A new tenugui, Kyoto Taikai, Eikenkai, and Jiri-icchi

Plugging away as usual over here in Japan. Since I am not bothered about posting regularly or often here on kenshi 24/7 anymore, I’ve used the excuse of a couple of back-to-back events to write a combination post today. Maybe the event information parts aren’t very interesting (as I’ve posted about the same events many times over the years), but the first part – and perhaps the bonus at the end) – might be to some. Anyway, enjoy!

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Part 1: Creative inspiration (April)

As long-term readers know, I underwent a bit of a difficult job transfer about one and a half years ago, one that I haven’t fully bounced back from. Starting and running a high school kendo club from zero while the kendo population is in free-fall has been quite tough… far tougher than I suggest on social media. I haven’t quite given up. 

Recently, I managed to, with financial support from graduates, finally make our own tenugui. This might seem a small thing if you are running an adults club, but when you are running a club in a public school, you can’t just demand the students cough up money to design and print out a number of tenugui. Of course, I could use my own money and then, through selling the tenugui to my students, recoup the cost… however, that would not only take time (years), but selling stuff to and handling students’ money raises all sorts of ethical questions. Luckily, the graduate club forked out the entire cost of designing and printing 50 tenugui for us. Problem solved! The next thing to do was actually design something. 

Almost all kendo clubs use some sort of standard Yojijukugo (四字熟語) on them. Here are some very common kanji you can find on kendo tenugui: 

Heijoshin 平常心
Fudoshin 不動心
Ichigo-ichie 一期一会
Kokenchiai 交剣知愛
Shuhari 守破離
Kenzen-Ichinyo 剣心一如
Munen-muso 無念無想
Jikishin-koredo 直心是道場
Hyakuren-Jitoku 百錬自得
Meikyoshisui 明鏡止水 

… and so on and so forth. There are lots of variations, but generally, even if you use some sort of rare kanji, some other dojo somewhere will be using it as well. 

So, I decided to get creative. I wanted to make my own Yojijukugo tied to this club along, based on the area. 

My new workplace is based on a small, unremarkable commuter city in the east of the prefecture called Shijonawate. There really is nothing of note here, and most people take the short train ride into Osaka city for work. However, if you like history, there might be one interesting thing that catches your interest. 

The Nanboku-cho period (1337-1392) was a short period in Japanese history between the Kamakura and Muromachi eras (technically a part of the latter), when two separate imperial courts arose and vied for legitimacy: one based in Kyoto, the other in Yoshino, Nara.  

One of the retainers of the southern court, Kusunoki Masashige, has legendary status in Japan due to his loyalty, virtue, and sacrifice for his Emperor. His legend was even used to inspire WWII kamikaze pilots, who were expected to look up to his ideal of self-sacrifice. I first read about Masashige in my early teens, thousands of miles away in the Highlands of Scotland, and remembered his name as the “perfect Samurai.”

After his death, Masashige’s eldest son, Kusunoki Masatsura, took over as head of the family, continuing to serve the southern court as one of its most important military commanders.  Over time, the resources of the southern court dwindled, and in February 1348, Masatsura led his men out one final time, to what was to become the Battle of Shijonawate. The southern court would badly lose the battle, and Masatsura his life. Although the southern court would stumble on until 1392, this battle was seen as the key moment the court would lose momentum. 

It is unknown how Masatsura died – was it in combat or did he commit suppuku rather than face capture/surrender? Either way, legend has it that before the battle Masatsura visited the temple complex of Shitteno-ji and carved a poem onto a temple door:

「返らじとかねて思えば梓弓
なき数に入る名をぞとどむる」
“Since I had long resolved never to return,
I leave behind only my name among the dead.”

Traditionally, Masatsura is said to be buried (or at least his head is…) in a small shrine in Shijonawate city, only a five-minute walk from my workplace. I stumbled on it by accident when I was first transferred here. 

So, I had a famous warrior buried in the immediate area, and I had a legendary poem written by him. What more inspiration did I need?

It reads (the tenugui is from right > left, but here I present the kanji left->right):

一矢不返（いっしふへん）

Reading: ISSHI-FUHEN

It was created using the metaphor that Masatsura used in his death poem above: that of loosing an arrow and never retrieving it (the literal meaning of Isshi-fuhen) – that is, Masatsura saw himself as the arrow being shot from the bow, once gone never to return. 

The basic meaning of this (that I have given it) is “RESOLVE” or “DETERMINATION.” Once you choose to do something, do it without looking back. In kendo we can think of it as SUTEMI – once you decide to go forward and strike, do it with full spirit. When faced with a strong opponent, never step back, just go forward and press to attack. 

Another meaning is “NOW.” There is no past or future, only what is happening right in that moment. Just face your opponent and concentrate on every instant. 

Putting those two together you have:

- the RESOLVE to go forward (in physical space)
- to concentrate on the NOW (in time)

What do you think? I think I did an ok job!

