Year: 2015

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumafr

Nobel Prize writer Toni Morrison said: “Not knowing it was hard; knowing it was harder.” (1)
I felt this “hardship” during Senō Sensei’s class last Saturday.

The class regrouped only seven people, so it was nearly like a private lesson. Senō Sensei decided to do some basic Bō movement with the feeling of the Gyokko Ryū. At least this was my interpretation as he was always keeping his hand at the mid-section. (2)

Kamae: Senō Sensei was standing in Shizen with the Bō hold at the center and held by the arm under the armpit. The Bō was pointing in front the end nearly touching the ground at a 45-degree angle.

Waza: When uke attacked, Senō sensei simply walked towards him and slightly to the side with baby steps, turning his body to the left. The movement was natural, no speed, no strength, only footwork. Because of the angle of the weapon, the top end of the Bō placed itself naturally to the inside of uke’s right leg. Once there, he turned his body to the right, trapping uke’s body in a sort of Tsuke iri (3). The Bō then moved into a horizontal position between uke’s legs. Then by simple footwork, Senō sensei bending the legs, grabbed the rear end with his left hand and threw uke to the ground. Uke is trapped in a sort of Jūjiron.
We did many movements based on this first technique: continuing to the left and hitting dō uchi, then reversing; using the back to unbalance uke and finishing with taijutsu, etc.).The movement was so natural that uke was trapped before he knew it.
Impressive, simple, and hard to do. But then things got even more complex.

We did the same feeling but this time by extending the distance using leg movements, then lifting the Bō to meet the attacker’s weapon. This one technique was even more impressive. There was no strength at all but required a perfect understanding of distance and timing to do it.

Because the way he met the weapon of the attacker was so soft that it looked like his weapon was landing softly on the attacker’s Bō. Once the two weapons in contact, they were forming a straight line. Then Senō sensei would deflect the attacker’s weapon by doing a micro rotating action and like by magic, uke’s weapon was going away, leaving uke without defense.

The movement follows four consecutive steps:
1) step back to the right distance;
2) lift the Bō to “land” on the attacker’s weapon (hands after legs);
3) deflect with a very small rotation of the weapon;
4) Then, the upper part of the Bō being nearly vertical he then passed behind and choked uke with it.

Then we applied the same with swords. From Tōsui no kamae with the sword, you let uke cut himself by simply lifting your arms. You don’t try yo cut him; you let uke do it for you. Then he entered with his right leg between uke’s, and turning his back to Uke, used the shoulder to throw him like with a Hanbō (Ganseki Garami). Beautiful, and only based upon precise and soft footwork.
With the sword too, we did many variations from this simple technique.

The reason I quoted Morrison is because I had never seen something so subtle and powerful, Whether we were using the Bō or the sword, this “landing” was the Kaname.

This Kaname is Awaseru, 併せる matching the weapons. (4) When done properly, it looks like the weapons are tied together as if by some magnetic field. Everything is “one”: rhythm, speed, distance, power. I didn’t know this concept before and this it was hard to find it after thirty years of permanent training. In fact since then, I see it in any technique done by Hatsumi Sensei.

I felt like I had a veil blinding me until now. Often people asked me why I continue to go to Japan. I go to Japan because there is always a gem hidden somewhere if you want to find it. It is when you stop training that your level is decreasing. Apparently many high ranks are not interested in this unending quest. Only seven students were training Saturday with him, but we were over forty at Sensei’s class. Where were they all on Saturday?

We train for our development, and the path has no end. Maybe it is about time to reckon it and to go to work!

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1. Toni Morrison biography
http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590
2. We studied the Gyokko no Bō in 2005. The theme was Kasumi no hō. To do that we did all the techniques of the Kukishin Bō by changing the position of the hand in the middle of the weapon.
3. Tsuke iri is one of the basic movement of Hanbō jutsu.
4. Awaseru / 併せる
1: to match (rhythm, speed, etc.);
2: to join together; to unite; to combine; to add up;
3: to face; to be opposite (someone);
4: to compare; to check with;
5: to cause to meet (e.g. an unpleasant fate);
6: to place together; to connect; to overlap;
7: to mix; to combine;
8: to put blade to blade; to fight

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From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumafr

I opened the session with two taijutsu techniques trying to put into life the Ishitobashi 石飛ばし concept I had trained since my last trip in May. (1)
After doing a few variations, sensei applied the same concept to sword techniques. As always I am in awe when he takes whatever is demonstrated and bring it to the next level.
These days, Hatsumi Sensei is insisting on Tsunagari (2), the connection between uke and Tori, and the weapons. This connection is the first step to the Enno Kirinai (3). Once Tsunagari is done, you must keep this connection.

