Kanō shihan's jūdō instructor curriculum - 1911 version

In the early 1900's Kanō shihan headed a jūdō instruction course for jūdō instructors from around Japan.  

There are several historically important points to this, and I have more detail regarding it, but as CK pointed out, there are plenty of people stealing research from here and other places I post and reposting it as if they had performed the research.  While I'm happy to provide food for thought and mutual benefit I'm tired of people freeloading on my translation and research (then, usually screwing it up to boot).  As I plan to publish something that uses this and much more information, I won't provide details.  The point of this thread is to provide food for thought as to the content and intent of the course.

By this time, Kanō shihan no longer physically taught in the Kōdōkan, and  had not for many years.  Instruction was overseen by Yamashita and Yokoyama sensei, but actually taught by younger sensei such as Murakami sensei, and some notable others unknown, overlooked, and unappreciated today.  (Despite their decades of dedicated, excellent instruction, who will remember the key instructor sensei in a hundred years if they doesn't make 10dan someday?)  Much as the Kōdōkan today, I guess - there's a chief instructor but don't expect him to demonstrate technique very often.  

The course was divided into sessions by Kanō shihan, Yamashita sensei, Yokoyama sensei, and Murakami sensei.  It is not clear if they were taught in sequence, or in parallel (as in: Kano shihan would give a lecture, then someone taught jūdō, which I suspect).

Kanō shihan's lectures included:
1. jūdō theory
2. the development of jūdō
3. kata and randori
4. jūdō as self-defense
5. jūdō as a method of physical education
6. jūdō as a method of spiritual training
7. jūdō as a method of recreation
8. the objectives of jūdō as organized for middle school instruction
9. the principle of jū
10. posture
11. eight directional kuzushi
12. 'tsukuri / kake'
13. methods of measuring success in middle school jūdō

Yamashita sensei's lectures, with actual jūdō practice, included:
1.  explanation of waza (techniques)
A.  tachiwaza 1kyo 2kyo 3kyo
B.  Katame no kata
2.  Extracurricular explanation (not sure what this means - perhaps an optional, after hours session at the dojo for more advanced students?)  
A.  Koshiki no kata
B.  Ura no kata (note: reference to the ura portion of today's Koshiki no Kata? see posts by Wdax and CK below)
C.  Itsutsu no kata

Yokoyama sensei's lectures, with actual jūdō practice, included:
1.  explanation of waza
A.  tachiwaza 4kyo 5kyo (note: thus completing the Gokyo no waza)
B.  Nage no kata
2.  dojo randori  

I'll finish the list later.

I plan to take the All Japan Judo Federation instructor's course this fall - it will be interesting to compare curricula (I bet 'don't grope the kiddies' was not high on Kanō shihan's list....  )

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

NBK wrote:(...)
2.  Extracurricular explanation (not sure what this means - perhaps an optional, after hours session at the dojo for more advanced students?)  
A.  Koshiki no kata
B.  Ura no kata (note: this may be the earliest mention of 'ura no kata')
C.  Itsutsu no kata

Just a thought. The term "Koshiki-no-Kata" according to Daigo-sensei first appeared a few years before (around 1904, I´m at the airport and cannot access the papers). Before it was Kito-ryu-Omote-(no)-kata and Kito-ryu-ura-(no-)-kata

I have in mind, that "Koshiki-no-Kata" was the newly given name to Omote kata of Kito-ryu, what is now the omote-part of Koshiki-no-Kata. So the mentioned Ura-no-Kata would/could be, what is now the ura-part.

I think Kuden or CK can verify this quicker then I can at the moment.

But anyway it is very interesting to see the Kata of Kito-ryu and Tenjinshinyo-ryu in the program for the advanced students.

NBK wrote:In the early 1900's Kanō shihan headed a jūdō instruction course for jūdō instructors from around Japan.  

