public marks

PUBLIC MARKS from Takwann with tags iaido & bujutsu

03 March 2012 13:30

Koryu Batto and Modern Iaido - Shudokan Martial Arts Association

by Hunter Armstrong Sensei This article first appeared in the Winter 1996 issue of the SMAA Newsletter. Hunter B. Armstrong Sensei is one of a small number of non-Japanese to have legitimately studied the koryu, or ancient Japanese martial arts, in detail. He lived in Japan for quite a few years practicing directly under the soke, or headmasters, of more than one koryu. (Armstrong Sensei personally believes that koryu bujutsu can be defined as "traditions of fighting arts originating no later than the early Tokugawa era, and whose functional aims were the development of combat effectiveness, discipline, and morality, in that order.") A close associate of the late Donn Draeger Sensei, one of the world's foremost budo/bujutsu authors and historians, Armstrong Sensei succeeded Mr. Draeger as the Director of the International Hoplology Society.