【FREE】Shosa to Reiho 6 Shu, Ha, Ri/ 守、破、離
About 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri), 楷書 (kaisho), 行書 (gyousho) and 草書 (sousho)
Please let me explain the essential concepts and theoretical parts when training Tenshinryuu Hyouhou.
First of all, we have the concepts of 守 (shu), 破 (ha) and 離 (ri) as well as 楷書 (kaisho), 行書 (gyousho) and 草書 (sousho). These two are similar to one another.
One more is the concept of 序 (jo), 破 (ha) and 急 (kyuu).
守 (shu), 破 (ha) and 離 (ri) generally explain the three levels of training.
守 (shu) in the beginning is the fundamental training which is the level were you strictly “follow”* the things you are taught and conduct a strict and exact training. *(守る (mamoru) means “to protect/defend/guard” but also “to follow/keep/abide”.)
On the second level 破 (ha) you “break” and “destroy”* the very things that have become your foundation, the very things you were taught, i.e. it’s a transformation through which you become yourself, a level where you add arrangements and transform. *(破る (yaburu) means “to break, destroy, tear, rip”.)
On the third level of 離 (ri) you “leave”* the teachings wander your very own original world. *(離れる (hanareru) means “to be/get separated from or leave something”.) This was the explanation for 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri) as they are commonly used, however in Tenshinryuu we barely use them in this sense. If I had to, I would say that 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri) may be used as is in the meaning of the three levels 楷書 (kaisho), 行書 (gyousho) and 草書 (sousho).
As for what concept this is, it’s the one of characters/letters.
It’s 楷書 (kaisho) when characters maintain a steady form and 行書 (gyousho) when they get out of shape. As an example let me explain it with the character 行 (gyou).
This is 楷書 (kaisho) and it maintains an exact and correct form.
Losing the shape of this exact form of 楷書 (kaisho) like this, it becomes 行書 (gyousho),
Lastly, getting even more out of shape, it becomes 草書 (sousho), and just like that depending on the level the characters are getting more and more out of shape.
Shifting this, we can turn this into teachings about the techniques.
We can think about matching this with the concept of 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri).
On the first level of 楷書 (kaisho) or 守 (shu) you study an exact and clear form as the foundation. This matches the fundamental teachings, but actually coming to 草書 (sousho) or 離 (ri) it’s not always this form, but it may also result in getting out of shape or not following the teachings.
However, if you don’t first strictly keep to the level of 守 (shu), the techniques won’t take root in your body. Also, in order to put them in practical use some necessary movements on the level of 離 (ri) may be included in 守 (shu).
Therefore, the first level called 守 (shu) or 楷書 (kaisho) becomes an extremely important thing.
You may wonder: “When will I arrive at the level of 離 (ri)?”, if we’re talking about the general mentality of 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri), even after 10, 20 or 30 years one may still think about how important 守 (shu) is. However, in the case of Tenshinryuu we don’t think like that, but instead we start to think from an early stage on about how important 破 (ha) and 離 (ri) are. That’s because back then a warrior wasn’t told to go fight after 30 years. When he or she was told on the very next day: “Go fulfill your duty!”, and if they were not able to use their techniques, that would have been pointless. Consequently, when we practice Tenshinryuu it’s important to think for ourselves on which level out of 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri) to train or about training while crossing over the three levels.
And because of that, even on TENSHINRYU ONLINE the way we teach is that we give you guidance while differentiating between 守 (shu), 破 (ha) or 離 (ri) and we therefore ask of you to understand these concepts.
Next, please let me explain 序 (jo), 破 (ha) and 急 (kyuu) that represent the three levels of speed. As it is an extremely old Japanese way of thinking, in Tenshinryuu we mainly think of it as speed.
序 (jo) is slow, 破 (ha) is fast and 急 (kyuu) is the actual speed in real life. We gradually increase the speed in the order of 序 (jo), 破 (ha), 急 (kyuu). 序 (jo), 破 (ha), 急 (kyuu) are used in combination with 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri). For example, 守 (shu) or 楷書 (kaisho), in other words an exact form can be performed slowly at a careful 序 (jo) or at the medium speed of 破（ha） or at the actual speed in real life of 急（kyuu）.
Moreover, while making movements that are supposed to be authentic as in 離 (ri) or 草書 (sousho), we can go from a slow and careful 序 (jo) over the medium speed of 破（ha）to the actual speed of 急（kyuu）.
In Tenshinryuu we have the saying 三本に一本 (sanbon ni ippon – roughly “one in three”) which means that we combine three times of practice into one. In other words, we are training while combining the three levels of 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri) or 序 (jo), 破 (ha), 急 (kyuu) into one.
In TENSHINRYU ONLINE we should generally start with thoroughly practicing 守 (shu) and after we’ve been training to a certain extent, we can then advance to the level of 破 (ha) or 離 (ri) – this is what our training should look like.
Please try to comprehend the concepts of 守 (shu), 破 (ha), 離 (ri) or 楷書 (kaisho), 行書 (gyousho), 草書 (sousho) as well as 序 (jo), 破 (ha), 急 (kyuu). As with a verbal explanation alone there might still be a few things than cannot be fully grasped, please in addition also read the written explanation in English and Japanese and study it.