There is more to life than competition...

Corning Martial Arts Taikai

This September, the White Shadow Dojo was pleased to participate in an event sponsored by the Corning Sister Cities Kakegawa program. Corning city shares a cultural exchange relationship with Kakegawa, Japan and the focus of this event was to increase public awareness of Asian culture and to showcase the many martial arts schools in the Corning Southern Tier area.

The first “Martial Arts Taikai: An Inter-School Martial Arts Demonstration” was held at Corning East High School. There were ongoing demonstrations from 11am- 4pm with nine martial arts schools in attendance including; Three Treasures Martial Arts, Hidy Ochiai Karate, Elmira Tatsu Do, Sukunaihayashi-kai Shorin Ryu, Kwon’s Champion School, Hayabusa Martial Arts, Alfred Martial Arts Chidokwan Karate and Hakoryu Jujitsu, Taijiquan, and White Shadow Dojo Iaido. Drawing from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean styles, the event offered a broad view of the unique differences which exist within these various traditions. Some of the schools were large, commercial schools with thirty demonstrators, while others had only four or five members, again exhibiting the variety of choices available for those wishing to study martial arts in the Corning Southern Tier area. Perhaps the most satisfying part of participating in this event was the fact that this demonstration was a cooperative, community event. Instead of pitting the schools against one another, as tournaments do, this event brought martial arts practitioners together in a spirit of sharing and learning. It was unfortunate that public attendance was small, however this was the first event of its kind in the area and the Sister Cities Kakegawa Program hopes to make this an annual event in the future.

Four members from our school demonstrated Iaido, the art of drawing and cutting with the sword. We offer a basic Japanese swordsmanship class at our dojo which includes a thorough study of the sword and its parts, and the history, philosophy, and use of the sword. Our members demonstrated techniques from three schools of swordsmanship and explained briefly about the use, history, and development of the Japanese sword. Many of the martial arts schools who attended offer basic instruction in some style of swordsmanship for their black belt practitioners. However, in this situation the sword is typically taught along with a variety of other weapons, and the techniques lose their subtlety and refinement, and are often misunderstood. In many schools it seems as if the sword is viewed as the next step when the Karate student progresses to black belt. This is a fine notion if the student is willing to put in the serious time and effort to studying this weapon (or any other weapon for that matter). I think that our members offered an interesting demonstration and perspective on the study of swordsmanship and reminded those in attendance that the study of the sword is in itself a tradition and lifelong pursuit, just like studying Karate or any other open-hand art.

This event fostered mutual appreciation and respect among the attending martial arts schools, instructors, and students and offered a realistic perspective of the martial arts to the public. The instructors all agreed that this was a great way of reminding themselves and their students just how much there is to learn and how important it is to work together to promote the values and benefits of the martial arts. In a world where competition can be cut-throat and the martial arts have become big business, it was refreshing to see that some practitioners still remember and embrace the values which were passed down to them by their sensei and forbearers.

Gwynne Decker
White Shadow Dojo