There are several historically important points to this, and I have more detail regarding it, but as CK pointed out, there are plenty of people stealing research from here and other places I post and reposting it as if they had performed the research.  While I'm happy to provide food for thought and mutual benefit I'm tired of people freeloading on my translation and research (then, usually screwing it up to boot).  As I plan to publish something that uses this and much more information, I won't provide details.  The point of this thread is to provide food for thought as to the content and intent of the course.

By this time, Kanō shihan no longer physically taught in the Kōdōkan, and  had not for many years.  Instruction was overseen by Yamashita and Yokoyama sensei, but actually taught by younger sensei such as Murakami sensei, and some notable others unknown, overlooked, and unappreciated today.  (Despite their decades of dedicated, excellent instruction, who will remember the key instructor sensei in a hundred years if they doesn't make 10dan someday?)  Much as the Kōdōkan today, I guess - there's a chief instructor but don't expect him to demonstrate technique very often.  

The course was divided into sessions by Kanō shihan, Yamashita sensei, Yokoyama sensei, and Murakami sensei.  It is not clear if they were taught in sequence, or in parallel (as in: Kano shihan would give a lecture, then someone taught jūdō, which I suspect).

Kanō shihan's lectures included:
1. jūdō theory
2. the development of jūdō
3. kata and randori
4. jūdō as self-defense
5. jūdō as a method of physical education
6. jūdō as a method of spiritual training
7. jūdō as a method of recreation
8. the objectives of jūdō as organized for middle school instruction
9. the principle of jū
10. posture
11. eight directional kuzushi
12. 'tsukuri / kake'
13. methods of measuring success in middle school jūdō

Yamashita sensei's lectures, with actual jūdō practice, included:
1.  explanation of waza (techniques)
A.  tachiwaza 1kyo 2kyo 3kyo
B.  Katame no kata
2.  Extracurricular explanation (not sure what this means - perhaps an optional, after hours session at the dojo for more advanced students?)  
A.  Koshiki no kata
B.  Ura no kata (note: this may be the earliest mention of 'ura no kata')
C.  Itsutsu no kata

Yokoyama sensei's lectures, with actual jūdō practice, included:
1.  explanation of waza
A.  tachiwaza 4kyo 5kyo (note: thus completing the Gokyo no waza)
B.  Nage no kata
2.  dojo randori  

I'll finish the list later.

I plan to take the All Japan Judo Federation instructor's course this fall - it will be interesting to compare curricula (I bet 'don't grope the kiddies' was not high on Kanō shihan's list....  )

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

This is a very interesting post which NBK wrote here, and this for many reasons.

I wonder (given the year 1911) if this is the program from the apparently very thorough multiple-year instructors course which only ran like 3 or 4 times and from which Oda Jôin was one of the first to graduate.

I must admit I was not aware of any "ura no kata" being featured in there, and I am actually somewhat baffled by it. I guess your documents unfortunately do not provide any further information as to its contents ? It reminds me somewhat of some of the information in Uchida Ryôhei and his shôbu-no-kata which likely is a a different exercise from the original Kôdôkan one. I doubt that this ura-no-kata has anything to do with Mifune's later one, given the time frame. You have me intrigued ...

wdax wrote:

NBK wrote:(...)
2.  Extracurricular explanation (not sure what this means - perhaps an optional, after hours session at the dojo for more advanced students?)  
A.  Koshiki no kata
B.  Ura no kata (note: this may be the earliest mention of 'ura no kata')
C.  Itsutsu no kata

Just a thought. The term "Koshiki-no-Kata" according to Daigo-sensei first appeared a few years before (around 1904, I´m at the airport and cannot access the papers). Before it was Kito-ryu-Omote-(no)-kata and Kito-ryu-ura-(no-)-kata

I have in mind, that "Koshiki-no-Kata" was the newly given name to Omote kata of Kito-ryu, what is now the omote-part of Koshiki-no-Kata. So the mentioned Ura-no-Kata would/could be, what is now the ura-part.

I think Kuden or CK can verify this quicker then I can at the moment.

