[Hanon]

After lighting the blue touch paper stand well back.

Mike.

[Inferus]

You don't like it then Hanon-sensei? :)

[Jonesy]

We have debated before the historical accuracy of the spurious, so-called Busen kata. Could I please invite comment on the book from those who actually have it. I will have my copy soon.

[Cichorei Kano]

Mitesco, on Dec 5 2008, 11:19 PM, said:

Today (for those who preordered it) the new kata book by Chris de Korte and Edgar Kruyning felt on the doormat.
Of course I could not read it entirely, and studying all the technical ins and outs is not a job for one late winter afternoon.

I hope we can discuss it thoroughly here, and especially the kata aspects. The real experts will make good analysis, I hope.

Will this book set a standard? On the backside of the book is the official logo of the JNB (Dutch Judo Federation) with the text: "This book is used as standard work by the JBN". Joss Hell, the chairman of the JBN has written one of the forewords, with the words (I translate myself):"My sincere compliments to Chris and Edgar with this wonderful, great book. (...) The JBN has confidence that this book inspires for the further devolopment and perfection of Judo. Therefore I want to express the wish that, also because of this book, more judoka will deepen themselves in Kata and that the amount of kata practicioners will increase gradually."

Second introduction by Kanichiro Ebii, the son of Koichi Ebii, with the words: "This is a rare and precious book to know Busen Judo. I Hope the spirit and techniques of Busen Judo will be widely known throughout Europe thanks to this book."

After the description of Nage no Kata, Katame no Kata, Kime no Kata, Koshiki no Kata, Ju no Kata, Itsutsu no Kata and Go no Sen no Kata, the book has a short history of kata, Butokukai and Busen, about 20 pages.

The descriptions of the kata are short, with a lot of small B/W photos. You have to look closely. I made a picture of one of the pages, like below.

More to come when we have had the opportunity to read and study all the aspects.

Those of you who remember the supposed Go-no-kata book by Muilwijk, which was a complete fake, will remember that it had a number of prefaces, by the same Chris de Korte and by Anton Geesink, reporting on the important contribution. This only shows one thing: that both were COMPLETELY and UTTERLY clueless about go-no-kata. How else could they not have recognized a completely fake exercise ? So, please, let's not exaggerate these claims.

Another question, I have ... is the confusion qbout the name of de Korte's (supposed) sensei. I have now had an opportunity to scrutinize the Kodokan records. Here is what has come up about this supposed "Koichi Ebii":

A person by the name of 胡井剛一, normally pronounced "Ebisui Gōichi", not ‘Ebii’ to the best of my knowledge, born in January of 1905, entered the Kodokan on March 20th of 1928. He was promoted to 9th dan in 1981, and passed away on February 22nd of 1988.
I have asked for the help of other experts in trying to confirm if an alternative reading for these kanji as ‘Ebii’ exists.

According to my Research, this sensei (and this is not a common name) was in fact sensei at Tenri University, which is located in Nara, not Kyoto. this is also confirmed by the Official Judo Bulletin, published by the Judo Black-Belt Federation of USA, Fall 1960, page 10. This magazine lists an article by Larry Kobayashi from Nanka Yudanshakai on the August 1960 Annual Nisei Week Judo Tournament in Los Angeles.
However, I did find out that Goichi Ebii is burried at the cemetery of Honen-in temple in Kyoto, and I found another source that links him to Doshisha later in the 1960's, so I am not entirely sure what happened there. Would be interesting to know.

This post has been edited by Cichorei Kano: 09 December 2008 - 02:13 AM

[Cichorei Kano]

In the mean time, increasing information is coming through about Mr. Chris de Korte's Dutch "Busen Kata Book". For example, the list of references of the book has been published on some other forums, and surprise, surprise, contains ... only modern Judo Books, with the exception of a reference to the Kodokan's journal starting in 1955, although no accurate references is given what issues would have been consulted, which article on what page. It is not clear if the authors really consulted this journal, and if so, whether they consulted more than one issue. I also point out that not a single statement is referenced, there are only some references in a list at the back; it is thus impossible to verify statements, and it is not even sure that the authors actually read those references. Most interesting is that not a single one of their references contains any factual information about kata practice at the Budo Senmongakko. Examples could have been Isogai's books, which I am sure de Korte has never even seen, let alone, read. Even more interesting would have been Isogai's handwritten notes, which I am fortunate to have, and de Korte and Cie, obviously have never read or seen.

