I don't have the exact quote because I don't have the book in front of me, but last time I read Keiko Fukuda's Ju-no-Kata book, I was struck by her statement that she didn't ever understand Ju no kata until she had years of experience working on Koshiki no Kata.
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I've spent some time over the past year or two (admittedly it wasn't ever a priority in my practice) looking at Koshiki no kata and couldn't ever figure out what it was in that kata that clued her in to Ju no kata so much. It's hard to see past the window dressing in the Kodokan form of the thing - all the waddling about pretending to be Armored Robot Samurai Executioners (ARSEs).
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But then a couple of months ago we found this very Ju-ish variant of Koshiki, and I can't stop watching it. I watch it several times every day. We started a while back working on this kata as a falling exercise (instead of a set of Deadly Onerous Ninja Unpleasant Techniques (DONuTs for short) in all my classes - and guess what!?
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I think I'm beginning to see and feel some connections between Koshiki no kata and Ju no kata! I might have to alternate watching Kano do junokata with watching these fellows doing koshiki.
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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com
