Report 7 from: Taiwan - Singapore – Malaysia

Taiwan
Following Japan, a visit was made to Taiwan for a few days. This visit was related to our business at Action Martial Arts Supplies and the need to keep close contact with our valued suppliers on behalf of Kiwi martial artists. Although some of our products come directly from Japan and some from Pakistan, the US and elsewhere, this provided an opportunity to keep our Taiwan suppliers informed about the particular needs of Kiwis within the martial arts world.

These discussions also increase our knowledge of the world scene for martial arts supply and it was found interesting that different countries have particular requirements. The USA for example is seen by our suppliers as price sensitive, so a great deal of lower quality product is sent to this market. Some suppliers have even withdrawn from the US market because it is uneconomic to sell there, and if they do sell there, they get a bad name because the quality they offer in order to meet the price level is so inferior, that it reflects poorly on their reputation. Europe, Japan and the UK markets are not so price sensitive and higher quality products are manufactured and dispatched to this market.

We at Action Martial Arts Supplies like to inform our customers of this point. “Action martial Arts Supplies ” try to strike a balance in order to provide high quality martial arts products at a competitive price. We avoid “cheaply-made” products because we believe it is not in the interests of our customers to provide low quality goods. We strive to provide good value for money, quality products and great service and to do this we in turn must cooperate with suppliers who have similar values.

Pro Budo is a great example of this. They manufacture high quality wooden weapons and uniforms in China but their biggest markets are in fact those who demand the highest quality – Japan, France, and UK.

Pro Budo quality must therefore be (and is!) at a level to support discerning customers in these demanding markets and to compete with other top end suppliers from Japan and elsewhere. It is important for us to visit Pro-Budo and similar suppliers to ensure that the interests of professional and amateur NZ martial artists are well catered for into the future. We want Kiwis to have the best.

Our Dojo Mat manufacturer and supplier was visited with a view to looking at their complete product range and possibly to including some aerobics and yoga exercise products within our portfolio of products. A major worldwide supplier of budo accessories (protectors, gloves, uniforms, weapons and so on) was visited and Dave spent the whole day at their distribution centre.

It was also interesting to note that some Taiwanese companies had collaborated with the world’s best-regarded athletic brands (we can’t disclose the brands for obvious legal reasons) to create a range of perceived top quality budo uniforms, only to find that once development was completed, these branded companies then took their business directly to China to reduce production cost. What this tells us is that buying a perceived top-branded uniform only guarantees the printing on the label, not necessarily the final quality of the goods. So when buying martial arts weapons and uniforms, judge your purchase on the product quality of the finished item, not just on the label printing.

Singapore
Business done it was time to move on to Singapore.
The objective here was for Dave to meet with Sensei Adam Wong. Dave met Adam when he came to New Zealand from Malaysia a year or so back to run seminars on a style of samurai-swordsmanship called Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. Sensei Wong’s technique and training style impressed us as did the philosophy of Katori Shinto Ryu so this trip presented an opportunity to visit Sensei Wong and receive another exposure to a very traditional martial arts school.

This is an original form of Kenjutsu that originated in the 14th century well before the peaceful era of the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate starting from 1603. In fact it is regarded as the first authentic style of Kenjutsu, with its founder Iizasa Choisai Ienao being born in 1387 more than 200 years earlier. Consequently it is a battle style of Kenjutsu as opposed to a form that is designed for maintaining law and order during peaceful times.

The techniques of Katori Shinto Ryu are all performed from either a standing posture (normal) or sometimes from a low posture of Iai-goshi (similar to Tate Hiza, a crouched position adopted by samurai scouting parties to remain concealed), but never from the kneeled seiza position. The reasoning for this is that Seiza is a position adopted when indoors, and the katana, (long sword) is never worn indoors. This traditional approach is adopted by many older styles of Kenjutsu (including Shinkendo) and contrasts with some of the sword styles which developed later.
While some aspects of Katori Shinto Ryu have parallels in Shinkendo (Which is the sword art developed by Toshishiro Obata based on Kashima Ryu, Toyama Ryu, Yagyu Ryu and Ioriken Ryu), the kamai (postures), the cuts and the defensive movements also have many differences. Because it is such an old art, consideration is made for the effects of wearing heavy armour where, for example the Kabuto (helmet and esp. the kuwagata) may prevent a standard jodan-kamai and therefore also may prevent a straight cut from this position. Thrusts are made to areas where the armour is thinner or where there is an opening and unlike Shinkendo, there are no direct blocking movements. All defensive movements also double as an attack. Almost every movement has more than one objective – for example, what appears to be a block, is also a cut that stops the attack before a block becomes necessary, and what appears to be a thrust may also stop or prevent an attack by keeping the assailant avoiding the kissaki (tip) of the sword. There is strategy in every move.