But anyway it is very interesting to see the Kata of Kito-ryu and Tenjinshinyo-ryu in the program for the advanced students.

Thanks for that, wdax, that is some good insight I hadn't thought of. The first appearance of the name Koshiki-no-kata is 1901, not 1904, but it in Japan certainly koryû-trained people do not like in the West talk about "the first series and the second series". Conversely they are referred to as "the Omote-kata" and the "Ura-kata", though it depends on the Kitô-ryû branch. In some branches the series have somewhat different names even though terminology to refer to the final series always has the word 'ura' in there somewhere. The proper name of Koshiki-no-kata as contained in the scrolls of Kitô-ryû is Kitô-ryû Yoroi Kumi-uchi-no-kata.

It is also possible that ura-no-kata could refer to the ura part of all kata, but your explanation is more convincing to me.

wdax wrote:

NBK wrote:(...)
2.  Extracurricular explanation (not sure what this means - perhaps an optional, after hours session at the dojo for more advanced students?)  
A.  Koshiki no kata
B.  Ura no kata (note: this may be the earliest mention of 'ura no kata')
C.  Itsutsu no kata

Just a thought. The term "Koshiki-no-Kata" according to Daigo-sensei first appeared a few years before (around 1904, I´m at the airport and cannot access the papers). Before it was Kito-ryu-Omote-(no)-kata and Kito-ryu-ura-(no-)-kata

I have in mind, that "Koshiki-no-Kata" was the newly given name to Omote kata of Kito-ryu, what is now the omote-part of Koshiki-no-Kata. So the mentioned Ura-no-Kata would/could be, what is now the ura-part.

I think Kuden or CK can verify this quicker then I can at the moment.

But anyway it is very interesting to see the Kata of Kito-ryu and Tenjinshinyo-ryu in the program for the advanced students.

Of course - that makes perfect sense, and I am sure you are correct - in fact I will edit the OP, thank you.  

As you and CK suspected I was in fact thinking of the nage and katame ura waza of Mifune / Ito / Sato Shizuya, not at all about the current Koshi no kata, but clearly that is an anachronism (which is why I was so surprised).

I have found more and more references that for the first several years of the Kodokan the instruction was Kito or Tenjin Shin'yo ryu practice, and often under people other than Kano shihan.  Surely judo crept in over the years as an evolution rather than starting from the establishment of the Kodokan in 1882, apparently the standard 'history', when reality seems to be more that Kano was a 22 yr old tossing his brothers and cousins around with some rowdy friends and senior instructors from traditional jujutsu ryuha.  In the earliest days in fact those TSR sessions were specifically noted as such, clearly differentiated from the Kito ryu sessions and kata demonstrations, and randori.

Thank you.

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

NBK wrote:
I plan to take the All Japan Judo Federation instructor's course this fall - it will be interesting to compare curricula (I bet 'don't grope the kiddies' was not high on Kanō shihan's list....  )

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

I would be very interested to hear of your experience on this programme. Certainly in the West, judo instructors courses have long been judo coaching courses with an emphasis on sporting outcomes and performance, long term player development and the compulsory safeguarding children - whether one teaches junior classes or not. Not that much on technical judo itself.

BJA Level 1: http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/sites/default/files/BJA%20Level%201-%20New%20Course%20Outline%20January%202013.pdf


"The UKCC Level 2 Learning Programme is delivered over two weekends set approximately four weeks apart. It consists of 15 modules; a mock assessment and a personal action planning process followed by a period of extended study and logged coaching practice prior to a final assessment. The final assessment is held at a specified venue approximately 8 weeks after the finish of the final delivery day."

"The UKCC – Level 3 in Coaching Performance Judo is a 1st 4sport Award which looks at developing coaches who work with competitive players. The programme is based on planning an annual programme which focuses on the holistic approach to training the whole player. Areas that the coach will explore are the competitive, technical, tactical, physical, psychological and lifestyle needs of the judo player."

