Jane Muromoto Yung began her studies of Shintaido in the late 1970’s. Tenshingoso was her favorite movement. In this article, Jane shares her impressions following a ZOOM keiko with Ito Sensei.
Ten years before I started playing with Shintaido, the universe embraced me for a moment. This moment sprang up from darkness and deep despair I felt after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968.
That void revealed my connection to the universe. A non-human-centered existence…an existence with everything…not above or below anything. Anything. A harmonious continuum. An ever-present balance of opposites and possibilities. Playing with Shintaido was wonderfully wild, wacky, deeply profound. It evoked the universe’s essence: Timeless. Boundless. Wordless. Connectedness. Tenshingoso remains a revelation.
The five moves enjoin the soul of life and death in our own bodies, connected with a partner and connected to a community, whether playing under fluorescent lights or the open sky touching the depth of stillness with humility and gratitude, the trust in another who grasps my wrists or the collective exhaustion and supportive consciousness with others, Today, at 72, I am learning to play with tai chi. I am learning that playing with the universe is still wonderfully wild, wacky and hidden nowhere.
On 20 March HF Ito led a ZOOM session on the DaiKihon where he presented his distillations from 57 years of study since Tenshingoso was finalized in April 1965.
On 24 May, David Franklin and the team released his Shintaido of America podcast reading, episode 10, from Shintaido: The Body is a Message of the Universe describing the creation of Tenshingoso.
We are sharing these combined presentations for your reading, listening, and viewing pleasure. Please drop us a note in the “Comments” box at the end of the Body Dialogue Article. We would love to hear your impressions.
Pacific Shintaido 2022 Kangeiko: “Cultivating Compassion” Held January 15-16 via Zoom Director of Instruction: Shin Aoki Instructors: Shin Aoki and Ula Chambers Gasshuku Managers: Derk Richardson and Cheryl Williams Zoom Manager: Sarah Baker Communications: Brad Larson and Tereza Soldátová
PacShin set an ambitious and timely goal for its 2022 Kangeiko: “Cultivating Compassion”. As explained in opening remarks by event manager Derk Richardson, as we enter the third year of the global pandemic, societies are facing a crisis of “compassion fatigue”. Derk described compassion as “the willingness to bear witness and to be with — the quivering of the heart in response to — pain and suffering.”
Quoting Buddhist teacher Stephen Batchelor, Derk explained that compassion arises out of emptiness: “If we experience emptiness as being empty of any separate self, then we will naturally be compassionate and never put ourselves above others, because the true self is inclusive of all others.”
Derk observed, “So maybe cultivating compassion has to do with realizing emptiness — letting go of self-centered reactivity, bearing witness to the suffering of others, with loving kindness and a sense of equanimity.” He continued, “In Mahayana Buddhism the sword of compassion is used to cut through the illusion of separation of self and other, of this and that. And Shintaido, to me, is a wonderful vehicle for reaching that state of being empty of any separate self and therefore a way, through the body, to cultivate compassion.”
In further opening remarks, Shin Aoki, director of instruction and co-instructor, observed, “In difficult times such as this, it is particularly important that we keep respect and understanding for each other and practice simple acts of kindness. To me Shintaido is a rich source of learning-tools that help us cultivate compassion. We develop sensitivity to others and remind ourselves to keep our hearts open and communicate with sincere irimi, or stepping, into our partner’s heart. We hope that you’ll have a more open and bigger heart by the end of the workshop and keep building a better world, around you and inside you.”
Ula then set forth the objective: “In the coming keikos, Shin and I are going to take you on a journey, and the journey involves looking at where compassion can be found and how we can increase it, how we can cultivate and grow it, how to plant the seeds and make them grow up.”
With this agenda set, the three keiko that followed offered fresh approaches to adapting our Shintaido curriculum in innovative ways within the limitations of the Zoom medium. The approach seemed to achieve the desired affect: eliminating barriers between self and others.
Recordings of the keiko are available on the Shintaido of America Youtube channel, so there is no point in detailing every single thing that was taught. Instead, the following report will offer highlights and “takeaways” found in the teaching. If you find something in this description that piques your interest, you can go to the recorded source and go deeper.
