2015 - NinZine 3.0

RYU-HA (5)

IwatoFebruary 27, 2015

Bujinkan är en kreativ plats skapad av Hatsumi sensei som är Soke för nio olika ryu-ha:

Togakure ryu
Gikan ryu
Kumogakure ryu
Shinden Fudo ryu
Takagi Yoshin ryu
Gyokko ryu
Koto ryu
Kukishinden ryu
Gyokushin ryu.

Kanji tecknet ”ryu” 流 är av kinesiskt ursprung, och kan även utläsas som ”nagare”. Det betyder ursprungligen ”att flöda” och ”flöde” men har senare även getts översättningen system eller skola.

Många av dessa ursprungliga ryu grundades av en person, ofta en krigare, som hade någon form av livsavgörande erfarenhet. Den upplevelsen ansågs ha flödat ner från en gudomlig källa och betraktades som en hemlig lära och hölls dold för alla förutom de invigda i familjen eller släkten.
Det kunde dröja flera hundra år innan detta ”flöde” namngavs och eller nedtecknades på pergament. Kunskapsöverföringen skedde alltid direkt från mästare till elev och kunde ges i form av en slags performativ överföring av känslan av flöde och inspiration.
De äldsta pergamenten innehöll inga beskrivningar av tekniker eller övningar, bara filosofiska tankar och idéer om strid och överlevnad.

Jämför detta med moderna japanska ”do” 道 arter och kampsporter som har koncept, tekniker och metoder samlade och konstruerade av en kommitté, en mix av tekniker sammanfattade i diskursiva rörelsemönster eller styrda av ett regelsystem

Om man försöker fånga in en klassisk ryu/flöde i ett ritualiserat system så dör den omedelbart. Flödet kan endast upplevas i verkligheten och kan inte definieras med en teori eller dokumenteras i en bok. Teoretisk kunskap av det här slaget tillför oss inget nytt om verkligheten, för slutsatsen finns ju redan gömd i förutsättningarna.

Den arvsynd som många gamla och moderna kampkonst mästare (och kommittéer) har gjort är de har utgått från kata/drill/övning i ett bestämt sammanhang och gjort det till en evig sanning.

Bujinkan är en kreativ sammanslutning som ursprungligen saknar pedagogiska system, graderingsnormer eller dogmer. Det finns inga kommittéer, styrelser eller ”business developers”. Hatsumi Soke sköter all administration hemifrån, med papper och penna, på det gamla analoga sättet.

Graderingarna är förvisso ett modernt påfund men det finns ingen gemensam norm för vad varje grad definieras av.
En sak är dock en rest från den krigiska perioden. Det är inte alltid den som kan mest, som är bäst eller snabbast som kommer att överleva verklig strid. Det är den som begår minst misstag. Därför tilldelas de högre graderna till de som gör minst misstag, och då bör man tänka på att dojo livet i bästa fall består av 10 timmar per vecka, medan det verkliga livet pågår 24 timmar om dygnet, dag efter dag, vecka efter vecka, år ut och år in.

När man undervisas i Bugei så införskaffar man inte exakt kunskap om hur man skall hantera eller bete sig i strid. Man införskaffar endast möjligheten att lära känna några av dessa. Jämför med att köpa en encyklopedi. Man äger inte all den kunskap som encyklopedin omfattar, man har bara skaffat sig möjligheten att läsa om allt detta.

Övningarna startar med att läraren visar hur någonting skall utföras. Vi arbetar med olika årliga teman och taijutsu. Inom Bujinkan väljs ett tema för året och bearbetas i detalj. Det kan vara en speciell ryu, vapen eller idé. Sättet att använda vapen är inte det formella rituella sättet, utan någonting verkligt och som växelverkar med äkta situation.

