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Ken no Nigiri

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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At the end the class Hatsumi sensei came to me, took the wooden ken I got from Tanaka san* and showed me how to hold the Ken.

The Ken is versatile and the many possible 握り nigiri (grips) reflect this. Sensei demonstrating these grips to me precised that the many ways of holding the weapon implied the ability to change the grips freely according to the body movements. If you play tennis or golf you already know that. Different grips are used in different situations.
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The Ken is really a refreshing weapon because it is the extension/expression of our taijutsu. Nothing is wrong and everything goes.
The freedom of action of the Ken should reflect the way we lead our lives. After many years when sensei taught us to be happy, we are now free to live for ourselves.
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During the calligraphy break, sensei wrote in gold letters the bija mantra for Fudô Myô on my Ken.
As you all know, Fudô Myô is a major divinity in Japanese Budô, and he holds a Ken with a vajra/sanko handle in one hand. Fudô Myô is  often represented symbolically by a Ken. You would often find a simple Ken or a dragon wrapped around the Ken engraved on the blade of the Samurai to bring the divinity’s protection to the warrior.
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Fudô Myô (Acala)** is dark skinned, surrounded by the flames of sapience in which are hidden 9 karasu (crows). In Japan, the legend goes that the crows are the eyes of the gods watching our human behaviour.
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They caw to report to the gods.
Fudô is a myô***, i.e. a “angry-faced” divinity. He is benevolent, his left hand carries a mala (nenju, rosary) to catch those of us going away from the righteous path. He is holding a Ken in the other hand to cut our passions. Fudô has one eye looking up and the other looking down, one tooth going up, one tooth going down.
Fudô is a protector like all Myô divinities.
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Hereafter you will find the grips that sensei was kind enough to teach me at the end of Sunday class. In his explanations sensei insisted again on the importance of having a lot of mobility with the fingers to make the blade alive and move freely. Train that at home.
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Keypoints:
  • the tsuba is flat and the fingers are a natural extension of your body movements.
  • the blade is not sharp close to the tsuba allowing you to hold it with the fingers without getting injured
  • thrusts are done with flat blade
  • the body is behind all your movements, the legs are hitting uke through the sword
  • using the legs allows you not to use chikara (strength) 
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One finger (forefinger)
You hold the tsuka and your forefinger is extended on the tsuba and directs the blade.
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One finger (thumb – new)
You hold the tsuka and your thumb is extended on the tsuba to thrust the tip flat in a kind of boshi ken.
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Two fingers (forefinger and middle finger)
You hold the tsuka and your fingers are extended on the tsuba and direct and secure the blade.
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Holding the Tsuba (thumb and forefinger – new)
I see it as a kind of “ihen” in-between grip. It can be used also for thrusting (palm up).
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Reverse grip
Used when hiding the blade and to change side rapidly or to hit with the kashira.
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During the break and before writing on my Ken, sensei drew a bird diving to attack that I believe to be a crow: “hichô” he said simply while handing it to me.
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hicho
Later when he wrote the bija Fudô Myô on the Ken, he also wrote: カー ”kaa” on the opposite side of the Ken: the cawing of a crow.
Everything is connected.
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Be aware of coincidence and be open to reinterpret always what you think you know until you stop thinking and only act freely.
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This is what you learn when training in the Bujinkan under such a fantastic master.
Be happy, be free!
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*Tanaka San is selling two types of wooden Ken to the Bujinkan members
** Fudô Myô:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acala
*** Myô: http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/400424/Myo-o

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Norikae: Change Your Mindset

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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Do you think Hatsumi sensei is reading my blog? we can think so because in today’s class he gave us the next level to understand the Henka article.

I was asked to begin the class with some taijutsu technique. Uke attacks with a fist at short distance and by moving up and down, left and right you pull him down softly at your feet once uke’s balance is broken. Quoting Noguchi sensei in class today I would say it was a juppô sesshô technique. Hatsumi sensei did many henka around that, not using force at all, grabbing the fingers, crushing the nails having uke dance like a fool with pain. At one point he turned to me and said: “Norikae!”. Totally taken by surprised I said the only logical thing: “nani?” (what?). Sensei explained that the new taijutsu he is developing these days the key was to understand the possible changes that could be done and not to be lost in the way.
Softly he did many “henka” taking uke’s balance only by holding a finger and controlling him seamlessly. As my friend Sven would say the technique “is not about power it is about control”. Sensei added ”this is moving like a butterfly”, it was soft and light at the same time but very powerful. To keep the control with these soft movements was the spirit of woman self defense which we will study during the taikai.
乗り換え norikae or 乗り換える, norikaeru is a verb used when transferring trains or changing buses. If you take the wrong track you never reach your final destination. Norikae is the keypoint to develop proper control of the opponent. Once again there is no strength at all (he repeated many times again 力じゃない, chikara janai, don’t use strength). Having no preconceived plan of action you move like a butterfly from one control to the other, never stopping until uke is defeated. But if you make one mistake, i.e. miss a connection, you end up dead. To reach this ability one must have developed a powerful taijutsu and, he added, this is the most difficult expression of taijutsu, .
Let me illustrate this 乗り換え ”transfer, change” concept with an example. Mistakes are always possible and the results can be dramatic. If during your meal you use tabasco instead of ketchup you might get quite surprised after the first bite. On a side note and speaking of tabasco, sensei said that you could put some chili on your nose to peek into the eye of the opponent. This way of thinking is also ninjutsu.
Full awareness leads to instantaneous changes and adaptation to uke’s reactions. Then strength is not necessary. Whatever move you are doing it can be wrong but if you don’t dwell on your mistakes, learn from them, and regain advantage over uke, it is good. In any situation you have to decide fast and often there is no time to think. You have to become so good that you surf on the best possible wave of action.
Ninpô taijutsu is a tool and your choice of action will determine your fate. But as it is the case with any tool there are always several options. A tool does not have 識 shiki, consciousness; you do. A lighter for example is a simple tool: it can be used for the fireplace, cook your food, or burn your house. Because you have shiki you don’t destroy everything. This is norikaeru.
If we dig deeper, 乗り換える norikaeru has also the meaning of “changing one’s mind”. You must be capable of changing your course of action at any moment. The quality of your listening to uke’s reactions makes the correct norikae.
This is why Hatsumi sensei’s techniques are so difficult to get. But the difficulty does not lie in the movements per se. It is based upon the awareness to adjust, in a blink, to uke’s reactions without thinking or using any strength. What sensei has been teaching today is indeed for me a new paradigm. I understand now why he was saying last year that this “goshin jutsu” was the hardest way to learn how to fight.
This is linked with 縁の切身ない, en no kirinai (don’t sever the connection) that we studied a few years ago*. By keeping the control and the contact with uke we are able to move freely and to defeat him. By understanding what sensei was teaching today we become able to 乗り代える, nori kaeru, “ride on the change”; and to 忍びの理科得る, shinobi no rika eru: “obtain the science of ninjutsu”.
*search for it on this blog, several entries