I used to examine the previous round of Awards and there was a lot more technical judo and kata required.

Final portion.

Murakami sensei lecture topics: jūdō teaching and practice methods

1. tension in the national spirit and the future of the jūdō world
2. jūdō's objective(s?) and its effectiveness
3. the necessity of researching teaching methods
4. the scope of 'jū' that should be taught 教授スベキ柔範囲　(interesting but I wonder if this is a typo for 'jūdō')
5. jūdō and spirit
6. the mutual relationship between spirit and body
7. jūdō and physical education
8. the significance of physical education
9. jūdō, normal exercise and play / recreation
10. physiological requirements and jūdō
11. past jūdō teaching methods
12. the development of body spirit and the teaching method that should be (performed) in parallel
13. jūdō and discipline
14. jūdō and determination
15. jūdō and emotion
16. the position of jūdō as it occurs in middle school
A. as a portion of physical education
B. as a portion of moral education
17. jūdō teaching materials
18. categorization of teaching materials
19. teaching amounts
20. methods of explaining
21. choosing teaching materials
22. the three step form that we should take
A. ’fixed things' (basics?)
B. training 鍛練　
C. return (review? start again?)
23. arrangement of teaching material
24. technique analysis and grouping
A. the necessity of analysis of techniques
B. method of analysis
C. the necessity of grouping
D. grouping methods
25. methods of randori
26. jūdō kata
A. methods of enticing / inducing / attracting to randori
B. winning or losing in jū no kata (?柔之形勝負... now that's interesting... could be read as 'competition'....)
C. standards of officiating
27. grading theory

actual jūdō
1. explanation of technique
A. Jū no kata
B. Kime no kata

Cichorei Kano wrote:

This is a very interesting post which NBK wrote here, and this for many reasons.

I wonder (given the year 1911) if this is the program from the apparently very thorough multiple-year instructors course which only ran like 3 or 4 times and from which Oda Jôin was one of the first to graduate.

...deleted....

Not a clue - I don't think I've ever seen that curriculum.

What's interesting to me is the sheer number 'non-judo' topics, and the implications to me that judo pedology is still very much being formed, not set, as some of the topics indicate that there is still room for analysis by the individual teachers, not a prescriptive list.

Just after this there was a boom of judo teaching books as any number of judo sensei around the country began to write their version of a proper middle school judo curriculum. Finarishi has a huge list of judo books that could be sorted by date and might show that bulge in books in the 1915-1925 era.

While some folks focus on the Butokukai Senmon Gakko ('Busen') graduates, most of the authors of those independent books were graduates of Tokyo Higher Normal School under Kano shihan (at least until his retirement in 1920), which, as CK notes, had a variety of full-time and short, part time (for visiting sensei) judo instructor training programs. Kano shihan and the senior Kodokan instructors often contributed calligraphy or forewords to those books, sometimes with embedded gems of history or personal comments (but more often repetitious citations of the objectives and development of judo).

Lance Gatling

Cichorei Kano wrote:.......
I must admit I was not aware of any "ura no kata" being featured in there, and I am actually somewhat baffled by it. I guess your documents unfortunately do not provide any further information as to its contents ?  It reminds me somewhat of some of the information in Uchida Ryôhei and his shôbu-no-kata which likely is a a different exercise from the original Kôdôkan one. I doubt that this ura-no-kata has anything to do with Mifune's later one, given the time frame. You have me intrigued ...

The earliest mention I've found for 裏技 urawaza is 1919, in Yuko no Katsudo, by 高橋數良, Takahashi 7 dan, who writes about sutemi-waza urawaza.    I don't know anything about him, other than he may have been a policeman.  

The 'kata' form doesn't show up until much later, I think.  

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

Update - I did find a bio of Takahashi 7 dan - an educator. He studied Shinshin ryu and other jujutsu when young, so perhaps the introduction of urawaza to Kodokan judo stems back to those older traditions, as I can't find anything earlier.

