However, regardless of the controversy, Zen in the Art of Archery is an important book and its biggest achievement is that Kyudo surfaced to the forefront as a popular Japanese art around the world. I have owned a first edition (1953) english version of the book for many years and obtaining the movie rights last week, was for me, a personal point of pride. Now the real hard work begins. We hope to begin shooting on location in Japan this spring. I do not think it is up to Empty Mind Films to correct any of the assumptions or mistakes Herrigel made, but rather to fill in the gaps that Zen in the Art of Archery certainly does have. For example, no reference is made in the book to the other major religous faith in Japan, and that is Shintoism, which is a large component of Kyudo. Anyway more on this later, as we become more involved in what I am sure will be a major motion picture.

This year the winner was  Uchimura Ryoichi, not exactly the favorite but no outsider as well (he won here three years ago). The major upset was the defending champion Shodai being defeated in an early round. He was favored to win again this year. Overall it is always an exciting event, but this year the matches seemed to stretch into overtime (matches going into encho) with little point scoring. Regardless, for thrills and excitement kendo is superb and I wish it was televised outside Japan much more. Here are some photos – I am on the floor lower right, fourth from the left.

While the sword is no longer made as a weapon but as a work of art, it is still made in the traditional methods by hand. From the steel smelting to the forging and final polishing. It is the culmination of a handful of dedicated master craftsman. We will take you slowly step by step through each process from making the special steel called Tamahagane, to the swordmaker who forges the steel into his own special shape and finish, a process little changed in the last six hundred years. However, todays swords are not just copies of old styles – they are often much better both in quality and in showing us the unique artistry of the makers imagination. These are not the swords you would use in the practice of Iaido, sword drawing or other Kenjutsu which are usually lighter (less than 2 Ibs) and without the razor sharp cutting edge. However, we will feature the swordmasters who practice the fighting techniques once used and perfected by the Samurai.

Only two or three swords are allowed to be produced each month by the swordmaker and this forces each sword to be very expensive and instantly a collectors item to be mounted and encased in glass. Many swordmakers are against the law, called Ju-To-Ho, that restricts the number of sword being made and limits the swords freedom to circulate and be purchased by admirers, not just a few small collectors. We will feature a rare visit to Japans showcase for the sword, a meeting that takes place each year where we will talk to buyers and collectors about the swords future as a work of art.

The swords place in Japanese culture is unique and found no where on the planet in terms of its importance as a symbol and an expression of a peoples spirit. Through its importance in martial terms as a weapon of the soldier and the samurai and as a symbolic representation of Japan’s past – the sword is seen as a gift from the gods. Shrines and temples exist today in Japan that for centuries have been a place to show respect and honor for the Japanese sword. Certainly, we at Empty Mind Films feel that no coverage of Japans martial arts can be properly covered, without a feature length documentary on the sword. In this endeavor we are working alongside Mr Paul Martin, an expert in the Japanese sword who has curated a number of museum quality exhibitions to showcase the sword. More details will follow, and we hope to post one or two stories as we shoot on location. Until then, Jon Braeley.

Last year, I went to watch a theatre play Journey to The West, which is adapted from the novel. The play just stopped after the monkey is pressed under the mountain. The director of the play, of my age, said on the stage that part is the end of his Journey to The West, even though the monkey finally became a Buddha for being smart and brave to fight against all the ghosts along the trip, “I am not happy for that.”
Neither am I. If, as the teachers taught us in the primary class, the immortals in heaven represent the authorities of the feudalism, how to explain that the monkey, as the one who fight against them, finally becomes one of them? The representation explanations that people impose on the classic novels are just bullshit. We prefer to compare the good-for-nothing immortals to the stupid teachers that make us suffer a lot in the school, and we dream to be that monkey, tearing the homework and exam papers into pieces and flying to any other places as we want.
In this summer vacation, this serial was still on the screen to attract the vacation students and my cousin, a ten-year-old boy, was still imitating the monkey’s kungfu movements in front of the screen as we did before. The complex of getting freedom and being a hero applies to every generation.
The original serial has only 25 part, which doesn’t show the full picture of the novel, thus, in 2000, ten more parts were directed again with the same actors, adopting some modern technologies. But these ten parts turn out to be just crap and nobody, definitely nobody likes the new 10, which looks clumsy and scary. Either because of the overuse of computer technologies or the director and the producing team don’t have patience at such fast-money-making era.

