About Nodachi Jigen-ryu (Yakumaru Lineage) ④
Takamasa Miyamoto
In my younger years, there was a Jigen-ryu training group near Sakura in Chiba Prefecture. Together with Instructor Y, I trained there and also provided guidance to new students.
Many martial artists contacted Instructor Y and came to train with us. Among them was someone who later became well known as an instructor of Taiki-ken, famous for his kumite practice.
He was very devoted to training. However, he had developed strong preconceptions about swordsmanship, likely from books he had read, and sometimes did not follow my instruction. As a result, I gradually stopped offering him advice.
It was through these experiences that I came to believe that even long-standing traditions must be carefully examined, and that outdated or harmful practices should be discarded. This realization was reinforced when I learned that Instructor Y had trained barefoot during harsh winters, damaged the joints in his toes, and never fully recovered.
Compared with people of the past, who relied mainly on walking for transportation, modern people tend to have weaker joints, ligaments, and cartilage.
Later, Instructor Y began wearing athletic shoes that cost 8,000 yen at the time. However, he told me that they were destroyed on the very first day of training.
Because injuring the joints makes continued training impossible, I instructed my students to wear jika-tabi during practice.
At that time, my strikes against the standing wooden post became so powerful that they produced a burning smell. I still fondly remember how Instructor Y picked up the “Uchimawari” practice stick from the ground and said with a smile, “It smells burnt,” clearly pleased by it.
Our training site in Chiba had no shade, and in summer we practiced under the blazing sun. Through this harsh environment, I came to truly understand the physical meaning and value of summer training.
野太刀自顕流（薬丸流）について ④
宮本隆正
若年の頃、当時、自顕流の稽古会が千葉の佐倉近郊にあり、私はY先生と共に稽古を重ね、入門生への指導も行っておりました。
さまざまな武道関係者がY先生に連絡を取り、稽古に訪れました。中には、後に組手で名を知られる太気拳の指導者となられた方もおられました。
その方は非常に稽古熱心でしたが、剣術について書物から得たのか、強い先入観をお持ちで、私の指導に従われないことがありました。そのため、私は次第に何も申し上げなくなりました。
古い伝承であっても、時代に合わない内容は取捨選択すべきである――そのように考えるに至ったのは、Y先生が厳冬期に素足で稽古を続け、足指の関節を痛め、その後も完治しなかったという話を聞いたことがきっかけです。
現代人は、歩行が主な移動手段であった昔の人々に比べ、関節や靭帯、軟骨が必ずしも強靭とは言えません。
先生はその後、当時八千円もするスポーツシューズを履いて稽古をされたそうですが、初日の稽古で靴が壊れてしまったと語っておられました。
指関節を損傷しては稽古の継続が困難になります。そのため、私は門下生に地下足袋を履いて稽古するよう指導いたしました。
当時の私は、立棒への打ち込みを重ねるうちに、打突によって焦げる匂いが立つほどになりました。Y先生が地面に置かれていた「打廻り」の棒を手に取り、「焦げる匂いがするね」と嬉しそうに語られた光景は、今も懐かしい思い出です。
千葉の稽古場には日陰がなく、夏は炎天下の中での稽古でした。その厳しさの中で、暑中稽古が身体に及ぼす意味を、身をもって実感いたしました。