Very interesting informations. Thank you for public some results of research.

The terms Seiryoku Zen'yo and Jitta Kyoei arent in topics names of lectures. Could be interesting found any later lectures (after 1922). According books from Kodokan (Jigoro Kano and the Kodokan - An Innovative Response To Modernisation) Kano Jigoro first introduced the terms Jitta Kyoei and Seiryoku Zenyo in year 1922 (??? during Kagami Biraki ??? ) together.

I found some note there, that Kano Jigoro started use for explaination the term Seiryoku Zen'yo sooner than Jitta Kyoei. The Jitta Kyoei was the result of his reflecting about altruism from Seiryoku Zen'yo (The best impact/effectivity of using own energy is when you use your energy for benefits and good of other people.)

How did the older pupils of Kano accept or adopt the new view of Kano?

May be the Murakamis lecture

NBK wrote:2. jūdō's objective(s?) and its effectiveness

told more about "Ju no ri" (principle of gentleness - based on classical chinese text "Ju yoku go seisuru" - yielding can overcome/defeat the resistant) ) with some points about effectivity (Seiryoku Zen'yo) ?

noboru wrote:Very interesting informations. Thank you for public some results of research.

The terms Seiryoku Zen'yo and Jitta Kyoei arent in topics names of lectures. Could be interesting found any later lectures (after 1922). According books from Kodokan (Jigoro Kano and the Kodokan - An Innovative Response To Modernisation) Kano Jigoro first introduced the terms Jitta Kyoei and Seiryoku Zenyo in year 1922 (??? during Kagami Biraki ??? ) together.

I found some note there, that Kano Jigoro started use for explaination the term Seiryoku Zen'yo sooner than Jitta Kyoei. The Jitta Kyoei was the result of his reflecting about altruism from Seiryoku Zen'yo (The best impact/effectivity of using own energy is when you use your energy for benefits and good of other people.)

How did the older pupils of Kano accept or adopt the new view of Kano?

May be the Murakamis lecture

NBK wrote:2. jūdō's objective(s?) and its effectiveness

told more about "Ju no ri" (principle of gentleness - based on classical chinese text "Ju yoku go seisuru" - yielding can overcome/defeat the resistant) )  with some points about effectivity (Seiryoku Zen'yo) ?

You're welcome.

Re: Seiryoku Zen'yo / Jitta Kyoei, others have written on this at length. I expect you could find examples if you read Japanese; I've read numerous papers but it's hard to keep straight. Others may be able to fill in.

I expect that such concepts are subsumed into other topics.

Re: Murakami's 'ju no ri' lecture and whether that included such concepts I expect, without evidence, that such philosophic lectures were more the prerogative of Kano shihan, not the instructors.

I expect there's no way to tell in detail, unless cross referenced to other documents, as it seems that specific Kodokan lesson plans were not maintained - mostly the Kodokan would record an event only, not keep thorough lesson plans. For this one, I will probably ask specifically.

Another possibility is that the Ministry of Education archives have something, but it is the only ministry in Japan that has never surrendered its records to the National Archives, claiming they are all working files and hence still not subject to mandatory retirement after so many years.

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

NBK wrote:

(...)

Another possibility is that the Ministry of Education archives have something, but it is the only ministry in Japan that has never surrendered its records to the National Archives, claiming they are all working files and hence still not subject to mandatory retirement after so many years. 

Given the murky history of the Ministry of Education, I'd say this is a very good guess...


For me it would be very interesting to read the first part of Murakami-sensei's lecture, I've just recently finished a review of 会沢 正志斎 Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

cuivien wrote:

NBK wrote:

(...)

Another possibility is that the Ministry of Education archives have something, but it is the only ministry in Japan that has never surrendered its records to the National Archives, claiming they are all working files and hence still not subject to mandatory retirement after so many years. 

Given the murky history of the Ministry of Education, I'd say this is a very good guess...

