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Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions that might be of amusement to some of you. Hey, Mr. Tengu, what the heck does "Furyu" mean? Furyu (pronounced something like fuu-riyuu) literally means "wind and flowing waters." It is a term derived from ancient Japanese court poetry of the Heian period (700s to 1100s) and denotes a kind of elegant yet playful and nostalgic look at life and art. When I first met my Takeuchi-ryu martial arts teacher, he gave that word to me as a sort of martial arts koan (Zen riddle). I've been bugged by it and have tried to find out the meaning ever since. How come you guys take your time coming out with the print version of Furyu? Well, we ain't got no good excuse except that if you guys are rabid subscribers, you'll forgive us and try to encourage us to continue. You see, Furyu continues to be a "labor of love," as we dubbed it in our first issue. We make no money from it, especially since we pissed off a couple of so-called martial arts "masters," glory hounds, and other publications because we refuse to glorify violence, egotistical machismo types, or Hollywood-type "martial arts"masters. We also tend to have a stupid sense of humor, which pissed off some California-New Agey type aikido guys, apparently, so there went that subscribership. What we're left with is a core of readers who like to read about martial arts and its history, theory and philosophy, without all the bloody hype, macho posturing and trendy fads. Unfortunately, that kind of attitude is not very popular, so we barely eke by on our small but devoted readership base. So to survive, the one-and-only Yours Truly continues to teach college full-time, while also trying to maintain a training regime, and being part of an extended family, besides putting out a magazine on his messy, cluttered and chaotic desktop. What about all the other kinds of martial arts, such as Chinese gung-fu, etc.? We're a magazine mainly about classical Japanese martial arts and culture (it says so right on the banner). From time to time we do hope to write about other countries' martial arts, by way of contrast, but our main focus will be the traditional and/or classical styles of martial arts of Japan and Okinawa. I can't find you on the news stands. Where can I get a copy of your magazine? You can order a single copy or back issues to see if you like our print journal before subscribing. (See our order page.) We have a spotty, limited distribution because one of our main distributors went bankrupt in 1997, leaving us high and dry with our bills. They kept telling us the mantra, "The check is ready, the check is on my desk, the check is going to be in the mail after so-and-so signs it. . ." until I finally got a lawyer friend to send them a letter. Then they promptly declared bankruptcy. The several thousands of dollars they owed me would be peanuts to a large publisher, but I had to take money from my personal savings and IRA to cover the costs of the issue. Since that time, I have had to slowly rebuild my finances and had to cut back on distribution to only the very few distribution companies that pay regularly and on time. Now that some distributors are expressing interest in expanding, I am hesitant, because Tengu Press doesn't have enough capital to expand yet. But I hope that as we pay off our debts, we will make our presence more known on the news stands. Furyu the Budo Journal and all material on this site are copyright © 2001 by Tengu Press and Wayne Muromoto. All US and international copyright laws hold. Anyone interested in using any material of the site must contact Wayne Muromoto at wmuromoto@hotmail.com or at Tengu Press Hawaii, PO Box 61637, Honolulu, Hawaii 96839 USA. |
