ROD OHIRA'S PEOPLE
70-year-old sensei finds a family in martial arts
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
With dignity and pride befitting her samurai lineage, Hanae Miura has endured a life filled with loneliness and hardships to become an extraordinary martial arts instructor.
The 70-year-old teacher practices ji-kishinkage-ryu naginata-jutsu, Japan's ancient budo, or martial art, which utilizes a 7-foot wooden pole mounted with a single-edged curved blade for use against an opponent with a sword. It was taught exclusively to women of samurai families during the Edo Period (1603-1867) to promote physical and spiritual strength and discipline.
A sport form of the combat art gained international popularity after World War II but Miura remains the only instructor outside Japan who teaches traditional jikishinkageryu or "root style" naginata. A delegation of high-ranking sensei from Japan will be here Sept. 13-17 to commemorate Miura's 30th year of teaching naginata in Hawai'i.
Miura stands 4 feet 10 and weighs 98 pounds, but she handles the long weapon with graceful precision.
"It's more than swinging a pole," said 47-year-old Glen Shiraki of Manoa, a Miura student for 28 years. "She has this strength about her, a presence. After refining techniques, you see that mental and spiritual awareness transcends the physical kata.
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"Every time you think you've gone as far as you can, you learn something new," Shiraki said.
Hanae Miura, 70, is the only person outside Japan who teaches traditional jikishinkageryu naginata-jutsu.
Kent Sato, 42, a Pearl City High band teacher and naginata student since 1986, said the jikishinkageryu form that Miura teaches is "like playing a piece of music a lot of times and each time you discover something new about the piece and yourself."
Miura teaches 25 students, ranging in age from 7 to 70. "We pay dues to the international organization, but for the longest time Miura sensei taught for free," Sato said. "Having her here has been a great opportunity for us in Hawai'i."
In the traditional social framework of old Japan, the practice of naginata was expected to cultivate qualities such as religious reverence, obedience and virtue in women. Besides naginata, Miura is an expert in kendo, swordsmanship, koto playing, calligraphy and the ancient style of flower arranging.
"I seek something to learn always, make me strong (person)," she said.
Given up for adoption at age 5, Miura never knew her biological father. She was 14 years old in 1946 when her adopted family left her in Tokyo to fend for herself. By searching for people with the same last name, Miura was able to locate a brother in Yokohama, with whom she lived with for two years.
Miura had to leave, however, when her brother got married.
She began naginata training one day after being adopted by a family named Suzuki, who lived in Mito city between Honshu and Tokyo. Miura's step-grandmother, Hideo Sonobe, was her instructor.
Naginata training continued until the Suzuki family sent her away after the birth of a boy child after the war.
"Many years ago, Japan style is family have to keep first boy (child)," she said. "My adopted mother say many time that 'you not my daughter, you adopted.' When they got boy baby, they don't need me. I think better to die.
"I work real estate office, deliver newspapers, wash (restaurant hand) towels and go night school," Miura added. "Very sad, hard life."
She's been on her own for the past 54 years.
"No more family," Miura said. "Students (in Hawai'i) my family."
But she always continued to practice naginata.
In 1969, five years after judo was introduced as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Summer Games, she was selected to demonstrate naginata in Holland. The Olympics had perked European interest in Japanese martial arts, particularly those involving women, said Miura. Her trip was big news in Japan, she said.
Miura conducted demonstrations in Holland, France, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hawai'i. She came here to teach briefly in 1970, went back to Japan for two years and returned for good in 1972. "Hard to get visa but Spark Matsunaga sponsored me," she said. "No family in Japan and nobody teach (naginata) here so I want to come."
Miura considers teaching in Hawai'i to be a unique experience. "If I stay in Japan, same technique," she said. "Hawai'i different. Students always ask, "Why do this?' When ask so many questions, I learn much, too."
Her prized possession is a 300-year-old naginata weapon, which features the Miura family crest on a beautifully lacquered handle. It is her only connection to the Miura family.
"Naginata been my best friend," she said. "I never lonely when I do naginata."
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
