Shihan Duncan Stewart, 15th Dan, is a senior student of Bujinkan Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi. He started training in 1988, and moved to Japan in 2004 to study weekly with Hatsumi Soke, Nagato Shihan, Noguchi Shihan, and Someya Shihan. He is well respected in the Bujinkan and is often called-upon to demonstrate at classes.

Duncan was Nagato Shihan’s sole uke at the Bujinkan Hombu for two years when studying direct from the Gyokko Ryu and Kukishinden Ryu Densho. Duncan has also studied Nihon Buyo (Traditional Japanese Dance) under the direction of Noguichi Sensei.

Duncan conducts seminars worldwide for those wishing to gain more exposure to current training in Japan. And, back in Japan, he runs his own training at the Hombu dojo and Kashiwa.

Duncan successfully co-coordinated the 2007 Australian Bujinkan Taikai and participated in many Japanese Bujinkan Embu for which he has received the Gold Medal and Certification from Hatsumi Soke.

In addition to his exceptional skill and understanding of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, Duncan is an excellent teacher. He is highly sought-after and do seminars all over the world.

To Learn more about Duncan, visit his web site: http://tazziedevil.wordpress.com/

Video clips with Duncan

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6YcF3iAmKY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDO6pEYHANo

Skip to 2:07 to see Duncan!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5EngBX8AqE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oA80eui1Kg

Paul Masse Santa Monica Training

We had some great training with Paul Masse last weekend. One idea that Paul shared with us is:

強弱柔剛あるべからず　故にこの心から離れ　空という一字に悟り　 体また無しとして　之に配す

Neither strong or weak, soft or hard, separate from the heart of these and enlighten yourself to the one character of nothingness. Make your body nothingness and reside therein.

This comes to us from Toda Shinzaburo Masahide of the Togakure ryu. Another translation of this phrase can be found in Hatsumi Sensei's book, "The Way of the Ninja,"

"One should be neither strong nor weak, neither soft nor hard. Leave such thoughts behind, awaken to the Void, and make your body Null to abide by this."

Paul had us exploring these ideas through 虚実 kyojitsu, 無心 mushin, and 縁 connection.

Paul explained that for kyojitsu to be effective you have to sell it. He likened it to a magician performing an illusion. In order to sell it, he has to believe in it himself. In the world of magicians this is called misdirection. The next day Paul and I shared our personal stories as magicians with each other. We both studied and performed magic when we were younger. It was a lot of fun sharing memories on prestidigitation and coin sleight of hand methods.

With kyojitsu you can show the kyo to the opponent (misdirection) and then you hit him with the jutsu. The interesting part is, if he doesn't fall for the kyo, it becomes real- it becomes the jutsu. Maybe it was never fake to begin with?

Soke on Kyojaku Jyugo,

It's not whether you're good or bad. If you think you've reached a certain skill level then you probably haven't. That's why there's this saying, strong or weak, it doesn't matter. You have to have the balance of these points (heijōshin 平常心).

Mushin 無心 means "innocent" or "free from disturbing thoughts" or simply, "empty mind." Mushin is held in the fourth, intuitive level of Godai:

"The fourth dimension is that of the world of Mu— nothingness— a world haunted by death, a world of spirit only. It is a world with no physical existence, where everything simply disappears. That is why in that world you must not let an opponent see or sense your form- you must wipe it out entirely." -Masaaki Hatsumi, The Way Of The Ninja

In Zen, Mushin is the thinking of the body. In the Bujinkan we often describe this as flow. And it is obvious when watching someone whether they are doing technique from their heads or from the wisdom of their body using flowing taijutsu.

Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Under heaven everyone knows this,
Yet no one puts it into practice.
-Lao Tzu

Hatsumi Sensei describes Kyojaku Jyugo further:

"This means that in Budo, it is naive to get caught up in thoughts of strong weak or soft/hard; in the end, even concepts such as skillful/unskillful simply fade away, Jutaijutsu contains fifteen strong arts and fifteen weak arts, making thirty in total, which can be seen as three sets of ten (as in Sanshin no Kata: Tenchijin and the Juji idea). Nevertheless, one deliberately and willfully eliminates all of that to make oneself Void."

Mushin is like looking at your own reflection in the moonlit water. If the water is still, maybe you see the moon reflected there with your own shadow. You  might forget that the moon is in the night sky behind you! Don't trouble the calm water with your worries and doubts. Allow your mind to fill the sky and be with the moon.

This type of connection to heaven is something Soke reminds us about constantly.

Thank you Paul! It was all like a dream (夢 yume).

