Self Introduction

 

Hello everyone. My name is Kei Kanaeda. I am from the Japan. My hometown is Kochi prefecture and I was born in 1993. I’m a freshman of University of Tsukuba. I made this blog because the subject of my English lesson is chosen your favorite theme and make your blog in English with this theme. I have liked martial arts for a long time, especially Japanese old martial arts. So I want to write about martial arts. But I seldom got opportunity to do any martial arts because Kochi is very country so there are very few dojo (training halls) for martial arts. Of course, there is not anything and I could gain opportunity to do. But probably I was not satisfied with it because as far as I can see there are no martial arts which are “true” martial arts: I mean there are sports. The situation was changed when I entered University of Tsukuba. I met some martial arts. Some I had known others I hadn’t known. Above all, I was deeply impressed by one martial art: Kashima-Shinryu. Probably many people think “what is this?” So I want to present Kashima Shinryu. But this school has many secret techniques and I must keep its secret. I don’t know how far I can speak about Kashima-Shinryu. Therefore I’m going to cite from Official site of the Kashima-Shinryu Federation of Martial Sciences. The following is quoted from Official site of the Kashima-Shinryu Federation of Martial Sciences.

Kashima Shinryū is nearly 500 years old Japanese koryu (old) martial arts. The art was somewhat popularized in the 20th century by Kunii Zen'ya (1894-1966), the 18th generation soke (headmaster). The Current 'Soke' is 21st Generation Kunii Masakatsu. The line is still headed by the Kunii family but is more or less honorific as the responsibility for the preservation and teaching of the ryu is instilled in a 'Shihanke' - currently represented by Seki Humitake. 'Shihanke' roughly translates as 'instructor’s house' and is something which is not uncommon in koryū-bujutsu. The name Kashima refers to Kashima Shrine that is located in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture. Kashima-Shinryū includes kenjutsu, battojutsu, jojutsu, jujutsu, kusarigama: a sickle and chain (used as a weapon), and several other skills in its curriculum. Kashima-Shinryū can be studied not only in Japan but also in the United States in Athens, GA, Bozeman, MT, Eureka, CA and Los Angeles, CA. In Europe Kashima-Shinryū is taught in Breda, Frankfurt, Dresden, Helsinki, Ljubljana, London and Tampere. It is held that the greater ideals of this and other Koryū lead to betterment of the self by repetition of the techniques because each technique has in it all the principles of the greater Way (道 – Michi). The present form of Kashima-Shinryû resulted from the efforts of the eighteenth-generation shihanke, KUNII Zen'ya (1894–1966), who cultivated his martial art training to the very limits of human endurance as he re-evaluated in light of the Fivefold Laws each of the techniques handed down by tradition and sought to re-elevate them to the highest spiritual levels of Japanese martial art, which he identified as "Takemikazuchi's Sword of Hôyô-Dôka" (acceptance and resorption). This constitutes the essence of the martial art that the nineteenth-generation shihanke, SEKI Humitake, inherited and that he now teaches to the next generation in a manner consistent with modern educational methods.

Can you understand? I think it is difficult to make sense of what it means. So if you have questions about Kashima-Shinryu or interested in it, please access to http://www.kashima-shinryu.jp/English/index.html

I’m going to present some Japanese old martial arts. I hope many people come to consider martial arts taking advantage of my blog.

Thank you.