From Don Roleys Myspace-blogg by Don Roleys MySpace-blogg
Just to let everyone know.....Some folks have been after me to do some seminars. I have given in, in a big way.If everything works out, I will be giving a series of three seminars in June, July and Au...… Read MoreMonth: March 2010
Duality and connection
From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr
Tachi kumiuchi is not about cutting, crushing or even hitting; it is about finding the openings in uke’s body in the midst of an ever changing encounter. These openings get visible only if you are connected to: space, time, and the opponent at all time. As always “simple is difficult” and to find, to keep, and to use the connection efficiently is very hard.
We have to find the connection to the situation to move in harmony with it. We have to be a small boat floating on the sea and following the rhythm of the waves, no intention, no destruction.
It is the same with budô, we have to go with the nagare (flow). En no kirinai is the key to understand that and keep the connection with our environment (human or not) and solve the problem. But we often think too much and this permanent thinking hinders the results of our understanding. Too often we want to find a technical solution to the fight (to life?) by over-analyzing, over-reasoning and over-thinking everything.
“Enlightenment cannot be found through the senses” said Sensei once. And becoming natural is to go beyond our senses in a realm of possibility not limited by our vision/understanding/perception of reality but by getting access to a dimension where mere reasoning is not working. This is the “zero state” or “natural state” taught by Sensei during many years. This is now our goal, our objective.
The moment you understand that the natural connection between everything goes through your body (and not only the brain), you reach the mushin state and you become aware of the implicate world underlying the explicate world that we sense.
Sensei said recently that “kan” in bufu ikkan meant “going through” and this is exactly this connection between the visible and the invisible realities that we can link here. We become able to see through the illusions of the visible reality to have a glimpse of “Reality” to find the openings to off balance uke and be happy!
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Last reminder about this weekends STHLM Bushinden-kai
From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin
Hello!
Now it is not many days left until this great seminar weekend in STHLM. This is our last reminder!
We have plenty of places left if you haven't signed up yet. Please sign up on our web site if you want to join us, but please pay the fee when you arrive! We only accept Swedish money, not euro. The cost is 600 SEK for one day, or 1000 SEK for both days, including the extra trainings.
You can read the following info on the web site to, but I'll copy and paste the most important information here...
Wednesday, Duncan arrives from a successful seminar in Copenhagen, before that he was in Hellsinki. We haven't planned any training on this evening, I was thinking of taking him out in STHLM city in the evening. If you want to join us, please contact me.
Thursday, I have my regular class at 19:30-21:00 in Kaigozan dojo, if Duncan is up for training he will join me and help, if he decides to rest you can train with me if you're in town early. Sometimes we go to Bishops Arms after training for a few beers, maybe it happens this time to?
Friday extra class 13:00-18:00
This will be in our dojo, Albygatan 117 in Sundbyberg. This extra training will be taught by all the Judan that is present including me and Duncan. I don't know exactly who is coming but I hope all the local ones will come at least? Anyway, we will share the teaching these five hours with a few shorter tea breaks. For a theme this day we said we will do Kihon Happo. It will probably be both basic and advanced, a perfect opportunity to see each instructors take on the basics. It is free for everyone attending the seminar (and Judan's), all others have to pay 200 SEK.
Saturday Seminar 11:00-18:00
The seminar is not in our dojo, it is in a Solna Judo dojo about 10 minutes walking distance from our own dojo. The address is Ankdammsgatan 23 in Solna. Note, it is kinda between the houses, you see the sign from the street.
We will open up the dojo for registration and warm up around 10:15, the training will start at 11:00 and finish at 18:00. There will be one 60 min lunch break in the middle somewhere. There is not so many restaurants close by, I advice that you bring something with you. I was planning on ordering pizza delivered to the dojo (keep your ears open in the morning).
Saturday Dinner 19:30
There is a nice Thai restaurant close to the dojo, maybe it is open (keep your ears open saturday morning).
Sunday Seminar 11:00-15:00
We will open up around 10:15, and the training starts at 11:00 and finishes 15:00 same place. Note that we will not have a longer lunch break, only shorter breaks, so bring a sandwich or something to fill up with energy. I plan to take Duncan out for early Dinner before he board the boat to Hellsinki, if you want to join you are welcome.
Accomodation
If you come earlier than Saturday morning and want to sleep in the dojo (which is free), then it is in our dojo you can sleep thursday and/or friday night. Saturday night you can sleep in the seminar dojo if you want. If you are coming late thu or fri and can't make it to the training in time before we finish, please contact me early (I don't want to wake up and walk 15 minutes in the middle of the night if I'm not prepared).
Hotel
There are many hotels (more) around Stockholm you can stay at, some may be fully booked this late. If you want to stay close we recommend Solna Park Inn (ask for discount, say that you are with Kaigozan Kampsportcenter), it is 10 minutes walk through the park to the seminar, or 20 minutes walk to the dojo. There is also busses, 119, 509. 515 click here! Click on the following link to the official Stockholm tourist guide... http://beta.stockholmtown.com/en/
If you are not familiar with the territory, please print out maps or addresses etc.
More info on our web site... http://www.kaigozan.se/seminars/2010-04-03/
See you soon!
