From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

When you come to Japan, you may often hear the expression `zen tai`.  Simply translated, it means 全 whole/complete and 体 body/essence.  In the dojo, Hatsumi Sensei uses this to describe the movement to which we should aspire in our taijutsu, moving with our whole body, integrated and one.  In the beginning it is natural that we move our hands and feet in a disconnected and often awkward manner.  Think of it as puberty!  We are always a bit embarrassed when your family pulls out a picture of us from our awkward years.  So it is natural to go thru an awkward puberty again in taijutsu! Maybe this is what keeps us young on the path.  It seems I am constantly going thru puberty in my taijutsu trying to keep up with my teacher! But once we pass thru puberty, we begin integration.  Learning to move as an adult, as a human, from the essence of humanity.

In my dojo in Japan, Kasumian Study Center, I often use a trick my teacher taught me.  I strap the arms of my students to their sides to force them at first to move physically from their center and whole.  Look at the word holy, when you are moving from the whole as one, from your very essence, you become holy.   Your movement can take on a sacredness.  But don`t get caught in religion here.  Think of it more naturally, when standing near a waterfall, small droplets of water hitting your cheeks can feel refreshing.  They are individual drops separate from the stream, they have broken away and become separate.    Now stand under the waterfall and feel the crushing force of all the drops that are moving as one.  Even a small waterfall can effect enormous  power because it is moving wholly.

This reminds me of a zen parable about a great wrestler named OoNami (Big Wave)  He was of great build unstoppable in practice, throwing all opponents with ease. Even his teachers could not keep up with him during training, such was his ability and stunning techniques. But before every match, without fail, he would get so nervous and cowardly that he could barely stand and he would lose every competition. He would even lose to his students. He was fractured, not moving as one, he was disconnected. Just a bunch of moving parts, not crystallized as one.  He was so frustrated that he went to a Zen master for help.  The Zen master told him, “if your name is big wave, don’t think of yourself as a cowardly wrestler. But imagine yourself to be a great huge wave! A tsunami that engulfs and washes away all in your path! If you can see that, you will become instantly the number one wrestler in the country. You will beatable!”. In the temple that evening, he tried hard to envision himself a wave but his thoughts were disturbing him. Then slowly he started to feel the wave growing in him. As it grew later in the evening, the wave grew too, washing away the flower vases around him. The wave grew stronger still and washed away the statues of the deities in temple. And yet it grew bigger, washing away the temple and finally it engulfed the whole grounds of the temple washing everything away.  At that moment, the master spoke, “You have done it! You will be unstoppable like this wave now.”. From that day on he moved as the ocean, with the force and power of great waves, like a tsunami.  He became the number one wrestler in the land, sweeping away his opponents with ease.  He became the tsunami.  He became integrated and whole, each cell and fiber moving as one.  Hatsumi Sensei would often tell us to become like a tsunami. A series of unconnected attacks or techniques will not defeat an opponent. But a connect whole, a flow, a wave like a tsunami will fell the toughest opponent.  Zen Tai, whole essence, whole body, imagine you are the tsunami, and flow with natural power and rhythm!

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

Shin Shin Shin Gan is an expression you may hear during your training in Japan.  It can be translated as the heart and the eyes of the divine.  Shin 神 (kami, sacred, divine) Shin 心 (heart) Shin 神 Gan 眼 (eyes). Shin Shin Shin Gan. 

Your eyes can be easily deceived.  In fact, all of our limited senses can be easily deceived.  Just think of the magician that makes a tiger appear in an empty box.  The tiger is not appearing out of the air, it is skillfully hidden in the unseen compartments of the box or stage.  But we are very surprised.  We pay a lot of money to see magicians fool our eyes and senses.  Sometimes it is pleasant to be fooled and sometimes not so pleasant.  The ladyboys in Thailand love fooling the love hungry military boys coming in off the ships! Maybe it is best they never know the truth!

It reminds me of a story.  In the honbu dojo in Noda, Hatsumi Sensei has a picture in the dojo of a woman putting on makeup.  He once told me it represents Yamato Takeru No Mikoto, a Japanese legendary prince of the Yamato Dynasty. To kill a very powerful enemy, he once dressed as a woman maid attendant at a drinking party and successfully assassinated his opponent. 

Even a picture in the dojo fooled me. You can be looking at something directly for many years and not know what it is!

A true ninja cultivates the heart and eyes of the divine.  Not seeing with just the eyes, not listening with just the ears, not tasting with just the tongue, not smelling with just the nose, not feeling with just the hands.  If you don`t cultivate yourself, you will be fooled over and over.  You will continue to chose poorly and find yourself at the point of your opponent`s blade.  This is true for choosing teachers as well, if you choose wisely, you will have a wonderful experience. Choose poorly, and you will find yourself on a dark and perilous road.  But don`t worry, in the end, both will die!

Those that have cultivated the heart and eyes of the divine are like sunflowers.  They don`t choose any more.  They just move.  When the sun rises in the easy, they turn their faces to the light, when the light moves to the west, they turn their faces westward.  Moving with the light, they don`t choose, they just move in the direction of light naturally, without thought.  A true ninja is like a sunflower, it is hard to judge him because we are always fooled choosing this or that, but he is always moving naturally with the good.

