2012 - NinZine 3.0

Shi Tennô

kumafrDecember 10, 2012

20121209_101308 Recently Hatsumi Sensei honored me by awarding me with a diploma of Shi Tennô.

Historically, the Shi Tennô 四天王 were the four “celestial emperors” protecting the four directions of North, South, East, West.

Shi-tenno (literally, “Guardian Kings,” but most often translated as “Directional Guardians”) are deities, protectors of Buddhism, who guard each of the four directions of the compass (north, south, east, and west) from harmful and dangerous influences. Originally from India, the Directional Guardians were transmitted to China during the Tang dynasty (about 600 AD), and from thence to Tibet, Korea, and Japan. The Guardians appear in paintings, such as mandalas, and especially in temple sculptures, where they usually surround and protect a central Buddha image. (…) They are known as: Zocho Ten (South), Komoku Ten (West), Bishamon Ten (North), and Jikoku Ten (East). (source Wikipedia).

In 1993 Pedro, Peter, Sven and me, were the first non Japanese students to be promoted to 10th dan. And we began to give seminars altogether all over the World. Twice a year after these seminars, we would send sensei a postcard to tell him what we were doing.

One night, at Ayase, he referred to us as being the “Shi Tennô” of Europe.

Since then we are known as the “Yûro Shi Tennô”. The Japanese Shihan: Oguri Sensei (+), Nagato Sensei, Noguchi Sensei, Senô Sensei are named the “Shi Tennô”.

This title is not a rank, Hatsumi Sensei is referring to the nickname given by Kano Sensei to his four best students who travelled Japan to spread the Kodôkan Jûdô in the 19th century. Like Kano’s students, we would travel Europe and the World giving seminars and spreading his teachings to the North, West, East and South.

Today the only remaining so called “Shi Tennô Seminar” is the one I organize in Paris every year in July.

Since the 90s’, the Bujinkan has grown a lot. Last dkms Sensei said that the Bujinkan was now 330000 practitioners, 3300 Shidôshi, 330 Jûgodan. Even if I think that these figures are more symbolic than anything, it must be close enough to reality to understand that our organization has now reached a mature state.

My best student and friend Hugues received it for me while I was in Lebanon for the UN, but it was only yesterday that he gave it to me. Over the years, I have received all the diplomas possible from Sensei: Shidôshi (1989), Jûdan (1993), Gold medal of the Bujinkan (1994), 15th dan (2004), Menkyô Kaiden in Tachi Waza (2004), Shingitai (2011), but this one diploma has more value for me for many reasons. First there will always be only 4 “Shi Tennô” and I am really proud of it. Second, this title is coming from the heart more than from any technical ability. And Third like for the Shin Gi Tai Diploma it has the Golden patch on it.

Domo Arigato Sensei for this very special honor.

Path to the Heart of the Flower (IV)

Shawn GrayDecember 7, 2012

From The Magick & The Mundane » Bujinkan by Shawn Gray

Finally, some free time to blog again!

In the last blog article I wrote on my early adventures in Japan, I related how I went to Iga in search of Hatsumi Sensei in October 1990, but didn’t manage to find him.

After not having found him, there was nothing else to do but return to Hiroshima and continue with my English teaching schedule. I also went back to my Karate studies, and continued pounding my fists into bloody hamburger against trees.

Back to Eikaiwa!

Back to Blood!

In December 1990, I had the opportunity to travel to the Chito Ryu Karate Hombu Dojo, located in Kumamoto, on the southern island of Kyushu. The Dojo was equipped with two bunkbeds, accompanying four people. When I arrived, there were two guys visiting from British Columbia, Canada, also staying there for training. (I wish I could remember their names after all this time, so that I could track them down. It would be fun to share stories again.) The Soke (Grandmaster) was 40 years old at the time. His father, the founder, had died in 1984. (From what I’d heard, an elder brother had been destined to continue the leadership of the style, but from what I heard, had been disabled in a car accident and therefore unable to continue with training. The younger son, next in line, had been in Tokyo pursuing medical studies, but was recalled to Kumamoto by his father to take over leadership of the lineage.) I stayed at the Dojo for two weeks, and greatly enjoyed the training. I was awed by the skill level of Chitose Sensei and his senior instructors. In the backyard behind the Dojo were two Makiwara punching posts. Wooden covers protected them from the rain, and on the covers were painted a Japanese character which is very familiar to my fellow Bujinkan practitioners. The character is pronounced “Nin“, and is the first character of the word “Ninja.” What was this character doing displayed so prominently at a Karate Dojo? Although sometimes understood in ninjaphile circles to mean “stealth,” the character is more widely used in more mainstream Japanese to mean “restraint,” “patience,” or “perseverance.” It was with these noble ideals in mind that we forged our minds and bodies in the daily training at Hombu Dojo. Kata, Kumite, and Makiwara training were all part of this. By perseverance and austerity in training the body and mind in the way of the Bushido ideal of the Samurai of old, we pushed our mental and physical limits beyond what we thought possible.