Watch the Kangeiko videos on YouTube of Shintaido of America
Keiko 1
After Shin eased participants into practice with jumbi taiso, Ula shared a way to use Ten Position Meditation as a source for partner practice for giving and and receiving energy or the partner’s feeling. She matched bokyo-ii (“returning home” or “looking homeward”) with joshin-i (“purifying the heart/mind”) in a back-and-forth fashion with partner that allowed for giving and receiving. These movements flowed naturally enough into renki kumite, back and forth with a partner — first Ula and then a randomly selected partner in a breakout room. Partners applied palm to fist, as if they were really touching and feeling the cycle of energy given and received.
Shin carried the renki practice further, creatively with short sword and movements from the Jissen kumitachi curriculum, namely seichuken and jigoken. Ultimately we were piercing forward with seichuken, like tsuki, and receiving with jigoken, taking care to bring the receiving sword through the heart chakra area. Again the give and take of energy was felt as screen-to-screen partners stepped forward and backward, alternating between these two forms, first with Shin and then in breakout.
After the breakout period during which partners could choose to do Renki Kumite with “swords” or by fist and palms, Ula and Shin ended the keiko with wakame taiso, at one point suggesting that instead of imagining a partner pushing us we instead imagine the ground gently swaying beneath our feet, like a very gentle earthquake. This seemed an imaginative variation that would adapt well for solo practice, not just practice by Zoom. Finally, Ula led wakame taiso with her voice while “pushing” with her hand as the participants had their backs to their screens and imagined receiving from behind. Group wakame without an individual leader followed, as individuals moving together across continents and ocean.
Keiko 2
After another relaxing and warming jumbi taiso with Shin, Ula taught Tenshingoso as a way of feeling and exploring life’s journey, saying that we can find in our lives a place for kaihotai Tenshingoso or the yokitai style found in the Taimyo kata. She said that through the study of Taimyo kata we know that sometimes life’s journey requires us to change our mode to being more relaxed, gentle. The yokitai style of Tenshingoso allows us to find that mode anytime we might be tired or may be dealing with someone who needs a gentle approach. We then did Tenshingoso dai, and then a a softer, subtler, receptive Tenshingoso as in the Taimyo kata. Then she led us in a mirroring kumite and afterwards sent us into breakout rooms to explore the dynamics of mirroring Tenshingoso in pairs.
Next Ula started us down a path of variations on Aozora (Blue Sky) Taiso, which normally involves alternating “AH” and “OH” movements and voice. The variation involved fudodachi stepping backward and forward with the same leg, starting, AH (backward), EH (forward), then eventually also EE (backward), then OH (forward). The EH was a deep diagonal cut in front of the body. This pattern could be repeated with a deepening and engrossing rhythm that took over for itself as we explored our spaces at home. Shin then showed how this could be done using a stick or sword. He partnered with the viewer in something like a renki exchange using the weapon.
Ula finished the keiko by grounding us with a lovely series of movements based on traveling down into UN, heightening and deepening with each repetition, as we raised the starting place of UN from the lower chakra up the torso, to the forehead and finally above to Ten and returning to UN position.
Keiko 3
Shin’s warm ups featured self-care with massage and used AH and EH. His warmups for all three keiko offered a wealth of ideas for how to keep the classic jumbi taiso fresh, fun, and affective.
As the main keiko began, Ula continued the previous keiko’s stepping, backward from musubidachi into AH and forward with EH. A natural progression took the form of a one-step Eiko into fudodachi, backward with AH and forward with EH and then back again, repeating continuously, exploring the space in this fashion. This could be done with open, free hand or with short sword. Shin then demonstrated how the cut could be done farther and deeper into fudodachi or even hanmihandachi.
In preparation for the breakout-room kumite to follow, Shin offered a preparatory exercise for “cleansing the body” by hanging forward and stretching with both hands, palms down on the sword, then slowly stretching outward and up to Ten, then lowering the sword straight down through the heart chakra and downward toward the feet and all the way down to the starting point, hanging down in front. This was repeated as a cycle, and as the sword would pass through the chakras in its downward journey “making more space inside you so that it’s easier for you to be a recipient of compassion.” We were encouraged to continue to explore the space and move about our various rooms, stepping forward and back with fudodachi. A variation without sword was introduced, resembling receiving in kiriorshi kumite, imagining we had hold of the wrists of a partner who cut down and through the heart chakra and below — something we’ve missed over the past two years of isolated keiko.