We where just informed that Paul Masse won’t make it! To bad we was looking forward to see him here. But we still have three great instructors booked. We will think about what to do over the weekend, check out the web site next week or follow us on twitter or RSS.

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"Caution. The simulated protective device was not safety device and offered no protection."                                               photo by Sam Howzit

This saying reminds me of medieval knights of old, encased in metal, then falling off their horses, only to bellow on the ground like a sick overturned tortoise. anyone who has worn yoroi may have experienced similar sensations. But the armour that really weighs us down most often and acts against us is in our own hearts. We wear our pride or technique on our bodies like it will stop bullets. Ninniku offers us a different choice. In our Bujinkan training this is some of the most powerful armour available.

Hatsumi Sensei has explained to us how he dissipates the attacker's energy. This is one aspect of three methods that make up 忍辱の鎧 Ninniku No Yoroi. We will look at these three strategies after we try to understand Ninniku.

Soke describes it this way,

Ninniku Seishin. There is a saying, "Enduring insults and humiliation, I drop all
rancor, I desire no revenge," which implies bearing no hatred and holding no grudges.

This word derives from Ksanti-paramita (Ninniku-haramitsu Bosatsu, "Arrival at the Other Shore of Patience"), Ksdnti in her Sanskrit name means "patience" and is translated into Sino-Japanese as ninniku. She is also called "Nin-haramitsu"

Ninniku is the third of ropparamitsu, the six paramitas or disciplines of Mahayana Buddhism.  Here the patient heart tempers and subdues anger and hatred. Enduring insults originating in men, such as hatred, or abuse. And surviving distress arising from natural causes such as heat, cold, age, sickness, etc. The symbol associated with ninniku is a flower.

Hatsumi Sensei also tells us,

The Ninja uniform is like the Kesa of the Buddhist priest,
and Takamatsu Sensei used to call it "a taste of Zen."

Buddhist priests wear a kesa or scarf which has another name, 忍辱鎧 ninniku-gai, or armour of patience. Or patience as armour. 忍辱の鎧 Ninniku No Yoroi - armor of perseverance.

The idea of ninniku no kesa comes from the Lotus Sutra, where the preacher is described as cloaked in "the thought of tender forbearance and the bearing of insult with equanimity."

This kind of armor shields you in ways that will seem supernatural. You cannot be insulted or degraded (fujō 不浄). You are also free from attachment to the uncertainty and undecidability of the cause and effect of a fight (fujō 不定). You float outside that cycle of violence with these three tactics:

• Awareness: this allows us to evade an enemy's attack naturally and disappear. By showing no intention to fight you can be invisible. 
• Hard training prepares you for any situation, so you may experience banpen fugyo in the midst of chaos. Then use natural principles and methods to prevail.
• Have the perseverance of Ninniku Seishin: "hiding spirit" hide your intentions, don't show off everything, be patient, wait and endure to succeed.

"If your heart is small, one unjust word or act will make you suffer. But if your heart is large, if you have understanding and compassion, that word or deed will not have the power to make you suffer. You will be able to receive, embrace, and transform it in an instant. What counts here is your capacity." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

The second annual Sakura No Kaze (“cherry-blossom wind”) seminar was held in Surrey, BC, just outside Vancouver, on May 14/15. Bill Brown and I team-taught for the two days, alternating back and forth, sharing lessons that we’ve learned from our time in Japan training under Hatsumi Sensei. This included both unarmed taijutsu techniques as well as variations with the sword and the 6-foot bo staff. We also taught techniques from both the perspective of a defender using the technique against an aggressor, and also from the perspective of having the technique applied to you by someone else, turning the technique back upon them (this is known as kaeshi-waza, 返し技).

The turn-out was very good despite the threat of rain, and although it did rain at times over the two days, there were hot, sunny breaks as well – a nice smattering of variable Vancouver weather. As many Vancouver-area Bujinkan groups do, we were training outside. At times, training jackets came off because it was getting hot, and at other times those training jackets were dripping with mud. The Vancouver groups are used to training outdoors in all sorts of weather. I had the same experience in my 5 years of training in Vancouver before moving to Japan – sun, rain, snow, mud, concrete, gravel, ice – we trained on and in it all.