As I had anticipated on this forum before, in a heated discussion with one of the co-authors (I practically called them 'liars' because I knew that no ordinary person could have access to the original and extremely difficult to obtain documents, one of the reasons being that they are in my own private library. ) there was virtually no chance of any proper research from primary sources. The book has become yet another cheap third-class popular book, with a misleading title. A person who holds a rank of 9th dan uses that authority to spread gibberish about things he neither knows, nor understands.

A good example, is some of the plain ridiculous stuff they write about Koshiki-no-kata, as available from the published pages on the Internet (all in Dutch only): http://www.bol.com/n...#product_images

It says for example that the movements in the first series of Koshiki-no-kata are slow because the performers would be wearing a yoroi that would way 30 kg. OK, if that is true, then why is the second series (as the book suggests) fast ? Have the performers suddenly thrown off the yoroi, or are they wearing a cardboard one instead ? Why does the yoroi hinder people to freely move in the first series, but not in the second series ?

According to 9th dan de Korte, the Ura in Koshiki-no-kata means 'backside', indicating that attacks would come from the backside. My answer to this is ...: 'huh ?' The series of Koshiki-no-kata known in judo as Ura, contains a single attack from the back, and six attacks from the front. Where does he get this nonsense ?

This is very, very sad. I warned one of the co-authors previously on this project, but I remember him being very defiant, as if they knew it all, although strangely this is a bit contradictory, because he was looking if anyone had information about the Busen ? No one besides me responded positively to that request, yet just a couple of months later this book is in the bookshop with no busen sources, yet supposedly telling all about 'busen kata'. What is it with these hoaxes ? The Kosen judo hoaxes we see on this forum, the Muilwijk go-no-kata hoax, now this busen hoax.

Although, I am sure that many won't care, I was also surprised by the excessive number of grave grammatical errors and typos, which makes me wonder how this got passed the proofreader or editior. It is very, very poorly written. Basically this books, is a modern kata book with clear pictures (one has to admit so much) that is padded with baseless statements that mostly reflect a severe lack of knowledge, historical facts, details, and understanding, and that often equals gibberish.

[sam]

Cichorei Kano, on Jan 14 2009, 08:06 PM, said:

In the mean time, increasing information is coming through about Mr. Chris de Korte's Dutch "Busen Kata Book". For example, the list of references of the book has been published on some other forums, and surprise, surprise, contains ... only modern Judo Books, with the exception of a reference to the Kodokan's journal starting in 1955, although no accurate references is given what issues would have been consulted, which article on what page. It is not

Execuse me, I could not help laughing.. Do`nt they come to the Kodokan Summer Seminar almost regularly and still? It`s a pity that we did not visit them last year after the World Masters in Brussel as we could have had a nice Kata discussion!! CK, I don`t need the book, thanks. By the way, 胡井　is pronounced Ebii 9th Dan from Busen, senior to Kenshiro Abe, subordinate to Shotaro Tabata 10th Dan. Etymologically the character refers to a certain tribe in the Northern West of China near the Russian border according to a heavy dictionary that I have and have seen only a few times.

sam

[Mitesco]

Cichorei Kano, on Jan 14 2009, 12:06 PM, said:

In the mean time, increasing information is coming through about Mr. Chris de Korte's Dutch "Busen Kata Book". For example, the list of references of the book has been published on some other forums, and surprise, surprise, contains ... only modern Judo Books, with the exception of a reference to the Kodokan's journal starting in 1955, although no accurate references is given what issues would have been consulted, which article on what page. It is not clear if the authors really consulted this journal, and if so, whether they consulted more than one issue. I also point out that not a single statement is referenced, there are only some references in a list at the back; it is thus impossible to verify statements, and it is not even sure that the authors actually read those references. Most interesting is that not a single one of their references contains any factual information about kata practice at the Budo Senmongakko. Examples could have been Isogai's books, which I am sure de Korte has never even seen, let alone, read. Even more interesting would have been Isogai's handwritten notes, which I am fortunate to have, and de Korte and Cie, obviously have never read or seen.

As I had anticipated on this forum before, in a heated discussion with one of the co-authors (I practically called them 'liars' because I knew that no ordinary person could have access to the original and extremely difficult to obtain documents, one of the reasons being that they are in my own private library. ) there was virtually no chance of any proper research from primary sources. The book has become yet another cheap third-class popular book, with a misleading title. A person who holds a rank of 9th dan uses that authority to spread gibberish about things he neither knows, nor understands.

