KAGAMIBIRAKI 2017

The 2017 Kagamibiraki theme was: "The 5 learning steps of Budo"

You can see it in the right calligraphy in the Kamiza. It has to be read horizontally:

Chin. Moku: silence. Not only being quiet, but making space in one´s mind.

Shi-Cho: attention. Looking, observing, listening.

Ki-Oku: memorizing. To learn movements by heart.

Jisshi: application. To execute movements, again and again.

Oshié: teaching. To apply oneself to lead the beginner on the same path.

What is interesting in this confucian list, is the silence requiered from the beginning. Not only to not talk, but to be silent on what one already knows, or thinks one knows. To approach study with a blank spirit. Another interesting thing is to memorize before practicing and not to practice to memorize. The practice of non-memorized movements leads to persistent mistakes.

By Pascal Krieger

What is Kagami biraki (鏡開き)?

Let’s start with the meaning of each word. Kagami (鏡) means “mirror”. Biraki (開き) means to open. So you would wonder how “opening the mirror” is connected with the first training of the year for the martial arts.

One must look into the historical background behind this term to understand the event. During the new year period, an ornamental rice cake called Kagami mochi is a standard item in many Japanese houses just as a Christmas tree is in the Western world for the Christmas season.

Mochi is a dried and hard rice cake so it was a perfect portable ration for the samurai to carry when they went to a war. So, it was their ritual to crack the rice cake after the new year period. On that day the family members ceremoniously take down the mochi and break it into small pieces. They eat a piece to gain good health for the year.

This samurai family custom has been handed down to the martial arts world, all the dojos of all kinds of martial arts have Kagami biraki which is the first training of the year.

This tradition expanded from the ornamental mochi to breaking the top lid of a sake barrel with a wooden hammer. You may know that sake is considered as sacred drink in shinto and it is used in almost all the shinto events.

As it came from the samurai custom thus, it has become a standard event for all the martial arts dojos and organizations in Japan. The dojos use the Kagami Biraki ceremony to signify their first practice of the new year.