Martial Edge welcomes our Japanese reporter Tony Swain, who writes to us from his home in Japan where he tells us about his recent indulgence into the spiritual belief system of Budo, which proves to be much more than just a martial discipline.
Minasan Konichi wa.
 My name is Tony Swain and I have been practicing martial arts for many years now but I have only recently started to practice Budo. I have managed to blunder my way to 3rd Kyu in Go-Kan-Ryu Karate but to be fair, it’s a little hard to do anything but blunder through grades in a martial business rather than real Budo. I have also managed to battle my way to 1st Dan in Twin Dragon Tae Kwon Do (ITF), which, in my opinion, is a real and practical martial art. But it is not Budo.
On August 5th 2006 I packed up and moved to Japan to become an English teacher and searched for an opportunity to practice a real Japanese martial art but this was before I was even able to fathom the concept of Budo. Budo is not a hobby, or an art but more a state of mind. A way of life. It almost feels something of a religion in a strange way. It’s a little difficult to explain.
When I moved to Japan I moved to a small prefecture called Saga. It is in Kyushu, which is the most southern of the 4 main Japanese islands. I joined a dojo called the Koga Eego Dojo. It is both an English cram school and also a school of Wado Ryu Karate Jitsu. I had never heard of Karate Jitsu until I came here but it certainly is an interesting style. It is a striking based martial art with emphasis on punches that produce the maximum power but with the least effort so your entire body is used but none of the weight. There is also the Jitsu element that involves throws, grapples, sweeps and locks. After coming straight from Tae Kwon Do where I could throw my weight around doing crazy kicks and then into a dojo where I am not allowed to do so and also have my supporting leg kicked out whenever I do a high kick is certainly a change that I am slowly getting used to.
My sensei at the moment is called Koga-sensei (this is how I have referred to him and it will not change). He is a 7th Dan at Wado Ryu Karate Jitsu and also does Iado every morning to warm up. He practices every day and is a great teacher. His English is perfect so I am able to have many good conversations, jokes and philosophical discussions with him. At the start and end of every class we have to bow to an altar which is representative of the spirit of Budo or the martial way. At the end of one class I had an injured shin, had been thrown by my throat and almost knocked out by a heavy punch to the ear from Koga Sensei. I was out of breath, hurting and sat in seiza (kneeling position), which is not the most comfortable position in the world, and Koga Sensei started to speak about the altar. He said “we bow to the altar because it is something we can see. It represents Budo but it is not Budo. Budo is inside you so when you bow to the altar you are truly bowing to yourself”. It’s things like this that really make me think. He also said, “From the second you wake up to the second you fall asleep you are practicing karate,” and I believe him. There is something different out here that I have never come across before and I like it.
In September I met and trained with Shihan Otsuka II. He is 73 years old and a 10th Dan black belt. Words cannot describe his skill. He did not look like someone so powerful and had an air of calmness around him I have never felt before but the second he got near you and did any techniques you would find yourself in a world of pain! He demonstrated several wristlocks on me and some of the other students and we literally could not move! We were paralyzed with pain the second he got us in a lock. He grabbed my wrist at one point and kicked me in the thigh and said to me “itai desu ne” which is Japanese for “hurts, doesn’t it?” When inflicting this agony on me he was always smiling but had no malice about him and as soon as he let go the pain was gone. He was able to paralyze an opponent with pain then let go and his opponent would be OK. It was amaizing. Shihan Otsuka is the one that judges every black belt grading of Wado Ryu in Japan so I look forward to one day making both him and Koga Sensei proud as I show them that I understand what Budo is and I am not a person that has chosen to do a martial art for any other reason than to develop myself and my inner peace.
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