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Kihon: The Heart of an Infinite Circle

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Enso by Isan Shinko (1740-1815) 
I'm sure you've all studied kihon happo. But it's one thing to study those eight basic fundamentals and a entirely different thing to study the kihon OF the happo. Hatsumi Sensei says this idea can be expressed very simply with a common Zen symbol of Enso which I will share below, but what will it mean to us?

Sensei has said that the word happo suggests infinity. He said that placing the number eight on its side gives us that symbol ∞. Soke goes on to explain that a technique does not have a beginning or end but just flows one into the other like the symbol.

A simple way to consider this is with tai sabaki. In angling we often start with cardinal points for evasion or striking (please excuse my clumsy finger diagrams):


Then we split those four directions to make 8:
 Then split again:


You can see how it begins to get infinite... especially if you add the up and down directions so any angle in space is possible leading to a sphere:

Or the Japanese Zen symbol of Enso:

Hatsumi Sensei says that kihon is like thrusting your sword into a point about which there is an Enso or limitless circle (happo) and existing in the space is the kukan.
If you want a clue to the study of that infinite space, you may read the calligraphy of the first Enso I posted at the top of this post by Isan Shinko. In the center is the character for heart, which you may recognize as part of our 忍 "nin" symbol. And the calligraphy says,
"Keep yourself firmly centered inside here and nothing will be able to shatter you. "


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我無し Ware Nashi: No More Us

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Desi being shy.
My dog Desiree died this week after being part of my family for almost 18 years. Although not unexpected, I definitely feel her absence. As I sit with this feeling, I am glad for the heart found in our training.

Hatsumi Sensei said that Takamatsu Sensei gave him a calligraphy which read 我無し ware nashi or "no self." But there is another reading of that concept which can give us a different strategy in combat or life. And since this is a martial arts of distance, we can find a very intimate distance when erasing the self.

Something sensei often repeats is that there is no difference between attacker and defender. So one reading of 我無し ware nashi is "no opponent" or "no enemy"... no we or no us. No separation. How do we get that distance? Sensei explained this once in a class at Ayase,
"In training you have to understand the opponent's heart. If you don't read his heart, if you only read your own heart and do your own technique on him, you will lose. You have to be able to read his heart and match it. This distance is heart distance."
If you reverse the kanji for 我無し ware nashi, you get 無我 muga. This is one of the core ideas of Buddhism which is "No I" or Anātman. This is selflessness;  self-effacement;  self-renunciation or anatman (no-self, the Buddhist concept that in nothing does there exist an inherent self, soul, or ego).

In this old poem we can feel the intimacy of 我無し ware nashi. In 1025 Fujiwara no Nagaie wrote this after his wife died in childbirth,

Morotomo ni
Nagameshi hito mo
Ware mo nashi
Yado ni wa hitori
Tsuki ya sumuran

She who watched with me-
Ah, we stood side by side-
And I too am gone;
Now it is the moon alone
Whose shining fills our home.

I feel this loss of self in a very personal way this week. Strange feeling kinship with a Japanese courtier from 1025.


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一隅を照らす Ichigu wo Terasu: Light Up One Corner

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Kamaishi Search and Rescue By DVIDSHUB
Like a lot of Bujinkan members worldwide, I have been watching the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan from afar. It is a helpless feeling. Reading the news and unable to do anything but hope things improve. If you are like me, you feel like you want to do something. To help in some way. Of course, we can donate money, but Hatsumi Sensei has a suggestion for us that can help in any situation.

He reminds us of the Japanese saying 一隅を照らす Ichigu wo terasu, which means to light up a corner. Hatsumi Sensei says,
"to be a light that brightens the surroundings."
This phrase was brought to Japan from China by Saicho:
From Wikipedia:
Saichō (最澄, September 15, 767 – June 26, 822) was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school in Japan, based around the Chinese Tiantai tradition he was exposed to during his trip to China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).

Operation Tomodachi By DVIDSHUB
What Saicho meant by “A person who can light up one corner” is the person who can do his best in any situation, wherever he happens to be, to help brighten up someone else and our community.

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha said to light up one-just one corner. One corner, not the whole world. Just to light up to make it clear just where you are. Ichigu wo terasu. Ichigu is "one corner." Terasu is "to light up" or "to shine" one corner.

Hatsumi Soke says,
"We should always immerse ourselves in sunlight, and in Budo training, never forget to smile, and never be surprised regardless of what happens."
So go light up your corner of the world.


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How Can You Learn Shinobi Secrets?

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Photo by Son of Groucho
Do you think you have a grasp on this art?  Have you done all the kata in the Tenchijin Ryaku no Maki?  Maybe you have memorized all the (known) kata from our 9 Bujinkan ryuha.  Maybe you have even mastered the Togakure-ryu Juhakkei - the 18 forms of the shinobi (is that even possible in the modern era?).  How long have you been training?  3 years? 10?  how about 20? Do I hear 30?  I know someone with over 40 years in this art and he is still learning new material.

Don't miss the train by not showing up.

Recently, I was at a seminar with my teacher, Peter Crocoll.  I was considering leaving early because I had a 9 hour drive back home.  I brought this up to him, and he said, "you can leave if you want, but what I'm about to show has never been shown in North America."  I stayed.  And it was worth it.

I almost missed training with Peter again this month.  It literally was a coin flip whether I made the trip.  Somehow I pulled it together.  And guess what?  He showed material I had never seen before.

Soke says that he intends to live by the words he heard from his teacher Takamatsu Sensei, "However much I study, it is never enough."

I started training in this art in 1988 (officially).  In all these years, there have been many occasions where I was shown something very interesting and important, and then I never saw it again.  Never in Japan, never at a seminar, never in regular classes, and never in a book or on video. 

Our art runs deep.  Many of the skills in our training could be a lifetime of study all by themselves.  It took many lifetimes and the lives of many warriors to develop this art.  So it is unwise for me to think that my 22 years mean very much.

I was training at one of Hatsumi Sensei's Tai Kai, and Oguri Sensei was there.  Soke showed something and Oguri got a funny look on his face.  Hatsumi Sensei noticed this and asked Oguri to share his thoughts.  Oguri said that he had been training over 40 years and this was the first time he had ever experienced this.

This makes me wonder what I miss when I don't make it to class.  Anytime I start to think about missing a trip to Japan, or going to a seminar, I think to myself, "what if I miss that hidden secret in our art that will make a big difference in my own training?"  And then I am very motivated to go to class.  The simple truth is, I am always happy when I go to class, and missing class just feels empty.


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