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May　２００９

School Journal

30 May, 2009

Slowly the swarm of weakened body which I have never seen comes out in Himalaya. It can resonate with subtle qualia each other. It transforms from human to lone wolf, swarm of bee, group of ghosts, connected ameba, sound stream, and so on flexibly. It is the rhizome. I noticed that this is the fetus of transparent resonant body which I reseach to realize as an ideal state of being for a long years. Now we can sink down into the realm of life after taking off the modern concept of self expression. What is the life? What is the resonance for life? What is tha qualia? Now we can reseach them through the process of a swarm of weakened bodies. We could amplify the subtle resonance of cells from micro scale to visible scale as a swarm of weakened bodies.

29 May. 2009

Listen to the weakest signals

We are entering into the novel stage of subbody-cobody. We try to listen to the weakest signal in the darkness of body. When we notice the weakest tendency of subbody, also we can listen to the weakest subbody of others, and weakest cobody. We ask to the weakest subbody and cobody, “What do you want to do the most?”, “Which world do you want to live?” and we follow their tendencies, and amplify them by cobody group movement. A cobody condition which even the weakest subbody and cobody can come out and initiate the group, it is the world which subbodies and cobodies feel, “Yes, this is the world which I can live in!” Each subbody and cobody have hidden hopes about the world, now we meet a novel possibility to open them fully in the subbody cobody theater.

If we are bound by stronger subbody, we cannot resonate with other’s weaker tendencies. We need to release from even own subbodies. Because some subbodies are hidden when they were baby or child, then they have oppressed small ego. They want to express themselves without limit. When the small ego is going to come out, we need to open transparent mind and find the best timing of Jo-Ha-Kyu to come out for them. In the best Jo-Ha-Kyu, the ugliest subbody or cobody can transform the beauty. This is the Jo-ha-Kyu magic of Butoh. Let all of weakened life in the world to live. Never neglect them.

This is the weakened body which Hijikata invented at the last stage in his butoh carrier. Only the waekened body can resonate the weakest being, the most misserable state of life, and all unhappiness in the world.

Now subbody cody theater is going to open a novel stage which we dance not only subbody, but also cobody, and create a new world which can open every state of subbodies and cobodies from the weakest one to strangest one.

Each subbody cobody part of this week is made of two parts. The first part is subbody of a student as usual, he/she open the weakest subbody, the other students resonate by own subboies with it, it need to deep resonance with subtlest siganl of others. The second part is cobody part which everyone become a swarm, listen to the weakest signal of the group and find Jo-ha-Kyu of cobody together.

It was so hard process for each student, and also for me. Because each student struggled with various edges; not only ego, judgement, habit, but so strong emotional crisis. All of we needed hard inner struggle, to reach the weakened state which can resonate with the weakest signal of others.

This is the co-creation for realizing a novel world which all kinds of life can resonate together freely. I was dreaming this for long years. I know that alos it was Hijikata's last dream,too. A butoh which is called as a name of life is just it. Only the weakened body can resonate with the most misserable state of others, all kinds of unhappiness in the world.

The process is only the beginning now, but it has begun surely, though nobody knows how many years we need to complete it.

20 May, 2009

Polish the resonativity

This year we polish resonance ability. Because it is the principle of life and dance. Life resonates with everything beyond self and others. Subody and subbody transform into cobody by resonance. We can see the natural shape of life through there. The state of the world which is clouded by ego and self is a false shape of us. There are animals which were trained to compete each other and inhibited to resonate by the society. When we strip of false appearance from us, the real state of life appears transparently.

20 May, 2009

Polish the resonativity

15 May, 2009

How to resonate with a local place

There is a remains of middle age India castle which is called Kangra fort. We brought eight subbodies which was digged out from the darkness of body there. How to dance with wearing the local place, landscape, light, air, sound, wind is the theme.

If we enter the local place as a stranger with the daily body of modern human, the land never allow us to dance. When we take off our ego and self, and become quiet bodies as same as soil, it is able to listen in the subtle shivering of the land. We can resonate with subtle sway of light, subtle voice of grasses, air, wind, and invisible signs which are hidden in the history of the place. We need to put on all of the subtle sway of the place.

How much could we wear of them? It is not sure. The travel has just begun. But, our subodies will be trained through these experiences, and grow up to a tough and flexible rhizome which are able to dance at anywhere on the planet.