So the memory of the monkey can only stop by the childhood, I guess.

Two years ago, on my birthday night, I bumped into a rock bar for the performance of a rock band from France–Le Singe Blanc (white monkey in English). Never heard that band before but I was totally amazed by the monkey noise they made in the music. Vivid and rad–being totally soaked in nice memories of the monkey.

One man chooses to avoid extinction by transforming his Tulou into a popular tourist hot spot. The trend grows and the Hakka are quickly flooded with strangers walking among their homes. They soon realize that tourism is a two-headed monster that brings promises of wealth but threatens to destroy their ancient culture. 

“Our ancestors are very great, the principle of Taichi is very mysterious and beyond every word,” I heard this all the time.

I am not denying the greatness of that circle composed with two fishes, although according to some experts, the two-fish circle can only be called yin-yang diagram, the real taichi diagram is just a plain circle. Besides, it really looks cool when a person practices taichi in that circle or builds a house by drawing that circle at the center of the house or puts that circle on the clothes. It is so popular that as long as Chinese culture is mentioned, it mostly probably comes out covered with a mysterious face with the introducers’ blinky words. If you have some questions, they would say, “it is normal that you don’t understand, it is very deep and our ancestors are too smart.”

I think just this can best show the attitude of modern Chinese to traditional Chinese culture— they pretend to know it by pretending not to know it.

So, people lay more hopes on this mysterious thing and draw it and put it everywhere especially the business people, many of them put that in the offices to get better fengshui and get more money without knowing how it really does function.

People always bow to something that claims to be too complicated to be understood.

But anyway, there should be some persons, especially scholars to stand up and say they can convey some of the deep meanings of this circle to “make it benefit more people”. And then they did and were awed by many people who were benefited by benefiting back with a lot of money. But the scholars insist that what they know is also just a tiny part of this “mysterious eastern wisdom”.

So the word “mysterious” can serve for two causes: first, since it is mysterious, you won’t understand it, so you need me; second, also since it is mysterious, I might also make mistakes in clarifying it, so don’t blame me on my mistakes.

So for the overuse of this diagram, there might be also two reasons: first, I use it to show that I love traditional Chinese culture, as a fashion or blind pride, second, it seems that it is the best way to make money and don’t have to shoulder the responsibilities.

We commenced filming in Mysore in southern India and its the start of our spiritual journey across India in search of Yoga Gurus. We just completed filming at the Ashtanga Yoga Institute – started by the father of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Attached is a photo of the founders grandson, Shareth, who is now the main teacher at the school. Yoga students from all over the world make the pilgrimage to this Yoga Shala to learn from Shareth and his mother. It is quite impressive. We also filmed at a number of other Yoga Shala’s and interviewed some very gracious teachers and students.

Our second leg of this journey takes us to northern India, to the holy city of Rishikesh, by the river Ganges. Here we are filming a gathering of some of the world’s top Yoga masters of Kundalini, Hatha, Jivamukti and Bahkti Yoga styles. To add to this already impressive list, we are interviewing one of India’s most important spiritual leaders, His Holiness Swamiji of the Parnath Niketan Ashram. Rishikesh is a vegetarian city and no alcohol is to be found here … so it’s not a place for the average tourist. More updates to come soon….. Jon Braeley.

This also happens to be my office desk at Empty Mind Studios. This one of two major editing suites that are linked together and share a high-speed disk array located underneath. We use Final Cut Studio for editing, with Soundtrack Pro for audio editing as well as Logic. We edit audio in real-time 5.1 surround using a Focuswrite Saphire audio set-up and M-Audio monitors. Video is monitored through large Apple monitors and 32 inch LCD displays using Black Magic HD video cards.

So there’s a little information about how we work. The Studios are located in Miami, USA for no real hard reason except that it’s great weather. It’s a nice place to come back to when you have been shooting in the cold mountains of China and Japan for a few months! 

Any questions, please get in touch – bye for now, Jon Braeley