Michael Thompson’s Untying Knots: a Shintaido chronicle, chapters 17 - 20

“In Japan, there were many models to study from. During the short time I practiced with him, I had been impressed with the younger Egami’s style and presence. His was the most artistic approach to teaching I had yet encountered and it struck a chord in me. But the most common and striking feature of the Japanese teaching style was its depth; the instructors somehow managed to bring you through the surface and into the Earth, perhaps because of their intimate connection to their native soil.”

Michael Thompson’s autobiography, Untying Knots, is full of such episodes of existential unfolding, some disturbing, some light-hearted, all rendered with quiet wit and honesty. In this episode, Shintaido instructor David Franklin reads Chapters 17 through 20 (in the original book Section III, chapters 4 through 7), entitled “The Queen of Tanzawa”, “Shoko,” “Aikukan — Philosophical Gleanings,” and “Gorei,” respectively.