Kono Yoshinori
From Gottsupedia
Kono Yoshinori is a Japanese martial arts master and "body technique" （身体技法, Shintaigihou: literally "body technique"） researcher.
Born in 1949 in Tokyo, Japan, Kono was a student of husbandry at the Tokyo University of Agriculture before dropping out. He has since gone on to publish numerous books on the subject of bujutsu （武術, Japan’s classical martial arts, and what he calls “body technique”: the proper and most efficient use of the body, based on traditional bujutsu.
Kono is gaining increasing recognition recently in Japan for his applications of bujutsu principles and techniques in other areas, in particular sports and nursing care.
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Background
Discovering bujutsu
In University, while separating chicks into buckets by sex, he found that when tossing the live chicks into the buckets they would end up trampling each other and many would die as a result. Shocked at the brutal realities inherit when efficiency takes top priority for the sake of economic prosperity, Kono began to ponder the question "What is nature for human beings?" (may also be translated as "What is natural for human beings?") In pursuit of answers, Kono discovered bujutsu.
Considering the world of bujutsu another in which efficiency takes priority, Kono devoted himself to researching "body technique" through bujutsu, in search of the most efficient and natural use of the human body.
Bujutsu Background
Kono first trained in aikido beginning in 1971 at the age of 22 at the Aikikai Honbu Dojo. Kono eventually began to train primarily under Yamaguchi Seigo and by 1975 became Yamaguchi's main uke.
Following aikido, he studied Kashima Shin-ryu, and later was profoundly influenced by the technique of bujutsu master Kuroda Tetsuzan.
Research and Theories on bujutsu
Kono has written extensively about his beliefs regarding the martial arts and his theories on how Japanese have "lost" the ability to perform techniques handed down from the past. He attributes this in large part to Japan's westernization and mimicking of westerns lifestyles, clothing and diet, as well as western physical education, sports, and attitudes toward what is considered proper posture and body usage. Kono also theorizes that many legendary feats of speed, strength and seemingly miraculous techniques by martial artists of the past, are not so implausible when his theories on body technique are applied - in other words, he says Japanese have simply forgotten how to perform like their ancestors and are often skeptical, or completely write off the old ways and certain legendary feats as myth and folk tales because of a lack of understanding.
Modern Budo
Kono is also highly critical of modern aikido saying, in essence, that the techniques have become broken because the ancient techniques are being done with modern ways of thinking and modern 'western-style' body usage, which is nothing like they originally were. He sees many modern technical adjustments as a regression of technique, rather than the refinements others often see them as, and offers that as the reason why many complain that the techniques of aikido, and of other classical martial arts, don't work.
Kono believes that most true bujutsu and bujutsu masters are now gone, and have been replaced by modern budo that simply copies poses and choreography from the past, without a truly understanding the whys and hows of training and technique. For example, Kono has stated and written many times that the posture in modern kendo, in which the back is straightened and the chest thrust forward, looks nothing like traditional kenjutsu and actually comes from the German military when it was brought to Japan in the Meiji period as Japan was building its first modern army. Kono also points out that while modern Kendo teaches students to raise their heels and move on the balls of their feet much like many modern Western sports, old Japanese schools of swordsmanship such as Shinkage-ryu and books such Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings describe foot placement with the entire foot, including the heel, planted firmly on the ground.
"Namba"
Namba is a modern term used to describe the method in which Japanese people were thought to have used their bodies, specifically the way they are believed to have walked, before being influenced by Western thought and physical education in the Meiji period. The lost "namba" way of walking is believed to be one of the underlying principles of movement in the Japanese bujutsu, and virtually all of Japan's traditional dance and performance arts. The theory that Japanese moved completely differently in the past may be one of the reasons that movement in classical bujutsu seems so "unnatural" in modern times, even to the Japanese.
In classical bujutsu, power is derived from body alignment through proper posture and unified movement (employing the entire body, instead of only the part of the body directly involved in the given technique or movement), rather than from muscle strength and the torque-based twisting power movements of modern martial arts and sports. Kono believes that Japanese gradually began to use their bodies differently, even changing the way they walked, beginning with education reform in the Meiji period, when western-style physical education was introduced in Japanese schools.
