I think most of you have heard about the 45° step when you do the basic jodan-uke for example, this does not mean that you end up in a 45° angle to the attack that I so often see. I think this is a misunderstanding, and I will explain here so that you have to be an idiot if you don’t understand .

But first let’s make some reference points. To get the distance right we need to understand that the opponent will hit you in the head with his right fist. And that you want to end up at a safe distance where you can block the opponent’s right arm from the inside without being to close or too far away. So you need to move your whole body as one unit about one arms length. So measure how far that is. I will use the tatami mat as a reference point so that you can easily understand. I recommend that you also use the tatami mat as I do here so that you can do the step without looking. And then look down and check if you are on the correct spot, angles and length wise.

Remember that you move the body one arm’s length, it doesn’t matter how long the opponent’s arms is. If he knows how deep he should punch (just through the target and not an inch more!) it will be perfect distance for you.

When you move from point A to point B in the first step you should have the exact same angles but one arms length further back to the side. You should have rotated the whole body about 30° to the left, but the angles and alignment should be the same.

So when you start in the basic Ichimonji no kamae both heel’s should be on the same line and pointing directly against the opponent’s center. I won’t go into detail about anything else than the footwork here. I might do a part two of this tutorial later?

The right foot and toes should be pointing exactly 45° back to the right against the other corner of the tatami mat. Keep a rather low position with both knees bent (in basic training, be extra low), more weight on the right leg.

Lift the right foot and push the body strongly and quickly back to the right with the left foot. You should explode from the position, so make sure the front leg is not too straight. Do not move the left foot first (I say that this is a bad habit). If you keep your right arm straight against the opponent, he will not step on the left foot, as he have to move around your arm.

The right foot should go exactly 45° towards the corner of the tatami. Note how the right foot have turned a little, but the heel should be on the line. At the same time the left foot should follow the right foot in a straight line.

As you can see this angle is about 30° from the starting point. Also worth mentioning is that the feet’s is never this wide apart as it is rather a jump than step, step. It is important that the upper body should not go anywhere else but straight backwards to the side as if you where on wheels.

See how the left foot ends up on the same line. Now you have moved the body 30° back to the right. You should end up in the exact same position as when you started. Your kamae is “closed” and good, aimed directly to the opponents inside.

From here you block and take his balance… as you can see you have also opened up the opponent’s lower region. You have the opening where you will place the right foot as you step in and counter with your own attack.

Training drill

A very good training drill is to stand in Ichimonji no kamae and move from point A to point B as explained above. Repeat this several times, you should move in a big circle keeping a perfect Ichimonji no kamae the whole time. Then change side and do it to the left. This is a good exercise that strenghten your legs and gives you a good foundation.

Happy training!

/Mats

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Shortly after his second Japan trip this year training with Soke and the Shihan, he held this seminar. This video contains Taijutsu techniques with variations including the Hanbo (short staff). Also Hanbojutsu basics with Taijutsu applications. You can see how similar the Taijutsu techniques can be done with a weapon, and how easy it is to do a weapon technique without a weapon.

This movie was filmed June 27′th in 2009 at Kaigozan Dojo. This training was taught by Mats Hjelm, Bujinkan Shihan Kugyo Happobiken.

NOTE! The instructions is in Swedish, but there is not so much talk but more action.

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One of the things that I’ve been noticing in martial arts classes the last number of years is an increase of what I call “lap dog syndrome.” This is where a (ever-larger, it seems) number of people will hang around at the front of the class where Sensei watches people train between teaching techniques. When Sensei has stopped the class to teach, what you see behind him is a line of people standing there with their arms folded like a line of Stormtroopers. There is so much posing and posturing, people laughing at Sensei’s jokes before they are translated when their knowledge of Japanese is nowhere near close enough to understand what he just said. People “guarding the front of the line” when Sensei is doing calligraphy for people in the class. The new Vanguard. They don’t seem to realize that there never used to be one, so we can probably do without one now as well. But to be a conduit to Sensei is a position of power.

There was a time (when I visited in 1995 and moved over in January 1997) when there were 4 foreigners who were the seniors, and people respected them for the time they have lived in Japan, their Japanese ability, their skill, and their relationship with Sensei. These gems of the Bujinkan have been eclipsed by social climbers, those who want to be in the forefront, those who want to be on film, those who want to be seen as seniors, those who desire the admiration and respect of others.

There was a time when the translation was automatically deferred to the person in the room with the best Japanese language ability, by default and out of respect. Now we have translators jumping over each other, interrupting each other, cutting each other off. Everyone wants to appear as if they know something. Someone will butt in and translate something just because he happens to know a few of the words in the sentence that Sensei just said, even though he is lost at the next sentence. At the last class I was at, there were 4 people trying to jump in and translate, while the person with by far the best Japanese, who has translated at many overseas Taikai as well as rendered many of Sensei’s books into English, sat at the back of the class completely unacknowledged. His Japanese is 50 times better than anyone who was translating - and all of the translators knew it. Or should have.