13 May, 2009

Teachers of metamorfosis

There are so many magical teacher for metamorphose in nature; Hatching, Ecdysis, Cast-off skin, and so on. They are also a kind of hidden skin. When a creature take off a skin and another being comes out. A cast-off skin is left with keeping the same shape. To slip out from a skin and enter the another cast-off skin is one of important technique of butoh. When we are released from the bind of human, flexiblly we can take off the skin of human, and transform another being.

1. Each person takes a specific pose; a fetus, a girl, an animal, an earth, a baby, a vapor, an old woman, a wall, and so on.

2. Transform from a shape to another shape in ten minutes. Take off the former skin, and enter the next cast-off skin.

3. By various timing, practice it. Transform in ten minutes, five minutes, three minutes, one minute, a moment, and so on.

4. By various rhythm, qualia, movement, do it. You are moved by spider thread, by vibration, by received shocks, by collapsing, by melting, and so on.

5. Imagine various way of transformation; by invited from next shape’s hidden skin, by possessed another spirits, for ten thousand years time, and so on.

You can learn through the practice how to wear different time, different being, different way of being moved. Cut and polish your own subbody with wearing these variations of qualia.

10 May, 2009

Two months digging into the darkeness of body

April course has finished. Eight students danced subbodies which found through tqo months digging into the darkness of body. The subbody theater was almost three hours long.
I did not teach Hijikata method in march and April, because it is so hard to understand Hijikata Butoh with modern weatern daily body. They need to learn the basic method how to enter the darkness of body, how to meet one's own subbody, and how to create own butoh, as the same way as Hijikata did. Now they did it. Their subbodies are ready to catch the weakened body method in deeper level. They will be trained into one more weakened level by Hijikata method in May course. ALso they will dance this peice at another place in the nature with learning how to wear the natural lights, sounds, wind, and landscape. The himalayan hard nature will be deep teacher for them. When training will progress the deeper, the subbodies will become the weaker paradoxically. Because they will be released from human binds, strong ego binds, then they will transform subtler bodies which are able to resonate with subtlest shivering of tiny near death lifves. This is the reason why it need one year long course to learn real butoh spirits. Please wait for a while.

9 May, 2009

Bugs walk—The movement being squeezed from the depth of body

Butoh is not the expression by neither ego, nor self. We don’t use intentional movement by daily mind. We dig in the darkness of body, and search unavoidable movement which is squeezed out from the depth of life.

Bugs walk method is one of the most important guidance of Hijikata butoh method for searching it.

Bugs walk

1. A bug is crawling on the back of your right hand,
2. A second bug is creeping down from your left side of your neck to your back,
3. A third bug is wriggling up along your inner thigh,
4. A fourth bug is squirming down from your left shoulder to your chest,
5. A fifth bug …   Ah, where is it?
6. You're so itchy, here and there. You can’t stand still.　
You're pushed away from here by itchiness.
7. Itchiness under your chin, itchiness at the base of your ears, itchiness around your elbows, itchiness around your kneecaps, itchiness around your waist,   Ah! There're five-hundred of them!
8. Around your eyes, around your mouth, in your ears, between your fingers, in every mucous membrane.    Five thousand bugs
9. A bug on every hair,
10. A bug in every pore,
11. From there thirty thousand bugs are crawling down into your guts and eating them voraciously,
12. Having eaten them up the bugs are coming out of your body through the pores,
   Now they are eating the space around your body,
13. Now the bugs are full of the outer space and eaten by another kind of bugs,
14. The condition is being eaten up by another-another kind of bugs.
15. ( Half a billion bugs on a tree. The inside is all gone. )
16. It is your end. ( The will has transformed just the bug or the sense of material.).

I will tell you the essence which Hijikata indicated in each part of the simple text for beginners.

[1] Jo: Movement which is squeezed out

At the first moment, you notice the crawling bug, but you regard it as tiny happening. You can ignore it. But when they increase over the limit of standing, irresistible movements are squeezed out from each part of body.
Butoh is not ego expression, even not self expression too.
Never misunderstand this point. When you are bound by the modern concept of self expression or bodily expression, your dance is still modern dance which is bond by the illusion of the concept of the subject as a human.
Take off all conditions of human. Then you can meet the true butoh dance of life.
Anyway not moving by your intension, but being moved by something, this is the point.
After catching the essence of being moved, you can find your own deep qualia except of itchy, and create your own necessary butoh as a life. I will write down about how to arrange the original arrangement at another chapter.