Makiwara with “Nin”

Aside from the training itself, there are a couple of memorable experiences from that time in Kumamoto. One was when Chitose Soke took the other visiting Canadians and myself out for a visit to Kumamoto Castle, one of the three premier castles in Japan. Scars from the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 (when Samurai warriors of Satsuma province rebelled against the imperial forces of the Meiji government) pock-marked the stone walls. It was an impressive edifice. Soke took us out for sushi afterwards.

Another memory was from one night when my two new Canadian friends took me out for a night on the town, Kumamoto style. I had never been out drinking in Canada before, let alone in Japan. I had no idea what kind of town I was in or where we were going. Before I knew it, we were sitting at a table ordering drinks, surrounded by very nicely-dressed ladies from the Philippines. I was from a farming town of 3,600 people on the Atlantic Coast of Canada. It took me a while to catch on that these ladies worked here. Anyway, we kept ordering and my two Canadian friends were on my left, engaging the ladies in deep conversation. Almost as if they’d met before. I felt a nudge on my right and turned to see what appeared to be two of the local Japanese bikers. They seemed friendly enough. The one next to me, I discovered through our broken conversation (my Japanese vocabulary was probably about 30 words at this point), did well in the local boxing scene. At least that’s what he told me, as he kept grinning and pointing to the biceps bulging out from under his cut-off denim vest.

I was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable, but couldn’t really understand why. I started to think I should ask my friends when we were planning to leave. I turned to my left to ask my friend when we were going to get the check, and then felt a fist slam lightly into the right side of my face. My friend turned. “What?” “I think maybe we should go. This guy just hit me.” “Wait a second.” He turned to confer with the other friend. I turned to my right and smiled nervously at the two grinning Japanese guys wearing black leather. They looked like they were having fun. A moment later I turned to the friend on my left again. “What.” Again a punch from the right hit the side of my face. Harder this time. “Look man, our friend on my right here has now hit me in the face twice. We need to go, now.” “Ok.” My two friends stand up. Both of them were about fix-foot two. Sturdy Canadian farming boys. I turned to my right. The two Japanese dudes were gone.

We paid the bill and headed down the elevator. It came to a stop at ground level, and as we stepped out into the parking lot and the doors closed behind us, we found ourselves on the back side of a slowly-shrinking circle, on the perimeter of which were four or five tough-looking locals. The friend on my right made a quick beeline to the right, down an alley. I was close behind him. Closer than I normally am to other guys. We zig-zagged quickly through some alleys and eventually found ourselves with our hands on our knees, panting and out of breath, outside the Hombu Dojo “bunk room.” There were just two of us. The other Canadian friend was nowhere in sight. It was around 2am. We waited. We didn’t want to wake anyone and cause a scene. We waited some more.

After what seemed like at least 20 minutes, our friend loped quietly out of a side street and over to join us in the shadow of the Dojo roof. “Where were you?” “What took you so long?” “What happened!?” He told us that he didn’t see us bolt away right away, and before he knew it, he’d been surrounded. As the four or five tough guys closed in, one of them had pulled a knife. Our friend had a quick eye and saw the guy start to draw. He jumped on him and punched him to the ground, and then made a run for it. It took him a while to give them the slip and sneak back to join us at the Dojo without being found. We quietly slid into the Dojo dorm and into our bunks, glad to be alive. The next morning Soke asked us how our night had been. We played it cool and made like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He smiled.

The next day was the day he took us to Kumamoto Castle. On the way in the car he told us that he’d heard about what happened, saying he was glad we got through it ok, and apologized “for those with bad manners.”

Chitose Soke and 2 Canucks

Before I left Kumamoto to go back to Hiroshima for the New Year, 1991, Chitose Soke gave me some training advice for when I got back. Study also Kendo, for speed and timing, and also Judo, for throws and locks. I was a bit surprised to hear this. Martial arts masters aren’t always known for recommending that their students study other arts. Soke’s openness in this way really impressed me.