For me it would be very interesting to read the first part of Murakami-sensei's lecture, I've just recently finished a review of 会沢 正志斎 Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

'Tension in the national spirit.....' is the first part of Murakami sensei's lecture.

What did you learn from Aizawa's Shinron? And what could that have to do with judo?

NBK

NBK wrote:

cuivien wrote:

NBK wrote:

(...)

Another possibility is that the Ministry of Education archives have something, but it is the only ministry in Japan that has never surrendered its records to the National Archives, claiming they are all working files and hence still not subject to mandatory retirement after so many years. 

Given the murky history of the Ministry of Education, I'd say this is a very good guess...

For me it would be very interesting to read the first part of Murakami-sensei's lecture, I've just recently finished a review of 会沢 正志斎 Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

'Tension in the national spirit.....' is the first part of Murakami sensei's lecture.  

What did you learn from Aizawa's Shinron?  And what could that have to do with judo?

NBK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dd%C5%8Dkan_%28Mito%29

NBK wrote:

cuivien wrote:

NBK wrote:

(...)

Another possibility is that the Ministry of Education archives have something, but it is the only ministry in Japan that has never surrendered its records to the National Archives, claiming they are all working files and hence still not subject to mandatory retirement after so many years. 

Given the murky history of the Ministry of Education, I'd say this is a very good guess...

For me it would be very interesting to read the first part of Murakami-sensei's lecture, I've just recently finished a review of 会沢 正志斎 Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

'Tension in the national spirit.....' is the first part of Murakami sensei's lecture.  

What did you learn from Aizawa's Shinron?  And what could that have to do with judo?

NBK

I'm trying to work out that myself.
As I'm sure that you know, Aizawa was part of the Mito school.
I'm trying to trace (or maybe draw) a squiggly line from Yamaga Sokô 山鹿素行 -> shinron (where Aizawa introduced the world to sonnô jôi 尊皇攘夷) -> the Emperor sending out the 'expel the Barbarians' edict -> the Meiji Restoration -> fukoku kyôhei -> imperialism

Billc mentioned the Kôdôkan (弘道館, not Kanô's), which were also a Mito school establishment. )Today it's supposedly a great place to practice kendô.) This is also an important piece of the puzzle.

I quote:

kenshi247.net wrote:Kodokan was built by Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860), the ninth daimyo of the Mito-han in 1841. In those days the Mito-han was facing the fear of the baku-han system crumbling (centralised Shogunate relationship with the provincial clans/domains) and threat from foreign colonial powers. Nariaki initiated a reform of the han administration. As a part of this, he aimed at to introduce higher education for his clansmen. Kodokan was built to achieve this.

At the outset, the school site occupied 1800,000m squared, and its curricula included kangaku (Chinese studies), kokugaku (national learning), military arts, music, astronomy, geography, mathematics, and medicine. Both the size and the scope indicate how great an importance the Mito clan attached to education.

The mottos of Kodokan, described in the Kodokan-ki (the Chronicle of Kodokan), were the harmony of Shinto and Confucianism, and the concurrence of scholastic and military arts. There new concepts, which could be applied to creating a national unity under the rule of the Emperor, greatly influenced not only the Mito clansmen, but also many loyalists of the restoration period which were in other provinces.

(my emphasis in the quote)

cuivien wrote:...

For me it would be very interesting to read the first part of Murakami-sensei's lecture, I've just recently finished a review of 会沢 正志斎 Aizawa Seishisai's Shinron

'Tension in the national spirit.....' is the first part of Murakami sensei's lecture.  

What did you learn from Aizawa's Shinron?  And what could that have to do with judo?

NBK

[/quote]

cuivien wrote:
I'm trying to work out that myself.
As I'm sure that you know, Aizawa was part of the Mito school.
I'm trying to trace (or maybe draw) a squiggly line from Yamaga Sokô 山鹿素行 -> shinron (where Aizawa introduced the world to sonnô jôi 尊皇攘夷) -> the Emperor sending out the 'expel the Barbarians' edict ->  the Meiji Restoration ->  fukoku kyôhei -> imperialism

Billc mentioned the Kôdôkan (弘道館, not Kanô's), which were also a Mito school establishment. )Today it's supposedly a great place to practice kendô.) This is also an important piece of the puzzle.

