Traditional Dojo

..........Traditonal Dojo

DOJO - Place of practice of the Arts of Budo, was initially a

mythical place, where the warrior would get ready both,

technicaly and mentally, to carry out his destiny of serving his

feudal Lord, in the most honerable and shortest possible way

(the Sakura´s flower, being of ephemeral duration, is the

symbol of the Samurai), it was suposed to be " the place of

awakening ", in connection with Buda´s word : " Wake up",

in other words " take conscienceness ", from therewhat Dojo,

meant, during many decades : "The Place of Enlightnment ".

JO = Place, DO = has a much deeper meaning, translated

normally as " Road " or " Way ", it will have naturally to lead

to the point of wakening of conscienceness or " enlightnment ".

So one of the fundamental elements of the Dojo, is the Kamiza

or place of the Kami (spirits), in other words an Altar, where

normally there is the Kamidana (miniature temple , where

the spirit of Masters, who developed the Arts, live in)

there must be two Sanbo (trays of the Shinto religion),

in which there are recipientes with salt and water as

purification elements , rice and "sake" as offering elements

to the spirit of the Masters, (Buddhist concept of offering food

and drink to their predecessors). The lines and direction of the

whole arrangement of the several elements of the Dojo, must

obey to the principles of Feng Shui, so the Kamiza and

respective Altar, must be at the point of sunrise, the Masters

pictures , must be in the line folowed by the Sun, as sign of

their help, for the duration of our lives, when such it is not

possible, then we should chose the most harmonious

arrangement. Nobody enters the Dojo, with his shoes on, not

in the physical space of the Dojo, muchless on the floors or

Tatami dedicated to the practice, is due to moderate the level

of voice and the subjects which we talk about inside a Dojo.

The Dojo as to be cleaned frequently, preferably by the

students themselves, before each training, and dailly if the

Dojo as an Uchi Deshi, otherwise it will be the Master to do it,

at liste the training spaces and important elements of the

Dojo. One understands as Tradicional Dojo , a Dojo where the

Master lives in, with total dedication, to his Art and total

concentration in his mental and spiritual evolution (it is not to

have a Dojo at home, but to live in the Dojo), living with total

delivery to the practice, the total extent of his day.

In general this was the rule, in the past, in Japan, in every Art,

not only in the Arts of Budo, but all of the Arts in general,

from Shodo to Shigin...

In a Tradicional Dojo , in general there are no " examinations "

of graduation, the changes of Kyu or Dan, are written on the

studend´s personal board, by the Master or by the Senpai

responsible for that task, it is only natural that, as time goes by,

the student is known " inside and out ", so the "examination"

is naturally unnecessary or just a simple protocol. So the student,

will concentrate on the Art and not on the degree that as been

awarded to him... obviously the degree reflects the level of

progress reached , but the level tells : the technique, the mental

and the spiritual ... and if in the beginning, we only see the

physical and the technique, much later we will value the mental

and the spiritual : " in Life as in Budo "
The hierarchy in a Tradicional Dojo is not based only upon the
graduation of the practicioners, the most important factor is the
seniority and the dedication to the Dojo, there are elements at

the top of the hierarchy, that do not practice any Art, but the

valuable services they do to the Dojo, have all the relevance

and give them an high status within the Family...
In Japan the Masters that followed this way and that
reached recognition, they were considered, by the Japanese

Government, living treasures or inheritance monuments of

Japan and they were compensated with a small pensions and

special discounts in public transportion, small hotels and even

in some restaurants. They had to participate, however in local

and national festivals , so they would transmite , the traditions

of the country, to the younger generations.

In current Japan this tradition, tends to disappear, it is however

very rare in the Western Countries, there are never the less

some westerners, who lived in Japan, that follow this tradition;

in Potugal we have, Hanshi Georges Stobaerts in Sintra and

Hanshi Alex DaCosta in Faro.

.

(I thank my wife Ana and my son Alexandre, for their great

sacrifice, that represents, living in a Tradicional Dojo, place that

is, to all intents and purposes, a public place...)