Monday, February 13, 2006
Martial Arts
I always liked movies — and yes, I enjoy spaghetti western, but more than these, I love Japanese Samurai movies. Some of my all time favorite flicks are in this category. without any doubt, Kurosawa was a Master. So, when Akiko mentioned the 29th All Japan Traditional Martial Ways (Kobudo) Demonstrations, I immediately was interested in going. I also knew that Julien too would be interested.
The place, the Budokan or the Mecca of Japanese Martial Art, is actually very near our place. We went there by bicycle as the weather was pretty nice (cold, but clear and sunny). As planned, we met some friends there just before the opening. An older gentleman entering the building saw us and asked us to accept a free invitation ticket.
After a brief opening ceremony and a few speeches, the demonstration started with the firing of some old big matchlock guns (called Seki-ryu hojutsu). That was something quite unique. I am sure it was for all of us the first time we could see such demonstration. 
Then, we saw various swordmanship and combat demonstrations, all pretty interesting and some quite impressive. 
One of the demonstrations was between two men dressed like samurai taking part in the Sekigahara battle. I wished I was nearer to take a few pictures.
Before leaving, we absolutely wanted to see the ancient style of Japanese archery (Ogasawara-ryu kyuubajutsu) – shooting long arrows from the back of a horse. The horse was here replaced by a wooden structure, but the basic idea was supposed to be the same — shooting several arrows, one after another at different targets, while moving. Really impressive, even with the comic touch given by the wooden horse turned around by an assistant. Again, I hope to be able to see a real life demonstration of this art.
We had enough and left. We would have liked to see some Kendo but this will be for another time.
It is also quite nice to see that while Japan is probably the country in the world that embraces and adopts new technology easier and faster than any other, the Japanese people were able to maintain and even develop their culture and tradition.
