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Odori means dance, and has two separate meaning in regard to the Orient. There
are Odori which are part of ceremonial religious practices, especially of the
animistic faiths of the Orient and in Japan connected to Shinto. There are some
dances attached to Buddhist celebrations, such as the Obon festival, when the
spirits of the deceased visits their family and friends. These dances have survived
as ceremonial rites still associated with celebrations of many religious holidays.
The second Odori is that which was the secret of one particular martial arts
tradition, that of the Minamoto Bujutsu. According to Aikijujutsu sources, there
was a method of training known as Aiki In Yo Odori, or simply, Aiki Odori. It
was a combination of specialized movements, along with special breathing patterns.
It is unfortunate, but Aiki Odori has fallen into disuse within the Aiki community.
According to some Aikijujutsu teachers, the Aiki Odori was lost sometime during
the later part of the Edo era and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, as
the normalization of prearranged Kata took the place of the original free Kata
of the warring era. Odori was a method of free style movement which formed the
heart of the Bugei training of the Minamoto martial skills. This was not just
in regard to empty hand training, but also weaponry.
There are those who say that Morihei Ueshiba practiced the Odori himself, in
a rediscovery of the natural flow of Ki. While his disciples watched him go
through the moves, they never really understood what he was actually doing.
In regard to his work with the Jo and Ken, he was especially proficient in performing
Odori with them, many times confusing his students, who wondered what prearranged
Kata he was doing, not realizing he was moving freely, following the flow of
Ki. Ueshiba especially performed Jo Kata as a combination Shinto ceremony and
martial exercise. Even today there are those seeking to learn Yagyu Ryu and
Hozoin Ryu spear and Jo Kata hoping to discover the special forms of Morihei
Ueshiba.
While there are scrolls which record Odori as part of the Okuden of Daito Ryu
Aikijujutsu, there seems to be little indication of the practice of the art
during modern times. Yet there are those who trained in the art during the late
1950s and early 1960s, who say that Odori was still taught to certain chosen
disciples.
According to Dr. Rod Sacharnoski, he was first introduced to Odori by Albert
C Church, who had learned the method of Chijiro Yokoto, during his early study
of Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu. Later Yokoto taught the family art known as Dai Yoshin
Ryu to Church and Sacharnoski, demonstrating Odori as part of his family martial
art.
According to Yokoto, when General Douglas MacArthur banned the practice of the
martial arts in Japan, he and some other martial artists revived the practice
of Odori to be able to practice their martial arts disguised as folk dances,
but in reality they were continuing their Aikijujutsu training.
Still there is another lineage which is also a branch of Minamoto Bujutsu and
also teaches the principle of Odori. We need to look back to the twelfth century
in order to trace this connection. If we believe tradition, Yoshimitsu Minamoto
created the martial arts legacy which was eventually passed down to the Takeda
family and which is known today as Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu.
Among the warriors trained in the family Bujutsu were the great Minamoto warriors,
Yoshiie, Yoshikiyo, Yoshitsune, Yoritomo, and Tametomo. It is of Tametomo we
must learn more. In 1156, Tametomo took part in an incident which has been called
the Hogen War, in which the Minamoto battled the Taira. Eventually the Taira
won this conflict and Tametomo was exiled to Oshima Island. The Taira, hoping
to end any hope of a threat from this great warrior, but honoring him with his
life, severed the muscles in his bow arm.
They reckoned without the knowledge of the martial arts which Tametomo possessed.
Part of the body of knowledge which Yoshimitsu developed were excellent skills
of healing. Using the idea of Undo Ryoho, exercise cure, along with other special
skills, Tametomo healed his arm and rehabilitated it completely. He then escaped
to Okinawa, where he joined with those of his Samurai who planned to stage a
comeback against the Taira.
Rather than coming to Okinawa as conquerors or superiors, the Minamoto met the
ruling class of the island and became close friends. Tametomo married an Okinawan
woman and sired a son who was known by the name of Shunten. It is believed that
other Samurai followed suit and also married Okinawan women and sired children.
We know that Shunten became the first emperor of Okinawa, taking control from
the animistic priestesses who originally controlled the country.
There are those who believe that the entire ruling class of Okinawa were descendants
of these Minamoto Samurai and that the martial arts of Okinawa are strongly
founded upon their Bujutsu. When Tametomo left Okinawa to return to the battle
against the Taira, it is almost a certainty that he would have left a guardian
for his son, whose responsibility would have been to complete his education,
especially in regard to the martial arts.
When Shunten established his rule, it was partially due to superior martial
arts skills, which were a combination of Minamoto Bujutsu and the indigenous
fighting skill. His enemy would have only known the island's fighting art, which
he would have known, and understood. Thus it has been said that Shunten established
the dynastic rule on Okinawa through superior martial arts skill and that until
the Satsuma invasion, rule was held by that knowledge. The special martial art
practiced by the Okinawan warriors was known as Bushi Te. Te to venerate their
indigenous fighting art and Bushi to honor the Samurai from whom they learned
the formal Bujutsu.
When the Sho dynasty was established each child of the royal family was taught
the secret family martial art, which was never shared outside the ruling class.
Each family had their own idea of how this should be handled. Many parents had
their children trained by one of their relatives to avoid over, or under, disciplining
them. Still others taught their main successor the specific family martial art,
while having the rest of the children taught by a relative.
