Escaping Arts

Another aspect of Kosho Ryu bujutsu is the escaping arts. The escaping arts are practiced in order to teach you to avoid physical conflict of any type. By understanding natural principles pertaining to eye-training, hearing, sensitivity to movement and other things involved in mastering the senses, a student can totally escape from harm, never being touched by a would-be assailant. The cornerstone of the escaping arts is awareness. This was taught and practiced in Hawaii by James Mitose Sensei and by his senior Hawaiian student, Thomas Young. In his last eleven years, Professor Young worked hand-in-hand with Bruce Juchnik Hanshi to give him insights he needed to preserve the wishes of Mitose Sensei concerning the importance of the escaping arts and the mastery of the senses. It is interesting to note here that this type of oral one-on-one transmission of the Okuden (inner secrets) of Kosho Ryu and other ancient art-forms is common. These non-tough-guy type arts are never widely popular. Unfortunately, ego is the motivation for many students. Ego is what prevents most students from investing their time into the study of these arts: they don't look as flamboyant as jump-spinning hook-kicks to the head. But, they work! Kosho deals with reality. Escaping arts represent the highest form of physical martial arts. They do no damage to the attacker, and therefore do not injure the spirit of the would-be victim. This is Kosho Shorei.