When I got back to Hiroshima, I asked around about Kendo training. There was a small Okonomiyaki bar in Hiroshima run by a young Japanese woman and her American (Seattle, I think it was) husband. He was very into Kendo, and was proud of doing it in Japan as a foreigner. He had photos of his shop and would brag about being a 3rd Dan, which I think he said was one of the highest ranks of any foreigner in Western Japan at the time. I have no real way of knowing whether that was true or not, but that’s what he’d say. He agreed to bring me along to his Kendo class and introduce me to his teacher, Fujiwara Sensei.

With Fujiwara Sensei

Lesson with Fujiwara Sensei

Fujiwara Sensei was a wonderful old (to a twenty-year old!) Japanese man who always had a huge smile floating across his face. He had a very soft, gentle manner and a kind way of speaking. For some reason he took a real liking to me and, in addition to selling me $1,300 of training gear for $300 and giving me a set of Hakama with both of our names embroidered in it, also refused to let me pay for lessons. This irritated the American guy who introduced me. Fujiwara Sensei had been his teacher for years, but he always had to pay for his lessons. I was unable to explain why Sensei seemed to like me so much. Maybe it was just because I was always so polite. I’d always greet him with the extra-polite, “O-kawari arimasen ka?” (“Has there been no change [in your health, etc.]?”) He’d always smile widely and say, “Hai, arimasen!” (“Yes, there hasn’t!”) My American friend was less than impressed. He’d pound the hell out of me when we were paired up in the Dojo and I would go home with headaches from getting hit on the head so hard repeatedly. I didn’t know what to do. I could not force Sensei to take the money. Out of desperation I would bring bags of fruit to the Dojo and force them on him. The Japanese students would laugh at this, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was never ranked in Kendo, although in addition to the regular Suburi and Randori training, Fujiwara Sensei also taught me 5 Bokuto Kata forms and 2 Shoto Kata forms. I seem to remember that these were for Shodan level, but my memory could be wrong on that.

Kenjutsu Lesson

As far as Karate ranking went, I went to Japan as a brown-belt. Kanao Sensei in Fukuyama wanted to promote me, but said that Chito Ryu had prohibited ranking of foreigners to Yudan grades (black belt grades) in Japan. Apparently some Japan-promoted foreigners had in the past gone back to their home countries and caused political problems by claiming their rank from Japan was worth more than a locally-given rank of the same degree. So I wasn’t promoted during my stay in Japan, but Kanao Sensei did teach me some very interesting Kata that made things interesting when I got back to Canada.

To be continued…

Dkms3: Amaterasu Ômikami And The Kôjiki

kumafrDecember 6, 2012

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

Before detailing what Sensei spoke of during the last day of dkms, I have to tell you that it was very dense. Writing about it I discovered that the complexity of what Sensei said during that day allows us to follow his very particular way of reasoning. This is why I have decided to deliver it chronologically in this article the way it was displayed to us last Sunday. Good luck!
2012-12-02 10.03.41-2

On the last day of dkms Sensei spoke of many concepts and he introduced the day by displaying an old painting on a scroll depicting the moment when the gods tried to force Amaterasu no Kami, the Sun goddess, outside the cave where she was secluding herself.

That was a little too much even for my twisted brain, but I will try to make it understandable. Please excuse me for the apparent lack of logic in sensei’s explanations. But if you are familiar with his “Quantum way of thinking” you will get something out of it. Also do not forget that I might have not get it correctly but that is fine too as knowledge (as you will discover later in the text) is not the only way to understand nature.

For those of you not familiar with the legends and myths of old Japan, here is a short reminder. The Kojiki explains in three volumes (tenchijin) how mankind was established on earth. Check Wikipedia at “kojiki” and “Amaterasu Ômikami” to know more.

What I remember is that the Sun goddess Amaterasu was living amongst the other gods. Each morning Amaterasu would bring light on earth by stepping out of her cave.

Her brother made a hole into the roof and while she was weaving with other goddesses (?), her brother threw a dead goat or dead horse (?) into the hole that created panic. Amaterasu got angry and decided not to get out anymore. Earth was in permanent night. The other gods tried to negociate with her but didn’t succeed. They decided to organize a big feast right in front of the door so that the laughters, the songs and the dancing would attract her outside and restore light on earth. After some time they succeeded.