( A third (bonus) meaning is for high school students. Their life is happening now, not in the future, and not in the past. Enjoy, it. And once they graduate from high school all they need to do is to GO! )

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Part 2: Kyoto Taikai (3rd-4th May)

I am not sure, but it felt like there were more attendees at this year’s Kyoto Taikai, but I could be mistaken.  This was probably due to the 2nd falling on a Saturday, which makes joining the taikai much easier. That day is not part of “Golden Week” so if it falls on a weekday it’s a normal working day, which can lead to low attendance. One impact of a larger attendance seems to be that the kumiwase (draw) comes out later than normal (or perhaps it’s my imagination?). 

Anyway, I eventually discovered my draw was not only very late on the 3rd, but my partner was from Germany! To be honest, initially this was kind of a semi-surprise, but after thinking about it for a bit, it wasn’t really: I am treated as just another kenshi from Osaka, therefore my potential partner can be anybody from anywhere as long as they aren’t from Osaka. Perhaps my partner was disappointed though, I am not sure (I wasn’t, as she had great kendo). 

Since my tachiai was really late, I decided to skip keiko in the evening, and do as much as I could during the day in the neighbouring budo centre. This way I could easily check into my hotel and wouldn’t need to catch taxis or rush around. It also allowed me to pick and choose, and I managed to keiko with friends I normally don’t have a chance to due to distance. 

After my tachiai I had a couple of beers with friends, and popped back super fresh and energised the next morning to watch some more, chat with friends, grab some curry, and hang out. Before heading home I visited Naito Takaharu’s grave and managed to grab a few moments of contemplative silence. 

All in all a relaxed, chilled couple of days.

Maybe next year, since the 2nd falls on a Sunday, I will do stay for two or three nights and two embu, let’s see.  

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Part 3: Eikenkai (9th May)

As a sort of extension of the Kyoto Taikai I decided to host the second Eikenkai of the year on Saturday following the taikai. In past years I’ve hosted a keikokai as a precursor to Kyoto, but I thought I’d try after this year. 

The last Eikenkai I held back in February was a bit too chock-a-block for me, so I decided to reduce the number of participants for this session. In the end, a casual 20 attendees joined for a comfortable bash: 45 mins of kihon followed by just over an hour of jigeiko. Good stuff. 

After that, I had to go to another part of Osaka to apply (in person) for the Osaka preliminaries for the largest and most important high school shiai in the calendar year. There was an announcement that there some very minor rule changes that will be applied from this coming shiai onwards – encho length and verbiage for hansoku, nothing important.  

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Part 4: bonus

A few days after the Kyoto Taikai, I spotted that a friend of mine had made a blog post on Substack about the concept of Jiri-icchi (事理一致), which started my very dusty kendo-brain mechanism whirring again. Originally coined by the short-lived yet highly regarded Meiji kenshi, Yamaoka Tesshu (1836-1888), the term was one of Tesshu’s core principles behind his approach to swordsmanship, Zen, and daily life. Translated roughly, it means something like:

- “Unity of principle and action”
- “Theory and practice as one”
- “The alignment of truth and concrete reality.”

If we look at the component kanji to help clarify meaning:

- 事 (ji) = concrete things, action, practical affairs
- 理 (ri) = principle, truth, reason, underlying reality
- 一致 (icchi) = unity, agreement

So the general idea refers to:

“True understanding only exists when inner principle and outward action completely match.”

For Tesshu, this was not some sort of abstract philosophy – he was critical of people who:

- spoke about Zen or morality using flowery language
- talked about swordsmanship intellectually (over-theorising)
- admired ideals but whose actions, spirit, or daily conduct did not embody them

In other words:

- technique without spirit is empty
- philosophy without action is meaningless
- any sort of self-proclaimed “enlightenment” that didn’t appear in daily behaviour meant actually that the enlightenment was incomplete

This obviously has a Zen/Buddhist flavour. 

For swordsmanship, according to Tesshu, Jiri-icchi refers to things such as:

- no separation between intention and movement 
- no gap between thought and action
- training continually until correct action emerges naturally
- living in accordance with truth, not merely discussing it

It is not surprising Tesshu emphasised severe repetitive practice and direct experience over theory. 

A kind of “simplified” version of his theory can be seen in the phrase “Ken Zen Ichi Nyo (剣禅一如)” … simplified in that Jiri-icchi is more practical and ethical, and less mystical. 

Put concisely: your life, your conduct, your keiko, what you say and do, should align.

In modern kendo, this is echoed in ideas like sincerity when attacking (sutemi, uchikiru), doing keiko “honestly,” striving to do “correct” kendo as much as you possibly can, and doing a lot of keiko. 

Pondering all this during my long commute to work, I realised that Tesshu would not be happy with today’s society. He was obviously one who would dislike fakers, mystics, motivational grifters, those who might be technically adept but don’t have character, or empty intellectual chat disconnected from actual lived experience. I can’t imagine he would’ve been happy about me writing this blog or posting images on Instagram!

Back to the dojo. 

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