The Essence Of Budo. By ariesbudo. I received today the first sample copy of Soke's new book , the ?Essence of Budo? due to be officially released by Kondansha in a few weeks time. The actual date is not yet fixed, as far as I am aware. ...

The new book Budō no Gokui by Hatsumi Soke is available for pre-order now for only $23.60, it will be shipped in the end of June.

Hardcover: 208 pages

Publisher: Kodansha International Ltd (May 1, 2011)

ISBN-10: 4770031076

ISBN-13: 978-4770031075

In a quick hirameki of what is to come in this book (without giving too much away) is the artistic look at the bigger picture of the mindset of Hatsumi Soke in his interpretation of the Pinnacle of Martial Arts. The message to Bujinkan practitioners will be standardly consistent as ever, if you are of the “Keep Going” tribe in the sense that the secret to martial arts can be found in…

- Doug Wilson (one of the translators of this book)

Budo transcends simple combat techniques to ultimately attain a world of peace. Budo includes an array of martial arts developed in Japan, among them Aikido, Judo, Karatedo, Kyudo, and Kendo. In this book, grandmaster Hatsumi explores the essence of Budo, and demonstrates a range of important techniques relating to this essence. The author also reveals secret techniques and the hidden principles of the martial arts, and elucidates the words of his master, Toshitsugu Takamatsu, on Budo and life. Including some three hundred beautiful pictures depicting the author demonstrating his techniques, and around one hundred pictures of rare works of calligraphy, illustrations, and hidden documents on the martial arts and their role in Japanese culture, this book will be relevant and insightful to practitioners of all martial traditions including Judo, Aikido, Karatedo, Kendo, Kenjutsu, Jujutsu, Iaijutsu, and other various fighting sports.

About the Author

Masaaki Hatsumi was born in 1931. After progressing through various martial arts, he found his life's mentor, Takamatsu Toshitsugu, and studied under him for the next fifteen years, becoming the 34th Grandmaster of Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu and eight other arts, which he unified into the Bujinkan system. While travelling the world, teaching thousands of individual students as well as law enforcement agencies, he received numerous accolades from politicians and spiritual leaders of many nationalities.

Click here for more of my recommended Bujinkan book!s

photo by roy costello

One night I was training in Hombu dojo with Hatsumi Sensei. It wasn't very crowded and he had us working with the bo which is definitely rare in the Hombu nowadays. He did a technique that left a very odd impression on his uke and those of us watching. It was as if he released the bo in the kukan, and the bo acted as his agent, throwing the attacker and tying him up. Wow. That was odd.

Soke seemed to notice the confused looks around the room, because he explained to us that this was Shinbo. The translator looked confused as well, so Soke pointed up above the kamidana to the picture of Takamatsu Sensei holding the bo. Sensei explained that was why he wrote Shinbo beneath that picture.

So what did Soke mean by Shinbo?  I am probably more lost than the translator, but Soke has referenced that idea before.

There is a related concept called 花情竹性 "Kajo Chikusei where we strive to be as gentle as a flower, and as straight, or straightforward, as bamboo. In this idea, the heart of a warrior means having a sincere heart. Sensei says Ninjutsu is a great warrior's path open only to those whose heart is in the right place.

There is this interplay between being soft, gentle, and warm hearted or strong, brazen, and bold. Both qualities in balance. Soke says "It is not always the case that big techniques beat everything; it is a fact that sometimes small techniques can beat big ones."

Hatsumi Sensei encourages us to live upright like a bo. Honest and straightforward in heart. But this doesn't mean being naive. If you know how to use a bo, you know the tricks and deception possible with it's use. Meaning in your stance of being a straightforward person, you are ready for people who are not, and who may use deception against you.

Sensei says that when a young man appears to be a dekunobō 木偶の坊 or でくの坊 (wooden doll or useless stick), if he endures long enough he can become a strong man someday. This endurance can be seen as 辛抱一貫 Shinbo Ikkan.

As for the astonishing and inexplicable technique Hatsumi Sensei showed us that night, he says:

"Few people have been taught the Kasumi no Den ("message of the mist") known as Shinbo ("true, enduring stick"). You project a shadow image of yourself into the void.

Hmmm. One of me is too many. I'll have to make room for my shadow...

As you may have noticed we changed the theme and style on this blog, please let us know what you think. Click on the attached image to see how it looked before.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1eX2FI1RuY

photo by rumpleteaser

Sometimes the simplest strategies or tactics are the most effective. One day my teacher, Peter asked me to be a spy, and I used a strategy that any child understands.  Hatsumi Sensei calls this tactic "tanuki nemuri." And it was very effective. I got the all the information from the target and then some! He literally volunteered information that would expose him.

A tanuki is a masked animal like a raccoon, yet big and stocky like a badger, and is known to fake being dead when surprised... because of this, the idiom "tanuki neiri" [literally "fall into a tanuki's sleep"] means to feign sleep.