Ula took over as our partner, doing kirioroshi kumite in preparation for breakout room kumite. She encouraged us to cut or receive into the heart, the solar plexus, and the ground root — the koshi: “Keep your voice going for your partner and reach inside their world if you are cutting. And accept your partner’s blessing if you are being cut.”
After the time for breakout-room kumite, Ula then led us in 5 minutes of shoko to deepen our process of opening while both sending and receiving: “… relaxing your shoulders but pushing out through your heart, solar plexus, koshi — all those channels that have been opened and filled with compassion [and] are now streaming out to the world ahead and to the future.”
After Shoko, Shin brought us back together, instructing us to open our arms in an imagined, all-encompassing circle. As our screens turned to “gallery view so that all could be seen in their own spaces, Shin urged us to “reach out arms to friends in a big circle across the ocean, extending your compassion to others and ourselves. Arms were then lowered and after a moment of quiet, “mokuso” was called.
During the closing ceremony, Derk commented on how successfully he felt Ula and Shin had “planted seeds of compassion we can cultivate in our practice through movement and contemplation.” He then read the poem “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda, which felt so eloquent and germane, perhaps because we were so open and ready to receive its wisdom:
“Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still for once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language; let’s stop for a second, and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused with total inactivity. Life is what it is about; I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.
Reflections
It was clear by the end of this gasshuku that two years of constraints and difficulties of adapting our keiko to the Zoom platform, along with all the trial and error and improvisation that came with it, have resulted in new and effective developments in goreijutsu. Even though remote web-linked keiko cannot satisfy our needs completely, this gasshuku successfully brought its participants closer for a shared experience that was emotionally and technically rich, satisfying and remarkably deep.
One effect of having the expression of keiko constrained in this fashion is that we must be creative to come up with ways to make it work. In doing so, we find the novel choices and the required innovations lead us to look at relatively unexplored elements of our practice, and in new ways that can expand our thoughts of what keiko is, and maybe even what Shintaido is.
Ito Sensei sometimes talks to us about “image training”, which is a way of practicing by imagining yourself performing a kata or even a kumite. One simply sits or lies still and performs the movements in one’s mind. Another way is to do kumite with an imaginary partner, sort of like “shadow boxing”. These are particularly effective techniques for those of us who do not have keiko partners living nearby. It is an essential practice for senior practitioners who might have difficulty finding partners with whom to practice advanced techniques for kumite. Online events such as this gasshuku offer powerful ideas of how to use the imagination to practice alone and further develop our keiko in the absence of our friends and colleagues. Perhaps the greatest benefit of web-linked keiko will be the strengthening and enlistment of our imaginations in our practice.
In this gasshuku in particular we were shown how to enlist our imaginations to cultivate our ability to relate to others — to maintain and cultivate our capacity for empathy. In other words, to embody, exercise, and strengthen the “Hitobito-Ware” (self-other) axis that crosses our vertical Ten-Chi-Jin (Heaven-Earth-Human) axis and which together form the paradigm of our Shintaido world-view: Ten-Chi-Jin/Hitobito-Ware. Would we have imagined three years ago that this was possible without being physically together? Probably not, as we would not have imagined the necessity.
By necessity we not only imagine it, we do it. The particular creative solutions are new, but there is nothing new to being forced to make adjustments in the face of change. Whenever a mode of expression confronts a structural limitation, the expression, by necessity, must find its way through or around. The new path leads to discovery and even new variations in the expression.
Finding new modes for expression in the face of constraint has always been part of creative expression, including verbal communication, all the arts, and of course our keiko. Embracing this phenomenon can give us heart when we sadly cannot physically be together. As we cultivate our Zoom practice, as so successfully demonstrated at the PacShin Kangeiko, we may find new ways to sustain our practice and to grow with each other despite the limitations. And we may grow not just in the ways that are familiar, but in something else, something new, even something more than we once could have imagined.
I was extremely fortunate to teach Shintaido exercises during the week-long calligraphy course presented by Zenbrush at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, CA from March 8th through March 12th. Fifteen people, along with Sensei Kaz Tanahashi participated in late afternoon Shintaido exercises to relax and rejuvenate after their daily classes.
