by pusgums

We were in the middle of a bojutsu class and I had an epiphany.  I was trying to explain how to hold the staff.  "You must hold it lightly.  Yet firmly connected to your kamae and spirit."  My words failed me.

Yet, I was feeling something with the rokushakubo I wanted to communicate.  I tried demonstrating various aspects of the movement and grip on the bo.  And none of these things held the idea I felt. Luckily, I remembered a quote from Hatsumi Sensei and I dropped it on the students:

In a verse of the gokui: "striking the void, if there is a response in your hands, that is the gokui."  You must have the enlightenment of the Buddha of the void (koku-bosatsu), whose heart was as infinite as the void itself.  Thrusting the bo into the mist is in truth thrusting one's heart and mind, and this is one method of koku - void training.

Yes!  I was feeling it.  You have to hold the bo very lightly to feel the response from the void.  The response I felt was like creation.

Not long after this exciting insight I was hit on the head by my uke's bo.  If you mess about in the void you might get hurt.   That's one thing I love about training- the immediate feedback that keeps me humble.

Soke recently stated at the end of class that everyone needs to practise the Kihon Happo and Gogyo no Kata. It was also reiterated by Noguchi Shihan that people need to train in lower kamae and not become lazy in their movements. ...

Seeing Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae for the first time can be misleading.  Usually a student's first exposure to this kamae is seeing someone hold a sword out in front of themselves while someone else throws shuriken at them.  Then the instructor hands the sword to you and says, "Next."

by eflon

This aspect of Totoku is often perceived as one of those quirky things in our training that we may try out, but never take seriously.  After all, who has had to dodge shuriken for real?  I'm not counting the dishes your girlfriend threw at you during a recent argument.  Maybe you try this out, maybe block a few rubber shuriken and then forget it.

Totoku forms part of some very rich strategy in our art.  And the more you look for it, the more you will encounter.  I personally have heard Hatsumi Sensei reference it many times, and it wasn't anything to do with shuriken blocking.  It is a running theme in our taijutsu that has to be experienced from a qualified teacher.

Maybe a starting place to understand this kamae can be from the Tachi.  This sword was mainly held in one hand.  There was little tradition of handheld shields in Japanese Budo.  So how do you deal with incoming arrows, spears, or enemy sword attacks?  You use your own sword.  The first use of the sword is to protect yourself before cutting.  It becomes your first line of defense and your shield.

What if you don't have a sword?  The idea of Totoku goes even deeper.  It moves into the idea of hiding yourself behind a shield.  But what is a shield?  Soke speaks about this in reference to Goton No Jutsu:

Examine the character for "Ton" as used above in Tongyo ("hiding one's form"; or alternatively, "the discretion doctrine"), and you can discover it to be a combination of the characters "fleeing" with a "shield" - just as along the path of Ninpo.  The priciple of recognizing the value gained by winning through flight is one of Ninjutsu's cardinal rules.  However it is not simply a question of escaping.  What can one use as a shield?  One can use:

• the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water)
• the Five Rings
• the Five Ways (the way of enlightenment)
• the Five Arts
• the Five Teachings
• the Five Confucian Virtues (benevolence, rightousness, prosperity, wisdom, and sincerity)
• Nature
• the shining (or shadowed) glory of the martial ways
• beliefs
• politics (or rather policies for life)

the shields are multiple and varied.

Soke says on another occasion,

Everything is a natural shield.  So, anything can be a natural shield.  One should move in a connected way like Juppo Sessho, and Koteki Ryoda which include these teachings.  Such things are written in old Japanese scrolls.

And finally, I watched one day as Soke was demonstrating some of his mysterious muto dori, and he explained, "You must evade by the thickness of air.  Use the air as your shield."

Today I got another scam message (see the original below). I googled his name and found several warnings. I got a similar e-mail a year ago. First I thought it was too good to be true (warning bell 1), then the more I communicated the more warning bells I heard, but it seemed reasonable, until...

He wanted me to charge a credit card number for my salary plus their hotel, meals and expenses. He wanted me to do it very quickly and he prompted me to immediately give 60-70% of the money to his contact so he could pay for their hotel and expenses.

Now it was obvious it was a scam. He had stolen the credit card number, and if I had charged the credit card and given these 60-70% of the money to "his contact", soon after the police would knock on my door and I would end up in jail, having problem explaining why I was so stupid.

So don't fall for this, they might change name and everything so you won't find it on Google. The message below is very general, it doesn't mention my name, my club or even the art I train. Please be aware!

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:57:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: Paul Howard
Subject: Training Classes
To: howardpaul713@yahoo.co.uk

Hello,

My name is Howard Paul. I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from Sept to October,2010.They are all beginners and six in number.What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.

Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it.
I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.

Best regards.
Howard Paul
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground,
Mereheath Lane,
Knutsford,
Cheshire, WA16 6SL,Uk

Here is a new one :-/

Hello,

My name is Robert Dickson, I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from May 2011.to July, 2011. They are all beginners and six in number. What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.

Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it. I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly. Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.

Best regards

Robert Dickson,
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground
109-113 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington,
London,UK, SW7 5LR

Arriving late in San Diego, I met with Lance and we travelled back to his home where my head quickly hit the pillows. It is always a “homely” feeling returning back to San Diego. I am always so relaxed that I must bore Lance to tears ...

Today I got an e-mail from Mr Tom Lang, who is the author of The Stick And Cane In Close Combat: Jointlocks, Takedowns and Surprise Attacks, that really made my day. I see that his own book got really nice reviews on Amazon. I guess I did something right for once . Here is what he wrote...

Mats: I recently acquired your DVD on the hanbo. It is by far the best available. I have made a special study of hanbo and cane techniques for the past 10 years and have collected more than 150 books and DVDs on these techniques, so I believe I can make that statement with confidence. Congratulations!

Tom Lang
Author of The Stick and Cane in Close Combat (Unique Publications)

The Stick Fighting DVD can be found here, it is also available as and iPod version for download here.

Happy training!

2010-12-03/06 - Bujinkan Shinden dojo ry's 10th anniversary seminar

For more information, please contact emilia.viljanen (a) helsinki.fi

From http://bujinkan.me/seminars/

After the last article on foundation of taijutsu I redesigned the budomart website accordingly.

Please visit it and discover the new foundation series.

4 sets covering 612 techniques, 26 dvds, more than 22 hours of videos.

The quality of our taijutsu depends on strong foundations. But what does taijutsu and foundation really mean?

Taijutsu is often understood as the sole body movement but when you are used to Hatsumi sensei’s vision of life it is always interesting to dig a little deeper and see what the word(s) really encompass it is necessary to review the various writings and meanings of the words.

First 術 jutsu is either art, means, or technique as we know but this is with the various meanings of tai that we have subtle changes in the understanding of the word taijutsu. But when you look at the three meaning of “tai” you discover that they can be applied to your training.

体, tai has 3 main meanings: 1: body; physique; posture. 2: shape; form; style. 3: substance; identity; reality. Taijutsu is a jutsu done with the body that goes from the pure omote (body) to enter the world of ura (reality). This is integrating the taigamae (体構え) and the kokorogamae (心構え). This is a self centered taijutsu.

対, this other tai expands our understanding of taijutsu by precising that it is also: 1: opposite; opposition. 2: versus; vs. 3: equal footing; equal terms. 4: against …; anti-. This new taijutsu is expanding and adds the idea of fighting the enemy and to balance the forces of the opponent. Now we are into the man to man fight.

隊, this last one means: party; company; body (of troops); or corps. Now taijutsu expands again and includes the idea of army fighting and to interact with our friends and our enemies.

The interesting thing here is that by digging through the various understanding of “tai” we moved from the apprentice training where we are alone; to the encounter with a single opponent; to the battlefield feeling. So taijutsu a general system to prepare our bodies and mind to go from the beginner to the advanced level.

Our foundations are based on the quality of the basics that we learn alone and then with a partner through years of training. Taijutsu help us to grow from the omote to finally reach the essence of the ura. In Japanese 大本 is the kanji for foundation. It reads either “taihon” (taihen?) or “ômote” (omote?). Maybe this is how we must understand sensei when he speaks of 実践 jissen (practice; practise; put into practice) and 実戦 jissen (combat; actual fighting).

On a practical aspect we have to keep in mind what sensei has repeated many times concerning the densho. “densho are for kids (beginners)” as techniques have to be taught step by step. Historically the young samurai would begin his warrior training at  around 10 years of age and at 15 years of age would become an adult and be allowed to go to the battlefield. In fact, the 15 ranks in the bujinkan were created by sensei also to symbolize this. When you begin you are a beginner and then after many years you reach adulthood and become responsible of your own actions, you are jûgodan. But without good basics your taijutsu will lack credibility. Therefore our training in the three tai defined earlier will guide us in our mastering of taijutsu. We will move gradually from taijutsu (体術) to taijutsu (隊術) which included the use of yoroi and weapons. The first tai (body) is the modern translation for the word but in the past tai encompassed also the mind, the weapons and the yoroi. If you think about it, it is quite logical. As we said earlier, young samurai (mostly kids) were not able to understand the subtleties of high level techniques including weapons. So in order to keep it K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple & Stupid) the trainers striped the techniques off the weapons and began to teach unarmed combat only. This is why we begin our training with unarmed combat. On the battlefield warriors would always carry weapons and unarmed combat would be rarely used.

