Quote:
Keith Larman wrote:
In my sword craft work one thing I was told repeatedly was that you must be *very* careful about deviating from the traditional methods. Because often the traditional methods involve thousands of small things that you may not even be aware of. Why the hole in the nakago of a sword is drilled larger than the pins used to hold the sword together is a good example. All production companies drill them in place. Many craftsmen outside Japan drill them in place (i.e., the hole in the handle is the same as the hole in the nakago). It turns out that it is a very bad idea long term in terms of being able to keep the handle tight because it negates the ability to do something very simple to quickly tighten the handle. But if you don't realize this tiny detail it is something you could easily discard as "unnecessary" tradition. But it isn't. It turns out to be a tiny detail that is very important. Just not when it is done. I think a lot of what we learn is like that.
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Keith,
Thank you for making a key point accessible in concrete terms.
As for Mark's point about millions of people, etc., etc., I would just say that the difference between sample of {all people who have done aikido in the last fifty years} and the sample of {all people who have done misogi-no-gyo in a lineage within the aiki arts that has taken to heart the kind of caution about deviation from traditional methods that Keith writes about, wrt to both the mng and to aikido keiko} is the difference between a seven-digit number a low four or high three-digit number. If you further constrain the second set to long time practitioners of aiki arts, you may well be down to a two-digit number, and if you restrict the sample to the United States, it is certainly a comparatively low two-digit number. If you further reduce that sample with the additional qualifier {who trained as long and as hard as the Founder} I don't know if there's anyone left in the set to compare.
Seriously,
FL