Kazuaki Tanahashi, born in Japan in 1933 and active in the United States since 1977, is an artist, writer and peace and environmental worker. As a painter and calligrapher, he has been pioneering the genre of one-stroke painting. He has produced over forty books in English and Japanese. As a peace activist he has worked against nuclear arms race and is the founding director of A World Without Armies. At age thirteen, he studied in at an underground, post world-war II class of martial arts. The teacher was Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido (read more at brushmind.net).
A long-term friendship between Sensei’s Ito and Tanahashi paved the way for me to be asked to teach on this occasion. Here is a photo from 2003 when Shintaido and Brushwork collaborated during a weekend workshop. In 2000, Mike Sheets and I joined the Sensei’s and friends for a trip to Bristlecone pines.
The spring 1996 issue of Body Dialogue describes a collaboration in June 1995 when Shintaido and the American School of Japanese Arts celebrated the 50th anniversary of the UN at the SF Civic Center Plaza. The world’s largest brush-drawn circle was created by Tanahashi Sensei while Ito Sensei and a number of students performed Shintaido movements (shintaido.org).
The Mercy Center is forty wooded acres in Burlingame CA near the SF Airport. After each day of calligraphy classes, I taught kenko taiso to focus on joint articulation, especially focusing on the shoulder, elbows, wrists, and hands. Using the idea of the calligraphy brush (and inspired by teaching from artist/Shintaido teacher Charles Burns), I taught Azoro Taiso to ‘paint the sky.’ Gradually the class grew more confident to add their voices to this movement. To close, we did Taimyo Part III, allowing ourselves to connect with each other, nature, and the universe. The retreat center’s beauty of nature supported so everyone connected more deeply. My hope was for everyone to find themselves rejuvenated and more creative.
What are some steps to effective collaboration?
First: what organizations do you know that might want to include Shintaido exercises? As a starting place, working with people you know can be easier to build connections. For example, at a senior center or senior living community where you have family members. Lee Ordeman is an example of this in Maryland. Or a spiritual group that you attend, such as Lee Seaman does with her church in Washington State.
Perhaps you are able to include Shintaido into school or college curriculum. Gianni Rossi does this in Italy and is now working with the music teacher to add Shintaido exercises. One advantage to collaboration is you will have an organization who are finding people to attend. With a good match, there are common purposes and interest, so the participants are more likely to be excited and curious about Shintaido.
Second: is there a good match of needs? Is the need for exercise for relaxation and to reduce anxiety? Or for joint health? Or is the need to help prevent falls? Is the need for community connection and fostering overall health? Or is the need to provide a club within an organization?
The range can be from a specific need for a set of exercises to providing ongoing classes. Some places are the Boys and Girls clubs, the YMCA, community colleges, and senior centers. Shintaido was taught at Harvard during the times Michael Thompson and David Franklin were teaching. Nancy Billias currently does this through her teaching of ethics and philosophy.
Third, keep expectations modest. Some people might be interested in ongoing study and others might not. Some may share the name of Shintaido to others.
I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate and hope that others find ways to share Shintaido within their communities.
Greetings from the board of Shintaido of America! It’s time for our annual membership drive. Last year we DOUBLED our membership – can we do that again this year?
Like everyone else, we are slowly getting back to practicing in person, with live people, sometimes in masks, sometimes not touching. Shintaido North East just had its in-person kangeiko (just a little late…). The theme was “connection”, and we revelled in the opportunity to be together again at last.
Connie Borden, Rob Gaston, and Sandra Bengtsson co-teach a weekly Sunday ZOOM class from 9am to 10am Pacific Time. Everyone is welcome to join. Many of these classes are available on the Shintaido of America YouTube channel.
Shintaido North East hosts an online keiko every Saturday from 12.30 – 1.30 EST. A different instructor leads each time. For more information, please contact Brad at brad@bradlarson.com.
PACSHIN hosted Kangeiko 2022 as an online event again. Very pro!
Ito-sensei teaches regularly on Zoom from his home in France.
The audiobook of Aoki Sensei’s Shintaido textbook was launched at an online Zoom party on January 4. Narrated by general instructor David Franklin, it is available on the Shintaido of America YouTube channel, as a podcast and via the Shintaido of America website. Join a monthly podcast discussion group on the last Tuesday of the month. Contact Connie Borden.
Several new scholarships are available to subsidize participation in cross-regional and international events. Your membership makes you eligible to apply! Contact Connie Borden – bordensheets@aol.com.
