What Is In A Name?

Part I: Kodawari Hombu Dojo

Kodawari, it’s just a word right? The Japanese language (as well as Chinese for that matter) is a beautiful and frustrating language. But, it is full of amazing concepts like Shuhari (守破離)¹This is a Japanese concept that is commonly used within the martial arts community. It describes the stages of learning from beginner to master. Translated, you get the following: shu (守) “protect”, “obey”—traditional wisdom—learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs, ha (破) “detach”, “digress”—breaking with tradition—detachment from the illusions of self and ri (離) “leave”, “separate”—transcendence—there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical. Quite often, you will hear it defined as “Learning the Rules”, “Breaking the Rules” and “Developing New Rules”, Ikigai (生き甲斐)²Ikigai is a compound of two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning ‘life; alive’) and kai (甲斐, meaning ‘(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit. It fully translates to a reason for living or being alive; a meaning for or to life; something that makes life worth living…in other words, it is what gets you out of bed in the morning. and, of course, Kodawari.

This is one of the very first blog posts I have done on this site. My intent was to take you, gentle reader, and slowly introduce you to some of the more “out there” concepts and ideas that I research, study and reflect on (notice that I didn’t say, very specifically, that I necessarily BELIEVE). So, should I just right into some mystical thinking and top it off with some theoretical quantum physics? Maybe throw in a religious reference or two as well? Ah…what the hell! Why not?  I have been called pianxin (偏心)³Pianxin would translate, roughly, to “eccentric” more than once! In for a penny, in for a pound I guess!

Back towards the end of 2021, my Yangshi Taijiquan (揚式太极拳)⁴Yangshi means “Yang family” and refers to the Yang style of Taijiquan (Grand Ultimate Fist or Grand Ultimate Boxing). This style originated with Yang Luchan ((楊露禪). This is the second oldest style of Taijiquan in China and is probably the most widely practiced style in the world. sifu (師父)⁵Sifu or Shifu in terms of martial arts generally means “teacher” and would be the equivalent of “sensei” for those in Japanese or Okinawan martial arts. The character 師/师 means “skilled person” or “teacher,” while 傅 means “tutor” and 父 means “father.”(CMC lineage)⁶CMC stands for Cheng Man Ching

Kodawari

Ken Mogi on Kodawari

Ken Mogi (茂木 健一郎, Mogi Ken’ichirō) is a Japanese scientist who studies the human brain (neuroscientist). He works for Sony Computer Science Laboratories and teaches at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is also a published author. And, as the gentleman in the video says (Nicholas Kemp), he has a great YouTube channel (but not enough videos!) that can be found here:

Ken Mogi TV

Hombu

Hombu (本部) is a common Japanese word and is translated as “headquarters” or something along the lines of “main office”. What is interesting here is “hombu” with an m as opposed to “honbu” with an n. I have had some people tell me it is one way and the other is incorrect and vice versa. One day, I was even researching something on the interwebs and came across a martial arts forum where they apparently had absolutely nothing better to do that argue for 3 or 4 pages (and I have a LARGE monitor) whether it was hombu or honbu!⁷I should not give them too hard of a time as I was pretty much a “Richard Head” when it came to martial arts topics and arguing about them online in martial arts forums and email lists. So, I reached out to the person that does all of my kanji calligraphy here. This person speaks Japanese fluently and lives in Asia. I was told, basically, that it was almost a dialect sort of an issue and either can be correct. This is also why you will see words like sempai and senpai (先輩 – senior), enbusen and embusen (演武線 – demonstration line…where a kata begins as well as its line of movement from beginning to end) as well as kempo and kenpo (拳法 – fist law – from the Chinese for quanfa). Normally, when my go to person on the Japanese language tells me that “hombu” (as well as “kempo“) are correct, then I am good with it. So, I looked further. Shown below is a screen shot of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo website in Japan. I am going to assume that they understand their native tongue better than I do.

A quick snippet from the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Japan as of 09/13/22

And then there is the Shorinji Kempo Hombu Dojo (also in Japan) that give you a double whammy of Hombu and Kempo. Again, I may be going out on a limb here, but I am assuming that they know their native language better than I do.

Why do we use the term “Hombu“? Mainly, it is for organizational structure. You have the hombu dojo⁸The headquarters or main dojo, the shibu dojo(支部道場)⁹A shibu dojo is a fully licensed branch dojo run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to the hombu dojo , the fuku shibu dojo (副支部道場)¹⁰ A fuku shibu dojo is a fully licensed brand or sub-branch dojo that is run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to a shibu dojo. and the jun shibu dojo (準支部道場)¹¹ A jun shibu dojo is an “associate” dojo that is in the process of converting its teaching and training to structure to Ryusei-ha Ryukyu Kempo Karate-jutsu (龍精派琉球拳法唐手術) and the instructor there typically trains directly under a shibu dojo-cho until full branch dojo status is achieved and awarded. and, regardless of how you spell it, it does help to keep things neat and organized.