Vi går inte genom kata som ritual, utan startar, t ex från hur motståndaren slår, och hur man då förflyttar sin kropp. Därifrån växer det fram många sätt i att använda sin kropp eller vapen… eller hur man finner en flyktväg. Och slutligen, man följer igenom tekniken tills motståndarens har hamnat i en position där han är försatt ur stridbart skick.
Detta är krigarens sätt att träna – att öva hur man skall agera, utgående från en verklig situation.…

Failure Is Good!

kumafrFebruary 25, 2015

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumafr

Everything we learn in the Bujinkan is ura and omote. The same goes in life. As we want to be successful in life or on the mats, we are often faced with failure.

The technique doesn’t work, the project, didn’t succeed. A warrior knows that failure is inevitable, but he does his best to survive. Because in a fight death is always a possibility we have to train for in order to avoid recklessness. How is it done? By training hard and sincerely.

People often lose heart when things are not going the way they expected; they shouldn’t. Failure is the omote of success.

All successful people in life have failed many times before becoming successful. In first grade, Thomas Edison was kicked out of school because his teachers thought he was retarded! Churchill twice failed at entering the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst. Henry Ford went bankrupt five times. And the list is endless.
These men became famous because they all had one common quality: Resilience doubled with courage.

We do learn from success, but the lessons don’t stick with us as long as the ones learned when we failed. Failure is indeed your best teacher as long as you never give up. Sensei illustrated that when he translated his famous “Bufu Ikkan” into “Keep going!” at the first American Taikai.
As a person, a group, or inside an organization, we are trained to aim for success but we must admit that failure teaches more than success does.
This apparent paradox is easy to understand. If you are always successful how do you expect to continue improving? After a long period of achievement, the person or entity loses the vision that made it possible. In contrast, repeated failures create more knowledge than repeated success. Failure, when it is not destroying your life, is the sure path to becoming more successful.
We need success, and the “keep going” attitude is the solution to finding it.
In order to be successful in the future, you always have to bear in mind, your errors of the past.
For this to work you need to develop a few qualities. They are resilience, courage, hard work, persistence, commitment.

Edison had difficulties inventing the light bulb. To a journalist asking how he felt about failing 1000 times? He answered beautifully: “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”

The same goes with your taijutsu. When you learn a new waza, you do it wrong. The angle is wrong, the speed and the rhythm are incorrect, there is too much strength involved, etc. But at some point after repeatedly failing, you have it. Success is a question of attitude and hard work.

In the dojo, we open and close the training session with “Shikin Haramitsu Daikomyō”. It means that whatever is happening to us, there is always something positive that we can learn from the experience.

Be happy to be failing, it means you are still learning.

Here are a few quotes* that you will like:

“Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails toward success.” Charles Kettering
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” Michael Jordan
“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” Coco Chanel
“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” Morihei Ueshiba

* from http://www.brainyquote.com/

Happy Birthday Blog!

kumafrFebruary 21, 2015

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumafr

Dear followers,

I just received a message from WordPress, today is the 7th Anniversary of our blog!
Over the course of 2555 days, you have visited the blog 439645 times! This is an average of 172 visits per day!
Throughout the period going from 2010 to 2014, we shared 338 posts with the Bujinkan community which gives a ratio of about 1300 visits per post. And you participated to the success of this blog with roughly 500 comments. Thank you!

Thank you for your unlimited support during all these years.

This blog was created for two reasons: 1) to force me to remember what I was learning on a regular basis in Japan; 2) to share Hatsumi Sensei’s vision of Budo with a maximum of Bujinkan members in our community. Both objectives have reached their goal. And many posts have been translated or simply copied on many Bujinkan websites. Versions in French, Italian, Rusian, German, Portuguese are available online.

Soon (it is a matter of a few weeks now), we are going to move to the next level as I am publishing these posts in their chronological order in an eBook format. I rewrote, adapted and corrected all articles. An annex has been added to give even more detail to what I explain in the texts and that needed clarification. After each chapter, some pictures taken during the same period in Japan or when giving seminars in the world make a nice break. The pictures are not artistic but represent the strength and diversity of our community.
The first volume of the “Bujinkan Chronicles” series will cover the period February 2008 – May 2010. It contains more than 50 chapters, I hope you will love it.
In a few months, I will also launch a new project called “Babel Project” where anyone in the community will be able to translate part of the eBooks in their language. I will explain it very soon.

