Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Onsen
Question:
Can something as simple as taking a bath be a life changing experience?
Answer:
Oh Yeah.
Especially if it's at the Selan Onsen in Yamagata.
If you needed a reminder that the Earth is a living, breathing thing, go to Yamagata, tucked in the mountains above Nagano, where every twenty feet or so scalding hot water gurgles out of stones or up bamboo pipes or out of carved dragons' mouths or sprouts in geysers forty feet into the air and then gathers in pools where men and monkeys soak their sore muscles away.
It feels like you're walking on the belly of the world in Yamagata and boy, the world has gas.
If you needed proof it's the right thing to do, observe the Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani Yaen-Koen Park. They don't do it because its cultural. They do it 'cuz it's instinctual.
And even if they are engaged in a constant status war with the other various monkey families, the steaming onsen is a place of relative peace.
Even with other primates. Like me.
Of course it being Japan, there is ceremony involved.
First you wash yourself throughly before getting in, purifying yourself before the skinny-dip.
You take the small towel- not the big one, though they both seem small to me, and place it on your head. When you step out for a break from the scalding goodness you cover your privates with the towel, contemplate the setting, the stones, the steam, the view of Yamanouchi Valley.
Then, towel on head, back in you go.
If you ever wanted to be ecstatically relaxed and dangerously rubbery at the same time do this in the evening after hiking all day and then drinking a few Sapporos.
When you get back to the Ryokan you will hit the tatami with a blissfully resounding thud.
At least that's my experience.
Can something as simple as taking a bath be a life changing experience?
Answer:
Oh Yeah.
Especially if it's at the Selan Onsen in Yamagata.
If you needed a reminder that the Earth is a living, breathing thing, go to Yamagata, tucked in the mountains above Nagano, where every twenty feet or so scalding hot water gurgles out of stones or up bamboo pipes or out of carved dragons' mouths or sprouts in geysers forty feet into the air and then gathers in pools where men and monkeys soak their sore muscles away.
It feels like you're walking on the belly of the world in Yamagata and boy, the world has gas.
If you needed proof it's the right thing to do, observe the Snow Monkeys at Jigokudani Yaen-Koen Park. They don't do it because its cultural. They do it 'cuz it's instinctual.
And even if they are engaged in a constant status war with the other various monkey families, the steaming onsen is a place of relative peace.
Even with other primates. Like me.
Of course it being Japan, there is ceremony involved.
First you wash yourself throughly before getting in, purifying yourself before the skinny-dip.
You take the small towel- not the big one, though they both seem small to me, and place it on your head. When you step out for a break from the scalding goodness you cover your privates with the towel, contemplate the setting, the stones, the steam, the view of Yamanouchi Valley.
Then, towel on head, back in you go.
If you ever wanted to be ecstatically relaxed and dangerously rubbery at the same time do this in the evening after hiking all day and then drinking a few Sapporos.
When you get back to the Ryokan you will hit the tatami with a blissfully resounding thud.
At least that's my experience.
LOVE!!!
A Word About Kiai
Each of us testing here in Japan are required to perform a Toho Waza.
Each Toho Waza represents a different school or Ryu of swordsmanship.
Which Toho Waza we do depends on what rank we're testing for.
For example, I am testing for Nidan so I will perform Zengogiri, which represents Mugai Ryu.
The final cut in any Toho Waza is accompanied by a Kiai, a congealing shout from the gut that can have one of three timings:
Go No Sen which takes place before the cut to steel the practitioner and scare the shit out of the opponent- or at least make him flinch.
Sen which takes place during the cut and takes advantage of the accompanying power.
And finally,
Sen no Sen which occurs after the cut to release the pent up energy the cut created.
This is serious stuff. There are whole schools of martial arts based on proper usage of this powerful technique.
Luke Beamer, our unofficial translator and guide to all things Iaido here in Japan was quick to point out that the correct sound of the Kiai is important to get right if you don't want to get laughed off the mat here in Japan.
