Taikyoku Araki-ryu Pac NW

  There are many resources available for information on classical Japanese martial arts, with popular and scholarly sources in English readily accessible. This Recommended Reading List is updated from time to time as more work is published. Online Resources  Check out  Kogen Budo  for writings by Ellis and others on classical martial traditions.  Koryu.com  gives a good general sense of the modern practice of classical Japanese martial disciplines. This article  at Budo Japan and  this one  by Dr. Karl Friday. Dr. Friday has various writings online and in print addressing and re-assessing Japanese warrior culture in light of ongoing scholarly research. Everything he writes has relevance and informs how we approach practice.  Popular Sources on Classical Martial Arts Good reading for a general introduction to the study of classical traditions would be  Diane Skoss' Koryu Books  series. They bring the work of a number of current ...

  Our teacher, Ellis Amdur, describes Taikyoku Araki-ryū as "rooted in an old koryū, but done in a non-traditional manner."  Our study is  focussed on Araki-ryū’s close combat catalogue ( torite  and  kogusoku ) in a  model that allows exploration of diverse practice methodologies. Some of these may even hearken back to an earlier era, before these arts were "traditional," and embracing more opposed practice, which we know was done from the historical record. Practice is still centered in katageiko , or pattern-practice.  Most of Araki-ryū’s close quarters kata  apply nearly “as is” to modern-day  situations involving edged weapons.   How  they are trained is our primary concern.  Practice must include elements of opposition to properly prepare for violent encounters - which is our goal in a very real sense.  Training that does not include opposed work has been appropriately decried as “empty forms” and "mere choreography"...