Mats Hjelm - Kaigôzan dôjô
_____,_ In body there exists no soul
(o/ The mind is not real at all
V Now try on me thy flashing steel
/ > As if it cuts the wind of Spring, I feel… Read More
Sainou Kon Ki Bushinden Kai 2009 DVD
From blogurl:tazziedevil.wordpress.com - Google Blog Search by Duncan Stewart
The DVD set is now ready to order! Please click on the link to see a trailer! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=379549243690&ref=mf. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, please contact the Tanuki Dojo at ...… Read MoreDo you understand the Bujinkan?
From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr
Keep the connection
Do you really understand what the Bujinkan is?
When I give seminars, I am always astonished to discover the misconceptions carried out by so many teachers and students all over the world. As I said once during a seminar: “no one is forcing you to claim to be “Bujinkan”, if you want to do your own stuff then do it but do not call it Bujinkan!”.
So it was a real pleasure last week-end to meet Manolo Serrano’s group in Belgium and spend some time with him and the Mitrou brothers from Greece. All of them being 14th dan, it was good to share our common vision of the art. On the way back, I thought it would be appropriate in this blog to refresh our memories about what is the Bujinkan really is.
When Hatsumi sensei began to spread his vision on budô and to share it all over the world, there was no plan, no step by step process going on. Hatsumi sensei was only sharing his knowledge to everyone willing to listen. Then in 1983 he published, in Japanese, his first “ten chi jin ryaku no maki” detailing the basics and fundamentals of our art. A revised version of it translated into English reached us in Europe in 1987. Ten years later Hatsumi sensei decided to move on and established a theme and a concept to work with for each year.
In 1993, I was lucky to be already jûdan in the Bujinkan so I had enough basics to follow sensei’s evolution in his teachings. As many Bujinkan practitioners of today were not students at that time, I want to list here once again those themes that created the art we know now.
After the ten chi jin, we learnt distancing and angling for 5 years:
- Bô jutsu – 6 feet staff (1993),
- Yari jutsu - spear (1994),
- Naginata jutsu - halberd (1995),
- Biken jutsu – sword (1996),
- Jo jutsu - 3 feet staff (1997).
During the Valencia Taikai (1995) and again in Sanmyaku (the Bujinkan newsletter of that time) Hatsumi sensei said that “bô, yari, naginata are the sanshin no kata of long weapons”.
Then we entered the world of budô taijutsu and studied not the schools (as it is often believed) but the 5 pilars of body movement, through five of the 9 schools that was:
- Taihen jutsu – shinden fudô ryû (1998),
- Daken taijutsu - kukishinden ryû (1999),
- Koppô Jutsu - kotô ryû (2000),
- Kosshi Jutsu – gyokko ryû (2001),
- Jûtaijutsu – takagi yôshin ryû (2002).
This second cycle of 5 years that can be related in some way to the gogyô allowed us to understand (through training within specific schools) the various way of meeting the opponent and adapting our ways of fighting to the situation.
The third cycle has been even more complex as we entered the world or dimension of juppô sesshô (negociating in ten directions). That was also a 5 years long cycle. Juppô Sesshô is the highest mechanical and technical level in any martial system (ryûha) in Japan and gives the ability to adapt a specific type of fighting to any situation encountered. As for the second cycle (the 5 pilars of budô taijutsu), the important point here had nothing to do with either the weapon we used or the school studied. The juppô sesshô cycle was the following:
- Sanjigen no sekai – kunai & shotô (2003),
- Yûgen no sekai – kukishin sword (2004),
- Kasumi no hô – gyokko bô (2005),
- Roppô kuji no biken – sword and yoroi (2006),
- Kuki taisho - sword and yoroi (2007).
The juppô sesshô has discouraged a lot of practitioner and even today many of the shidôshi really have no clue of what has been studied during these 5 years. Many teachers do not understand the depth of what we have been receiving. How many of them know that the techniques of the kukishin ryû bô jutsu were used to teach the feeling of kasumi from the gyokko ryû? Also the move from “happô” to “juppô“ has to be seen as some kind of a quantum leap in the world of Bujinkan physics.
This juppô sesshô cycle ended the series that we can now see as a kind of ten chi jin. We all know that the ten ryaku deals with footwork (angle, distance); the chi ryaku with the body mechanics (budô taijutsu); and the jin ryaku with a mix of everything (moving from body to spirit).
This 3 steps progression (sanpô) of 5 years (gohô) therefore can, or should, be considered as the true kihon happô of the Bujinkan (3×5=8!).
Then it was time to begin the study of shiki – consciousness- the 6th element that sensei introduced to the community back in 2005. So we studied things based more on “philosophical” concepts than schools or mechanical movements. That was:
- Menkyo kaiden - destroy the thinking process (2008),
- Sainô kon ki or sainô tamashii utsuwa – ability, spirit, container(2009)
- Rokkon shôjô – happiness is the essence of life (2010).
If Hatsumi sensei follows the 5 year cycle that he, apparently followed until now, we can expect the end of this for 2012. But this is only a guess.
I hope that this little review of the various themes will be helpful to you and that now you can answer the initial question:
Do you understand the Bujinkan?
Be happy!
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