The belief that ya'll are doing the EXACT same art as the ancient Ninja/Samurai..unchanged down the eons because of the Japanese method of teaching/scrolls etc. is the foundation of martial fantasy. Folks will do as many mental gymnastics to preserve their cherished mental picture of doing EXACTLY as the ancients did as they will defending their political views. I'll even admit to THAT myself.
IMO
And if you think I was using the Chinese Whisper game as an exact analogy you are being intentionally obtuse. Nothing passed that far through time is going to be "pure" at the other end. Koryu fails to take human nature into account IMO. I cant get 3 witnesses to recall the same event that happed 5 minutes ago the same way. Chances are they would STILL have different stories even if they all had video of the event to watch.
Your stuff may have many of the characteristics of the "original" art but if this were sci-fi and you hopped into a time machine I'd wager that it would have more characteristics of pantomime than you would like.
I'm not sure how much exposure you have had to the Koryu, and the mentality associated with them, Angel, but I can assure you that your expectations are incorrect here. Koryu does not fail to take into account human nature at all, it's the basis of the teaching methods. What is more likely to have changed over time are the training methods, but not the art itself (and even then not as much as you may think... the biggest influence would be the amount of time that could be dedicated to the training, and that frankly wouldn't even be much different to today). Many Koryu retain not only the documents that state the way training was conducted, but the actual training methods themselves, as well as the kata and techniques.
Once again the very concept of Koryu is that the teachings and Ryu are passed down unaltered in many cases, to change them (without very good reason) is rather anathema to most Koryu traditions. That's not to say that there hasn't been any change in any Koryu system (I've detailed a list or two around here of some of the more well known changes, as well as the reasons they happened), but they are rarely the norm, more the notable exception. In fact, I'd wager that in the hypothetical tmie machine trip, the Koryu systems would be very recognisable, and be rather devoid of "pantomime".... although, honestly, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that.
When it comes to your witnesses and their different accounts, again, this is not a good example to use. They aren't the Koryu, nor are they the transmission. The video in your example is the Koryu, and the transmission would be to get everyone to say what they think happened, then show them the video to correct them. Ask them again, and then show the video to correct them. Ask them again, and then show them the video again to correct them.... and so on, and so on. Although you'd start out with very different accounts, I'm sure that by the end there'd be a rather constistent version, wouldn't you?
Let me use a different analogy.
Suppose you see maths as an art. Say... differential equations.
Every teacher has his own ways of teaching, and the examples in the class may or may not be 100% the same. But every student who makes it to graduation has a correct and complete understanding of the principles of differential equations.
Hmm, honestly Bruno, that's closer to, say, a Karate class than Koryu. Koryu tend to have their traditional training drills/exercises/methods, as well as the kata/techniques, so the maths classes would be of very similar methods of teaching, with the same examples for the most part, if it was to be Koryu. As with everything, though, the caveat has to be made that it really does depend on the Ryu in question....
Traditional arts are imo the same. Kukishin ryu is a good example because there are so many lineages. Or Takagi Yoshin ryu. Those arts are represented in a technical way by the kata from which they are made up. But the kata exemplify underlying concepts and techniques.
In kukishin ryu, kata may be performed in a nearly identical manner, but with superficial differences. Kata from different lineage may end in a different kamae, or target a different body part with a certain strike. But at heart it is still kukishin ryu, built on the same concepts.
So in a manner, yes you are correct that what there are bound to be differences creeping in along the years. But the underlying concepts will be identical. Or at least I think so. That is the whole point of koryu transmission.
Actually different branches can be rather radically different. Shinkage Ryu is different to Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (although technically it is just a different branch), and the differences between the various Kukishin lineages can be huge! Really, you can look at two different Kukishin branches next to each other and barely recognise the connection, often it is present most obviously in the names of the kata. This, really, is what happens when Koryu change (as Archangel M is putting forth), it typically becomes either a new branch of the Ryu, or a new Ryu altogether.
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