Anybody remember Noble House Kenjutsu?

[Mr. Fluffers]

If you've been around e-budo's Bad Budo forums in the past few years or so, you might have heard about these guys. If not, I suggest you look them up over there. All sorts of weird flag worship, leaky lineage claims involving the Shinkage-ryu, etc. Meik Skoss et al. thoroughly picked them to pieces, so that's not really an issue.

But I always wondered just how bad it really was. There were all these silly pictures on the old site, but... no videos.

But then I found this. A video!



I recognized the enormous flag they carry around immediately -- it's them, alright. Best quote: "The single most important thing [in kenjutsu practice] is cooperation." THOUGHTS?

[NeilG]

Best quote: "The single most important thing [in kenjutsu practice] is cooperation."

What's wrong with that quote?

I know there's lots of issues with Noble House and their lineage, and Meik took them to task for that years ago. The video looks pretty innocuous though. Without more context I couldn't tell you whether that was a bunch of people doing what they were supposed to do, a bunch of beginners/intermediates trying to do what they were supposed to do, or a bunch of poorly taught people. There's stuff that looks funky to my kendo eye but then I've learned to try not to judge koryu too closely by what I know.

[Mr. Fluffers]

What's wrong with that quote?

I know there's lots of issues with Noble House and their lineage, and Meik took them to task for that years ago. The video looks pretty innocuous though. Without more context I couldn't tell you whether that was a bunch of people doing what they were supposed to do, a bunch of beginners/intermediates trying to do what they were supposed to do, or a bunch of poorly taught people. There's stuff that looks funky to my kendo eye but then I've learned to try not to judge koryu too closely by what I know.

I agree regarding judging koryu by the outside... you can't really do it, and often kata will be changed slightly for public demonstrations anyway. But was it decided that this really is koryu? From what I remember, the general consensus was that this probably wasn't... The weird "kyujutsu" they were doing springs immediately to mind. But hey, what do I know? It's "Shinkage-ryu" so I'd say that if somebody would know, it's Mr. Skoss.

Their website has changed a good bit it seems, as well. Random kanji strewn about... Completely avoiding rendering any Japanese terminology in English characters, though the kanji still clearly reads "Shinkage-ryu" (「心影流」 in this case). As for the quote, I don't think kata = compliance.

Anyway, I just brought it up because I ran into that video and started thinking "hm, I wonder what happened to them." Seems like nothing much has changed, except now they're even more secretive than they were. I'm not expecting a lengthy discourse on the matter, just thought I'd pass on this video in case anybody wanted to take a look.

[Super8astard]

I never understood how showing beginers doing things poorly is supposed to be good for a school in any way, and I assume that's what videos like this one are.

Anyway, never heard of these guys or how Meik handled them, but I'm currious now... Care to fill me in?

[Mr. Fluffers]

http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthre...ht=Noble+House if you're curious. I kinda wish they still had the old gallery up, it was some goofy looking stuff they were doing. Steve referenced an earlier post by Mr. Skoss, but it doesn't seem to be showing up for some reason... I can't figure out why.

[Super8astard]

I bet, there was some goofy looking stuff on the vid you put up. It looked like they were doing their cutting with a stick...

[Super8astard]

Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but that link was no help at all. None of the links in the convo still work, and all that was said in it is what you said here.