In the case of Sho Shitsu, his eldest son, Sho Tei became the next king of Okinawa,
while his sixth son, Sho Koshin, founded the Motobu family. He changed his name
to Chohe and continued to practice the martial art handed down by his father.
He excelled at the martial arts, to the point of genius, and chose to teach
only his eldest son the 'secret' innovations he derived from the original Bushi
Te of his father.
Over the years the Motobu were chosen to teach the kings of Okinawa their martial
arts, though it is said that there were certain aspects still only taught to
the eldest son. Eventually we come to modern times, when the feudal era has
ended and the last eldest son, Choyu Motobu had learned the family Bushi Te.
It is said that he was the personal teacher of Sho Tai the last Okinawan king,
plus he instructed at the Okinawan Karate Kenkyu Kai, a research society of
martial arts practitioners to whom he was the senior.
Choyu decided that, with the end of the feudal era, the need for such specific
secrecy was unnecessary. He decided to teach all his sons, but unfortunately
his eldest son died young, while his younger sons were not interested in learning
the art, seeing it as archaic and unnecessary to modern life.
While he shared many elements of Bushi Te with the students under his charge
at the Okinawan Karate Kenkyu Kai, he still wanted only his sons to receive
the complete family art, which was privately known as Goten Te, the palace hand.
Thus he chose to teach his youngest son's best friend the art, with the understanding
that he would eventually teach his son Toraju, whose adult name became, Chomo.
Thus Seikichi Uehara was taught the complete Motobu family martial art.
Unfortunately, Chomo died in the bombing of Okinawa during World War II, know
in the Orient as the Pacific War. This left Uehara the last practicing master
of Bushi Te. He eventually decided to share this art, for fear that it would
be lost completely otherwise, and began teaching on the island those interested
in learning the true ancient Okinawan skill. He had the art formally recognized
as Motobu Ryu Kobujutsu, in order to honor the family who had preserved the
purest of all Okinawan martial arts.
The central principle of Motobu Ryu Kobujutsu is Odori Te, literally, 'the dancing
hand'. This reflects it's ancient roots, paralleling the Aiki In Yo Odori of
the Takeda family, derived from the Minamoto Bujutsu. While many Okinawan arts
have become totally immersed in the Chinese aspects of training, even to the
point where Kiko, a type of Chi Kung is central to practice, this is not normally
an emphasized part of Odori Te.
Rather the Ki of the ancient Okinawan Bushi Te was more along the lines of Aiki,
with the comprehensive flow of technique and blending with an attacker much
more important than the hardness normally associated with Chi Kung. However,
it is a mistake to think that Bushi Te did not have a Chinese influence.
The Bushi of Okinawa were open to learning everything about the martial arts
they could. When the Chinese came to Okinawa during the many periods of cultural
exchange, the royalty were the first to meet and learn from them. Martial arts
schools per se, did not actually exist on Okinawa, thus commoners seldom learned
about the arts except in very special cases. Most of the martial artists on
Okinawa were of the royal class.
Ki training was seen as very important, though among some of the older martial
arts masters, it is still kept a secret. As noted above the Ki training was
very much Aiki like, though there are those who say that the training included
influences from Chinese internal arts, embracing Tai Chi and Pa Kua.
Some of the masters of Okinawa have been as famous for their Ki as the Aikido
masters of Japan. One of the best examples is Chotoku Kyan, a very small man,
who physically seemed frail and weak, but who was among the greatest kickers
of Okinawan martial arts and famous for his Ki abilities, such as having the
ability to perform the unbendable arm and root himself so solidly, he was almost
impossible to picked up. Kyan was one of those who trained under Choyu Motobu
at the Okinawan Karate Kenkyu Kai.
Central to Ki development was Odori Te. Just as Ueshiba used his own form of
Odori, and the practitioners of Aikijujutsu used Aiki In Yo Odori, to increase
their flow and awareness of Ki, so too can Odori Te help the Okinawan stylist
learn how to direct their Ki more powerfully in their strikes and kicks, as
well as, to perform inexorable throws and other grappling skills. The Odori
Te is also the power of the traditional Okinawan weaponry practice, commonly
referred to as Kobujutsu.
When one looks at the modern forms of Karate training, they do not see the complete
Okinawan martial art. Those engaged in Aiki training, whether of Aikido or Aikijujutsu,
are missing an important element, if they do not know the truly wondrous form
of training known as Odori.
In the Orient there are those who know this method of training, though it tends
to still be a relatively closely guarded 'secret'. In the United States, there
are a handful of teachers who know the skill, though even they tend to keep
it as an inner practice within their respective systems. It is hoped that teachers
skilled in this method of practice will be contacted by Japanese and Okinawan
stylists who are truly interested in learning one of the most traditional aspects
of Aiki and Karate training, thus encouraging the proliferation of this truly
excellent and effective Ki exercise.
About the author: Dr. William Durbin is the internationally recognized Soke
of Kiyojute Ryu Kempo Bugei, a system dedicated to the preservation of many
of the ancient practices of the martial arts. With over twenty eight years experience
in the martial arts and gradings in most major Japanese and Okinawan martial
arts, he is recognized as one of the countries leading martial arts historians.