I quote:

kenshi247.net wrote:Kodokan was built by Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860), the ninth daimyo of the Mito-han in 1841. In those days the Mito-han was facing the fear of the baku-han system crumbling (centralised Shogunate relationship with the provincial clans/domains) and threat from foreign colonial powers. Nariaki initiated a reform of the han administration. As a part of this, he aimed at to introduce higher education for his clansmen. Kodokan was built to achieve this.

At the outset, the school site occupied 1800,000m squared, and its curricula included kangaku (Chinese studies), kokugaku (national learning), military arts, music, astronomy, geography, mathematics, and medicine. Both the size and the scope indicate how great an importance the Mito clan attached to education.

The mottos of Kodokan, described in the Kodokan-ki (the Chronicle of Kodokan), were the harmony of Shinto and Confucianism, and the concurrence of scholastic and military arts. There new concepts, which could be applied to creating a national unity under the rule of the Emperor, greatly influenced not only the Mito clansmen, but also many loyalists of the restoration period which were in other provinces.

(my emphasis in the quote)

Mito today is pretty much a regional backwater, very pretty countryside (I had business that took me there several times), but had a very influential role in Japan's unfolding history because of the philosophies developed at the Kōdōkan

You're on the right track if that's what you want to do - there are scores if not hundreds of Japanese books that make the same connections.  I can't recall one in English, but perhaps someone knows.  The lines aren't clear, but there are certain names usually are invoked.  

Some Japanese histories of kokugaku, bushidō, and the kokutai took pains to build the intellectual case from Yamaga Sokō, or even his teacher Hayashi Razan, through the kokugaku theorists to modern bushidō.  By the first couple of decades of the Meiji era most of the pieces were in place, and then the government very clearly and decisively divided Shintō from Buddhism, and Shintō became the vehicle for the Emperor worship cult established by the Meiji government.  

It can be very confusing, as the thinkers and writers shift from support of Confucianism to neo-Confucianism of one sort or another, and their perceived correctness or heresies based on what seem to be arcane differences.  

NBK

NBK wrote:
Mito today is pretty much a regional backwater, very pretty countryside (I had business that took me there several times), but had a very influential role in Japan's unfolding history because of the philosophies developed at the Kōdōkan

You're on the right track if that's what you want to do - there are scores if not hundreds of Japanese books that make the same connections.  I can't recall one in English, but perhaps someone knows.  The lines aren't clear, but there are certain names usually are invoked.  

Some Japanese histories of kokugaku, bushidō, and the kokutai took pains to build the intellectual case from Yamaga Sokō, or even his teacher Hayashi Razan, through the kokugaku theorists to modern bushidō.  By the first couple of decades of the Meiji era most of the pieces were in place, and then the government very clearly and decisively divided Shintō from Buddhism, and Shintō became the vehicle for the Emperor worship cult established by the Meiji government.  

It can be very confusing, as the thinkers and writers shift from support of Confucianism to neo-Confucianism of one sort or another, and their perceived correctness or heresies based on what seem to be arcane differences.  

NBK

I need to head to the library to look at it, but this book seems to have dedicated some 50 pages on the Mito school...

Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi (1986). Anti-foreignism and western learning in early modern Japan: the new theses of 1925, Harvard East Asian monographs

I completely agree. Furthermore, one of the many things that will drive me nuts one day when talking about neo-Confucianism is that they borrowed so heavily from each other, Daoist (and to a degree Buddhist) sources that it's all but impossible to actually sort an original idea from something that's literally hundreds and hundreds of years old...  

hello NBK thank you for you extremely interesting post. Actually those concepts strike a strong chord in me and are in accord with my own beliefs and teaching. I hope you will publish your completed work soon and let us know when, and how it is available. Thank you for all you have done for me and others so far. Kindest regards aiyotsu

Jonesy wrote:

NBK wrote:
I plan to take the All Japan Judo Federation instructor's course this fall - it will be interesting to compare curricula (I bet 'don't grope the kiddies' was not high on Kanō shihan's list....  )

Lance Gatling
Tokyo

I would be very interested to hear of your experience on this programme. Certainly in the West, judo instructors courses have long been judo coaching courses with an emphasis on sporting outcomes and performance, long term player development and the compulsory safeguarding children - whether one teaches junior classes or not. Not that much on technical judo itself.

....edited to shorten by NBK......

Well, I took the program. It was very interesting.

I'll try to post the curriculum later this week, but there was a lot on health and safety, some on júdó, a practical session and a lot of paper handed out. I thought the session on the dangers of concussions and heart attacks was actually well done; there were a couple of medics from the Tokyo Fire Department and a bunch of Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) training devices, etc.

I asked the instructors, all 7dans from the All Japan Júdó Federation, about the materials, and they took 2-3 years to make. And, they're currently being updated.

When I asked about júdó instruction, they pointed out that such is the purview of the Kódókan, and we discussed some of the courses held earlier this year.

So, it might take a while but I have some ideas about how to pull all that together. It would well be worthwhile - I thought it was well done (but didn't want to spend two straight days doing it.....)

NBK

All Japan Judo Federation 2 days Class C Instructor training / testing
Sat - brought keikogi.  Split into groups of 8-10 to have practical demonstrations, discussions.
10-11 Foundations of Basic Instruction
11-12  Strength Training Fundamentals
12-13  lunch
13-14  First Aid / Resuscitation (AED training)
14-15  Basic Instruction: Nage-waza (throwing techniques)
15-16  "            "        : Katame-waza (pinning techniques)

Sun - classroom lecture
9-10  The Special Characteristics of Judo
10-11 The Attitude and Ethics of Judo (Sports) Instructors
12-13  lunch
13-15  Safe Judo (Sports) Instruction (concussions, Second Impact Syndrome, heatstroke, etc.)
15-16  individual review
16-17  Test

Later, a '800 character' essay is due within a month, on one of four topics:
A. The special characteristics of judo
B. Stages of judo (sports) instruction
C. Safe judo instruction
D. The fundamentals of basic instruction

The test consisted of two essays, one based on the lecture (ethical considerations for judo instructors), one on the hands on portion (elements of teaching katame waza to beginners).

The instructor stressed that this is not licensing someone for 'brain surgery', so there was no intent to get overly detailed or pedantic.  The explicit assumption is that everyone (2 dan and up) are basically technically competent in judo so need more instruction in emergency procedures, when to call an ambulance rather than allow someone to continue, etc.  The AJJF C instructor license description at the link below is for 3 dans over 20 yrs old, but the training included 2 dans.  

I thought it very worthwhile.  Probably worth someone from overseas contacting the AJJF and asking to see the materials; the medical handouts could be replaced easily with multiple languages' warnings on concussion, heatstroke, while retaining the judo related materials.  

NOTES: the All Japan Judo Federation goal is to have every dojo to have a 4 dan instructor qualified as a C license instructor, as a minimum.   The students ranged from high school grads to one gent that seemed near 70 with 'over 30 yrs' experience; the minimum time seemed over 10 years, and the minimum rank of those instructed was 2 dan.  165 signed up, doubling expectations, as the course has been given before.

This is a DVD regarding teaching beginners from a couple of the instructors:   I should note that this training is apparently aimed at the brand new youth instruction in the public schools, which is only 6 weeks long, IIRC.
Here's a link to a Kodokan instruction course:
http://www.kodokan.org/j_camp/pdf/2014_summer4_j.pdf
The AJJF's ideas of the instructor certifications:
http://www.judo.or.jp/p/32083


NBK