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 A one man kata of the Saburiryû
© 2010 K. Stolzke
Late
April to mid May one of the Hamburg spear-enthusiasts has been to Japan despite the
Eyjafjallajökull. During
his stay he had not only the opportunity to train in Hôzôinryû
Takadaha Sôjutsu in Nara
and Higashiôsaka, but could watch several Bujutsu
demonstrations of
various old schools, including those at the
Shimogamo shrine in Kyoto.
There the Hôzôinryû Takadaha, the Fûdenryû and the Saburiryû showed their spear-techniques. Our comrade is pleased to share videos of these demonstrations with everybody interested in the following.
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The best of course would be to train in Japan. There are three dôjôs, one in Nara, one in Higashiôsaka and one in Nagoya, where training is held regularly. Addresses, training hours and contact data can be found at the Japanese site of the Hôzôinryu.
Outside Japan the only place offering Hôzôinryû Takadaha Sôjutsu training on a regular base is located in Hamburg/Germany:
Alster Dojo e.V.
Veilchenweg 34
22529 Hamburg
Germany
Tel. & Fax: 040 - 560 085 95
www.alster-dojo.de
Training hours:
monday 17:00 - 19:00
thursday 17:00 - 18:00
Everyone interested in Hôzôinryû Sôjutsu is always welcomed to visit the regular training sessions but prior announcement of such a visit either by phone during the Sôjutsu training hours at the dôjô or here would be highly appreciated.
Additionally there is a long spear-Saturday once a month, which does not only offer enough time to train the forms of all three levels with various partners, but also to do intensive exercises of basic techniques.
The 2010-dates of the Saturday-training at the Alter Dojo e.V. are:
16 January
20 February (cancelled due to another event at the Alster Dojo e.V.)
20 March
17 April
14 - 16 May long spear weekend (all 14:00 - 18:00)
19 June
10 July
14 August
18 September
16 October
13 November
18 December
all 14:00 - 18:00 (longer on request)
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Click on the strip to view the comic in higher resolution.
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In celebration of the 20th anniversary of city partnership between Osaka and Hamburg the Alster Dojo e.V. gave demonstrations of all disciplines practiced in the club (Iaidô, Kendô, Kyûdô and Hôzôinryû Takadaha Sôjutsu) at the Japanese Tea Pavilion on the grounds of Planten un Blomen in Hamburg.
The video of the complete Hôzôinryû Takadaha Sôjutsu demonstration performed at this event can be found here. (Registered and logged in members only!)
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If you tell a Japanese person you are practicing sôjutsu he will usually ask you "soj… what?" If you then say "yari" (spear) he will usually respond by saying "I see! …Spear." illustrated with a throwing gesture.
No wonder. Even in Japan almost nobody knows what sôjutsu is or that sôjutsu still exists nowadays. And if people have an idea at all what sôjutsu is, it is usually informed by TV series and movies which often draw a picture of the use of spears that has absolutely nothing in common with reality.
At best people remember scenes from the films of Kurosawa Akira showing platoons of spearmen working as units with long spears, very long spears.
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1: Saya - The scabbard covering and protecting the blade, when the spear is not in use. There has been a great variety of designs for yarizaya,
especially during the Edo era, that went much further than functional
necessity demanded for at that time the yari was not only a weapon but
also a symbol of status and rank.
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 Keikoyari
Keikoyari (training spears) are not obtained easyly even in Japan. The author saw a kamayari for sale in a budô equipment shop in Tôkyô just once. And there is only one maker/distributor of wooden weapons who sells kamayari and suyari (but only 9 shaku long) through his webshop. Recently he ships the spears to destinations outside Japan as well, but I fear the transportation might be even more expensive than the spear itself.
So in the end you have to ask a carpenter to build a spear to your specifications. Or just do it yourself. Don't worry. Building a spear isn't that difficult. On the contrary it is a lot of fun, at least for me.
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 Hôzôin Kakuzenbô Inei
About the life and doings of the founder of the school on the other hand only relatively litte is known for sure. And the little information that you can find often is contradictory or belongs to the realm of legends.
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