Year: 2014

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Three Lamps, 日本民家園 Nihon Minka-en. photo by Michael Glenn

I have found three easy steps to make 神韻武導 Shin Gin Budo happen. Sounds great even if it might be a lie. But could it be easy? Let's see…

One thing I know for sure about this year's theme is that it's difficult to teach. I went to Japan last month to study with Hatsumi Sensei. And he gave me a lot to work on. So I have been working.

Like many things Soke shares with us, this theme is connected to many previous themes. It did not suddenly appear this year in our training. And I personally am grateful to have this as a focus because I have been working on this very idea for several years in my own training.

But I always tell my students, this is what I am doing and studying myself, but I don't know how to teach it. Sorry.

Yet, thanks to Hatsumi Sensei's focus this year, I have new insights that I can share. Maybe they will help anyone trying to get a grasp on Shin Gin.

As I mentioned in another post about the 2014 Bujinkan theme,  this idea is like entering a divine space. But first you have to find it. And Hatsumi Sensei says we should make it ourselves. Make our own kukan where we can be safe, where we can survive and live. So, how do you start?

Step 1: 阿吽の呼吸 aunnokokyuu

 

One way to begin is with 阿吽の呼吸 aunnokokyuu. Hatsumi Sensei used this term which means harmonizing.  Like yin/yang or in/yo. Connect the Mind, body and spirit, with that of your opponent.

If you do that, the fight will never happen in the first place. But if it does, anger and aggression tend to dissipate when there is this kind of harmony. And even still, if the attacks come, you are so connected that it would be like you punching yourself. How hard is it to avoid that?

Go ahead, try it. Punch yourself. I'll wait right here while you do. 

If you are not masochistic, then you either won't do it at all, or it is very easy to avoid. This is what it feels like when you are harmonized with your opponent. But the theme this year is larger than this.

Step 2: 空間を陽空 kuukanwoyokuu

 

After using 阿吽の呼吸 aunnokokyuu, you enter your own space. Either by finding it or creating it. Soke said it is like an air pocket.

Hatsumi Sensei said 空間を陽空 kuukanwoyokuu. This is Yang empty space. A positive,  safe space. Like seeing daylight when emerging from a prison. Or the clouds parting after a storm.

This is where things get mysterious. Shin Gin.  Budo guided by divine resonance.

Step 3: 神韻武導 Shin Gin Budo

 

Once in that space, you can harmonize and connect with the heavens. Through this connection you are a lot more powerful than your own strength, ability, technique, or wit could ever be when fighting by yourself. You gain a natural 抑止力 yokushiryoku, the ability to deter attacks.

And as for offense,  Hatsumi says you can strike opponents with your spirit. You strike the space itself. 空間の九勝 Kukan no Kyūshō. Soke said,

"Lift the opponent up into the kukan and then blast them away with your spirit. It's the kyusho of air. It's the kyusho of zero."

3 easy steps, right?

What a crazy, wonderful, and powerful art we study! I would never believe any of this if I hadn't witnessed it in person, felt it directly, or done it myself. I hope you can find this in your training this year.… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Parking Lot Ku, near 観音寺 Kannon-ji, Ayase. photo by Michael Glenn

What do you make with empty space? What is the point of 空間 kukan? Many years ago I was training with Hatsumi Sensei and he told us, "Your own intention becomes "ku". Your body becomes "ku." And together in that space you can live."

Wow. That is a powerful answer to conflict.

Then last month I was training with Hatsumi Sensei and he told us, "You've got to play in the space here. Be able to move freely, make your own kukan. Move with the opponent in the moment in a friendly fashion."

I've been giving a lot of thought and study to understand this year's theme. This theme resonates very deeply for me personally. One of the reasons I think it does is because I have been on a path leading to this for many years.

I said in my last post about this year's theme of 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou , that Soke feels that we in the Bujinkan have finally matured enough for him to share the gokui that Takamatsu Sensei gave him so many years ago,

なす技を己がカと人は言う。神の導く身と知らずして (高松寿嗣)
People say that it is with their own strength that they perform techniques, without knowing that their body is led by the gods. ~Takamatsu Toshitsugu

I got my first rank in the Bujinkan in 1988. But I started studying some years before that. The mystery is, what got me started? An even bigger mystery is what keeps me going after all these years?

This year feels like an answer to that mystery to me. To try to understand the answer, I have been digging through my old training notes. Following the threads where they lead.
And they appear to come together this year in empty space. Kukan.

So the other night in my own class, I was attacking my opponents with kukan. No one can counter or defeat empty space. But why is this even possible?