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

In the dojo, you often here the expression, Chikara wo Nuku.  Chikara 力 means power or force.  Nuku 抜く means to pull out or withdraw.  You may hear for example `katana wo nuku`, to pull out (unsheathe) your sword.  This concept is not only important in martial arts but the married life arts as well.  Married couples can appreciate the importance of knowing the timing of pulling out the sword!! There is also an expression when a fighting couple makes up, moto no saya ni osomatta 元の鞘に納まった.- the sword is re sheathed in it`s old (original) scabbard. But enough of my sukebe (lewd) talk!

Chikara wo nuku is the ability to drop or release power in a proper manner and timing when you feel resistance in an exchange with the opponent. In taijutsu, you can either create a tension and release it or you receive tension from your opponent and skillfully misdirect and release it. Properly executed, you can create moments of great surprise for your opponent.  like accidentaly stepping off a curb, or when an airplane hits an air pocket and the plane suddenly drops. Those moments when you catch your breath in unexpected shock.   As we progress in our taijustu, we must start to create these air pockets for our opponent to fall into.  When the opponent is surprised, his power is often disrupted and creates moments of receptivity in him where he can receive more easily.  When you are surprised, you gasp or breath in.  This is when the opponent is receptive or soft and can be more easily controlled. Try pushing a heavy object when you are breathing in.  It is almost impossible! So when the opponent is tense with power, think of letting air out of a tire, it gets softer and softer. We create moments of letting the air out. 

Maybe this original composition I painted yesterday can help you let some air out.  It says`Finally I am enlightened.`!

Good comedians are like ninja as well. They lead us down a path and at the last moment take us somewhere unexpected which makes us laugh.  Hatsumi Sensei does this all the time in conversation.  A good ninja will have this ability in not only his taijutsu but his daily interactions as well.  So when you are up the creek without a paddle, having a struggle, Chikara wo Nuku and let the river carry you home!

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

Previously, we discussed, Datsu Ryoku or the the release of tension.  Recently, Hatsumi Sensei has been using the phrase Mu no Gaku Riki, or the Science (study of) the Power (dynamics) of Nothingness. 無の力学。Zen Monks often draw an enso (round circle in ink) to represent nothingness.  This is an enso with some bamboo inside with the inscription, `pure wind`. I drew it based on an old painting by a well know zen monk.

It reminds me of a story about a useless tree.

Lao Tzu was traveling with his disciples and they came to a forest where hundreds of woodcutters were cutting the trees. The whole forest had been cut except for one big tree with thousands of branches. It was so big that 10,000 persons could sit in its shade.

Lao Tzu asked his disciples to go and inquire why this tree had not been cut. They went and asked the woodcutters and they said, “This tree is absolutely useless. You cannot make anything out of it because every branch has so many knots in it – nothing is straight. You cannot use it as fuel because the smoke is dangerous to the eyes. This tree is absolutely useless, that’s why we haven’t cut it.”

The disciples came back and told Lao Tzu. He laughed said, “Be like this tree. If you are useful you will be cut and you will become furniture in somebody’s house. If you are beautiful you will be sold in the market, you will become a commodity. Be like this tree, absolutely useless, and then you will grow big and vast and thousands of people will find shade under you.”

When you are strong or beautiful, or technically proficient, you can be used. You can be a commodity. The opponent can use you too.  If you embody nothingness, nobody can use you. You are free.

We often forget that in nothingness or no use, there is great power. Often when I am uke for Hatsumi Sensei, his complete lack of interest in the opponent is very surprising.  It disarms you. Often he does not even look at you.  I find that whatever I try to do to him,  there is no resistance. He does not resist the opponent.  It is like when you think a door is locked and  you push on it with great strength but it was actually open and you fly thru to the other side. Or we have all had the experience of walking along the street and accidentally step off the curb into nothingness.  It is an amazing shock as you try to regain your balance.  Only a drop of a few centimeters and it feels as if you almost dropped of the earth!

In  taijutsu as well, harnessing the concepts of Mu-Nothingness and Datsu Ryoku will allow you greater control over yourself, your opponent, and any situation you encounter.

From Kasumi An Study Center 　霞庵 スタディセンター by Kasumi An Study Center

In the dojo you may hear terms like `chikara wo nuku` or datsu ryoku suru.  They refer to the idea of relaxing, or releasing tension at a certain moment in the flow of movement with an opponent.  Some teachers, in Japan, try to teach this by making their students release all tension from their bodies and wiggle around and shake like dancing puppets. Sensei joking remarked, `this type of datsu ryoku is only good when wrestling in bed with a blow up doll.`.  Of course we all burst out laughing.  But Sensei`s datsu ryoky is just like this, whether in conversation or physical movement.  A moment of release when you can forget yourself.  Done in coordination with the use of tension.

Using just power, your technique can be reversed. Likewise, complete relaxation and you find yourself at the mercy of the opponent.  A subtle manipulation of the two can create the datsu ryoku of which  Sensei speaks.  When you feel or purposely create tension between you and the opponent, releasing the tension for a brief moment can often create gaps in not only the physical kamae of the opponent but mental gaps as well.  Often we try to create a flow of movement where the opponent is physically supported by us. Then a skillful release of tension will allow the opponent to fall on his own accord.    If you are physically trying to throw the opponent,  you often create the very power which the opponent will use to reverse the technique. A skillful creation and release of tension – this is the difference between a dancing puppet and a martial artist.  You must be able to, as a martial artist, create tension and power and then be strong enough and willing enough to release it.

A skillful application of datsu ryoku will conserve energy and can often change conflict into congeniality. I hope you will find this useful in not only your physical training but your everyday life as well.