matsurii on Ishigakijima 石垣島の祭り

Matsurii（まつり） or festival is a very important part of Japanese life. Most Japanese people see at least one festival a year be it the firework shows at the start of August or new years. The festival period in Ryukyu (Okinawa archipelago) Starts at the end of July and finishes at the end of August. The matsurii can be religious or just for fun.

The most common type of Matsurii （まつり）in Ryukyu （琉球）is Hounensai. Hounensai is a harvest festival and is aimed at asking the dead elders (ancestors) for the yearly blessing for good crops. There are many shrines located on Ishigaki that often have no main Kami (god) but are for the 死んだ人々の神　Shinda hitobito no kami(spirits of the dead). They give offerings of food, saka, dance and play music. Each Shrine has a Torri and a Kami dana (god shelf a kind of shrine), but for most of the year the kami dana lay empty. So are even locked up.




I was asked to partake in a matsurii　（まつり）. The matsurii （まつり） I went to was it the middle of no where. This Jinja (shrine) only got used three times a year. I helped clean up at the end. The dojo I was training with also did a demonstration. I got to preformed a shotokan kata kanku sho　（観く）. Kenoh Sensei did kata also and then he broke baseball bats with his arms and legs. There was dancing and taiko, taiko is a type of drum that is often used at festival. There were also flags. The flag said about working together to make a great harvest.

Ryukyu (Okinawa) no Ishigaki Jima

Ishigaki Jima (Ishigaki Island) is and one of over 60 in the Okinawan archipelago sometimes called Ryukyu. Ishigaki is on of the larger island and is home to some 46,000people. There is only One high school on the island and a number of lower schools that often take students from 6-15 all in the same school.

Ishigaki jima has a health and growing coral reef, it brings in many tourist interested in diving and see life. Divers can see every thing form clown fish to manta ray. The reef makes up most of the land mass and most of the Ryukyu islands (stone on the is land is compacted dead coral, I believe the base base is volcanic). The coral give Ishigaki amazing white beach's set against colorful and noise jungle and mangroves.

The people of Ishigaki are very different form main land Japan. They are friendly and kind people how have a tropical island life style(laded back). Most of the Islanid is home to farmers how grow pineapples and sugar kane. They have some local kami called Shisa (like a cross between a lion and a dog).You see them often guarding the house of Okinawa. They have local instruments called Tikko and Shamisen and a very unique type of music. The island see is home to See snakes, manta and sharks. There are main types of lizards and snake and the Ishigaki island is home to a very dangerous snake called a Habo. (If he bites you you have 2hours to get to a hospital or you are dead. lol)

The Hidden Meaning of Sado. Part 1

This is the first part as i need to study this deeper and the amount of rules would make this text very heavy.


Behind every part of Japanese life there is a hidden meaning. This is no more true than in Sado. Sado is a Japanese tea ceremony. Sado was once the pass time of men only, but the modern Sado is preformed by both sexes. Sado in its self is simple, it is the making and drinking of Tea with others. As for the proses and the means behind Sado, well they are hard to under stand and very Deep.



There is a saying in Sado that is used every time a new section begins. (きょう　わ　この　ひとときを　たいへん　たのしみました. KYO WA KONO HITOTOKI O TAIHEN-N TANOSHIMI-MASITA.) The translation is "I enjoy this sigle moment in time". This saying was started in the early Edo period and is about the way in witch the warrior class lived. Man couldn't bring weapons into a tea house, and every man how wished to study and drink tea must enter through a small door. This door would make the users bow very low. This meant no man or women in a tea house was greater than any one else, this also went for Shogun and Samurai. So the time spent in a tea house was one of peace and distance from the war toren fuddle Japan that waited out side.

Also the code of Bushi can be found in Sado. Bushi or Bushido is the code of the Samurai. The code tells Samurais how to live. So when Samurai come together to make planes for war the first type of tea they drink is a shared cup. Each participant drinks a small amount from the cup and the pass the cup to next. If the tea has been poisoned then all how share the cup will die. This act covers many parts Bushi Gi, Makoto, Meiyo, You and Rei. (rectitude, honesty, honor, courage and respected )


Sado also has a deep rooting in Buddhism. A life time spent working on the perfect ceremony not just in practice but in meditation. The ceremony also is a time where the mind can be truly empty (enlightenment). A true Samurai has an empty mind at all times but in reality this is hard to do, as the battle field is a hard place to keep a clear mind. The practice of Sado with its clear rules and structure can help the mind find control. The task is automatic through practice, but the task needs timing and attention therefore the mind is empty but is not allowed to walk.

Buddhist no Tera to Shinto no Jinja

Religion is a massive part of Japanese life. Even if most Japanese people would say they have no religion beliefs. From eating meals to the seasonal festivals faith is the central pillar of this country and I think it is what makes it work so well.

Japanese people hold a great amount of respect for the past and the natural world around them. This keeps the cloture strong and traditions very much alive i.e. martial arts. This is helped by the stronger ties to there religions. If you walk into any shop in Japan you are shore to find a waving cat. This is a shinto symbol and is meant to promote good luck and good business. But ask the store keeper if he has religion and he is likely to say he has none. So there are two main religions in Japan, Buddhist and Shinto. Both are very much apart of Japanese life from martial arts to every day life. At the start of each meal the Japanese people say thanks to the food and the life that it will pass on to them. This does two things, it reinforces the belief that energy is ever flowing. It also makes the eater think about were his or her meal came from. The better quality the food the better the energy. (OK they don't say energy they say life or spirit.) This is why both Buddhist and Shinto value trees over all. Trees provide use with so much. Homes, boats, tools and food and much more. So to thank the sprites of the tree or the energy that the tree makes and give us is quite a nice idea. This is the point of the religions and is good I think. Don't take the gifts of life for granted but worship and protected them.




