«A truly modest person will always have an inner calm“.
-Motto personal motto to him Matsumura Sokon Matsumura Munekon-Figura cheie in Karate-UL OKINAWIAN.
(Jap. People are always respectful and respectful? The heart is always bright – Hito Tsuneni Keikyo Narebu Sunawatchi Kokoro Wa Tsuneni Koumyo Nari)
– Sokon Calligraphy at the age of 76 [1885] )
Taking over Patrick McCarthyTo which we thank the translation and efforts for the promotion of karate from Ryukyu!
Matsumura Sokon It is a character of great importance in evolution Ryukyu Kenpo to a modern karate. His father was of Chinese origin, descendant of one of the 36 families in China brought to the Ryukyu archipelago. Matsumura was practically a member of the noble class of Okinawa what comes once, to reject the myth that Ryukyu’s martial arts belonged to local peas that appeared with improvised weapons. Matsumura He was also a good connoisseur of Chinese culture and an expert equally in weapons techniques but also by empty hand.
In 1828 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to China because he already had the official office of the body guards (Shinanyaku) Over 3 generations of kings from Okinawa. Hence some legends related to his training in Shaolin, not historically canceled. But it is clear that having this official function, it could meet many authentic Chinese experts in their martial practice.
Therefore, again extremely important, he is sent to Japan, somewhere between 1832 and 1837 where he learns the famous sword Jigen Ryu clan Satsuma (Dear Initial Ochupase Ryukyu). Hokama Sensei He told me Matsumura It seems to be the only Okinawaian who knew it Kenjutsu And who even delivered this Kenjutsu in Japan (a Ankō Asatato And he Itrashiki chochu). From here the comparisons arrive with the Japanese sword technique, names such as Teatate Sau Shut) And make a lot of sense to make these comparisons after practicing enough sword (and it seems to have the maximum level on the sword – Menkyokaiden in Jigen Ryu). Otherwise the comparison with the sword is a bottom: it is easy to say hit with shut as if I cut with the sword! But what, when you cut the last time with the sword and cut it well? (And at the sword there is a lot of work until it comes out). The same thing happens with the truncated disciplines without an important part of their original practice. Exactly the same we have in Badunjin Qigong module «To pull the arch«And it is not easy to shoot with an arch and find out if you can. Or in the modern Aikido in which the sword is extremely small as a technical form, it is said to be too easy as a technique» like the sword «.
Serious? How sword, what exactly style? I think it should be like what you practice Ueshiba OR Sogaku Sensei (And already here, the style does not help, because each teacher can teach the same style in a different way … and what he teaches can be received differently from each of the students …). But at least we can understand how important it is direct transmission to learn something. So we can understand a little better than practice Traditional kenpo As a source of modern karate, understanding Jigen Ryu Kenjutsu. Maybe that’s why I entered me Machida Sensei and techniques Jigen Ryu In practice – to better understand the practice of karate and perhaps this is why dance has tried to approach this school (obviously, with some reserves).
Thanks for the patience to travel these lines and to remember some of the teachers thanks to which we can now practice various disciplines to find us. The return to the source that I think must always be part of our practice, which limits the ego and the mental division. And yes, that deep internal calm that seems to be so difficult to reach for some … and especially in current society.
PS. And perhaps that calm and that state of modesty seem a little difficult to associate with martial practice, in this case. Yet it is very possible if we do not limit ourselves to external practice. Let’s not forget over time MatsumuraThere is still no sports kumite and the competitions have not asked for the problem. It was a military practice reserved for an elite class that did it on a professional level. And the emphasis on Kata as a form of education and training seems to appear only with Matsumura (Mertz, 2017) – is a kind of «innovation». And this means that until then the practice of forms (kata) has not been paid in the foreground. The emphasis on the form was introduced by Matsumura after his visit to China, as a group teaching methodology, group education. Returning to internal practice, it is sufficient to have the intention of training (and here it is to underline the role of the instructor) and therefore the right thing on the departure / posture / abdominal and safe breathing, to want to overcome the conflict to enjoy harmony and life at your step.
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