April, 2013 - NinZine 3.0

Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Art (Kickstarter Project)

adminApril 15, 2013

Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Art will be a professionally designed book of paintings and calligraphy by Bujinkan Soke, Masaaki Hatsumi.

This is a book in the planning by Steve Olsen, he is looking for people backing his book on Kickstarter. If he gets enough backers he will make the book, if not it won’t be a book. It is up to you if there will be one.

BACKGROUND

During break in his martial arts classes at the Bujinkan Hombu Dojo in Noda City, Japan, Hatsumi-Sensei paints for his students. He paints calligraphy and pictures. His art contains advice to his students and historical influence from the nine Japanese martial traditions he is the head instructor of

BOOK DESIGN

7504d495979ea290e9e6588215adb469_large Our designer, Dan Saal, is a real pro. He’s an award-winning art book designer and he knows how to design beautiful books that bring the essence of topics to life. Dan’s sample layouts already look great and I look forward to working with him to finish the project.

For an idea of the quality you can expect, take a look at some of Dan’s work here:
http://www.studiosaal.com
http://www.studiosaal.com/awards.html

Support the project here… http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1780878098/masaaki-hatsumi-dojo-art

The post Masaaki Hatsumi: Dojo Art (Kickstarter Project) appeared first on 8þ Kabutoshimen.…

Welcome to the Bujinkan Sweden Taikai 2013 in Gothenburg

Christian AppeltApril 15, 2013

From Bujinkan 40 Years in Europe by Christian Appelt

It is with great pleasure that we announce that the Bujinkan Sweden Taikai of 2013 will be held in Gothenburg, October 19-20th. Especially since it is a sort of anniversary since this year it is 30 years since Bujinkan was established in a more formal way in Gothenburg.

The Taikai will be hosted by the two Bujinkan Dojos in Gothenburg, Bujinkan Seishin Dojo and Bujinkan Dojo Göteborg.

We are very happy to be able to present these great instructors to you.

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空間 Kukan: More Bounce to the Ounce

Michael GlennApril 11, 2013April 11, 2013

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Edo-Tokyo Architectural Museum. photo by kanegen

I guess I didn't understand kukan. I was in a class with Hatsumi Sensei, and the things he did and said made that clear to me. For example he said,

"When he's close, then use a sanshin strike. Let's think that this strike is a strike on the kukan. No one will think you'll do this."

and another time he said to "Bounce the opponent off the kukan." and to "use the kukan as a shield." Hatsumi Sensei then added,

"you're not "doing" a technique. Being able to control without holding on in the kukan. It's like juggling in the kukan. This is the most important thing for the upcoming kunoichi taikai. Because you don't need strength to juggle."

And the effect on his opponent was palpable. I could see it happening in front of me. He was being "bounced."

OK. So the simple physics don't match up with any western translation of kukan I have heard. For example one dictionary defines 空間 kukan as: space; room; airspace. And I always understood it to mean the space between, in and around the fight and the fighters. But this is empty air! How the heck do you strike it? And when you do, what would that accomplish?

Let's look an eastern concept for this idea. The first character in kukan is 空 ku, one of the five elements in our training. It roughly translates to empty; sky; void; vacant; vacuum.

But in another blog post about bojutsu I described another meaning for kokū 虚空:

We usually think of this as meaning empty space or empty sky. But this word is sometimes used to refer to the mind (which has no form or color) of your opponent. Kokū 虚空 can be read as emptiness or even "false" emptiness. Another way to write kokū is 真空, which is a true emptiness. Or even kokū 心空 emptiness of mind.

So how do you bounce somebody off empty space? Maybe with the mind of the attacker? The space looks empty but it is filled with intentions and thoughts.

Soke ended the class by suggesting that we do it without feeling. Kankaku denai 感覚でない... But isn't that how badly we always do it?
… Read More

Seishin 正心

IwatoApril 9, 2013

From Sida 21 – Iwato 1810 by Iwato

Bansenshukai poängterar att ninjutsu är den mest effektiva formen av militär strategi. Andra avsnittet i Bansenshukai benämns Shoshin och den avhandlar vikten av uppriktighet, motivation och moralisk styrka Seishin nödvändiga attribut för en ninja. Nedan en översättning i fritt format ur kapitlet om Seishin.

1. Ninjutsu börjar med seishin – “ett uppriktigt hjärta”. Slutet nalkas med list och intriger. Om inte allt har ett ursprung från ett uppriktigt hjärta, kan det aldrig sluta väl, eftersom man då inte kan anpassa sig till den ständiga förändringen i universum.

2. Konfucius sa: om begynnelsen inte är uppriktig, så kan slutet aldrig bli rätt

3. Seishin omfattar idéerna om Jin (mänsklighet), Gi (ärlighet), Chu (lojalitet) och Shin (uppriktighet); utan den kan man aldrig agera hjältemodigt.

4. I Daigaku står det; ”utan hjärta kan vi se men inte ta intryck, höra utan att förstå, äta utan att känna smaken”. Refererande till mänsklighet, ärlighet, lojalitet och uppriktighet: Lärande kan inte utvecklas utan korrekt början, oberoende av hur det slutar.

5. Tomomasa från Tei-riket sa; stora ting kan endast uträttas av visa personer som är uppriktiga Om man inte har viljan att agera uppriktigt, kommer man bort från vägen (tao). Om man agerar rättfärdigt, finner man den sanna lagen. Den som agerade ståndaktigt och höll ut utan att skada oskyldiga, erhöll de vises (seijin [聖人]) andliga dygd (toku [徳]).
Inom krigskonsten innebär detta att en särskild underrättelse operatör (kan [間]), som agerar uppriktigt, kan visa vägen till stora ting.…