A good example, is some of the plain ridiculous stuff they write about Koshiki-no-kata, as available from the published pages on the Internet (all in Dutch only): http://www.bol.com/n...#product_images

It says for example that the movements in the first series of Koshiki-no-kata are slow because the performers would be wearing a yoroi that would way 30 kg. OK, if that is true, then why is the second series (as the book suggests) fast ? Have the performers suddenly thrown off the yoroi, or are they wearing a cardboard one instead ? Why does the yoroi hinder people to freely move in the first series, but not in the second series ?

According to 9th dan de Korte, the Ura in Koshiki-no-kata means 'backside', indicating that attacks would come from the backside. My answer to this is ...: 'huh ?' The series of Koshiki-no-kata known in judo as Ura, contains a single attack from the back, and six attacks from the front. Where does he get this nonsense ?

This is very, very sad. I warned one of the co-authors previously on this project, but I remember him being very defiant, as if they knew it all, although strangely this is a bit contradictory, because he was looking if anyone had information about the Busen ? No one besides me responded positively to that request, yet just a couple of months later this book is in the bookshop with no busen sources, yet supposedly telling all about 'busen kata'. What is it with these hoaxes ? The Kosen judo hoaxes we see on this forum, the Muilwijk go-no-kata hoax, now this busen hoax.

Although, I am sure that many won't care, I was also surprised by the excessive number of grave grammatical errors and typos, which makes me wonder how this got passed the proofreader or editior. It is very, very poorly written. Basically this books, is a modern kata book with clear pictures (one has to admit so much) that is padded with baseless statements that mostly reflect a severe lack of knowledge, historical facts, details, and understanding, and that often equals gibberish.

Thanks CK! I desperately waited for your review - better say: 'k.o. blow'.
No surprise anymore after all the earlier points about so called 'Busen' tradition.

Which makes more clear than ever, that we have in Holland a huge problem with kata study and practice.
Jos Hell, the chairman of the JBN (Dutch Judo Association) committed himself to the book by writing a foreword and recommendation.
On the cover and the back it's announced (almost proudly) that it is a new standard book for Dutch judoka.
Where to go in our country with kata? People who are not that critical or still believe in the goodness of judo institutions will think that this is the way to go. Who in Holland has enough authorithy to say that some leaders in de JBN are either asleep or ...
Worse is: what young judoka learn now, should be the way for the teachers of the future.
If only it would be the right way. If only they would learn the truth about judo history. Which is not the case.
And nobody seems to realize... except a few older Dutch judo lovers and the whole world outside our small country below the sea, watching us drowning in the waters of stupidity...



The only consolation is, that the book is written so horribly, that even native Dutchman with only average feeling about Dutch language and idiom, will have to make effort to understand what's written. It's so unsystematic, that the danger of spoiling the judoka is not so heavy because of the complete lack of logical structure.

[Hyperborean]

The understanding for my sensei in not registering his club with the JBN grows with the day. Next to these 'competition-only' black belts, this nonsense..

Thanks for your review, CK!

EDIT: A question.. In the Busen kata book, it refers to the first series of the Katame-no-kata as 'Osae waza'. I know the first series as 'Osaekomi waza'. Is this an alternative phrasing of the same concept? Thanks!

This post has been edited by Hyperborean: 14 January 2009 - 04:03 PM

[Jonesy]

Hyperborean, on Jan 14 2009, 02:54 PM, said:

EDIT: A question.. In the Busen kata book, it refers to the first series of the Katame-no-kata as 'Osae waza'. I know the first series as 'Osaekomi waza'. Is this an alternative phrasing of the same concept? Thanks!

Using "osae-waza" is fine...

[Jonesy]

I have a copy of this book and am progressing with translating some of the “historical” pages via Google Language tools – imperfect, but a start. I have little to add to the critique already provided by others, however I will make the following observations.

Firstly, the title of the book is seriously flawed. I have seen nothing therein to make any differentiation between Kodokan and so-called Busen kata. Secondly, why does the Gonosen-no-Kata feature in the book? It is a relatively modern creation, popular in Europe and Waseda University and nothing to do with the Busen. I could go on….

[Hyperborean]

If you have any questions - I am a native Dutch speaker.

[Cichorei Kano]

There is some more interesting stuff about this.