Ōkura-den Asayama Ichiden-ryū Training Record 14
— On Martial Arts Publications and the True Meaning of Their Content —
Shortly after I parted ways with my teacher, there was an Aiki-related martial arts school that frequently appeared in martial arts journalism at the time.
From complete beginners studying at art universities to visiting practitioners holding black belts in other schools, I repeatedly heard the same reputation:
that this school could control an opponent without using force and without being resisted.
Naturally, this caught my interest.
When I contacted the head instructor with a question about the name of a short-staff technique described in one of his published books, I received a reply inviting me to meet him at his training hall.
I was welcomed there and introduced to his students as “an instructor of Asayama”, and I observed the practice session.
During a casual conversation between training segments, I was asked to demonstrate some of the basic kata and beginner-level forms of Asayama Ichiden-ryū that I had studied, as well as Asayama’s short-staff techniques.
With only a light application of the kata, the instructor’s body reacted sharply to pain, lifting involuntarily, and it was clear that considerable stress had been placed on his joints and entire body.
When I attempted to proceed to a second form, he created distance, and the demonstration could not continue.
The instructor remarked, “If techniques are this clearly effective, people would surely gather if you held seminars.”
However, I had no interest in turning training into a seminar business, and I did not pursue the matter further.
For me, training is nothing more than the steady accumulation of one-to-one transmission.
Regarding martial arts books, I had long heard that the techniques described in writing do not always match the author’s actual ability.
This experience became an opportunity to confirm firsthand that such statements are not mere rumors, but realities that can indeed occur.
Takamasa Miyamoto
「大倉伝浅山一傳流修行録十四」
― 武術書籍と内容の真意について ―
私が師のもとを離れて間もない頃、武道ジャーナリズムにたびたび登場していた、いわゆる合気系の流派があった。
美術系大学に通う初心者から、他流で黒帯を有する見学者に至るまで、「力を使わず、抵抗されることなく相手を制する」と評判を聞き、関心を抱いた。
私がその方の著書で発表されている短棒術の名称について質問をしたところ、その方の稽古場で会見したいと連絡が来た。
稽古場に招かれ、門下生には「浅山の指導者」として紹介され、見学という形で稽古に立ち会うこととなった。稽古の合間、師範との雑談の流れで、私が学んできた浅山一傳流の基礎型および上段型（入門者向けの基本）の一部および浅山の短棒術を、体験していただくことになった。
軽く型をかけただけで、師範の身体は痛みに反応して浮き上がり、関節や体全体に相当な負荷がかかった様子であった。二度目の型に入ろうとすると、距離を取られ、結果として続行は叶わなかった。
師範は「これほどはっきり極まる技であれば、講習会を開けば人が集まるでしょう」と感想を述べられたが、私は講習業のような形に関心はなく、深く取り合うことはしなかった。私にとって稽古とは、一対一の伝承の積み重ねにほかならない。
武術書籍については、「記されている内容と、著者自身の実際の技が必ずしも一致していないことがある」と以前から耳にしていた。
この出来事は、その言葉が単なる噂ではなく、実際に起こり得る事実であることを、体験を通して確認する機会となった。
宮本隆正
