Smile and say "hai"

A budô post, for a change. Or actually a koryû post, but anyways...

What is practising koryû all about? Is it about wanting to preserving a traditional form of (martial) art and trying to keep it alive by practising it and teaching it to the next generation? Learning to kill people with swords and things that have practically no use in today's society but that look cool? Wanting to belong to a really exclusive club and being proud of it? There is no one answer to this one, but one thing is sure:

If you want to do it, you have to play by the rules. And the rules are nothing like those we might be used to in the western society.

I usually hate to make broad generalizations like "western this" or "western that", but in this case I have to. For example, we're used to thinking that democracy is a good thing, and people can't just order other people around only because they feel like it. Well, now is the time to open your eyes if you want to save yourself from a lot of problems in the field of koryû.

There is a hierarchy. Even if you don't see it and even if it's not enforced all the time, it is there - and this is very easy to forget, especially in here where we practise sometimes more informally and don't envision our friends in the very official role of sempai/sensei they might have on their shoulders, and indeed the teachers themselves are very often unwilling to "pull rank" with people they have been practising with for years, sometimes even for decades. But this doesn't change the fact that when these friends need to act as "sempai" or "kakari-in", "the one that is responsible", well, that's what they have to do and at that exact moment the rules change.

And just for the record: I have yet to meet someone who actually enjoys this responsibility of keeping people (who are very often their friends) in line, and in extreme cases having to make decisions about how to protect the school in the best possible way. And yes, it might come to the point where you have to ban someone from coming to practise, be it temporarily or for the rest of their lives. It's a responsibility, NOT a right.

This isn't sport, this isn't budô, this isn't a democracy. Think of koryû as a complete dictature ruled by one japanese - what that person says, happens. And because this person with absolute power is a human being with feelings and a possibility to misunderstand your slightest move, you have tread very VERY carefully and be continously trying to read his mind. I'm not saying that all koryû teachers are disasters waiting to happen, not at all, just that you should keep in mind that they do get upset for reasons we don't always understand - and WHEN they get pissed, then not only the person included, but the whole group around him, which could include for example everyone practising that particular koryû in the same country as the unhappy katalyst, is in deep shit. And even if it was all a misunderstanding that was set right later on, well, mending it might take years.

I've seen this happen to individuals, and the groups lead by those said individuals. I've seen one teacher not talking to his best student for some years. I've been lectured sternly by one sensei about being in a strip club in Canada, while he said nothing to all the guys who were in the same place. I've seen complete countries disappear from the practitioners of certain koryû, just because they made a small mistake in the etiquette somewhere (for inviting the wrong teacher to hold a seminar, for example). Even if you have the highest diploma possible and you're the senior student, it doesn't save your ass if the big boss gets angry at you. And you can be almost sure that you won't be alone, but the whole group will get to feel what the sensei thinks about you. Think about this when you try to smile and listen how your sensei praises all the other nationalities practising but yours, just because he's in less-than-friendly terms with your teacher...

Nope, it's not fair. It's not easy. It's certainly not what they taught you at school. Equality? Freedom? Yeah, right. And what's more, the ONLY thing you can do in the situation is to shut up, smile and let it go. Well, that, or you can walk away, but voicing your complains is NOT an option. Ever.

And this is exactly where the "responsibles" come in. They are the ones who need to control what happens inside the group. They have to keep people in line so that the practising may continue and that sensei stays happy. That no one fucks up. They have to check who comes in, because they will be responsible for them for the rest of both of their practising careers. In this case the blame doesn't go down the ladder, but up. I fuck up, the guy responsible for me gets blamed, because it would have been his job to teach me how to behave. No matter who is better, who practises more, who is lazy or good-looking or stupid. The hierarchy does not change once it has been established, unless the sensei wants it to be changed.

And here's the news: No one forces you to like the system - but that's one of the things that separates koryû from budô - you just have to live with it because the system can't be changed. You can't modernize a koryû to work on our western (which we often take in the meaning of "better") principles. It would lose it's whole point of being. A koryû is not about techniques. It's about the tradition as a whole, and that includes bits that probably we all were unaware of when we signed. No one's perfect and we're all still learning how to wade in this muddy swamp trying to avoid quicksand and whatnot, but closing your eyes about all this really does not help. And no hope of the rules getting easier the more you practise - actually it's the other way around. The longer you hang with the gang, the more cultural finesse they suppose you can handle.

If in doubt, just keep silent and say "hai". You can vent your hurt feelings to your friends later.