Advice for someone looking to study Shinto Muso Ryu?

[Argus]

Hello everyone.

I am living and working in Japan (*Tokyo, Itabashi-ku to be precise), where I've been for the last five years. I speak Japanese pretty fluently, and am building a family here now.
As for martial arts experience, I've mostly done Chinese and Filipino Martial arts, with Wing Chun being my primary art for more than a decade (since I began Martial Arts). As for Japanese Arts, I have only limited experience with Aikido (less than two years when I was still in the U.S.) I've also done Historical European Martial Arts -- namely German Longsword and Sword and Buckler (I.33)

I'm drawn to Shinto Muso Ryu because I am very impressed with the system. It strikes me as very well thought out, and possessing attributes and insights that I would like to develop, and it seems like an art that I could commit to practicing for a very long time.

I am not that knowledgeable of Koryu arts in specific, but I am generally aware of the commitment involved, and the somewhat closed nature of them. I would suppose this varies somewhat by art, however. In any case, I thought it prudent to ask: How should someone with my experience go about pursuing instruction in Shinto Muso Ryu? Should I start out first with Joudou? If so, when and how might I proceed from there?

Are there any other considerations that I am overlooking?

 

[BrendanF]

Hi Argus,

You're certainly in a good location to be pursuing SMR study. I'm afraid I don't know the folks doing SMR, and my people in Tokyo are down in kawasaki. My advice would be to find someone there who can provide an introduction - there are a number of prominent foreigners in Tokyo specifically who are involved in koryu and should be able to help. Re SMR, Nishioka Tsuneo was the last menkyo kaiden I was aware of who ran an organisation teaching jojutsu - I would recommend seeking out one of his successors.
Best of luck!

 

[Argus]

Hi Argus,

You're certainly in a good location to be pursuing SMR study. I'm afraid I don't know the folks doing SMR, and my people in Tokyo are down in kawasaki. My advice would be to find someone there who can provide an introduction - there are a number of prominent foreigners in Tokyo specifically who are involved in koryu and should be able to help. Re SMR, Nishioka Tsuneo was the last menkyo kaiden I was aware of who ran an organisation teaching jojutsu - I would recommend seeking out one of his successors.
Best of luck!

Thanks!

3 years later, I just started training!

Due to life, I moved around a bunch and am now in Oi-machi / Kanagawa, where I bought a house. Found a SMR group right in my town.

This is the group: 神é“å¤¢æƒ³æµ æ°´æœˆä¼š
[Edit: not sure why my link is displaying as gibberish, at least on my end. suigetsukai dot com is the url.]

I'm not sure yet about the lineage but I figure it's probably an okay place to start for now.

The Jo is a more difficult / awkward weapon (at least, for someone who has never trained any kind of long staff or pole-arm) than I imagined, so I think I'll be spending a lot of time with the basics.