December, 2010 - NinZine 3.0

Ninpo and Mu: Waxing and Waning Like the Moon

Bujinkan Santa MonicaDecember 31, 2010January 28, 2011

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Full Moon over Nagoya Castle; photo by ka_tate

In a Ninja's view of the universe, Soke Hatsumi comments on how beautiful it is to see a crescent moon peering between the clouds... And he suggests that the "secret is to let your own existence resonate with the universal consciousness" ... whether in the form of moonlight or other natural phenomena. He has also told us that taijutsu henka are like the phases of the moon. These phases occur naturally, in a natural connection to the movements of Earth and Sun. Your taijutsu should reflect the world as natural as the moonlight.

What is to be learned from cold moonlight? In Japan, the moonlight has an empty longing to it that resonates deeply with the Japanese spirit. Hatsumi Sensei has made reference to the author Yasunari Kawabata who, on winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1968, spoke movingly about the moon and it's deep companionship with the Japanese. Here he quotes the priest Myoe,

"On the night of the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the year 1224, the moon was behind clouds. I sat in Zen meditation in the Kakyu Hall. When the hour of the midnight vigil came, I ceased meditation and descended from the hall on the peak to the lower quarters, and as I did so the moon came from the clouds and set the snow to glowing. The moon was my companion, and not even the wolf howling in the valley brought fear. When, presently, I came out of the lower quarters again, the moon was again behind clouds. As the bell was signalling the late-night vigil, I made my way once more to the peak, and the moon saw me on the way. I entered the meditation hall, and the moon, chasing the clouds, was about to sink behind the peak beyond, and it seemed to me that it was keeping me secret company."

Hatsumi Sensei writes about his intentions for sharing Ninpo:

There is a saying: "The village that shines in the moonlight leaves a different impression in the souls of different people." The Chinese characters for strength and nothingness are both read "mu" in Japanese. Therefore, nothingness is the same of strength.

My intention is to introduce you to the world of Ninpo through the method of expression based on nothingness.

Sensei also wrote, "There is no village on which the moon does not shine, the moon lives in the mind of the gazer."

What do you see in the moonlight? Where does the light fall? Does it illuminate something beautiful for you or melancholy? One way to grasp our training is to approach it with the clarity of moonlight. Don't train with ego, just allow the nothingness of the teachings to fall over you. You can find great joy if you sacrifice yourself to your training. Have the feeling of surrender or sutemi. And like the moonlight, understanding will flash in your eyes.

Soke talks about finding a purity of focus in life so that there is no worry for death,

In order to do so, we must have a clear purpose in our daily life. If we live our daily lives with sutemi, the mind of budo, and the passion of the artist who pours his soul into his works, we can almost forget about death, and never regret our life at the moment of its end.

Moonlight is nothingness yet shines on all the world. That is a clear purpose. And the strength of Mu.

四天王の四方 “Shitennou no Shihou”

RobRennerDecember 28, 2010

From Bujinkan Zeropoint Dojo by RobRenner

四天王の四方 Shitennou no Shihou “The four ways of the four heavenly kings” The term Shitennou, in this instance, refers to the Bujinkan’s four top shihan: Oguri Sensei, Seno Sensei, Noguchi Sensei, and Nagato Sensei. These are the four senior teachers…

Holger Kunzmann, 30:e April – 1:a Maj i STHLM

KGZseminarsDecember 28, 2010

Holger Kunzmann från Tyskland gästar Stockholm och Kaigōzan Dōjō den 30:e April och 1:a Maj 2011.

Holger är ingen främling för oss, detta är 5:e gången vi bjudit hit honom för ett seminarium i Stockholm ^{(2007, 2008-1 -2, 2009-1 -2, 2010)}.

Anmäl dig i tid, antalet platser är begränsat och de som anmäler sig och betalar i förskott har förtur.

Tema = Gyokko-ryū

Pris för seminariet

Lägret kostar 850 SEK för båda dagarna eller 500 SEK för en dag. Observera att platserna är begränsade och vi vill fylla dojon med 25 deltagare båda dagarna (varken mer eller mindre för att hålla budget). De som betalar först har förtur och en garanterad plats!

Betalningsmetoder

Vi rekommenderar och föredrar att betalningar inom Sverige görs genom en vanlig PG inbetalning till
PG 310 765-3 (Kaigozan Dojo).

Glöm inte fylla i anmälningsformuläret nedan

Plats

Lägret är i vår egen lokal på Albygatan 117 Sundbyberg, Stockholm med begränsat antal deltagare.

