to resist defeat. The omotetachi is an example for learning the geometric mechanisms of toho, which comprises the skills that compose omotetachi. In the fieldwork sites, a practice known as kudaki, a form where kata and matches are mixed, was employed instead of mere repetitions of the omotetachi shosa. Kudaki is a practice that requires one to respond to the attack of an opponent who does not follow formalized steps by applying toho learned in omotetachi and the ideas of toho. In kudaki, in response to the opponent’s uncertain movement, a variety of movements are generated by using toho. The kata method has the potential to produce shosa that are not present in omotetachi.