[ Ha] Transformation by whole body

7. Itchiness under your chin, itchiness at the base of your ears, itchiness around your elbows, itchiness around your kneecaps, itchiness around your waist, Ah! There're five-hundred of them!
8. Around your eyes, around your mouth, in your ears, between your fingers, in every mucous membrane. Five thousand bugs
9. A bug on every hair,
10. A bug in every pore,
11. From there thirty thousand bugs are crawling down into your guts and eating them voraciously,

The bugs spread to the whole body, and invade into the inner organs. The itchiness develops to an irresistible transformation of the whole body through being eaten by millions of bugs. The unconscious qualia which are folded in hidden joints, hidden muscles, and hidden cavities are going to start moving. The irresistible movements come out, not by ego or self response, but as a pressing life response. We need to train ourselves until to be able to catch the movement of the necessity for life.
The essence of butoh is incorporated in the text.

[3] Kyu: The world transformation and reborn in another dimension

12. Having eaten them up the bugs are coming out of your body through the pores,
Now they are eating the space around your body,
13. Now the bugs are full of the outer space and eaten by another kind of bugs,
14. The condition is being eaten up by another-another kind of bugs.
15. ( Half a billion bugs on a tree. The inside is all gone. )
16. It is your end. ( The will has transformed just the bug or the sense of material.). .

The bugs have eaten not only body, but the space too. The world starts changing.
The origin one celled creature recognize the world change through skin of cell and protoplasm. These memories are folded at our hidden skin. Imagine that some layers of your hidden skin are gnawed by many bug’s mouths, and feel it. The life memories which were folded in the hidden skin for long period are going to come out.
It is the irresistible reverse twist for life. Life have to invent a novel dimension and reborn itself.
Butoh is to enter the different dimension, and to invent the reborn as a novel being.
The image of standing empty tree ( Half a billion bugs on a tree. The inside is all gone.) is a symbol of a reborn as a butoh dancer.
“It’s your end ( The will has transformed just the bug or the sense of material.) .”
Yes! Here is the starting point of your invention of original butoh.
You could throw away all conditions of human. You don'nt move by your will, but t the bug or the sense of material moves your dead body.
The text ended here. Because after here, the long training process as a butoh dancer begins. It is not able to treat at the workshop for beginners. I will tell you how to arrange the method of Bugs walk for your creation, in another chapter.

7 May, 2009

Entering the subody drawing

Students drew their subbody world. Normally I enter each subbody movement as every day work, but last night I entered each subbody drawing.

Asuka

She is the second year of subbody school. Her drawing become so precisely. So many subbodies are drawn. A fetus is drawn at the bottom. Maybe this is her bottom body. Fetus is resonating with outside noises. A black monster is going to touch the womb. The fetus is shivering with it and strange black something hair-like are generating. The fetus is dreaming a dream of big hand. Many snow mountains is transforming to shaper ice edges and going to attack at the left side. So many other fetuses are floating at the lower right edge. A plant is growing upper side and flowering. Many leaves are fading down and returning the earth. Many worms are growing up at the upper edge. A building are collapsing at the left bottom. Her subbody drawing become much more precise than before. It is the proof she walk a lot in the darkness of body. When it becomes transparent like this, the rest of theme is to create each subbody by bodily movement and finding proper Jo-ha-kyu.

Francesco

He drew a black center and many legs like octopus. He has created some piece of subbody already in each week, the piece of under the table, under the pine tree and so on. They are some of legs. When he will continue these creation of subbodies, after several months, a long solo which dance the whole self will be completed.

Xavi

Many colored water drops or eggs are floating in the darkness, and many child subbodies are living in each drop. This is the nest of subbodies. When he dance this world, it becomes nest walk. He will grow up each egg of subbody. Also today he found a novel one.

Pete

He is the third year of subbody school, then he could drew over twenty subbodies. Each subbody is visualized clearly. His visual channel is open fully, because he is a designer. He has already found a bottom subbody at the cave of rock garden. If he could dance all of these subbodies, the piece will be around two hours long.