In addition, Shintaido of America supports our community of practitioners by providing:
Shintaido of America Website (www.shintaido.org) Check it out! New things are happening all the time! We now feature a media page that includes our newsletter, YouTube and Podcast links.
Body Dialogue is now completely digital and appears in real-time as postings on the website.
Curriculum development is ongoing, especially the Kenjutsu curriculum.
Support to our instructors and the National Technical Committee
Communication with International Shintaido Technical and Exam Committee (ITEC)
Leadership by Shintaido of America and ESC as the organizing and sponsoring organizations for international activities.
Shintaido of America examinations and Shintaido of America Diplomas
Membership fees are still only $60 for all supporters. We have kept the same membership level for several years. For ALL of the benefits listed above, your annual membership works out to only $5 a month, or 16 cents a day!
Alternately, a check for $60 payable to SOA can be mailed to: Shintaido of America, 18 Washington St, #115, Canton, MA 02021
Sincerely, Connie Borden, Chair Shintaido of America Board of Directors Shin Aoki, Chair Shintaido of America NTC Brad Larson, Treasurer Nancy Billias David Franklin Herve Hofstetter Michael Thompson H. F. Ito
Here are a couple of comments from new members, one from the East Coast, one from the West:
“The teachers and Sensei of Shintaido are exceptional beings of love, precision, non-judgment and discipline. I get to a place of stillness and peace at the end of my practicing the art of Shintaido that I cannot achieve any other way.”
– Laura Sheehan Barron (San Francisco)
“My introduction to this practice was several years ago at the Day Street dojo in San Francisco, where I was introduced to Taimyo. Because of the pandemic for the last two years, using Zoom, I have taken advantage of being able to practice Shintaido more often. To be able to experience a gasshuku [in person was exciting.]I was apprehensive about the weekend, but not long after walking through the door into the dojo space I could feel the energy. That energy kept growing throughout the day. Not having the years of practice that most of you have had, I enjoyed the instruction and corrections that I was given. I cannot remember if I have ever felt that a potluck dinner was as tasty as what I had that evening. Thank you all for making me feel welcome and sharing your energy.”
Previously I sent a post about “Good is bad, bad is good.” This is my most recent follow-up (February 2022).
Unfortunately, the legal non-profit entity based in France known as International Shintaido Project was dissolved in June 2021. (Thank you Jean-Louis de Gandt, for your hard work to both help write bylaws and then guide the process of dissolution.)
However, I am very happy about several things that happened recently within the international Shintaido movement:
The International Technical and Examination Committee (ITEC) offered SanDan/Senior Instructor and above exams via Zoom in the summer of 2021. *
A Zoom lecture of Shintaido history, given by Peter Furtado at the UK Kan-Geiko at the beginning of 2021, was beautifully recorded and saved for future viewers **
Pierre Quettier’s book of Rakutenkai interviews was successfully published at the end of 2021 ***
The SoA Podcast started this winter, with David Franklin giving readings from the book Shintaido – the body is a message of the universe. ****
British Shintaido broadcasted another fascinating Zoom event on February 20th. SOA instructor Margaret Guay spoke about “The body is a Message of the Universe” looking at it from her Body & Mind Centering practice point of view.
• 天の時 Ten no Toki (the unpredictable timing of heaven) Because of the new Coronavirus, we were confronted with many regulations that slowed us down and prevented us from practicing any group movement in person. This slow-down felt to me like a message from Nature!
• 地の利 Chi no Ri (the strategic benefit of position) When we were confronted by the problem of the Coronavirus, new communication strategies like Zoom emerged almost simultaneously, and those strategies opened new opportunities for human relationships and communication, not only to maintain our previous connections but also to grow and foster them in ways that were previously unimaginable.
• 人の和 Hito no Wa (the transcendent harmony of human communication) Shintaido is blessed with a networked circle of well-trained Shintaido instructors who now can teach not only in local groups, but also anywhere in the world with no travel requirements and no scheduling restrictions. So, the body wisdom of Shintaido is now available in places where – and to people for whom – it used to be out of reach.
The many difficulties and opportunities that face Shintaido today remind me of a Bible verse that I memorized as a very young man, when I was involved heart and soul in the Rakutenkai community:
“…No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. “(from 1 Cor 10:13, NIV)
So, let’s keep going!
H.F. Ito (thanks to Lee Seaman and Tomi Nagai-Rothe for their help with editing)
