The Gentle Way to Self-Defence

 

Today's Doodle honours Kano Jigoro, the 'Father of Modern Judo' on his 161st birth anniversary.

A series of neat panels illustrate the life of this remarkable man who developed the institutions that globalised Judo (柔道 lit. "gentle way"), to take it beyond the Samurai class, to make it an international olympic sport.

This also brought back memories of the University of Tsukuba where I had my first brush (and bruises, sprains and near dislocations!) with this remarkable art of self-defence. Memories of stepping into the airy, well-lit Budokan for the first time; the tatami-matted practice halls; the feel of coarse, stiff judo-gi outfit that would break your fingernails, and that peculiar smell of deodorants mixed with sweat, blood and dried. 

I had been amazed to see how men and women trained together, and how once a month,  the elite Tsukuba Blue Team held an open house with other enthusiasts. Olympic medallists sparred with schoolchildren on one side, and grandfathers teaching pigtailed grand-daughters on the other.

A portrait of Kano Sensei  and his many quotations lined a wall in the Budokan,  looking down on us with with his bemused, slightly bored expression, watching over various groups going through their paces - sparring, fighting, and learning how an opponents physical strength could be used against them.

Tsukuba University apparently grew from the educational institutions Kano set up a century earlier. Sometime during 2010 the university suddenly decided to replace the statue of a Greek hero with that of this venerable teacher. So imagine our surprise when during a visit to the post office, we looked up to find that in place of a naked, muscular European, stood a fully clothed statue of the man who repackaged Jujitsu into Judo for the world!

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate - and less expensive -  to have a sporty statue of his in front of the university Budokan or Sports Department, but then, when it comes to sentimental matters, the Japanese do not seem to believe in Kano Jigoro's dictum -  "Maximum efficiency with minimum effort" (精力善用 seiryoku zen'yō)!

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* The pioneer of Judo  - https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/about/history/kano/index.html

* The Olympic Movement and J Kano - https://www.joc.or.jp/english/historyjapan/kano_jigoro.html

Cicada's, Starling's, Summer!

With the rise in summer temperature, Tsukuba seems to be teeming with life!

The first time I noticed it was on my way to the municipal swimming pool, under the trees overlooking the bus-stop at Tsukuba Centre. The first sign was noise that sounded like a busy construction site and it turned out to be just a major convention of birds!

From where did they suddenly appear? Why were they all converging only a certain type of tree - was it for food? But there was no sign of seeds or fruits on the trees...My Japanese Sensei, who happened to be passing by, said that the birds are called Mugidori. I looked this up and it turns out that the common name is "Grey Starling".

And then, the Cicadas. In the woods surrounding Ichinoya they make such a huge racket in the evening that your ears begin to hurt unless you move away from the trees.

At the central library, there are instruments monitoring the disturbance caused by construction activity, and the the occasional crash of building material the noise level goes up to 75dB. Just outside the library, the cicadas are creating nearly double that sound by just by just rubbing their legs against abdominal plates (120 dB)!

If Cicadas and Starlings are congregating on the trees, another group of birds had taken over the skies in the evening. Just as the setting sun was turning the clouds into various hues of pink and while airplanes glinted high above the clouds, massive swarms of birds whirled in the skies. Numbering in thousands, these birds swoop & dive, separate & converge on such a scale that from afar, they look like massive amoebic forms in the skies...

What is the advantage of moving in this way? Is it to feed on insects flying high above? But then why would insects want to fly at that height? Is it some kind of ritual for selecting mates?

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A Few Tanka Verses

Some interesting Tanka verses from the book, A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (Hyaku nin ishiu - translated by William Porter)

1. The first one to catch my attention was a verse written more than a thousand years ago about the beauty of Mt. Tsukuba and its surrounding areas. It was composed by the retired Emperor, Yozei In (AD 877-884).

Tsukuba ne no
Mine yori otsuru
Mina no gawa
Koi zo tsumoirite
Fuchi to nari nuru

The Mina stream comes tumbling down
From Mount Tsukuba's height;
Strong as my love, it leaps into
A pool as black as night
With overwhelming might


2.

The mountain village solitude
In winter time I dread;
It seems as if, when friends are gone,
And trees their leaves have shed,
All men and plants are dead.

- The Minister, Muneyuki Minamoto

Poet was grandson of Emperor Kwoko and a part of the Minamoto family which ruled Japan between 856-877, and produced many famous men including Yorimoto, the great founder of the Shogunate.

The Taira famly and the Minamotos were the Yorks and Lancasters of medieval Japan. After Yorimoto defeated the Tairas at the battle of Dan-no-ura, in the straits of Shimonoseki, the entire Taira family was exterminated, including women and children.The Manamoto's themselves became extinct in 1219, when Sanetomo was murdered at Kamakura.


3.

Ariake no
Tsurenaku mieshi
Wakare yori
Akatsuki bakari
Uki-mono was nashi

I hate the cold unfriendly moon,
That shines at early morn;
And nothing seems so sad and grey,
When I am left forlorn,
As day's returning dawn.

-Mibu no Tadamine (AD 900)


4.

Hito wa iza
Kokoro mo shirazu
Furu sato wa
Hana so mukashi no
Ka ni nioi keru.

The village of my youth is gone,
New faces meet my gaze;
But still the blossoms at thy gate,
Whose perfume scents the ways,
Recall my childhood days.

- Ki no Tsurayuki

5.
Shira tsuyu ni
Kaze no fukishiku
Aki no no wa
Tsuranuki-tomenu
Tama zo chiri keru.

This lovely morn the dewdrops flash
Like diamonds on the grass -
A blaze of sparkling jewels! But
The autumn wind, alas!
Scatters them as I pass.


6.

Morotomo ni
Aware to omoe
Yama zakura
Hana yori hoka ni
Shiruu hito mo nashi.

In solitude i dwell,
No human faces I see;
And so we two must sympathise,
Oh mountain cherry tree;
I have no friend but thee.

This was composed by Daisojo Gyoson aka Archbishop Gyoson , who died in AD 890, at the age of 70, from being buried, at his own wish, in a small tomb covered with soil, with only a small pipe leading from his mouth to the open air; he remained thus, until hunger and exhaustion put and end to his life.