Chiara

She drew a swaying realm between non-dual and dualistic realm. A red element and a blue element are going to separate from the non-dual darkness of body. A subtle white face is swaying between both world. She can dance these sway as a weakened body. It will become unique piece. Also Hijikata danced these swaying in his last butoh peice, though almost people could not understand.

Gorka

A huge great mother or his anima is drawn. Great mother loves everything, and eat everything. Maybe his subbodies ares played with great mother or anima in the darkness of body. It appear in another drawing of him. A big hand of great mother toys with his tiny subbodies. I can understand his hardness, because me too. It will take time to dance own anima. I could not dance anima though long year I tried. Also Kazuo ohno could success to dance his mother’s piece at seventy five years old at last.

Tamar

So strong emotions are storming in her drawing. Until now her subbody pieces were also full of strong emotional storms. Next theme for her is to take off these human conditions, then we could dance as a life. That is the universal theme for all of us too. How to control emotional storm is so difficult also for me, then I planned it will be the theme of the second term of school. But I have to prepare it earlier than I thought.

Catalina

A huge tornado of world-self image is swirling in her drawing. And some strange monsters or creatures are going to appear with dark red color. So strange creatures are living in our darkness of body. We need to recognize them, and become friends, this is what to do for us. After that, it is able to resonate with all kinds of misery in the world. She has the destiny and bravery to accept it.

7 May, 2009

Listen to the "Jo-ha-kyu"

This week students research “Jo-ha-kyu” in each own drawing.

“Jo-ha-kyu” is one of the most important creation method of subbody method to meet your essential dance. “Jo-ha-kyu” was found by Japanese Noh dance master; Zeami seven hundred years ago.

Jo is beginning. Catch a subtle signal from the darkness of body and hide the sign. This is the point. Only you know the being of subtle signal, but keep it secret. Wait the best timing with only subtle sway until it matures to come out from the non-dual realm of qualia to this three dimensional physical world. Everything has its own timing to be ready to appear. When you meet the very timing, the subtle signal comes out as a first movement. This is the “Ha” moment.

Ha is changing, It breaks Jo world, and appears another dimension of each subbody. Each subbody has their own world. Open it in each Ha-timing. Ha should be proper times. Normally, there are three ha timing; Jo of ha, ha of ha, and kyu of ha. Each “Ha” should be different. Listen to the subbody, “Which timing do you want to come out by?” A Ha is very slow, another is with own rhythm, some is sudden change. Invent unique Ha which you have never seen, never done. These combination of change will compose your own beauty.

Kyu is climax and ending. Climax means some qualia are amplified until the limit. It includes anti-climax which is the quietness is amplified to the limit. Kyu is the essence of your subbody dance. Kyu has some clear Merkmarls. The first one is the necessity. When you feel that this dance is necessary for me to reborn, it should be your kyu dance. The second Merkmal is world-self channel. When your subbody dance can open world self channel, it may become your kyu movement. It will tell you what world your subbody wants to create. The third merkmal is possibility of repetition. When you find a movement proposed for your Kyu, ask to your life, “Do you want to dance this movement ten thousand times?”, if your life reply, Yes! I will”, it must be your kyu dance. Dance it ten thousand times, it will be your lifelong friend.

6 May, 2009

Drawing of subbody

Students drawed own subbody world. This drawing will be a travel guide map of tha darkness of body in this week.

In the morning, through reso-touch and shiatsu, we conditioned to stop thinking and to shift listening mode in the darkness of body. And drawed whole subbody world as much as posible.

And each student entered the the other’s drawing with opening eight channels. Subbdoy drawing was come out from non-dual and multi-dimansional life qualia stream. When we sink down into the non-dual realm of others, we can resonate with life qualia and translate it onther channel easily.

We found the Jo-Ha-kyu of each channel, and danced it. We started from body channel, movement channel, audio channel, emotional channel, relation channel, and world-self channel. Each student opened full creativity ,and dance friend’s subbody world freely. So many strange and interesting movements come out one after another. We laughed a lot. Students could open the widest creativity today.

After class, everybody talked as if we were in a magical world today. So, indeed, our subbody world is not one’s property. It connected in deeper realm and resonating.

Why students could be so creative? Normally we are bound by self and ego still too much. When we release from the idea of self expression, we can be much more freely.

