The History and Anthropology of Kaze Arashi Ryu

A Modern Martial Art

I practiced Kaze Arashi Ryu (KAR) for sixteen years until I realized I was being misled by my instructor about the origins of his martial art. He represented KAR as a classical Japanese martial art (koryu) practiced by mountain ascetics (yamabushi) in the Dewa area of Japan. More spectacularly, KAR was said to contain a form of "aiki-jujutsu" in its syllabus that was one of the parent arts of Daito-ryu. Instead, and in short, KAR is a modern cognate jujutsu art: a combination of Isshin-ryū Karatedō, Shorinji Kempō, Kodokan Judō, Aikidō, and waza adapted from older Jujutsu styles including Sosuishi-ryū, Daitō-ryū, and Danzan-ryū. Additionally, and unfortunately, it contained a large weapons curriculum of sword and stick movements that were largely invented from whole cloth.

KAR is not Koryū

After I had resigned from KAR, Ellis Amdur helped me analyze the KAR sword and stick curriculum and concluded that it was a pastiche of movements glued together from different traditions, largely by someone who held little understanding of the parent arts. While some elements of the syllabus had value, there were a great number of teachings which would put the practitioners in danger were they to be actually used outside a dojo. Confirming these observations is what caused me to abandon my KAR weapons practice instead of attempting to still teach the art independently, as other ex-students had previously done when leaving or being kicked out of its organization. I have instead fulfilled my curiosity about medeival Japanese swordsmanship by seeking out classical arts (koryū).

Later, I met with an Aikidō shihan who had trained under Tohei Koichi in Hawaii and asked him about about various KAR jujutsu locks and throws, in an effort to puzzle out where the empty hand portion of its curriculum came from. All of the "aiki-jujutsu" throws I demonstrated, the shihan remembered practicing under Tohei in the 1950's. So, a great part of what is preserved in Kaze Arashi Ryu "aiki-jujutsu" seemed to be in fact adaptations of 1950's era Aikidō. This began to lend credence to the idea that KAR's unarmed curriculum was also recent in vintage, although possibly of higher quality than its weapons arts. This led me to focus on only preserving a subset of the self-defense and Aikidō and Judo/Jujutsu techniques I learned as part of KAR, and focusing not on preserving the forms (two man kata called "tai-sabaki" in KAR) of that practice, but instead integrating those techniques as finishing movements to complement my neijia practice.

Third, in November 2007 I reconnected with an old training buddy, Louis Bravo. Louis is a Hakko-ryu black belt who trained in karate and Aikidō before visiting our Kaze Arashi Ryu dojo on the recommendation of his father. His father is a Hakko-ryu practitioner who had heard of Kaze Arashi Ryu as an art that was taught as a variation on Miyama-ryu and effective for street fighting and self defense. I asked Louis to check what his father exactly knew about KAR's history. Louis himself felt KAR was similar in some ways to the techniques he saw in Hakko-ryū and old Aikidō that were both derived from Daitō-ryū, but mixed with Karatedō and Judō.

Lou's first response is below:

Lou's current focus is Brazilian jujutsu, but still values some of his KAR training. I, in contrast, have since discarded the kempo I learned in KAR in favor of nèijiā. I heard from Lou again in 2011. Lou, while in Chile, ran into a source who had trained with the founder of KAR in the 1970's during the period of invention of KAR. He had the following to add:

Lastly, a former colleague began training under a long time teacher of Sosuishi-ryu in NYC whose self-defense teachings helped inspire some of KAR's practices. Doing so, he discovered that many of the original stories or descriptions associated within the KAR organization to its teacher's instructors (fictitiously named Lee Samuel and Aikihiro Nishiyama) were actually taken from the lives of teachers of Sosuishi-ryu. So, Shorinji-kempo was not the only art KAR stole back story from.

This kind of history, except for the assertion that an art is actually classical in nature, is quite normal for the type of martial arts being practiced in New York City in the 1970's and 1980's. A talented martial artist takes his own practice, which may come from a number of sources, and begins to refine what he is doing. He attracts some students, and then begins to elaborate. It is not something to hide or be embarrassed about.

KAR is not Shugendō

The Inner Dharma website started largely not because of my practice of Kaze Arashi Ryu but because of my interest in Shugendō -- a blend of Buddhism, Taoism, and mountain asceticism practiced in Japan. KAR supposedly (alas, falsely) was held to be derived from the fighting practices of Japanese yamabushi. This is false, and likely taken from the fact that Takeda Sokaku's grandfather had (according to main-line Daitō-ryu writings) been trained in Shugendō. Shugendō did have an influence on many classical Japanese martial arts. Having had contact with budō practitioners in Japan who actively practice Hagurō Shugendō, it is important to stress that KAR has no relationship or connection to Japanese Shugendō.

Conclusion

The above is important to relate because I continue to receive email inquiries from people who have read this website, looked at forums like E-Budo, and ask (to paraphrase):

Many of the people whom I've met while training in KAR were fine individuals and good martial artists. However, until KAR as an organization can be open about the nature of what it teaches, and come to grips with the fact that it is not preserving a medieval Japanese battlefield martial art, but instead teaching a modern creation which is constantly evolving for better or worse, I cannot recommend people seek out its members for instruction. Until then, it will remain marginalized, no better in some ways than invented "Ninjutsu" styles that cloak themselves in false mystery.

From some cursory web searches, it does seem that word has gotten out that KAR is not a classical style (koryu). Hopefully people looking for an eclectic approach to martial arts can train in Kaze Arashi Ryu if they wish to, albeit in an a healthily informed manner, and those seeking classical approaches will look elsewhere.

Or, as what I found one of my old instructor's colleagues during the Daitō-ryū Kodokai seminars taught by Yonezawa in the 1970's [who actually went on to learn Daitō-ryū properly instead of simply mixing some of its waza into his eclectic approach] once told a perspective student who was contemplating KAR:

I think the summary is a valid one, if the core of the art is taught in an open and honest manner. If it is not, I cannot recommend anyone actively train in Kaze Arashi Ryu as an organization.