Dave Lowry
Do: The Way
By Dave Lowry
Do is seen throughout Japanese art and culture as well as the martial arts.
Uke: Receiving
By Dave Lowry
Experienced martial arts students should learn to measure toughness not as the ablity to dish it out, but as the ability to receive.
Keppan: The Blood Oath - Part 1
By Dave Lowry
During Japan's feudal period, before beginning his training a samurai would often be required to sign an oath of allegiance to the martial arts organization (ryu) with which he would study.
Keppan: The Blood Oath - Part 2
By Dave Lowry
While today?s martial arts student is no longer required to sign an oath of allegiance in blood to his martial arts school he still must prove himself in the same through lifelong practice.
What Puts the ?Tao? in the Dojo?-Part 1
By Dave Lowry
The Japanese martial arts dojo?s structure is full of symbolism and when combined with traditional etiquette it also represents some very practical elements of strategy too.
What Puts the ?Tao? in the Dojo? -Part 2
By Dave Lowry
Is there a hidden Taoist symbolism embodied within the layout of the traditional martial arts dojo?
Japanese Traditions - Entering the Dojo: What Price are You Willing to Pay?
By Dave Lowry
Today?s traditional Japanese martial arts schools (dojo) still reflect a heritage passed down from classical bujutsu (feudal era schools of military combat) as well as their modern successors, budo of our time (judo, kendo, etc.).
Ittosai?s Test: Part 1
By Dave Lowry
In the sixteenth year of Tensho (1588), the swordsman Ito Ittosai Kagehisa could depend neither on a large and healthy crop of prospective successors among his students nor on a family heir ready to take over his Itto ryu. He had only two disciples from whom he could choose to carry on the traditions and strategies of his system of combat with the sword.
Ittosai?s Test: Part 2
By Dave Lowry
Kagehisa only had two students worthy of inheriting his tradition, but they were evenly matched in skill. Kagehisa thus devised another standard, a test for determining which of them would succeed him. It could not have come as a surprise to either that his test was a bizarre one.
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