The myth of the myth of Japanese bondge
One of the oddest things I've become aware of regarding Japanese bondage is the tendency in some quarters to want people to believe that Japanese masters of rope promote some kind of myth surrounding the practice of their bondage. They seem to suggest that there's some conspiracy to create the notion of some super hidden inner mystic knowledge about Japanese rope work.
This seems very strange to me as, of the actual Japanese practitioners that I've had the fortune to meet, perform, teach with, talk to, or otherwise communicate with... not one of them has ever suggested or hinted at any such thing. In fact they all communicate that hard work study and lots and lots of practice is the route to improvement.
I'm perfectly prepared to believe that there will be some who don't want to teach all they know or keep some techniques to themselves but that's hardly the same thing. So... where does this idea come from? I can think of a couple of possibilities for it.
People who can't see the path between their clumsy efforts to the apparently almost effortless execution of a real expert or can't face the amount of straight forward hard work they'd need to do. Perhaps they want to believe that there's some mystical short cut that will take them "from zero to hero" without all that tedious learning and practice. Then of course it's not their fault they can't do so well, not laziness or whatever, it's because some vital secret that if only they knew it would make all the difference.
On the other hand the myth that people have created a false myth is a useful tool to those that wish to devalue something. OK that sentence doesn't read very well but you get the idea. If you can point to something saying look it's just a myth at the heart of it it's very easy to dismiss the whole thing as containing nothing of value. It's also very misleading. These straw man arguments are created because it's so much easier to attack the straw man that they created than to deal with having to produce a real argument.
As I say those are just a couple of possibilities. Maybe it's just because of the former scarcity of information. Nature abhors a vacuum and it's easy to believe that people will fill the void with things they've just made up. Or even that they pretend to know something you don't but that it's a super hidden inner mystic knowledge that you'll only ever learn when you're worth or some other cock and a bull line.
Whatever the reason the myth of the myth of Japanese bondage doesn't really serve anyone except to mislead and the motivations for that aren't worthy whatever their origin.
To be honest with you, I don't see how this could be any kind of a benefit to anyone except those that have some personal agenda to push.
I can't see for instance how those that are really interested would benefit from being initially mislead and then finding out that they'd been mislead. I think that would be discouraging rather than encouraging.
There is without any false myth of super hidden inner mystic knowledge a real mystery and magic. The mystery is of what you don't know yet. The magic is of discovery.
If these sound mundane then I'm sorry, but I have always loved the 'magic' of learning, the moments of discovery, and the reward of hard work. Because then you did it. It's not magic, and it's your own achievement.
January 9th, 2012 - 19:52
While I agree with you on the larger theme of the myth of the myth I have to disagree on where it seems to permeate from within the rope scene.
I have to break this down into a couple of vectors. The first of which is the wishful rope enthusiast who reading the Internet and based on their own assumptions has created a mythos of Japanese rope that doesn’t exist. this can range from people who believe that Japanese rope involves chakra points to some mystic ability that only the Japanese can do Japanese bondage.
People want to understand and do so to the point where just like the best way to get someone to talk is to keep quiet yourself they fill the void of knowledge with as much theory and conjecture as they can. This can be done out of simply not having the right info about the subject or to boost their own egos, try to make what they do with rope more attractive to those they want to play with and to boost their standing in their circles.
The second vector is the more sad and falls right into you comments about peoples agendas and that’s various teachers who tend to couch the subject within the mystical bounds of being able to interpret the Japanese and the subject where no other westerners can do so. That seems to be done for two primary reasons, the first to boost their standing within the community as the one “who knows” and the second to make some money from that.
Now the first group of vectors is very susceptible to this since, one they want to belong, two they want to have that “Ur” knowledge and finally people just love to belong and have that insider feeling.
In many ways I think the second vector has been a drag on the community of rope, which is only now really falling away as more and more people are finding the information and disseminating it. This is a pattern within the various communities that I’ve seen cycle over the years.
My own experiences mirror yours in that the information is there and that it takes hard work to learn it but that there isn’t some mystical content being hidden that only the Japanese know.
Learning to tie isn’t just about being able to replicate a pattern its also about how to apply that pattern and manipulate the subject with it. The best rope artists I’ve ever seen both Japanese and western all have that skill and strive whether consciously or just as a matter of growth to achieve that transparency and personal flow of the rope.
January 13th, 2012 - 01:24
In some ways I agree with you here but in some I think it’s changed.
I do think that there is some wishful thinking where people think that if only they knew the ‘secret’… People do also seem to like to create some myths for themselves. In my original post I was mostly inspired to write by the devisive ways I’ve seen this type of ‘mythos’ used and abused. As far as only the Japanese being able to do it? Well the Japanese seem pretty convinced that I do some good stuff so I’ll let them be the judge of that rather than some guy making it up on the internet.
I agree with you on the egos.
As for teachers who make myth part of their selling. I really think this is something of the past. Certainly from my experience anyone trying that gets laughed at. I think it’s happened a good deal in the past but now that’s been killed of by the availability of actual information and sanity has returned to its throne in that regard at least. Well at least I’d like to think it has. The propogation of this kind of myth for any reason doesn’t help anyone.
January 13th, 2012 - 05:47
As with anything those who stand still will be washed over and left behind as time passes them by.
Yes those ummm, I am the interpreter of the source types are falling for the most part away but you still have the ebb and flow of the true believers who drank the koolaid. With time they too shall pass or be absorbed. Ive been around this so long the cycles just keep ebbing and flowing again and again.
Its just the scenes version of informational telephone
January 16th, 2012 - 23:07
More ebb than flow. The tide of genuine knowledge replacing supposition and conjecture sweeps them away.