I explained to my students that we were doing what Soke describes as 空間移動 kuukanidou, which is shifting the space itself, or repositioning the kuukan. Then you strike the kukan. Ring it like a bell.

More than twenty years ago Hatsumi Sensei said in one class, "You should strike the kukan. You should not be aiming at a specific target, you should be aiming at the space itself."

Then it resonates. Your strike echoes around the space and is magnified the way sound waves can amplify one another. Then you are not using your own power.

Sound waves can cancel each other out as well. This is how you evade or defend with empty space. I've witnessed this personally. I've done it.

You render an enemy harmless. He falls, gentle like a cherry blossom. This is how you can create a safe place in the midst of violence. A space where you can live.

What might happen if you did this outside of the dojo? What if you make your own kukan for your life?… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Hatsumi Sensei's 6 ton 大黒天 Daikokuten, photo Michael Glenn

One day I was asking Hatsumi Sensei about the meaning of a particular scroll he had just painted. The reading of it was one thing, but the kanji, brush strokes, and shape of the entire piece suggested more. He answered me... sort of. Luckily I was familiar with the word he used. He said, 徴ね。Shirushi, ne?

Meaning this scroll had signs, hints, or clues.

I remembered that word because of some training I had done with Soke some years ago outside under some Japanese maples. He showed us a style of ninja walking that I describe here: How to Read the 徴  Shirushi Taught in 口伝 Kuden

Soke leaves signs and hints for us to follow everywhere. You just have to develop the capacity to sense them. I recently found another secret path that he has indicated for people who can find it.

Hatsumi Sensei dedicated a 6 ton 大黒天 Daikokuten statue created in honor of Takamatsu Sensei. This was on the 37th year of Takamatsu's passing. But he placed it as a sign for all Bujinkan students.

In modern Japan, Daikokuten is a fat, happy god of farmers. He also symbolizes food, wealth, and good fortune. But the funny thing is that older depictions of him in Japan portray him as a fierce warrior, sometimes even wearing armor. That is because he originates from the Hindu warrior deity, Mahākāla.

More 大黒天 Daikokuten in Soke's House, photo Michael Glenn

He stands holding 打ち出の小槌 uchide nokozuchi, his magic wish granting mallet over his head. One foot is on a 俵 tawara, or bale of rice. Next to the rice, at the bottom of the statue is a rat. Whenever there is plentiful rice, there will also be rats.

Hatsumi Sensei dedicated this statue in the year of the rat. Although the rat may seem to be a nuisance, he is a protector. For example, in one Japanese myth the story goes,

"the Buddhist Gods grew jealous of Daikoku. They consulted together, and finally decided that they would get rid of the too popular Daikoku, to whom the Japanese offered prayers and incense.

Emma-O, the Lord of the Dead, promised to send his most cunning and clever oni (demon), Shiro, who, he said, would have no difficulty in conquering the God of Wealth. Shiro, guided by a sparrow, went to Daikoku’s castle, but though he hunted high and low he could not find its owner. Finally, Shiro discovered a large storehouse, in which he saw the God of Wealth seated.

Daikoku called his Rat and bade him find out who it was who dared to disturb him. When the Rat saw Shiro he ran into the garden and brought back a branch of holly, with which he drove the oni away, and Daikoku remains to this day one of the most popular of the Japanese Gods. This incident is said to be the origin of the New Year’s Eve charm, consisting of a holly leaf and a skewer, or a sprig of holly fixed in the lintel of the door of a house to prevent the return of the oni.”

~ Myths and Legends of Japan by F. Hadland Davis , 1913 by George G. Harrap & Company, London

Soke said that he placed this statue in a spot where it could act as:

空間にもある繋がり、すなわち縄道 (定道)

... a connection through space like a rope path or a distinct guiding path binding or linking the 武神館道場 Bujinkan hombu dojo and the 本陣 Honjin together. Soke says this is like a lighthouse or a beacon guiding us in the direction of the 辰 Dragon.

If you can follow this path, you may discover what Hatsumi Sensei says the statue symbolizes:

六根 rokkon six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind)

and 六道 rokudou (the 6 paths of existence or karmic rebirth in Buddhism).

The symbol on the bale of rice is a form of 宝珠 Hōju. This wish fulfilling jewel bestows wealth. But it is a Buddhist form of wealth that eases suffering, calms desire, and comes with knowledge of dharma. But many people just wish for riches.

