Japan Report Three 令和5年

Last night Paul Masse invited me and my teacher Peter over to his house in Noda-shi. While we were in the backyard swapping stories, his wife Tomoe invited us inside to a warm dinner of ちゃんこ鍋 chankonabe. She and Paul are very friendly and generous.

Paul asked Peter what he found at the antique weapons market. Peter said that he was looking for 矢の根 yanone, which are arrowheads. He also said he bought a tsuba with a giant centipede on it.

Paul was curious about this so Peter told us the story behind it. He told us 俵藤太物語 Tawara Tōda monogatari, the legend of Tawara Tōda. I share my version of the story on the video so if you'd like to watch the full video report, you can find it here: https://www.rojodojo.com/japan-report-three-reiwa5/ . But the short of it is that Tawara Tōda killed a giant centipede with a well aimed arrow.

We had a wonderful time over dinner while swapping stories. Paul’s young boys were full of energy and were running around like crazy people. Danzo thought it was funny to steal the knit cap off of my head and run away with it. Well, he also had a runny nose. So without thinking, he blew his nose into my cap! I decided I wasn’t putting that back on my head.

The next day it was raining, so we began our morning at 東京国立博物館 Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan which is the oldest and largest national museum. The museum holds a wonderful collection of Japanese art and archeological artifacts. Many are designated as national treasures.  

The exhibitions range all the way from 30,000 year old paleolithic tools, to Jōmon pottery from 3000 BC. Buddhist artwork and sculpture are represented, along with a collection of indigenous Ainu craft works. The museum also holds swords, armor and a variety of weapons.

I paid special attention to the arrows on this visit. I also discovered a 腰刀 koshigatana which was new to me. I thought it was a tantō at first but it doesn’t have a tsuba and apparently is worn differently. I spent a couple of hours in the museum taking notes and pictures. Even though I have been here so many times, I wanted to stay longer. But I had to run to catch a train.

But I was delayed by a side quest because I stumbled upon a Ninja festival! They called it Ninja City and it was a gathering of crafts and farmers from the Iga region who were promoting tourism with the Ninja hype. They had activities for children throwing shuriken and I even faced off with a Ninja wielding a giant daikon radish as a weapon! You never know what you will find in Japan. A surprise around every corner.

I would have stayed to fight, but I had to run through the rain to fetch my training gear out of the locker in the train station. Then I had a long ride out to Yokohama. Paul Masse invited me to his dojo and asked me to share with his students some things I remembered from Hatsumi Sensei.

Of course I was happy to help, but I go to Japan to train, not to teach. So when Paul bowed in and started the class with ukemi warmups, I was ready to roll. Then after the warmup, he asked me demonstrate something. So I did a weapon retention technique with the attacker using 両手捕り ryōte dori to control my knife.

Paul then used my technique to explore his own ideas and henka. The class moved fast and was a lot of fun. Everyone was very friendly and the spirit of the class was much like Hatsumi Sensei’s classes.

Afterwards, I rode the train with Paul back to Kashiwa. That became its own adventure. Paul sprinted during every station transfer. I already had a long day and was carrying a heavy backpack so I struggled to keep up. I found out later that he was in a hurry because his children had a bedtime and he wanted to see them before they went to sleep. The train ride is almost 1.5 hours from his dojo to where he lives in Noda-shi.

I am having a wonderful trip. Paul Masse’s friendship and generosity have enriched my training and today was full of great moments. I will share more in my Japan Report Four 令和5年 coming soon!