Swords combine with Japanese Culture at Lycoming

by: Victoria Yuskaitis

Few students realize that Lycoming College is home to the Lycoming Fencing Club and Guild of Swordsmen – or that the instructor of the clubs and classes that meet under this title is Michael Gaylor, who is a several times NCAA National Champion and who also learned the art of kendo (Japanese for “way of the sword”) from the Japanese kendo master, Sensei Torao Mori.

As Chiaki Kotori, the Director of Institutional Research at Lycoming College, explained, “the rare opportunity” to study kendo under Gaylor “cannot be stressed enough.”

Kotori, a native of Japan with a deep love for Japanese culture, further explained that Mori had a legendary family history with a grandfather or great-grandfather being a renowned kendo master. Known as “Tiger” (Torao means “tiger” in Japanese), he competed in a national kendo competition in Japan that was watched by the Emperor himself. Furthermore, Kotori said, his prowess was so incredible that he was asked to create modern fencing in Japan during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics so that the Japanese athletes could compete.

Kotori said that she happened to be reading a biography of Mori when she met Gaylor at Lycoming; as Gaylor said, it was an “interesting synchrony.”

Gaylor explained that he and Mori met in Paris; Gaylor was studying fencing, whereas Mori was trying to create a fencing team for Japan.

“I shared my insights of Western fencing (with him), and he taught me the Japanese ‘Way of the Sword,’” said Gaylor. They bonded quickly, he clarified, because they “both loved swordcraft and spoke English better than French.”

Interestingly, Gaylor said that he runs the dojo at Lycoming College (Japanese for “place of the Great Way”) in a traditional Japanese manner, just like he learned from Mori himself. The students take their shoes off at the door, symbolizing the leaving behind of any physical and mental burdens before entering the dojo.

Mentioning the story of Moses in the Bible, Gaylor says that removing your shoes is a matter of respecting sacred ground. Gaylor also said that it inspires humility and respect.

“The way of the Samurai says that energy comes from chi (literally translated as ‘life force’),” said Gaylor. “Shoes are buffers – like gloves – and a Samurai does not want anything between himself and the earth.”

The other details that make the dance room in the gym into a dojo – such as bowing to yourself in the mirror as you enter, in an effort to bow to your better self – all have deep meanings rooted in Japanese culture.

“The Japanese culture club asked for the class, as did fencing students,” explained Gaylor.

Because of the inherent connection between kendo and Japanese culture, the students are expected to learn about culture as much as swordfighting, said Gaylor. A focus on Zen – what Gaylor described as an “ah-ha!” moment or intuitive enlightenment – is addressed in the class through meditation and kendo itself.

Still, Gaylor was quick to point out that “there is nothing religious about it – it is about how you approach the fact that you are fighting and one of you is going to die…It’s a metaphor about how you approach life.”

The class is also expected to write a Japanese poem in the form of a “haiku” or “tanka.” The syllabus explains the poetry not as a long epic or story, but rather as “the essence of a thought or situation.” Writing such poems helped Samurai’s to keep their minds from mundane worries while performing their sacred duties. It also allowed them to focus their energies before a battle, explained Gaylor, and connect them to a zen-like state.

The students finished meditation to the sound of crickets chirping or chanting monks, and then picked up the Bokkens (Japanese for “oak sword”). The sword drills the students engaged in, Gaylor explained, have been formalized and used to teach kendo for the last 1,000 years.

Gaylor shouted a Japanese word symbolizing a certain movement, and the entire class shouted in response as they performed the movement as a group.

Gaylor explained that the shouting is “used to mobilize your energy. It also says where you are about to hit – it is only polite.” The point, explained Gaylor, is to hit your opponent as you shout.

After the initial practice, the students split into groups of two and engaged in formalized drills (“Kumi-tachi” in Japanese), that focused on perfecting sword movements, body movements, distance, and timing in each attack.

Still, Gaylor said that the students “don’t actually hit each other yet; their only opponent is within.” Nevertheless, the practice the students are going through is very important, as Gaylor explained, because the perfection of the moves with the wooden swords is essential to being able to graduate to a more advanced level.
Surprisingly, most of the students who take the kendo class had never done kendo before coming to Lycoming College.

Matiana Gallegos, a freshman, said that she did Karate at Lycoming but decided to try kendo. “I like the meditation beforehand. It helps to clear the mind.”
Another student, David Casavant, a senior, also said that he “had taken martial arts, but kendo seemed interesting and fun.” Shrugging, he added, “I needed gym credits.”

Christina Sorrells, a senior and the Motodashi (Japanese for “helper”) of the beginner kendo class and a student in the advanced kendo class, explained that she likes “swords and learning how to use them properly. I also like the spiritual aspect as well – it is something you can take with you when you leave and applies to real life.”

The beginning kendo class meets at 8 on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
The swordfighting classes (both kendo and fencing) offered at Lycoming truly are unique opportunities: Gaylor is a talented swordsman with a passion for teaching, and the students who take the classes offered are learning from a master himself.