People ask me why I don’t translate anymore, and this is the reason. I have no desire to compete with someone who wants to translate so badly that they won’t defer to someone else in the room who is more skilled at Japanese - and I don’t mean to me, I mean to the person in the room who is more skilled at Japanese. In my own case, I also got tired of being interrupted one moment and then asked for translation help by the same person the next moment when they got stuck. I’m not a Bujinkan social climber, I’m not a Bujinkan lap dog. I don’t care about placing myself between Sensei and everyone else as a conduit. I’m just a guy who likes Bujinkan martial arts and enjoys training.

I encounter a lot of people who seem to have little else in their life than the Bujinkan and their status or rank in it. The Bujinkan is their life, and they derive their whole sense of identity from it. Their business cards are Bujinkan, their blogs are solely for the purpose of disseminating “the Word” of the Bujinkan from on high, their Facebook profile photos and photo albums are nothing but Bujinkan and ninja paraphernalia. This type of thing has increased exponentially in recent years. The “seniors” who were keeping everything in check for years are gone - moved away from Japan or training more quietly - and the new generation is completely different. The older generation used to put the younger “pups” in place when they got out of line or talked about things they knew nothing about. Now its the “I’m ok, you’re ok” be-politically-correct game, while everyone not-so-secretly jockeys for position at the front of the line.

Well, this isn’t a very positive post. But a number of people have been asking me my thoughts on these issues for some time now. Its not a very politically-correct way of addressing the questions. I still have a lot to learn from Sensei. He laughs and is patient no matter what happens, and no matter who he is dealing with, no matter what the size of the ego is. He carries it off without a hitch. I’d really like to be able to do that someday. But if I were him at his age and had been putting up with as much as he has for as long as he has - I’d probably have already retired. So few people seem to realize the patience and forbearance that he needs to have just to put up with us all.

Sensei keeps a good perspective on the Bujinkan. He told me in 1995, “I don’t need the Bujinkan. I could fold it up tomorrow and it wouldn’t mean anything to me.” Bujinkan ranks are also not in the 9 schools that Hatsumi Sensei is Soke of, but ranks in the “Bujinkan”, a 30-year-old martial arts organization. People should keep this in perspective and not think of themselves more highly than they ought simply because they have a high rank in the Bujinkan. Just because Sensei is a genius at martial arts doesn’t mean that we are as well simply because we go to his classes and have a high dan grade and stand around and laugh at his jokes. It is important to laugh - its good for one’s health and good for mental equilibrium. But it helps if you get the joke and aren’t just laughing to make everyone else think that you got it.

It won’t be long before the Bujinkan is a a crossroads. The glue that holds it all together - Sensei - will move on to do his own thing. He lives life as a martial artist and as a human being - not as a slave to his own organization. We should follow that example and strive to become more well-rounded human beings as well, not simply highly visible and highly ranked Bujinkan members. When Sensei moves on, it will be interesting to see what happens. In preparation for that time, what I think we need in the Bujinkan today is more sincerity, more humility, and more people who can see themselves openly and honestly and who sincerely work on polishing themselves - not because of the Bujinkan, and not because of Sensei, but simply for the love of the arts.

How long does it take to achieve mastery? Well, according to research cited in his book “Outliers”, by Malcolm Gladwell, it is 10,000 hours.

This seems to be true regardless of the field of endeavor. Whether you are a professional athlete, musician, or an entrepreneur, it just seems to take the human brain and body 10,000 hours to thoroughly understand AND integrate the skills associated with your chosen endeavor.

What does this mean for us as budoka? Well, if you’re training twice a week for a two hours each time, then about 50 years should do the trick!

Disclaimer; this is not necessarily the correct way of doing this technique, it is the way I see how it should be done.

差合 SASHI AI

Technique No 3 from Kukishin-ryu Rokushaku Bôjutsu – Keiko sabaki kata

1. I assume Chûdan no kamae and plan to make the opponent open up his left side…

2. I move the left foot forward to the left and enter in to the opponent’s right side. I angle the body in a way to draw the attention to my left hand and hide the right hand sliding back to the end of the staff.

3. I step forward with the left foot and thrust in chudan-tsuki to the opponent and force him to move. Since I enter on his right side I pretty much force him to move to his left.

Note: If he is not moving I strike through his guard and get him. If he put force into the block it is better for me, but I’m not waiting to feel it (physically) then it would be to late for the next step.

4. I quickly move the right foot forward and strike his left elbow with dô-uchi.

5. Then another quick kote-haneage strike from under to his right arm to completely disarm him. The kata officially finish here, but it is easy to keep going and take control of the space and the weapon he just lost.

6. Then I jump back to Seigan no kamae and assume zanshin (because the next kata starts from here which makes it easier to remember the next kata).

After you and your partner have learned the kata, try to work on a better defense with the sword. Try to be more offensive and gradually make it more difficult to attack with the staff, instead of moving backwards move forwards and be more offensive. The swordsman’s distance is shorter and he need to be on a safe distance or closer where he can get the opponent with the staff quickly. The person with the staff need to be outside the swordsman’s reach or be completely covered. You can practice this technique with more freely distance and timing, but keep the same sequence of attacks (keep to the kata). If you do this I suggest you use safe weapons (padded weapons) and maybe protections, or just be very careful.

There is also kuden; things taught personally from teacher to student, so please find a good teacher and study with him/her.

Happy training!

/Mats