The scroll presented by sensei on the last day depicts this exact moment where Amaterasu Ômikami is nearly going back to light the world. The door in the mountain (ten) is forced open by one of the gods (jin), we can see the first rays of light going through the door panels (ten). Facing the door, a female goddess (jin) is dancing with a yari pointing to the earth (chi), four gods on the middle to the left (jin) and two other ones are at the bottom center are watching the dance (chi). Two roosters are on the middle right (?).

The sun disappearing on earth is also to be found in other traditions: the Sumerian, the Inca, the Bible. So my guess is that the earth stopped turning at some point and this fact gave birth to many legends all over the world.

Symbolically the scroll shows that Mankind tries to bring down the “light of knowledge” from heaven to earth (another common myth). But what was interesting is that sensei began to speak about jôshiki, knowledge 常識 (I think he said shishiki instead of jôshiki) and he made another shishiki 肢識 with the idea of kyojitsu (false/truth) as “shi” is “4″ which is death, and “shiki” consciousness.

I think he meant that knowledge is only one side of the practice and that we should also develop our ability to trap uke in his own knowledge (security) in order to use his predicted reactions as tools to serve our movements. Trapping uke in a world of knowledge allows us to use it against him. I remember him telling me one day that we must read and study all the ancient texts on strategy to be sure to come up with a new strategy that had never been done before. By doing something new you are sure that no counter strategy has been prepared. I think this is the same idea he was trying to convey on the last day of the dkms.

He repeated again that we had to be “zero” (no force, no power, footwork, no grab, no intention) and said that we have to find the “lucky 7″ (shichiki) 七機. Remember the seven deities of good luck in China are 七福神 shichifuku jin.

Then he added the “0″ to the “7″ and we naturally began to speak about James Bond “007″! Shawn was called by sensei to tell us about the historical John Dee who was a spy of Queen Elisabeth 1st of England and who signed his letters with “007″. The “7″ was only a long line above the 00 meaning FYEO. But another reason behind the “7″ is astrological. In the 15th century many decisions were made after checking the sky, the stars and the planets. You can see here a link with the scroll at the beginning of this article.

In the 15th century we knew only 7 planets, therefore “7″ became the symbol of full knowledge, and therefore was chosen by her majesty’s spy as a good luck charm. This planetary explanation allowed sensei to speak about the astrological approach in the martial arts.

Sensei said that the North star Hokushin 北辰 is vastly used in the ancient budô systems. Hokushin is the inmovable center of the sky as everything rotates around it. But the main “satellite” is the big dipper 七星, shichi sei… which is also constituted of 7 stars! In the Kukishin Ryû, the Sun and the Big Dipper are the two major systems in use for day and night combat. The Kukishin men were wako (pirates) and at sea they would use the sun and the big dipper to navigate safely. But when they became the warriors we know they kept their “knowledge” of nature and applied it to a different field of practice: strategy.

For example if you want to get into the defense of the attacker you have to use his knowledge against him. This is mainly what kyojutsu is about. Symbolically the opponent is Hokushin and you are shichi sei 七星, the Japanese name for the Big Dipper. Moving around Uke like the big dipper, your movements surround him. Your target is always at the center, whatever he does. Everything is already defined. And at the right moment you control him definitively.

Sensei said that inflicting pain was not what mattered in a fight, the main objective, what really mattered was to control the opponent, body and mind. This is why we have to get rid of unnecessary force. Remember what he said a week before: “Chikara o nuku”, free yourself from power” to survive. This is done by using only 75% of our abilities in order to always have a margin to react correctly. This new Pareto law is 75/25.

He ended the day speaking of “Bujin wao motte tôtônasu” or “the heart of the warrior revers peace”. A true warrior kills no bad intention and always keeps a compassionate heart.

Sensei said during the dkms that we have to behave like real gentlemen, only then can we get a new kôjiki 侯識, the consciousness of a Lord.

New DVD: Back from Japan Seminar with Mats Hjelm

budoshopDecember 6, 2012

From Budoshop by budoshop

- New DVD from BUDOSHOP.SE – Click HERE to order! (74 min)
- Also available for download (52 min)

On this seminar Mats showed techniques and ideas from the trainings he had been to with Hatsumi Soke and the Shihan earlier this month.He taught Taijutsu techniques, kenjutsu, rokushakubo, yari, naginata, hanbo techniques mixed.

The DVD version contains 20 minutes of extra footage from two mini seminars with the theme Naginata and Yari.

Note: The instructions was in Swedish, but there is really no need to understand exactly what was said. There is not so much philosophical talk, but more more action that you will understand in the movement.