The mission I was tasked with was reconnaissance and information gathering.  OK, it wasn't secret agent stuff, but I approached it with professionalism and as part of my overall training. Basically it involved one of my teacher's ex-students.  He had only trained with Peter briefly, and never made it beyond 7th kyu or so. Well, some years later, Peter received several reports that this guy was teaching and running his own training group. The reports included stories of dangerous training that sent students to the hospital. Since Peter was the senior Bujinkan instructor in the region, and had once had this guy as a student, he felt some responsibility to check into this.

The guy was training in a park, and Peter felt he couldn't just walk up himself, because this guy would recognize him and cover his activities.

All I had was the name of a park in another town. This was in the old days, before the Internet and Google. I needed a strategy. I decided the best way to get information was to pretend to want to become the guy's student. I thought it would look suspicious to just walk up out of nowhere and ask to be his student. How could I make it look innocent?

What do people do in parks? Besides Ninja training? Picnics, exercise, walk their dogs... wait, I have a dog that loves walks in the park! I put her in the car and we were off.

After an hour driving, my dog was very excited when we started circling the park. The park was crowded with families. I drove around the perimeter and quickly located the "ninjas."

My dog put her nose to the ground and we walked all over the park. As she sniffed the ground I casually watched the ninjas go through their taihenjutsu drills.  I allowed my dog to slowly find her way closer and closer.  We paused under a nearby tree.

Once I determined who the teacher was (the only black belt, and giving instruction), I made my interest more obvious.  I began actively staring and edging closer.

He caught my stare. At first he ignored me. But I edged closer.  The next time he looked my way, I asked a very dumb question, "What kind of karate are you guys doing?"

He seemed pleased to answer, "It's not karate. We are training ninjutsu."  "Oh wow! You guys are ninjas? I wanna be a ninja... How do I be a Ninja?"

Once he started talking, I couldn't shut him up. He told me all about their "deadly" art. They were training to be assassins.  They practiced invisibility and stealth. I made a comment about their "cool" shoes and asked where I could get ninja shoes.

Things got interesting when I asked him how he started teaching. He said that he had lived in Japan, and he was the personal student of an old Japanese man who was the "last" Ninja. The old man had given him a test where he tried to kill him with a sword. I asked him his teachers name, and he said Hatsumi Sensei. He said, after he passed this test he was given a licence to teach.

I was all, "Wow, so you are like a black belt? Are you licenced to kill or something?" He said that he is a 10th degree black belt.

Tanuki-neiri is said to have its origin in the days when no distinction was made between the tanuki and the mujina or badger, and the latter was believed to have been unable to see or hear during the daytime and therefore likely to just sit tight and try not to attract too much attention to itself.

Today the most common place to find people playing possum is in crowded commuter trains and subways, where younger people lucky enough to have found seats feign sleep to avoid making eye contact with elderly commuters to whom social convention dictates they give up their seat. Along with both its less common variations, tanuki and tanuki-ne, the idiom is not used as it`s English equivalent "play possum” to mean “feign ignorance."

I knew I had him on that point. Back in those days, there weren't very many Judans (in fact, maybe only the Japanese Shihan), and my teacher certainly would have known about this.

I watched their class for awhile.  My dog was bored by this time and was napping under the tree.  I soon had to move her because, to my amazement, they started throwing shuriken and shooting arrows at the tree. This seemed hazardous with all the children and families running around the park.

Most of his students appeared to be teenagers from the neighborhood. After they were done, the guy told me he could rank me up to 9th dan, one rank below his, if I started training with him. I acted excited, but drove home bewildered.

Hatsumi Sensei says, that humans will show their true nature when around a "sleeping" person. He says, "If you pretend to be sleeping you can see to the bottom of the enemy's heart and intentions." And that, "you just cannot win if you do not have this skill of playing dumb."

In the end, this guy seemed out of touch with reality. When Peter eventually confronted him, he claimed he had an evil twin brother that sometimes impersonates him. He claimed to have gotten his rank in the mail through a home study course. Then he legally changed his name and started wearing strange military garb and saying he was in the special forces. Peter informed the authorities about the guys odd and dangerous activities. Over the years, from time to time, the guy would show up at some Bujinkan event seeking rank from different instructors, and Peter would try to let everyone know to be careful with him.

Mats har blivit inbjuden av Bujinkan Haburamu Dojo i Istanbul att hålla ett träningsläger (för sjätte eller sjunde gången).

För mer information se Facebook event och Haburamu Dojos hemsida.

Lägret blev en succé! Cirka 25 deltagare från Estland, Lettland och Litauen deltog under dessa två dagar. Temat för lägret var Sanshin no kata och Juttejutsu. Eventuellt blir det ett till läger i Riga efter sommaren.

Mats skrev en artikel om lägret, klicka här!

Se bilder från lägret här.

I'd like to inform you about the most beautiful and best manufacturer of training weapons for Bujinkan (now also for  Ko-ryu and Aikido) practitioners, PAART ( Petar Antunovic ART). Petar is a woodwork artist as you can see on the picture inserted.

I highly recommend these weapons. They are not only beautiful but also authentic.

Click here for more information!