From the 4th November 2017 (Saturday) included, our venue and times will change to the following: Mondays from 6.30 PM to 8.30 PM and on Saturdays from 11.30 AM to 1.30 PM in Tanglin Community Center, 245 Whitley Road, 297829, Level 2.
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Known in the popular culture as "hara-kiri", a partially incorrect and somewhat vulgar term meaning literally "cutting the abdomen", the correct name for this ancient and morbidly fascinating practice is "seppuku" in Japanese. While the origins of this "ritual suicide" are not clear, the first recorded instances appeared over the course of the 12th Century A.D. In its basic, original form, it consisted in a suicide performed by stabbing one's left lower abdomen with a tanto knife or a wakizashi short sword, then cutting all the way until the right side, and ending upwards towards the solar plexus, in a sort of uncomplete triangular pattern. The choice of the abdomen was because in Japanese traditional culture the abdomen, and not the heart, was the site of the "soul" and emotions, in particular courage, in a curiously akin way as to ancient Greeks, in particular Spartans. Still today you can say "hara" for the word "courage" in Japanese. Very strong samurai where even able, after the incisions, to slowly remove parts of their long intestine before passing out and falling dead. It is a long and extremely painful way to die, and exactly for this reason it was chosen by the strongest and most willful of the bushi as a way to either follow their slain or dead Lord in death, or to make the strongest possible complaint, protest or point of honour. Later, an helping friend or "kaishakunin" was added, who would decapitate out of mercy the person performing the ritual at a pre-agreed moment that could range from just when touching the tanto to at the moment of the first stab, or even later. The samurai performing this role of "kaishaku" was usually chosen among the victim's closest friends and was supposed to have an high degree of skill with his katana sword. During the course of the 15th century until and throughout the Edo period the practice also grew popular as an alternative capital punishment, which allowed an unwilling victim to die without shame or further punishment for his family. In this version the victim was often bound and in many cases was decapitated just at the first touch of the knife, which sometimes could even be switched for a metal fan instead, rendering the suicidal aspect merely formal or purely ritual. Both the unwilling (capital punishment) and especially the voluntary (original) versions carried on until almost modern times, and the latter was famously last performed by the Japanese author and man of will Yukio Mishima in 1970, when the writer and poet staged together with a few like minded friends and partners a sort of "coup d'etat" by highjacking a military base command center in protest of the perceived loss of traditional Japanese values and strenght in modern times. He chose in the role of "kaishaku" his most close friend Masakatsu Morita, who failed several times to properly and cleanly decapitate Mishima and had to be substituted by the properly trained Hiroyasu Koga, who immediately after acted as "kaishaku" for the same Morita. Koga was later arrested and released after a few months in prison and is now 70 years old and still alive. He is reported living in a rural area of Japan under a new name to avoid attracting curiosity. The role of "kaishaku" was very serious and difficult to perform and it couldn't be improvised. For this reason, in many Iaido old schools, or koryu (including Muso-shinden-ryu, that we practice in our dojo in Singapore together with Seitei) there is one form (kata) dedicated to teach to the practitioner how to correctly act as "kaishaku". These katas are still taught, learned and practiced today in modern Iaido, mainly as a form of cultural conservation and also out of respect of those that gave their life during "seppuku". That being said, out of respect they are never, ever executed during a public demonstration, exam or competition, also because the technical content is limited (there is no moving opponent but a still friendly victim awaiting to be mercy killed). This "kaishaku" role practice is still interesting to study nowadays though for the difficulty of the precision cut and control of the sword, even if the main reason remains culture and tradition conservation. It is also an important way to remind us that any technique we do was born out of the sweat and blood of our forebearers, and that we should always treat the sword and the practice of Iaido with the utmost respect and humility, giving always all our best effort and honest intention in its practice. The author of this article, Giacomo (Jack) Merello is a long time practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts. Nowadays he practices Kendo and Iaido, teaching the latter regularly in his Singapore dojo.
Over the last weekend, we travelled from Singapore to Japan, in particular to Kanagawa prefecture.
It was an amazing experience of culture, budo and friendship between us and the members of Furuichi Sensei main dojo in the city of Ebina. We trained hard and we visited the amazing surroundings and the area of famous Hakone, and at the end we took our exams in one of the best purpose-made Budokans I have ever seen. I'd like to thank Furuichi Sensei, Takahashi-San and all the members of the dojo, and congratulate with our members Julia and Sara that achieved the federal rank of ikkyu (first kyu). We come back to Singapore inspired to improve and practice even more and grow our group and our spirits here as they are in Japan. Gambatte! |
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