According to Kono's research, education reform was introduced during rebellions in the early Meiji period after the Meiji government's new western-style conscript army were easily cut down by Satsuma rebels because the conscript soldiers were incapable of running and thus could not retreat quickly enough. Japan does not have a tradition of physical education or sports and the act of running was relatively alien to the general population. With the introduction of physical education, western diets, as well as western clothing and amenities such as chairs, Japanese gradually began to move and use their bodies more like Europeans. Along with school phys ed, in particular Kono cites the gradual shift away from the kimono as having had a major influence on the way Japanese walk and move.
While Japanese are believed to have walked differently prior to Meiji reforms, they did not all walk in the same fashion. Based on his research, Kono believes that there were variations of the "namba" walk, and that one could identify a persons' occupation by the manner in which they walked. He also theorizes that understanding the differences in how people of different trades walked was a critical skill for spies in feudal Japan.
Kono says that in the past people walked in the manner best suited to their daily tasks, and that the lack of twisting motion in the old Japanese way of walking is particular to Japan. Along with his research of ancient texts, martial arts and other arts such as Kabuki and dance, Kono also points to evidence in early motion pictures shot during the Meiji period when Japan was in a transition period and many people can still be seen walking without swinging their arms or twisting.
Body Mechanics princliples and techniques
Kono's research into body movement and usage can be applied to everything from marital arts and sports, to daily life. Most recently Kono has become well known in Japan for his impact on areas such as nursing care. He has made numerous television appearances and conducted seminars to teach techniques he has adapted from the martial arts for everyday use.
"No twisting, no undulation, no accumulation"
The above is an awkward translation of Kono's three priciples for efficient bujutsu movement.
- No Twisting: No twisting motions.
- No Undulating: No sinuous or wavelike motions.
- No Accumulating: No cocking, pushing off, or springing actions.
No Twisting
- This referes to the twisting motions used to generate power through torque.
No Undulating
No Accumulating
- Cocking or pulling back motions, while haviung the potential to be powerful, also serve to telegraph ones intentions. According to Kono, people can easily be conditioned to interpret and anticipate people's movements because inherit cocking and accumulation motions.
Balance breaking
The concept
- Based on the principle that balance is one of the most important aspects of powerful technique. ”崩し” (kuzushi) or "breaking" of balance is a key principle in the effectivness of techniques in many martial arts, such as Aikido, Jujutsu and Judo.
Kono teaches that because humans stand on two legs, we have a particular vulnerability when it comes to balance. This goes hand-in-hand with the fear of falling down. When one's balance is broken even slightly, the automatic reaction is to try and regain balance so as not to fall. This tendency can be exploited in many ways and is, in fact, one of the secrets to the seemingly impossible techniques in arts such as aikido, which Kono studied at length.
Application
Shifting Fulcrum
The concept
- A fulcrum is the support or point of support (pivot) on which a lever turns in raising or moving something around. It is the pivot about which a lever turns. For example, it is possible to flick food across the table using your fork as a lever and your finger as a fulcrum.
- This is related to kuzushi (unbalancing) in that, through fulcrum manipulation at the point of contact, one can effectively rob their opponent of the ability to perceive the force being applied to them, throwing them off balance. In a sense you are playing with the fact that there are certain "expectations" when, for example, someone punches you and you block; Subconsciously, you expect force to meet force at a certain point and from a certain direction. When that "expected" force changes at or just before the point of impact, the recipient of that force becomes vulnerable.
Another example of kuzushi would be like when you are walking up or down steps and stumble at the top or bottom because you weren’t pay attention and expected one more step that wasn’t there. The ground has meet your foot slightly earlier or slightly later than you were expecting, knocking you off balance. If the direction that your foot and the ground meets also changes, for example the floor gives way one side or there is a defect that significantly changes the angle at which your foot meets it, you will likely trip and possibly fall. Or, when you push a door open, you expect it to open to the left or right on its hinges and swing. However if, when you pushed that door, it simply gave way, most people would stumble forward and/or fall, depending on how they pushed the door. If a door you were sure was a push door was actually a sliding door, you would be stopped in your tracks or run face first into it if the arm that was going to push the door was not stiff.
Application
"take-off" or "launching"
Kono-isms
External links
Note: Translation of the above term "身体操作" (shintaisousa) is difficult. It is literally "Body Operation/Manipulation", which sounds quite awkward in English.
