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Gyokushin ryū ninpō – article translation

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

玉心流忍法
骨指術の流れを汲み、佐々木王郎右衛門暉頼が創始した。忍法の流派の特徴は使う武器の種類にある。玉心流は投縄が秀れている。

Gyokushin ryū ninpō
Drawing from the transmission of kosshijutsu, Sasaki Ōrōemon Teruyori is the founder. A speciality of the ninpō schools is their weapon of choice, for Gyokushin ryū this is the nagenawa.

玉心 Gyokushin – jeweled heart, treasured spirit, precious centre or core, to treasure that held in the heart – all interchangeable and viable interpretations.  Jeweled heart is the most frequently quoted, but doesn’t really do justice to the name as is a simplistic reading of individual kanji.

暉頼 Teruyori – shining trust – also written as Akiyari and Teruyoshi in various translations.

投縄 Nagenawa – throwing rope or lasso – though I dislike the use of lasso as this translation often brings to mind the American cowboy – possible better functional terms are looped rope, catching rope, thrown rope, snare or restraining rope.

Gyokushin ryū is one of the 4 styles attributed to Gyokkan, who learnt the Gyokko ryū of Hachidō Nyūdō through Tozawa Hyakuunsai Kaneuji.  Gyokushin ryū is passed down to Toda Shinryūken Masamitsu and Takamatsu Toshitsugu to arrive at Hatsumi Masaaki.


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The Rise of 生物奇怪 Seibutsu Kikai

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

When Stunts Go Wrong, photo by Loco Steve
In our modern world, combat has evolved to an industrial and mechanical affair. Machines (機械  kikai) do the killing at a distance. For martial artists this can feel overwhelming or outside the scope of our training at a very human scale. But the Bujinkan also evolves with the times. Even though we study ancient weapons and arts, we must also keep our training alive to address modern concerns.

I was reading this humorous article about not being afraid of the robot apocalypse or of being destroyed by terminator robots: What if there was a robot apocalypse?

In this article the author explains how difficult it is for robots or computers to adapt. How easily they can be defeated by simple, and often natural methods or elements. For example, a fire hose turned on most robots will quickly end their rampage. Or a simple fishing net thrown over a robot would easily entangle its mechanics. Anything messy, really. Tar, mud, water, rubble, contaminated fuel… robots and computers are easily overwhelmed by the natural world.

The main reason drones have been so effective in combat is because they have human pilots, and they fly high above, and away from obstacles.

Reading about this reminded me of something Hatsumi Sensei has encouraged in our training. How may we address these types of warfare in the Bujinkan? I will not post any direct methods here, but Hatsumi Sensei has suggested a strategy for the future.

He suggests we should adopt a philosophy of seibutsu kikai (生物奇怪論に立って). A "living mysterious being theory." This is similar to hijoushiki 非常識. An irrational absurdity. It is like something supernatural, but as an extension and connected to the natural.

Seibutsu kikai is also cryptozoology. In Japan there are tales of Hibagon, Tsuchinoko, Kusshii, Isshii, Kappa, various Yokai, Mikoshi-nyūdō, Nue, Kasha,  Noderabō, Yamao, Buruburu, Nekomata, Shuten Dōji, Yūrei, Shiryō, Yanari, and Tengu, These mythical creatures and spirits exist in our dreams and nightmares throughout human history. They all have special traits, powers, or abilities. But they are difficult to find or hunt down. Do they exist? Did ninja? How would you go about finding one?

You cannot. And therein lies an important strategy. As Soke suggests in a play on words, this is 機会 kikai, or a time of opportunity. Drones, robots, and computers rely heavily on sensors and digital information, but how does one digitize a ghost? How can a robot fight a mystery?

Keeping this mysterious connection alive in our training is essential for those who have progressed beyond Godan, but also essential for the survival of our art as machines move beyond service to being replacements for us in life and combat. A machine could pass the Godan test with the proper sensors, but it could never properly give the Godan test. It will never have that connection. And there it will always be weak.…

Shinobigatana, Ninja sword’s

From Paart Budo Buki by buki stolar

According to my latest knowledge about Shinobigatana, or ninja swords on which I need to thanks Shihan Alex Esteve,
he confirmed some of my assumptions, and here is few new boken's.

I photographed them together with the Cold Steel Warrior Katana, to better see the difference, 
sorry for the bad quality photos
It is difficult to catch the good light and shadow's : )

There are swords of this kind but there are also tactical, of which I will also write something and make some training versions.
soon more info, 

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Kumogakure Ryū Ninpō – article translation

From Wanderings in Budo by bujinshugyo

雲隠流忍法
伊賀流忍法の始祖といわれる伊賀平内左衛門家長(雲隠法師)の流れを組み、戸田左源田信房を経て、戸田家に伝られる。

Kumogakure ryū ninpō
Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage (Kumogakure Hōshi) is said to be the founder of Iga ryū ninpō, this flow was brought together by Toda Sagenta Nobufusa and thereafter transmitted to the Toda family.

雲隠 Kumogakure – hiding in the clouds, hidden cloud, cloud hiding
法師 Hōshi – Buddhist priest
平内左衛門 Heinaizaeimon – peaceful house on the left side of the defensive gate
家長 Ienage – family head, patriarch
信房 Nobufusa – trusted house, faithful follower

Another descendant of Hachidō Nyūdō’s Gyokko ryū, Kumogakure ryū is seen as the creation of Toda Sagenta Nobufusa based on the Iga ryū of Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage. Through the Toda family it then finds its way to Takamatsu Toshitusgu and Hatsumi Masaaki.