OK this is were the two religions differ. Some one from a Shinto faith can pray at a Buddhist temple or at a Shinto shrine and vice verse. But Buddhist believe that there time as a human is short and in this time they should make as little noise as possible. They should protected nature and aim to be a good human so when they move on (die) they become a greater being. The Shinto faith believes in celebrating life and the gifts it gives us, but you must hold a great respected for the world around you and what it gives you. If you do this you will pass on and become a greater being.

There is one more thing that separates the two faith. Shinto has no written texts. There are some story's about the creation of the islands of Japan and the Kami (or gods) that they believe in. But other than that every part of the practice of the Shinto faith is handed down from generation to generation.


The Shinto faith has many Kami and Kami have Shrines to go with them these are called Jinja. Buddhist temples are called Tera and are often very large and have monks or priests that live in them. Jinja are normally looked after by a minder or a volunteer from the community. The Jinja are like Church's back home. They will have a Kamidana or a god shelf. This is were candle are lit and offerings are left. Water, Sake, Rice and Salt. All are gifts for the Kami and have important symbolic meaning. Water is the single most important part of the faith and I have talked about it before on this blog. Before prayer you must first make you body and spirit clean. If any thing water is the one symbol that all the religions of the world hold highest.

As the old Japanese saying goes.
There is no man nor steel that can cut it down. No tree or beast that will not blow. No fire or rage that can not be quenched by it. And in good time it will move the earth or change what we see in the blink of an eye. It is eternal and always moving.

Karate Do to Honbu.

Ahhhhhhhh


I have been super lucky I have been allowed to train with the JKA for free and as much as I like. Yukosan took me to a Dojo at Akabana. We took the bus and the walked to a local high school. (The buses are dead easy, they run a lot and you can use your Passmo card on them. Any trip 200yen. (if you don't know what a Passmo card is check out the TopTip list.))She then told Nakasensei that I was only in Japan for a month. He said I could train for free and as much as I liked. NakaSensei Is Karatedo. He is the next in line to run the Honbu and the JKA. He is a very nice man and just watching him has given me a new spin on martial arts. From how to train to how to teach the guys at Redhill. I have collected some notes and can't wait to get back.

I have always thought about how the hole body should be used in every move in karate. Every time a Japanese master come to england and would talk about using you hole body to move and carrie out technecs. I would think it was some sort of secret. Its no secret westen people for the most find it hard and just don't get it. (O I was just going to delet this hole paragraph and start again but I have chosen not to as it shows you what I am talking about. As English or westen people most of us have lost the ties with are bodys, spirit and mind.) Every move or technec in Karate use every part of the body, mind and sprit. (Not just the body as i wrote before.)The key is not to look at the movement of the body as step. This makes use one side. The true key is to move reactively using effective, powerful, quick and emotive movements. I.e. You can't run a list throw your head. Setp, punch, breath and then kamae so on. you should use feeling. The man was right. Bruce Lee hit the nail on the head. Feel emotion content or you will mess all the heavenly glory. Sorry Bruce but I couldn't find any thing better.
If I go on I won't have any thing to share when I get back so I will stop at that. I will say that every part of the Japanese peoples life sets them up to be great master I are eyes. As people in a hole onesidedness is not in there way of life.

O one last thing what is the most important thing to remember when you are making a cup?

Shinobi to Onsen

Watashi wa Onsen ga suki desu. dattebayo





So on the 5th June 2010 Hagiwara Yukatasan (for this I might call him PappaSan it is easier) Took me to his mountain holiday home in Naganoken. We stayed in a traditional Japanese house. We eat on the floor, We drunk on the floor and we slept on the floor as well. The house was very cool.
I also got to go to a traditional Japanese bath house in a spring town called Bessho. The Japanese call the hot baths Onsen. Its amazing even though some of the men old and young have modern houses with baths and running water they still chose to live a life of using the springs to bathe every day.

Onsen is said to be more than just a bath to clean the body but to cleanse the mind and spirit also. I love how no mater how fast the world is traveling or how hard the people of Japan work they find time to make room for the past. From Sado, to making a traditional house or martial arts. This is why I think I love this place so much they put a massive sense of spirit and emotion into every.

As for the Shinobi, well on the way to and from the house at Naganoken we stopped at some Temples and shrine and a castle nicked name crow castle for its dark and simple design.
(Yes I know that the castle is decorative but the Japanese think not.)The Castle is called Matsumoto Jo or Matsumoto Oshiro. It is said to be a ninja castle and this is the reason for the dark colour. The castle is about 400years old and don't light a match as the hole place is made of wood and what can only be described as wotal and dorb. (clay, straw and stones.) The Castle took almost 60 years to make. The north wing is younger by some 40 years and was built as a moon adservarie. It was very cool and I will be putting it on my top tips. Sagui.

I also saw some shrines this first one is 800 years old. The rest are the same age or younger. Looking good for 400 hay.