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.