It was so encouraging to see many old friends and new ones as well, the new generation who have come up the ranks in the 19 years since I began my training in the area. At the time I think there were only 2 or 3 Bujinkan black belts in BC. The Bujinkan community was very isolated from Japan. Few made the trip to Japan for training, and there were swindlers around who would take advantage of people’s ignorance, keeping them in the dark and taking their membership and grading fees and issuing their own certificates and membership cards instead of the official ones that are supposed to come from the Bujinkan office in Japan. Over time, people began to see other instructors and make their own trips to Japan, aided by the spread of information via the Internet since the mid-90′s. Now there are many instructors who have taken groups of students to Japan to train with Sensei, and the exposure of more instructors to the training in Japan has, over time, resulted in a much greater skill level than existed in the province when I first started out. It’s good to see – relationships between local training groups have developed and people are cooperating on hosting and organizing events and showing up to support each others’ seminars. Such inter-group cooperation was rare back in the ’90s. I felt a great sense of happiness when I thought of this as I looked around at the faces of the participants as the seminar came to a close. The Bujinkan in Western Canada has come such a long way, due to people’s efforts and sacrifice, and is developing it’s own history, one that I’m proud to be a small part of.

It was great to have the honour to be invited to teach here again.

Namaste, Arigatou, Keep Going!

Shawn

Sveneric Shihan is originally from Sweden but has been living in Holland since the 1990′s. He was one of the main Bujinkan teachers that helped introducing Bujinkan all over Europe in the early 1980′s.

Sveneric is one of the grand old men and one of the most experienced teachers of the Bujinkan. He travels frequently to Japan to receive more training, and hold many seminars all around the world.

He started training Martial Arts in the 1960′s and earned Black Belts in several other Martial Arts before he switched over completely to the Bujinkan in the late 1970′s.

If you ask around everyone will tell you that he is one of the most experienced and well respected Bujinkan teachers in the whole world.

Many of us in Sweden is very proud of him being our first real Bujinkan teacher and role model. And we are really happy that he wanted to come for this special occasion!

Seminar with Sveneric Bogsäter in Prague 2011

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiZMdQN7H4I

As anyone who has trained with Rob before will know, Robs ability to break down techniques into easy to grasp exercises, so that you can understand what Soke and the Shihan are doing, is the backbone of his teachings and vital to anyone looking to progress in this art.

Rob is resident of Japan where he has lived for over five years. Rob is in a unique position to share insights from Budo Taijutsu. He works full-time as a movement coach, training people in the Zeropoint Training System , which includes injury-prevention exercise for adults, rapid body reconfiguration, and a number of movement and exercise courses for people of all ages and skill levels, not the least of which is working with leading Japanese schools to implement cutting-edge children’s educational, exercise programs.

Because of his focus on developing correct movement in a testable, scalable structure, Rob feels it is important to continue learning as much as possible from the best practitioners. Which is why you will see him as a student 5 and 6 days a week at Soke Hatsumi and the Shitenno’s classes, in addition to running his own training 5 days a week at Mabashi Jinja, as well as the Bujinkan Hombu Dojo?

Rob is well known for his ability to explain and simplify the more subtle aspects of Budo
Taijutsu as well as sharing drills and training ideas that make reproducing these aspects attainable at a much faster pace. Because he clearly shows the structure of training, from the very foundational movements to the seeming magic of Soke Hatsumi, and how they are connected, people always leave Rob’s classes with a feeling of exhilaration at finally grasping some pieces of the puzzle, and knowing they now have a much clearer direction for their own training!

Quoted here below (so you can see what to expect from the Tai Kai) is from a seminar with Rob earlier this year…

Developing the “Counter Intuition” of Kihon Happo

As Hatsumi Sensei often says: “You cannot truly understand a technique until you understand its counter!” With this in mind, I will be showing the progression from co-operation to resistance, looking at how uke and tori would “counter” each move, then show how to use that counter to your benefit, allowing you todevelop your own “intuition” of the proper movement needed for any given moment. (This methodology can be used for any technique, but we will be focusing on Kihon Happo in conjunction with Soke’s chosen theme for this year.)

Rob will introduce the “shiho dori” (4 ways of taking) concept for developing a full range of options to internalize the principles of kihon happo.

The seminar will focus on the bio-mechanics of budo taijutsu, showing the developmental progression from beginner to advanced, utilizing lots of fun scenarios and drills for all to remember!

Rob Renner and Paul Masse seminar 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vph1HMHUxWI

Steve has been training in Japan since 2001. He trains with Soke and the Japanese Shihan weekly. He looks forward to sharing his perspective on techniques and themes recently seen and discussed in Japan.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_-HH4i9o4

15 Comments. The secret to martial arts is that there is no secret. It continues to amuse me that there are so many products and programs out there that claim to be something special, something secret or never before taught or the ?real thing?.