Japan Tour – October and November 2005
Roald Knutsen and Ric Bithell, yondan, travelled to Japan in mid-October, in order first to stay with the family of Ohta Hirokata-sensei, hachidan Hanshi, in Kyoto, and then to travel south through Nara and Wakayama Prefectures aiming at examining some aspects of the many connections between Kendo development and the esoteric Buddhist, Shinto, and the folk-based 'mountain beliefs' of Shugendo mikkyo.
One of the highlights of the visit was a break in the Kumano tour to travel up to Kobe to attend the 50th Anniversary of the Isshinkan Dojo at the invitation of the Chairman, Ozaki Yoshihiro-sensei, nanadan Kyoshi, and other leading members of the Isshinkan. Twelve hachidan Hanshi and Kyoshi from several Renmei were amongst the ninety or so guests at this function, representing the Hyogo Prefecture Kendo Renmei, the Kobe City Kendo Renmei, and the Osaka Kendo Renmei.
Back in the mid-Eighties, Pat and Roald Knutsen, together with two other senior yudansha from this Renmei, attended the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Isshinkan, so you can readily understand our close connections with this region. It was a great pleasure to renew friendships with a number of these sensei who first met us as long ago as 1967 and 1970, not to mention several times since. Roald Knutsen was amongst a small number of guests invited to address the gathering.
After this function, our two travellers returned south to Shingo-shi in order to visit the famous Nachi and Hayakawa-taisha (shrines) and the Shingon temple next to the first shrine, the Seiganto-ji, besides other places of note associated with the Kumano 'mountain' faith. The Hongu shrine and the two named above form the Kumano-Sanzan-Taisha and had a significant influence on the early development of the warrior groups and the bugei since the Heian period as long ago as the eleventh and twelfth centuries. One of the mysteries attached to these important shrines is their connection with the earliest 'land-taking' by the first Yamato chieftains – probably from around the third and fourth centuries AD – and the strange beliefs in the three-legged crow, the yatagarasu, that crop up later in some of the first recorded bugei traditions from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Returning to Kobe at the close of the tour, both yudansha practised at the Isshinkan and Inoue-sensei's dojo, with the good fortune to be instructed by Maruyama Satoshi-sensei, hachidan, and attended the lively Kobe City Kendo Renmei's Junior Taikai on Sunday, 6th November. An excellent finale to the visit! It was a very good chance to discuss some serious Kendo issues with some senior masters.