Hatsumi Sensei said the statue was given the name of 威光武徳大黒天 Ikou Butoku Daikokuten (power of warrior benevolence). And the base of the statue bears his name, 初見良昭 Hatsumi Masaaki, 白龍翁 Byakuryu-oh (venerable white dragon).… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Moonlight Enters the Bujinkan Hombu, photo by Michael Glenn

Below is a video preview of my latest notes from Japan about 神韻武導 Shingin Budo.

When I was training in Japan last week, I wrote extensive notes. I also recorded some video. This is part of my own learning process.

If you've been on a training trip to Japan yourself, you know how compressed that experience can be. Maybe you go to 2-3 classes everyday for 2 weeks. That is more classes than some people who live in Japan attend in a whole year! It is a huge amount of information crammed into a short time.

Hatsumi Sensei told us last week that when we are fighting we have to read the signs or hints (気配 kehai) that our opponent or the situation show us. So I record my notes as I discover these signs. If I get a hint of something important from my teachers, I make a record of it for later.

Then I come home and unpack my luggage. But also unpack my mind and body. I use my notes to debrief myself. They are like a compressed computer file that needs to be unzipped.

This process takes a few months and many classes while I uncover the treasures of my own experience in Japan. Then, when I start to feel confident that I understand, I go back to Japan for more mind, body, and heart transmission.

If you are reading this, then I'm not worried about your drive to learn. You have the ability to get more from training than most people by using all the resources available to you.

Here is your invitation: You can read about my Japan training and also get personal notes here: get your notes.  And an even bigger resource I offer is what I bring back from Japan for my own students, you can purchase this intensive training here: http://www.rojodojo.com/

Here is a preview of my latest:
and the preview link: http://youtu.be/JZl_Lcdy_6U
*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=JZl_Lcdy_6U]|*

In this video, I share 2 specific strategies I discovered about how to use this year's theme of 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou. I learned from Hatsumi Sensei to create your own kukan and resonate with this divine space. This can be something subtle and hidden, or powerful like entering a sacred space.

In conversation, this may seem more metaphysical than combat related. But doing this physically opens you up and frees you from using your own ego, your own muscle or force, or even your own technique. The results are techniques that the opponent cannot counter.… Read More

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Cameraman Enters Torii, Shibamata Hachiman Jinja 柴又八幡神社. photo Michael Glenn

Our Bujinkan theme for 2014 is spiritual culmination. Hatsumi Sensei said last night that it has been 42 years since the passing of Takamatsu Sensei. He said that the students of the Bujinkan have finally matured enough so that he can share these teachings with us.

Maybe you have seen the scroll hanging in the Hombu. Or have heard the theme of 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou. It is easy to hear these words, but very difficult to understand and include them in your training.

After training with this idea in Hatsumi Sensei's classes, I have a suggestion for how to open up this theme in your training this year.

Soke tells us that the theme this year is about not doing your own techniques, but rather letting the divine techniques work through you. He told us that this happens with a divine resonance in the kukan. The space itself becomes divine.

Harnessing this theme requires the clarity created by 大光明 Daikoumyou. When we start each class, we ask for protection with the chihayafuru uta, and recognize the opportunity for enlightenment that comes with daikoumyou.

Many people bow in and clap without reflecting or opening up to this experience.

But the dojo is a sacred space. It may not seem like much. In fact a dojo can be anywhere with the right spirit. This year Hatsumi Sensei is helping us to find this same divine space in the kukan.

You can find it even in the middle of a fight. Open up the kukan for yourself and create this peaceful space where you can live. The peace you bring will be contagious. Hatsumi Sensei told us it will protect us like 冥加 myouga. Then everyone within this space, even your enemy, can be protected.

Don't enter the dojo and do your own technique. Don't use your own power in a fight. Hatsumi Sensei said,

"if you use your own movement, your lack of skill will appear. Use God's movement. Let divine movement come out through you."

This is kamiwaza. This may seem esoteric or mysterious. But we are all capable of it.  It is the most natural ability that comes with our birth. A butterfly can balance on a flower or the edge of a sword with no training.

When you enter this divine space the change is subtle. Subtle like the opening that occurs in the Godan test.

When you pass into a sacred space like this, walk through a 鳥居 torii or into a church, the change you feel reflects your own spirit. Some feel nothing, others feel a great deal.

Sensei told us during one technique, that it didn't matter whether we used a kodachi or a bo. It becomes space, it becomes 神韻 shingin. He said, "this year I'm teaching this kind of divine space."

So we can walk through a 鳥居 torii or pass our godan test. It's all the same. As Hatsumi Sensei told us right after we bowed in at the beginning of class, this is how we are able to see what real budo is.
 More 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou Japan Training Notes… Read More