Once again thank you for your support and spreading of Sensei’s vision in the world.

Funnily enough, this anniversary falls at the same date the new Honbu is opening in Japan.
From now on, your Honbu and your blog have the same Anniversary date!*

Did you check out my first eBook?
http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Movement-Become-True-Student-ebook/dp/B00PUKZY9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424540255&sr=8-1&keywords=spirit+of+movement

* Thank you, Jim for your comments

The Invisible Barrier of 銛盤手裏剣 Senban Shuriken

Michael GlennFebruary 20, 2015February 20, 2015

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael Glenn

Wall and Trees 鎮護堂 Chingo dou, Asakusa, Japan. Photo by Michael Glenn

There is a secret hidden in 銛盤手裏剣 senban shuriken. I have seen the word senban written in many ways, such as 銛盤、施盤、or 旋盤。All of these project different meanings.

As you know, Hatsumi Sensei often uses wordplay to expose different truths. And he wrote senban for us with different kanji that reveal a secret. But first let me tell you why you should care.

There are invisible barriers in our training. Here is one you may not know about:

As a Bujinkan student, you may come to stand on the edge of your own humanity, look down to the light side, and the dark side. And there you will find yourself. You might love or hate what you see. That’s a terrible beauty of training.

When I was young, I was not smart. I secretly ordered some senban shuriken through the mail because my parents would never have allowed me to possess ninja weapons. I had to wait everyday by the mailbox to get the mail before my parents did.

When my shuriken arrived, I quickly removed them from the package to test them out. I chose a tree in the yard for a target. I had no idea what I was doing.

I was poor in ability and aim, but the big mistake was my choice of a target. The tree stood in front of a stone wall. Every time I missed, the senban slammed into the wall.

Within 15 minutes, the metal points were dull and bent.

Now, 30 years later, I see many students make the same mistakes I did. One of the biggest and worst mistakes is like choosing a bad shuriken target. You choose the wrong reason for your training.

I made that mistake too. It was difficult to fix. I almost didn’t recover.

Why do you train? Do you even know? Have you chosen a bad reason or target?

Soke recently demonstrated 閃万飛低 senban hitei. This was a way of writing senban I had not seen. My translation is not the best, but you may read it as 10,000 flashes flying low. Imagine the flashes from a storm of metal shuriken flying in every direction.

This image can lead us to an enlightened direction. The flash of inspiration (閃き) can appear from 10,000 directions (meaning from anywhere and everywhere). But you may only perceive it by flying low, or training with humility.

If you cannot, you are the target. Your life is like a storm of 10,000 senban. And every shuriken will be aimed at you.

This is one of the invisible barriers of the Bujinkan. To truly understand our art you must erase the self. It seems like that is simple advice. Don’t be a target. Become zero.

But your reason for training appears from your own ego. That means it already is, or will become a barrier to understanding the Bujinkan. You have to let it go.

The problem is not the desire to train. The problem is that no one puts in honest effort to remove these barriers. Most people don’t get past their original motivation and they give up the idea of trying. An then so many Bujinkan students merely half-ass their training. Or they quit.

I see this in every dojo across the Bujinkan. I see it in my own students. I see it in myself.

Real Bujinkan training is not a game. It is not playing ninja. It is hard work.

If you want to to know what I work on in my own training, you can sign up for my weekly training notes: http://eepurl.com/cD5v6

So what is your reason? if you’re going to get serious about training , you have to have your “why” squared away. You have to welcome the storm of shuriken that you will face. And mentally, never give yourself the option to quit.

Hatsumi Sensei explains one ninja senban tactic like this: 心して前万に投げること、大秘なり This big secret is like carefully throwing away all of the bad parts of yourself. Then you will be invisible to the enemy behind a storm of shuriken.… Read More