It's been almost a year since my duty ended. And the search for new meaning began.

By chance I went with family to Nichiren's temple near Mt Fuji - that is the temple where is ashes are stored, and later in August to the temple where he was born. (That one is easy to remember 誕生時 誕nativity生life寺temple). Nichiren's Buddhism, and that of his disciple Shinran-sama, is much like German philosophy. One of former English students said there's much in common with Heigel. I don't understand either.

Our mission is to assimlate Japan and teach Japanology - atleast, that's the simple explanation. Recent books have been (in no particular order)

• The Life-Giving Sword by Yagyu Munenori, translation by William Scot Wilson. Very readable and points the way to Zen and Budo


• Budo by Ueshiba Morihei, translation by John Stevens. Very difficult, but given the time he was writing, 1936, and the fact the modern Budo didn't really exist, it worth the effort. Here is an important point in perception; the West catagorizes every in specific concrete idea, whereas Ueshiba-sensei's new aiki-budo uses katana, stick and bare hands.



• 禅のヒントby Patrice Julien. Really a simple, short introduction to Zen written by a Frenchman in Tokyo in Japanese (and easy Japanese).

The current reading list is

• 五輪書by宮本武蔵better known is English as The Book of Five Rings. I bought a translation more than ten years ago and re-read it last month. It's good stuff for Kendo but I wonder how the translation is and if I can the Japanese text.
  
• The Way of the Living Sword by Yagyu Munenori, translation by D E Tarver. It seems to be based on the same text as The Life-Giving Sword above, but has a new chapter at the end. reviews at Amazon are excellent (mostly). I found these two as recomended reading at http://www.samurai-archives.com/ which is Japanese history in English.


• 受験編 which a list of answers for the written part of the Kendo exams, and very readable even though it's in Japanese.

At the end The Life-Giving Sword is a picture of Yagyu-ke no haka (haka -> grave? but there's no bones or ash...) The family plot is at 廣徳寺 koutoku-ji, which is very close to our house. here's the pictures