As an original school of Bu-Jutsu, Katori Shinto Ryu was not just about Kenjutsu. The school teaches the 18 arts of the samurai including the other weapon arts and the unarmed Kumiuchi or Ju-Jutsu techniques. These are on offer via Sensei Wong, but Dave’s main interest was in the Kenjutsu.

Dave’s visit to Singapore was cut short so to compensate, and to provide enough training a venue was attended that enabled training to continue during the night, beginning at 9pm.

Sensei Adam Wong is a very accomplished martial artist and has made it his mission to study this art from the Sugawara Martial Arts institute in Japan. As the surname “Wong” implies, Adam Wong is not a native Japanese, but he has phenomenal technique and has a very high level of understanding of Katori Shinto Ryu. The benefits are, that being non-Japanese, his English speaking skills are very good and combined with exceptional teaching ability Sensei can impart a lot of knowledge in a relatively short time. This trait also permits questions to be asked and a greater level of understanding to be reached whereas in Japan it is sometimes not considered the best etiquette to question your sensei.

Sensei Adam has invited Dave to go to Japan with him to study together with Sugawara Kyoshi at the dojo headquarters. Although very interested in doing this, he feels that he needs a lot of time one on one with Adam Wong Sensei in order to understand the art in more detail (and to substitute the earlier habits formed under previous training regimes) before accepting this kind invitation.

There may be an opportunity for Sensei Wong to come to New Zealand and run a seminar in Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu sometime over the next year for those interested (please register your interest with Christine@action.org.nz) as we will need at least 50 people to attend the seminar to make it viable. Registration does not commit people to attend, it merely provides a list of people for us to advise when a seminar is pending.

Conclusion
After Singapore, Dave is due to fly home in the next few days, from the heat and humidity of the Northern Summer and training on the Equator, to a Kiwi mid-winter. Although travel and training comes at a considerable financial cost the benefits are too many to list. When he returns Dave will update the Samurai-Arts Website (in much need of an overhaul) to include references to the instructors and organizations met or revisited on this occasion.

We remind those interested that there is likely to be another overseas trip planned to the Jiu-Jitsu International Seminar in Germany in 2009 and once again we urge those interested to register their interest with me at Christine@action.org.nz . We further urge those wishing to become members of Jiu-Jitsu International to contact us. Although the JJI organization is generally based around Ju-Jutsu, it must be remembered (in the words of Sato, Meijin, 10th Dan and Chief Director of the Kokusai Budoin in Japan) “Ju-Jutsu is the Mother of all Japanese Martial Arts”. The European seminars have instructors from the arts of Karate, Aikido, Judo, CQB, Penkat Selat, and other arts so it is not confined to ju-jutsu exponents or ju-jutsu techniques. If you train a Japanese martial art, it is likely to have been derived in some way from Ju-Jutsu so students and instructors of all other arts will find great benefit from attending a JJI seminar in Europe and will be welcomed in the same warm way that Dave was welcomed.

Our next project is to get the new Lake Tarawera Dojo in New Zealand operational. This has taken months longer than planned but light is now appearing at the end of the tunnel. Initially it will cater for beginner classes for local residents but past students and those wishing to study Japanese Budo will be welcome to enquire about training in 2 – 3 months time.

We look forward to seeing you or hearing from you and thank you for taking the time to follow our world martial arts extravaganza. We hope the benefits will in some way flow into the Kiwi martial arts community. If we can be of help, please let us know.