Ascending the Ladder pt. 2 - Koryu Budo

Here is part two of my comments and thoughts on rank in budo. Part one was primarily about rank in aikido, but I'll mainly be introducing and discussing the the koryu rank system in this post.

My own personal experience in koryu is limited to a style of iaido called "Mugairyu." Iaido itself, while most styles stem from koryu budo, is not entirely a koryu system. One would be hard pressed to call the iaido styles under the All Japan Kendo Federation (Zen-ken-ren) umbrella "koryu," since they have adopted the customs of the Zen-ken-ren, which mainly deals with sport kendo and seitei iaido. The seitei system was developed to preserve a handful of individual iaido styles. The Zen-ken-ren refers its members to these particular styles in order to keep them afloat in modern times. Basically, not enough people are interested in iaido nowadays, so by lumping these different styles together under the Zen-ken-ren banner, a certain amount of preservation is assured. This being the case, a handful of iaido styles refused to conform and are barely squeaking by. Mugairyu is doing relatively better than most independent (of the Zen-ken-ren) iaido styles, but there are a handful of "ha," or branches of Mugairyu, that are struggling.

So what's the difference between seitei iaido and - in this case - Mugairyu iaido in terms of the rank system? The Zen-ken-ren strictly enforces time requirements between promotions. Mugairyu does not. The Zen-ken-ren has set standards that permeate all iaido styles under its protection (the seitei kata, for example), so someone who is a practitioner of Muso Shinden ryu is judged, evaluated and promoted in the same way as a student of Eishin ryu would be. The requirements established by the Zen-ken-ren are new and completely different than the koryu system.

The koryu system breaks down into three categories.

1) dan rank

2) instructor certification

3) license

Dan rank was adopted by most (all?) koryu arts to keep up with the increasingly dominant Zen-ken-ren and its newly established rank system. Basically, at the time of establishing the dan rank system, it was apparent to everyone in the budo community that the doors of most styles would have to be open to most people in order to assure a certain degree of survival in the coming generations. Sensei and Soke (style heads) alike could no longer hand pick their students. Dan rank was used (and still is to some extent) to suppress the commoners within the style. Basically, it keeps people motivated and happy while being completely sterile and pointless. Dan rank in koryu is superficial and is merely used to weed out potentially loyal future masters from the people who just want to swing a sword or a stick around in their free time.

Instuctor certification is also rather new. Shidoin certification may or may not be the newest part of this system. I need to check on that, actually. Shihan certification breaks down into three levels. Renshi (forged master), Kyoshi (teaching master) and Hanshi (model master). Renshi implies that the shihan has been given this new title because he/she has trained himself/herself diligently. Kyoshi implies that the master is considered to be the best teacher under whom to study, while the Hanshi sits at the top, and manages the instructors underneath him. The dan system was adjusted to have these shihan levels correspond to sixth dan, seventh dan, and eighth dan respectively.

The final and most important (in terms of actual value within the budo community) system is the license system. The first level is Okuiri-sho, which is kind of pointless, but is nevertheless the first "foot in the door" to authentic training. Okuiri means "enter deeply," and refers to the process whereby the student is allowed to train in the okuden and naiden forms. These are forms that everyone under this level are not allowed to study, not because they're not "worthy," but because the heart of the style is represented in these forms and are therefore very difficult to understand and execute correctly. The dan system was adjusted so that about six months to a year after obtaining fifth dan, the practitioner is allowed okuiri-sho. Next is license ("menkyo" in Japanese), which is usually awarded at sixth or seventh dan. At this point the practitioner also has renshi or kyoshi certification and is allowed to start his/her own branch of the style independent from his/her sensei or soke. The final step, assuming the practitioner has not gone independent of his sensei at 7th dan menkyo is called "Menkyo Kaiden" and is often called "Full Transmission" in English. At this point, ninth dan and the highest level of soke is possible.

See how absolutely absurd all this is? See how much MORE there is in koryu outside of the pointless dan rank system? To value rank at all, when there is clearly so much more going on above whatever your level happens to be, is just stupid. Only a handful of people who are truly worthy and knowledgeable control who advances and who does not in koryu styles. There are no time requirements to mark your progress. Only the badass dudes at the tippy top know who's got the goods and who doesn't. Rushing for the next level in koryu just makes you look like an idiot. The top individuals sigh and roll their eyes at such displays of ignorance. Why would they let people into inner circles of trust and much more dire levels of responsibility if these people are rushing up the ladder to be ahead of everyone else in order to simply feed their egos? Who wants to train under/with a person who is evidently up on their high horse? Count me out.

Ascending the Ladder

It has recently been brought to my attention by friends in both the aikido and mugairyu communities that there are a surprising number of individuals who prioritize rank to some degree. While I feel that this is to be expected, a part of me finds this problem to be alarming. To make my point easier to understand, I'll divide this into two posts. First aikido.

To clear up an often debated topic, I'll make this clear from the start. NO MEMBER OF THE UESHIBA FAMILY HAS EVER HELD RANK OF ANY KIND. There are a lot of ignorant morons out there who debate this issue into the ground. Was Osensei ninth dan? Tenth dan? NO DAN! He FOUNDED THE FREAKING STYLE! Because he's the founder (and the first doshu...yet another heated debate among non-Japanese aikidoists), he gets no rank. Because his children and his children's children are his successors, they also get no rank. Just look at the aikikai website under the "instructors" tab. You will see that Ueshiba Mitsuteru, 25 years old and one of Hombu dojo's newest deshi, is at the top of the list above Tada sensei and Okumura sensei (both 9th dan respectively).

The dan system was introduced to aikido for commercial reasons to mark students' progress. It worked for judo, so someone early on thought it would work for aikido too. But think about it. Osensei is the closest thing the 20th century ever had to a shugyosha. A shugyosha is a samurai who runs around in the woods and mountains for months at a time, training to the point of collapse and living off the land everyday (think Musashi). If you put yourself through this kind of intensive training almost daily for decades, then burn all of your bridges with other styles in order to make your own style, would your sense of value change? Would a piece of paper with a number on it make any difference to you personally? Would it make any difference to prospective students? That last question, while seemingly the most ambiguous, is probably the easier question to answer. Osensei's sense of awareness and the intensity that radiated from the depths of his being is what attracted students to him. No one ever had to ask, "What are your credentials?" He would look at them, they would poop their pants, debate over.

Aikido today is an unorganized mess when it comes to rank. The average American aikidoist trains somewhere between six to eight years before attaining shodan. Japanese college aikidoists typically start when they are freshmen, train under their upperclassmen five days a week for two years, get shodan before they enter their junior year, and usually graduate with nidan. Are they any good compared to American shodans and nidans? Absolutely not. Japanese college aikidoists are a disgrace to the art. Bad posture, bad etiquette, and they don't even know how to clean the dojo. Does rank have anything to do with anything? Nope. Some college clubs even insist that lifting weights helps. As soon as they graduate, they stop aikido, put "aikido nidan" on their resume, get a job, and join the rest of the sheep working in Japanese companies. For them, "aikido nidan" has value. But if they reentered the aikido community, would they be outstanding aikidoists? Clearly not.

A very dear aikido sensei of mine once told me when I was but a wee highschool kid, "I never prepare for tests. You can either do what is required of you, or you can't. I won't let you test if I don't think you're ready." My interpretation? Rank is something that will come if you just continue training on a daily basis. Aiming for it will only make your training superficial. If you're making the time to train daily, shouldn't you value that more than a flamable piece of paper? The next time you find yourself counting how many days you've trained since your last test, just stop. I don't care who you are, just stop. You're better than that, I promise.