Dojo

A Japanese Dojo – The Place of the Way

千日の勤學より一時の名匠

Sen’nichi no kingaku yori ichiji no meisho

Better than a thousand days of

diligent study is one day with a great teacher

Before the “haters” and “smack talkers” come out of the woodwork (and I bet you now it will not take too long to happen!), I just wanted to be very clear on the quote above. I am in no way, shape or form trying to equate myself to being a “great teacher”. I will leave the qualification of my teaching skills to others that have been on the receiving side of them. What I believe this quote is saying is that a “great teacher” is one that knows what they are doing martially and combatively (or whatever they happen to teach…it could be the piano). The point here being that there is a huge waste of time and effort when you are studying (diligently or not) when you don’t have a teacher that knows what they are doing. Fair enough?

• 1
  This is a Japanese concept that is commonly used within the martial arts community. It describes the stages of learning from beginner to master. Translated, you get the following: shu (守) “protect”, “obey”—traditional wisdom—learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs, ha (破) “detach”, “digress”—breaking with tradition—detachment from the illusions of self and ri (離) “leave”, “separate”—transcendence—there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical. Quite often, you will hear it defined as “Learning the Rules”, “Breaking the Rules” and “Developing New Rules”
• 2
  Ikigai is a compound of two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning ‘life; alive’) and kai (甲斐, meaning ‘(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit. It fully translates to a reason for living or being alive; a meaning for or to life; something that makes life worth living…in other words, it is what gets you out of bed in the morning.
• 3
  Pianxin would translate, roughly, to “eccentric”
• 4
  Yangshi means “Yang family” and refers to the Yang style of Taijiquan (Grand Ultimate Fist or Grand Ultimate Boxing). This style originated with Yang Luchan ((楊露禪). This is the second oldest style of Taijiquan in China and is probably the most widely practiced style in the world.
• 5
  Sifu or Shifu in terms of martial arts generally means “teacher” and would be the equivalent of “sensei” for those in Japanese or Okinawan martial arts. The character 師/师 means “skilled person” or “teacher,” while 傅 means “tutor” and 父 means “father.”
• 6
  CMC stands for Cheng Man Ching
• 7
  I should not give them too hard of a time as I was pretty much a “Richard Head” when it came to martial arts topics and arguing about them online in martial arts forums and email lists.
• 8
  The headquarters or main dojo
• 9
  A shibu dojo is a fully licensed branch dojo run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to the hombu dojo
• 10
  A fuku shibu dojo is a fully licensed brand or sub-branch dojo that is run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to a shibu dojo.
• 11
  A jun shibu dojo is an “associate” dojo that is in the process of converting its teaching and training to structure to Ryusei-ha Ryukyu Kempo Karate-jutsu (龍精派琉球拳法唐手術) and the instructor there typically trains directly under a shibu dojo-cho until full branch dojo status is achieved and awarded.

Densho

All articles and postings by Michael Davis should be considered as densho

(Just scroll to the bottom of the page)

• 1
  This is a Japanese concept that is commonly used within the martial arts community. It describes the stages of learning from beginner to master. Translated, you get the following: shu (守) “protect”, “obey”—traditional wisdom—learning fundamentals, techniques, heuristics, proverbs, ha (破) “detach”, “digress”—breaking with tradition—detachment from the illusions of self and ri (離) “leave”, “separate”—transcendence—there are no techniques or proverbs, all moves are natural, becoming one with spirit alone without clinging to forms; transcending the physical. Quite often, you will hear it defined as “Learning the Rules”, “Breaking the Rules” and “Developing New Rules”
• 2
  Ikigai is a compound of two Japanese words: iki (生き, meaning ‘life; alive’) and kai (甲斐, meaning ‘(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit. It fully translates to a reason for living or being alive; a meaning for or to life; something that makes life worth living…in other words, it is what gets you out of bed in the morning.
• 3
  Pianxin would translate, roughly, to “eccentric”
• 4
  Yangshi means “Yang family” and refers to the Yang style of Taijiquan (Grand Ultimate Fist or Grand Ultimate Boxing). This style originated with Yang Luchan ((楊露禪). This is the second oldest style of Taijiquan in China and is probably the most widely practiced style in the world.
• 5
  Sifu or Shifu in terms of martial arts generally means “teacher” and would be the equivalent of “sensei” for those in Japanese or Okinawan martial arts. The character 師/师 means “skilled person” or “teacher,” while 傅 means “tutor” and 父 means “father.”
• 6
  CMC stands for Cheng Man Ching
• 7
  I should not give them too hard of a time as I was pretty much a “Richard Head” when it came to martial arts topics and arguing about them online in martial arts forums and email lists.
• 8
  The headquarters or main dojo
• 9
  A shibu dojo is a fully licensed branch dojo run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to the hombu dojo
• 10
  A fuku shibu dojo is a fully licensed brand or sub-branch dojo that is run by a ranked instructor that reports directly to a shibu dojo.
• 11
  A jun shibu dojo is an “associate” dojo that is in the process of converting its teaching and training to structure to Ryusei-ha Ryukyu Kempo Karate-jutsu (龍精派琉球拳法唐手術) and the instructor there typically trains directly under a shibu dojo-cho until full branch dojo status is achieved and awarded.