5 May, 2009

What is the conditioning?

The most important technique of subbody method is conditioning.
Conditioning is to condition your body to a specific subconscious-(－)body mode.
There are twelve techniques of conditioning. They are grouped into two kinds. First group to calm down from daily mind/body mode to subbody mode.Another one is to activate for specific subbody mode, for example to become proto body, animal body, hidden body, rhizome body, multi channel body, weakened body and so on.

Ⅰ．Calming conditioning

Conditioning No.0: Breathing

Breathing is the most basic technique to change our body from a condition to another condition. More info→ See “Breathing method”

Bottom breathing
Drop down breathing
Subtle breathing
Sacrum breathing
Pelvis breathing
Minimum breathing

Conditioning No.1: Vibrating

Lay down with face up position. Stand feet vertically.
1. Shake your feet in Head/tale direction with the most comfortable vibration by whole body.
2. Shake body from pelvis in side direction.
3. Stand knee with connecting both knees, Shake up down and side direction. 4. Stand knee on parallel feet. Shake each spine bone from sacrum till neck with separating from the floor one by one in up/down direction. Continue it until your daily mind and body calms down.

Conditioning No.2: Swaying

Imagine that you are sitting at the center of big clock on the floor. Inhale and send air to your lower back to head, and exhale from front part of the body. With this breathing, sway your body six-twelve o’clock direction (forward-backward). Change direction to seven-one o’clock, eight-two o’clock, nine-three o’clock, until one round of clock. Continue it until you release from daily mind and body.

Conditioning No.3: Three dimensional movement at hundred tandens

Tanden means initiating point of movement. We have almost hundred joints in the body. Move each joint to three dimensional directions with different size as the following.

1.Cross eight figure
From sacrum to head, move each spine in three dimensional directions with cross eight figure.　→See illustration. Move each joint of head, arms and legs too.
2.Circle
Move each joint of hundred tandens with circulation.
3.Subtle sway
Sway each joint of hundred tandens with minimum size.

Ⅱ　Activating conditioning

Conditioning No.4: Four limbs

Become dog position with contacting hands and feet to the floor. Wave each part of body in three dimensional directions. Wave your whole spine from head, and from tale, in three dimensional directions. Change posture from dog position to lizard position and wave too.

Conditioning No.5: Walking
→ See “Walking method”

Ash walk
A size walk
Nest walk
Mountain walk
Bugs walk
World walk

Conditioning No.6: Six sways

Our daily bodies are bound by daily habits. But our subbdies are not bound by daily habits and limits. There are so diverse of movement between life and death. Release your body from daily body to flexible body which is able to follow any kinds of subtle signal of movement from the darkness of body.Move hundred points of your body with following six kind of movement.

Sway
Shake
Wave
Shock
Collapse
Die

Conditioning No.7: Seven rhizomings

Rhizoming is special term for transforming of subody method. A subtle tendency starts at a point of body and spread it to the whole body with different way of progression.

Bottom rhizome
Top rhizome
Center rhizome
Edge rhizome
Focus rhizome
Random rhizome
Total rhizome

Conditioning No.8: Eight channels

We have eight main channels at the following. Normally we use a few channel and shift another channel unconsciously. Be aware of the channel which you use with the following method. And become able to control all channels flexibly.

Body channel
Movement channel
Visual channel
Audio channel
Emotion channel
Human relationship channel
World-self chanel
Thinking channel

Conditioning No.9: Segmenting

Segment your body into three parts; legs, body, and head part. and control each part to sway with different directions.
Segment the each parts of body into three sub-parts. Segment legs into feet, legs, and hip. Segment body into pelvis, stomach, and chest. Segment your arms into hand, elbow, and shoulder. Segment your head into neck, lower face, and upper face. Control each segmented part into different directional sway.
Segment each nine parts into three more sub-parts. And control each part with subtle sway.
Segment each part into infinite tiny size until cell scale. And control each cell with different sways.

Conditioning No.10: Ten fingers

We have ten meridians with connected each finger’s front line and back line. Open each meridian with sending air and twisted stretching. Listen to unique bodily sensation in each meridian. Catch subtle tendencies from the darkness of body and taste them carefully.

Conditioning No.11: Resonance touch

→See “Resonance touch method”

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