Apparently when he first got here- he, like me, is from Nishi Kaigan Iaido Dojo in Berkeley but has been living here in Japan for more than a year as a kind of cultural attache- the various Sensei laughed behind cupped palms every time he did Kiai with his Toho Wazas.
The reason?
The "Ah Ee!" sound he was using sounds very much like the Japanese word for love. So every time he slashed down his Katana in the final cut of his Toho Wazas he was yelling "LOVE!!!
So Luke was kind enough to spare us this embarrassment by making sure our Kiai sounded more like "Eight!" but without the "t" at the end.
Can you imagine? The dojo echoing with the sound of all us Gai Jin shouting "Love!!!" and the Sensei doubled over in paroxysms of laughter!
Since I posted this I got some new insights in regards to these three timings.
Turns out they have more to do with your reaction to the opponent than the actual kiai.
Here then, is what Luke was able to tell me:
Esaka Sensei gave a seminar about these terms last year in November. The three terms are "Go no Sen" (後の先), "Sen" (先), and "Sen no Sen" (先の先). "Sen" means before or previous, "Go" means after, and "no" means of (roughly).
The first, Go no Sen, means to react after the opponent as visually taken aggressive action.
The second, Sen, means to sense the impulse of the opponent and to react such that your actions will occur at the same time as your opponent.
The third, Sen no Sen, is to sense the moment the opponent has decided to take action, which is just before the impulse, and by reacting to it you actually take action before your opponent has begun moving. It can also be called "Sen Sen no Sen," but is the same thing.
Thanks Luke, we owe ya (more than) one.
Each of us testing here in Japan are required to perform a Toho Waza.
Each Toho Waza represents a different school or Ryu of swordsmanship.
Which Toho Waza we do depends on what rank we're testing for.
For example, I am testing for Nidan so I will perform Zengogiri, which represents Mugai Ryu.
The final cut in any Toho Waza is accompanied by a Kiai, a congealing shout from the gut that can have one of three timings:
Go No Sen which takes place before the cut to steel the practitioner and scare the shit out of the opponent- or at least make him flinch.
Sen which takes place during the cut and takes advantage of the accompanying power.
And finally,
Sen no Sen which occurs after the cut to release the pent up energy the cut created.
This is serious stuff. There are whole schools of martial arts based on proper usage of this powerful technique.
Luke Beamer, our unofficial translator and guide to all things Iaido here in Japan was quick to point out that the correct sound of the Kiai is important to get right if you don't want to get laughed off the mat here in Japan.
Apparently when he first got here- he, like me, is from Nishi Kaigan Iaido Dojo in Berkeley but has been living here in Japan for more than a year as a kind of cultural attache- the various Sensei laughed behind cupped palms every time he did Kiai with his Toho Wazas.
The reason?
The "Ah Ee!" sound he was using sounds very much like the Japanese word for love. So every time he slashed down his Katana in the final cut of his Toho Wazas he was yelling "LOVE!!!
So Luke was kind enough to spare us this embarrassment by making sure our Kiai sounded more like "Eight!" but without the "t" at the end.
Can you imagine? The dojo echoing with the sound of all us Gai Jin shouting "Love!!!" and the Sensei doubled over in paroxysms of laughter!
Since I posted this I got some new insights in regards to these three timings.
Turns out they have more to do with your reaction to the opponent than the actual kiai.
Here then, is what Luke was able to tell me:
Esaka Sensei gave a seminar about these terms last year in November. The three terms are "Go no Sen" (後の先), "Sen" (先), and "Sen no Sen" (先の先). "Sen" means before or previous, "Go" means after, and "no" means of (roughly).
The first, Go no Sen, means to react after the opponent as visually taken aggressive action.
The second, Sen, means to sense the impulse of the opponent and to react such that your actions will occur at the same time as your opponent.
The third, Sen no Sen, is to sense the moment the opponent has decided to take action, which is just before the impulse, and by reacting to it you actually take action before your opponent has begun moving. It can also be called "Sen Sen no Sen," but is the same thing.
Thanks Luke, we owe ya (more than) one.
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