To do so, he said that we must not finish the movements (Hanpa). (4) Hanpa is not new to us; we studied it a few years ago with Chūto Hanpa 中途半端, the half cooked techniques. (5)

Hanpa allows the Tsunagari and we keep the connection with Enno Kirinai. There is no intention; we are “zero” and simply surfing on uke’s movements. Keeping the connection, we can “cut with the leg movement”, Ashi Kiri 足切, and move like a skipping stone. As the sword is a shield and cutting not being the main point, we move the sword with footwork and not with the arms. Sensei said (again) to use no strength Chikara Janai 力じゃない, but only the body movements Karada 体 (body) not Chikara 力 (strength).
To reach this non-action state, he added that mastering Kihon Happō and Sanshin are the prerequisites. He insisted again on the importance of building a strong foundation to our taijutsu. The quality of your taijutsu foundations is the path to understanding what Sensei is doing these days. When you master the basics, they are ingrained, you don’t think about doing a movement. This the “ri” of “Shuhari”. (6)

At the “ri” level, you can now focus on the intention. As Sensei said during class, you have to be Honto 本当 real in your actions, to influence uke’s reactions. (7)
Paradoxically this forces you to alternate the “no intention” with “full intention”. He added that that this is part of human nature “ningensei” 人間性 to feel danger or to expect danger (whether it is real or not). By alternating those two states, you create openings in uke’s atavic reactions and overcome his intentions. This animal reaction is inyō 陰陽, better known as the yin yang.

Strangely, Ashi Kiri 足切 can be written Ashi Kiri 足霧, where “Kiri” means fog. So we can say that bu cutting with the legs, we are also creating a metsubushi like movement that capture uke’s mind and make him react wrong to our non-actions.

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1. Ishitobashi 石飛ばし
Skipping stone principle. See previous blog entry “Ishitobashi.”
2. Tsunagari / 繋がり
connection; link; relationship
3. Enno kirinai / 縁の切ない
Do not sever the connection
4. Hanpa / 半端
remnant; fragment; incomplete set; fraction; odd sum; incompleteness
5. Chūto Hanpa 中途半端
For more on this, see blog post https://kumafr.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/consciously-unconscious/
6. Shuhari / 守破離
Shuhari; three stages of learning mastery: the fundamentals, breaking with tradition, parting with traditional wisdom
7. Honto / 本当
Truth, reality

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumafr

The first class with Sensei felt like the continuation of my last trip two months ago. As it is now common, when there are not so many participants, we do a lot of weapon techniques during the class (yari and sword).

The main point is to use Karada gaeshi 体返し. The body is deflecting the attack through the weapon. The yari or the sword become the natural extension of your body movements. There is no intention in your weapon, uke attacks, and you walk with your sword in front. The weapon is a shield, stabbing or cutting are not the objectives.

You don’t do a technique you simply protect yourself. You do not have to apply a technique because you control uke’s movements, and the distance by using your body. The trick here is to be close enough to prevent us from attacking again, and also to have enough space to use the yari or the sword. The correct distance is important.
In May, Sensei spoke of Kasumi no kaeru 霞の反る, or to put uke in a “fog like” situation. As you don’t try to escape and stay close to uke, he cannot grab the correct distance to maximize the use of his weapon.

On the sword techniques, Sensei also insisted on not cutting but using the air pockets of the ishitobashi* (see previous posts). When you use a sword, you have to understand its potential. You don’t need to cut because uke is using the Yoroi as a protection**.
When he is not wearing the Yoroi, then you have to know that the sword cuts by itself because it is its nature. I remember what my Musō Shinden teacher used to say. It was exactly the same. “The nature of the katana is to cut; the hardest part is to know how to stop it” (i.e. not to create a suki, an opening after the cutting motion). As Nagato sensei said, it is always necessary to keep our body protected. This need to be protected is why Sensei keeps repeating that we have to use the sword as a shield in the Bujinkan.

The sword of 2015 is the evolution of the sword of 1996. In 1996, we learned the forms, today we are learning strategy. If you are not good at doing the techniques (omote), then this pure feeling (ura) might escape you. The biken waza from Kukishin Ryû and Togakure Ryû are the foundation of what sensei is teaching these days.

The weapon being a shield then Karada gaeshi is the only logical answer.
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*石飛ばし
**Reminder: the Yoroi was designed to protect the Samurai from the Yari.