Iga Heinaizaeimon Ienage – looking at this name you can see ‘the patriarch of the family that resided in the peaceful house to the the left of the gate in Iga’ and so indicates a person of prominent position. He is also referred to as Kumogakure Hōshi, or a Buddhist priest hidden in the clouds, as noted with Togakure ryū this links the person with the nature of the Iga region and mountain asceticism. So is the style named by Toda Sagenta Nobufusa (the trusted follower) as Kumogakure ryū the taking of his teachers name or named after the location associated with the person?


The description for Kumogakure ryū is brief and the same is true for the two following styles, Gyokushin ryū and Gikan ryū. To reiterate my purpose here is just to present a translation of the text and some comments on the names/kanji, I am trying to avoid any interpretation, explanation or information based on my experience of training with Soke or the Shihan in Japan (though I had to remind myself not to add a load on Kotō ryū from Senō-sensei last time…).


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Naginata blade

From Paart Budo Buki by buki stolar

Hello Buyu's,

I received a request to make Kukishinden ryu naginata, and so I "fell" to the stage built up Naginata's
I do not know how many I will  make them, and in how  many forms, it  is a big issue. For now here are a few forms of the blade, soon it will be more.
Here it will be only pictures of blades,
because the shape is what makes the difference, everything else, tsuba (size of tsuba), Ishizuki (shape of ishizuki), length of nagaye(handle), tachiuchi, is up to you.

I will also try to make my version of Tsukushi naginata (orTsukushi fukuro) for practice.


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Koryu bokken, sori 2 cm

From Paart Budo Buki by buki stolar

Here is another koryu bokuto but  with 2 cm curvature,

natural curvature of course,
made of the acacia tree, because it looks nice, but like all other porous trees is not appropriate for hard contact bokuto,
 
more photos soon
 
 
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Shot to the Heart of Kaname 要

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Yabusame 流鏑馬, Kumamoto-shi, JP. photo by malfet_
We are more than halfway through 2012 and training has been great! Back in December, I wrote about a class where Hatsumi Sensei suggested some possibilities of a theme for 2012. As often happens the theme has evolved to express other ideas than those Hatsumi Sensei shared in December. One idea that has emerged has been an exploration of the idea of kaname 要.

Kaname 要 can be described as the essential or vital point of a technique, of a moment, or of strategy. It is essential because victory or defeat can pivot at this point. Everything hinges on grasping this moment. But this is not a new idea from Hatsumi Sensei.

At last year's Daikomyosai, Soke gave us a lot of focus on the concept of Kukan no kyusho. At the time, besides having my eyes opened, this concept felt pivotal to everything we are currently studying in the Bujinkan. And, it turns out that kaname and kukan no kyusho are getting at the same feeling. In years past, Soke has also used the terms koshi or koppo to get at this idea of a key point that controls things.

This kaname, or kyusho in the kukan, is very dynamic. So when you connect to it and affect the situation, change the uke's balance, strike a kyusho, or win the fight… The situation changes. And you must change with it to connect to the new vital point of the moment. What is fascinating is that through this process you will discover pivotal points that were hidden from your normal level of awareness and ability.

There is a secret here that I cannot describe or even teach. Soke hints at it in the scroll he painted for this year: shinryuyogo 神龍要護. You will notice the character for "yo" is the same as kaname. And "go" is the same as mamoru which means to safeguard or protect. But another secret here has to do with shinryu or the divine dragon.

Here is an excerpt from my recent training notes on this:
"With both ideas you can use these essential points as pivot points. But what is being pivoted? Certainly you can pivot your body around a point in space that you feel is essential to the execution of the technique. But that is a very flat or two dimensional understanding of kaname.

To expand the concept what is really pivoting is your shin 心 (heart, mind, or spirit) or shin 神 (spirit or kami). Both you and your opponent's "shin" are pivoting around in the kukan. This allows for the spontaneous creation and use of any henka, but also kyojitsu, rokkon shoujou, juppo sessho, roppo kuji, kuki taisho… or any number of principles that respond to the dynamics of the instant!

And our shin 神 are pivoting around each other as well as the real essential point which is the connection to heaven  or: chance; fate; destiny; karma. We can stay connected with 因縁 innen which is the underlying source of all actions or the origin. This is the true shinzui 神髄  of kaname that can lead us to the expression of kamiwaza 神業 ."
What I wrote above is a sample of what I send out 3 times a week to subscribers. If you haven't subscribed to my training notes you can get them here: 稽古記録 Keiko Kiroku

Last year Hatsumi Sensei shared a story that gets at the depth of feeling behind kaname. It comes from a famous moment in the epic tale of Heike (平家物語), During the Battle of Nashima in 1184, the enemy retreated to their ships. They placed a fan on top one of their masts claiming that it protected them from archers on the shore and they dared the Minamoto to shoot it off.

An archer, Nasu no Yoichi 那須 与一 who was known for his accuracy but not his strength, rode out into the sea on horseback to get close enough. With the waves splashing around the horse's neck, and rolling the ship around in the surf, somehow he loosed his arrow and split the fan in two!

Soke explains that this moment had such power that "it pierced the heart (kaname 要)" of the Taira army and the Minamoto were victorious. It was also a pivot point or turning point in the entire war. This moment has power in our imaginations to this day as it is retold and represented by artists with great reverence.

So in my own training for the first half of 2012, I have been exploring Kaname in our training as the essential, or vital point around which the technique, fight, or taijutsu derives its' power. The results have been spectacular for me and I can't wait to study it more and train even harder.
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