Читать книгу Martial Arts Training in Japan. A Guide for Westerners онлайн

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I have been teaching the martial arts aikido, Shorinji-ryu karatedo, and tai chi ch’uan for fifteen years. Presently I teach aikido two days a week at the University of Central Florida, where I am a professor of cultural anthropology, and two days a week at the Shin Dai Aikikai in Orlando, Florida, the largest aikido training facility in the area.

During my time in Japan I also trained in Komuso Zen (a Zen Buddhist sect whose name translates as “the followers of emptiness” or literally “emptiness, nothingness, priest”) at Saikoji, a small temple on the grounds of Shofukuji in Fukuoka which is one of the most ancient Zen temples in Japan. The Komuso monks, easily identified by a helmet-like basketry hat (tengai) and the large bamboo flutes (shakuhachi) which they play as they wander on their alms-seeking rounds (takuhatsu), have a history that interestingly intertwines with that of the samurai, many of whom joined the Komuso and indelibly stamped it with their character.

My anthropological research has touched upon not only warfare and martial arts, but also religion, law, cross-cultural studies of education, and social control.