Träningsschema

Fredag: Om det blir en extra träning så kostar den 100 SEK för lägerdeltagare och 200 SEK för övriga. Vi uppdaterar här när detta är bestämt med instruktören.
Lördag: Träningen startar kl 11:00 och slutar ungefär kl 18:00. Vi öppnar upp 30-40 minuter innan för registrering och uppvärmning. Vi kommer att ha kortare pauser och en längre lunch under dagen. På kvällen har vi middag på restaurang med Holger för de som är intresserade.
Söndag: Träningen startar kl 11:00 och slutar ungefär kl 15:00. Observera att vi har endast några kortare raster så ta med ett mellanmål så att ni klarar er. Efter allt är avslutat så blir det middag om någon är intresserad att hålla den trötta arrangören sällskap ett tag.

Läger DVD

Kommer att filmas av BUDOSHOP.SE och finnas till försäljning några veckor senare. Lägerdeltagare erbjuds att förbeställa filmen (eller filmerna om det blir fler än en) för 200 SEK inkl porto. Förbeställningen ska vara kontant och gjord innan lägret avslutats. Detta kommer att annonseras ut under lägret.

Holger seminar application

Tidigare seminarie-DVD med Holger Kunzmann

Finns att köpa på Kaigozan BUDOSHOP.SE. BUDOSHOP.SE kommer att finnas med på lägret, kontakta oss om ni vill att vi tar med någonting speciellt från butiken. Vi kan omöjligt ta med hela butiken, men vi tar gärna med det du vill titta på.
Vi erbjuder också bra rabatt på det mesta ur butiken under seminariet.

Vi gjorde också ett Facebook event, men observera att klicka “attend” där gäller inte som anmälan!…

Kaigōzan seminarier 2010

KGZseminarsDecember 27, 2010

Vi arrangerade många träningsläger 2010, våra medlemmar deltog också på många andra läger i Sverige och övriga Europa. Här är en lista på några av dom…

2010-01-16 Mats Hjelm i STHLM arrangerat av Kaigozan Dojo
2010-02-20 Pete Reynolds i Uppsala arrangerat av Bujinkan Gefle
2010-02-27 Tre Amigos i STHLM arrangerat av Bujinkan Sweden
2010-04-03 Duncan Stewart i STHLM arrangerat av Kaigozan Dojo
2010-05-29 Mats Hjelm i STHLM arrangerat av Kaigozan Dojo
2010-08-27 Kikanjyu i Prague, Czech Republic
2010-09-18 Mark Lithgow i STHLM arrangerat av Bushin Dojo
2010-10-01 Kaigozan 20 Year Anniversary Taikai i STHLM arrangerat av Kaigozan Dojo
2010-12-04 Mats Hjelm i Eskilstuna arrangerat av Bujinkan Eskilstuna…

Kihon Happou by Soke

Duncan StewartDecember 27, 2010

From Toku Bu Ryu Sui Dojo by Duncan Stewart

Kihon Happou

by Soke Hatsumi Masaaki

I have trained myself and instructed others in Kihon Happo and felt that those who have had previous training in Karate, Judo, Aikido, Kung Fu, and other fighting techniques tend to stay with those forms and have trouble learning Budo Taijutsu from a “blank slate.” The fighting forms stay with the student even though he starts the training of Budo Taijutsu. When do the previous learned techniques disappear? I think it is up to a person’s individual talent. The phenomenon is just like a dialect disappearing after one lives in a different part of the country.

No matter how hard one tries, he will never be a professional announcer if he speaks in dialect. The same can be said for Budo. I also studied various martial arts such as Judo, Karate, Aikido, old-style Budo, and Chinese Budo. In other words, until I encountered Takamatsu Sensei, I was a Budoka (martial artist) with many dialects. One day I began to wonder why and when did I lose those “dialects?” I realized that it was after I lost all my muscle tone after five years of illness.

Discovery of your own dialect is one way of improving Budo. When one reaches a certain degree of skill, he comes up against the “wall,” something he has trouble overcoming. This is the so-called dialect of Taijutsu.

I want to write about how to train yourself when you reach a higher rank during Budo training. I would like to use a Cat Competition as an example. I have had lots of experience in the competition because my wife served as judge of the World Cat Club and I was also vice chairman of the club.

Suppose five top cats are chosen out of hundreds of cats. All of them are wonderful and beautiful, but that alone cannot be judged. With no other way to judge which cat is more beautiful then another, the judges start to look for faults. The one with the most faults drops to fifth, the next, fourth, then third, and so on. The one with the least faults becomes Grand Champion.

Bugei is the same way. If one reaches to a higher rank, he need only eliminate his faults. It may sound easy, but eliminating faults is very difficult to accomplish, because we tend to think we are faultless. Faults can be translated into something different in Budo. They can be suki (unguarded points), or carelessness, presumption, arrogance, etc. they all become our fault. No fault, zero condition is the best. I am zero. I joke that the Soke has no Dan. Zero, no fault that is the target of Bufu Ikkan (living through the martial winds).