The foundation of our taijutsu is a set of basics acquired in unarmed combat and regrouped by sensei in the tenchijin ryaku no maki in 1983. Once mastered, unarmed taijutsu is completed with all the usual weapons of the samurai and the yoroi to create a natural flow of movement.

This is why taijutsu (体術) is the true foundation of taijutsu (隊術).

Here is another old article I had on my web site 10 years ago, enjoy!

- Mats 2010-08-18

---

Background: This article was the result of me asking about the Shu Ha Ri (learn the technique, break the technique and then leave the technique) on a mailing list. And the response was so good that I thought more people should be able to read it. Click on the image on the right and it will explain the meaning of the Kanji. Shu-Ha-Ri is not only a Bujinkan term, it can be found in many Japanese Budô arts. And as Arnaud explains below, not necessarily just Budô, it involves everything we learn and master. Enjoy the article!

/Mats Hjelm - January 2000

Taihen Kuden Shinden by Arnaud Cousergue

Mats said: "I need some more information about that. I think most japanese Budô arts have this saying. Can someone give me a few comments or more information about this?"
The process of learning for human beings (maybe animals too) follows three basic periods:

you learn the new stuff,

you understand the new stuff,

you go beyond the new stuff, making it your own stuff.

If we take the process of learning how to ride a bicycle we have the following steps:

• When you are a kid you first learn to stay balanced on your bike, you learn to stay up (i.e. not to fall). To help you keep your balance, your parents (Sensei?) add two small wheels to your bike so that you cannot fall on your side so easily. With the help of the wheels, you can learn to move the pedals and you can move forward.
• Then you develop your experience by playing with your friends (training with partners) over the months. You fall sometimes but, little by little things get easier. You begin to feel and understand how the whole thing works and you free yourself from the "form".
• After a while, you know how to ride your bicycle, you do not fall that much, you do not think on "how to ride" but more on "how to get to this place". You know how to ride a bicycle and you adapt your knowledge to your environment.

By learning how to ride your bike, you followed the three steps of: learning, breaking and leaving! But this is not the end of the story. You have been riding your bike for a few months and the little wheels are bent upwards because you trained hard. They do not touch the ground any more, but you don't know it. You think you are still using them to balance your bicycle and prevent you from falling. One day, your parents (Sensei?) see that and with a tear in their eyes admire your mastery Watching you, they even saw that sometimes these little wheels where preventing you from riding properly. Because they love you, because they are proud of you they decide to take out these little wheels that you do not really use anymore, to make you more free of your movements.

Alas the whole process is to be followed again! You have to learn a different way of riding your bicycle. Everything you knew from experience is not good anymore.

• you have to learn a new form of moving because without these little wheels you feel unbalanced (even if, without knowing it, you were not using the little wheels anymore). You fall again very often and you get more pain and bruises as you progress in learning this new process.
• After a while you understand the new rules. You learn new angles you can use to change direction. Your bicycle becomes more the extension of your self.
• After a small period of time, you do not pay attention anymore to your bicycle, you are more interested in getting to some place(adapting the technique to the environment). Your movements are free you are not limited anymore by the little wheels (basics?).

And if one day you want to learn how to ride a motorbike, you will have to go through another (yet the same) learning process of "learn-break-leave".

This is the same in Budô. You first learn the body motion trying to reproduce what your teacher is showing. You cannot do it but you try hard to understand the "mechanics" of motion.

Then by training hard with your partners you build YOUR understanding of body motion and little by little you adapt it to your own body and capabilities. You break the forms and use what is good for you leaving what is not. You break every step into small parts so that you can integrate them easily in your body natural movements.

One day, the movement is no more your teacher's movement but it is yours. You reached the "leave the form" step until you get a deeper understanding of it that will put you again through the learning process and the three steps.

Now, if we want japanese names we can give the following names for these steps:

• learning the form = TAIHEN: learning through body motion,
• breaking the form = KUDEN: breaking the form through the experience you develop by yourself, with your partners and with the help and advises of your teacher,
• leaving the form = SHINDEN: you create your own form "naturally", your own spirit feeds your understanding of body motion. you can adapt your actions without thinking because you are one with the technique, you are above the form. The movement exists and you "manifest" it naturally, including it in different situations and environments.

For me this is what Hatsumi Sensei is teaching us. He is not only teaching movements or techniques. He is giving us freedom and this freedom can only be attain through hard practice, sweat and bruises. There is no limited time to get it, this is a whole life study!

I hope this will help you Mats

Arnaud Cousergue

http://kumafr.wordpress.com/

January 25'th 2000