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Henka: A Poetic Strangeness

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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We often use the word “Henka” 変化 when referring to an adaptation of a given waza. But this word is more than it seems. I remember Sensei explaining once that in a Ryûha, a henka is described as a part of the level considered. A henka in a school is like another way of doing the same technique but respecting the 法 hô, principle of the original waza.
The dictionary gives different meanings: “change” or “variation”; but also the meaning of “transition”, as if a henka could be the passage from one technique to another. When one studies a Ryûha he is often surprised to see that the “official henka” links the waza from which it is created to the next Waza coming right after it.
Apart from these “official henka” the word in general refers to the ability to apply a prinicple of action to different situations. The Kanji 変 Hen alone has the meaning of “change” but also the meaning of “strange, curious, funny, unexpected”. When I first joined Sensei’s teachings at the London Taikai of 1987, I had no clue about anything, but even less the word henka. But I do remember vividly that each technique he was doing seemed “curious” and for sure totally “unexpected”!
Many Bujinkan practitioners do not know enough the basics and fundamentals of the art to produce correct henka, but I noticed that things are  slowly “changing” and every time I meet bujinkan practitioner in Japan or abroad I can see a positive evolution in their understanding and performance. Like many of you I don’t speak Japanese but I keep digging in my dictionaries in order to understand Sensei’s budô better. As he wrote in his book “unarmed fighting techniques of the Samurai”, it is important to understand the meaning of the names of the waza.
Hatsumi sensei is not only a fantastic martial artist, he is a philosopher of the martial arts and his teachings can be applied in our daily lives. Like Monsieur Jourdain in Moliere’s theater play, we do henka everyday without knowing it! The Bujinkan is teaching us to adapt our lives to the situations and people we meet, and we are adapting our actions in permanence without really being aware of it.
The world of henka is endless but first you need to know your basics correctly. If “hen” means many things, this is also the case with “ka”. Ka, 化 is the “action of making something” i.e. the perpetual change, the perpetual adaptation. But written differently: 下, it is “under” meaning that change lies under, invisible to our senses. Creating a henka is the action of moving something from the invisible world to the visible and sensitive world.
In my opinion this is the real lesson of this world of henka taught by sensei. Funnily, the suffix 課, ka as a stand alone also means “lesson”. This is a lesson we learn by adapting our lives to reality. It is close to the sentence we all repeat before and at the end of the class: “shikin haramitsu dai komyô”; as each action taken brings a lesson to learn from. And often the lesson is unexpected, therefore it changes the regular understanding of henka 変化 into henka 変課 .
Seeing the world differently is the strength of 歌人 kajin, the poet who plays with the words in order to manifest the beauty that lays hidden invisible around us. I have the feeling that Sensei has transformed us into 変歌人 henkajin, eccentric poets ; or to be in the mood for the kunoichi taikai beginning in a few days into 変佳人 henkajin: unusual beautiful women.
Thank you Sensei to make us 変化仁 henkajin, men of change and adaptation.

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Yama Michi

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

In a recent and interesting article Dan Ordoins quoted Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Thank you Dan this sentence made me think a lot!

What does it mean for a Bujinkan practitioner? How can we manage it own trail while obeying to our master?

In my opinion it is possible if we rewrite it as follow: “once you have acquired the necessary knowledge and reached the jûgodan level it is not anymore necessary for you to go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”.

In japanese 山道  yama michi (mountain trail) gives this idea of difficulty of trekking but also the importance of 道 michi or dô (the path, the way.

Therefore “leaving a trail” is creating your own taijutsu and this can only be achieved if you reach the level where it creates itself.

In a private discussion with sensei  a few years ago, he told me that all jûgodan were turning into little Sôke…and that it was good because it meant that he had been able to transmit the essence of ninpô.

This is this essence that matters but it can only be found if you have a guide, a master, a “sensei” to teach it to you.

Without a real sensei, without the be respect and obedience you owe him there is no way you can “leave a trail”.

Bujinkan is about survival, so choose wisely your next step.


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Kachikan Leads to Jiyû

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

 MenkyoBufuIkkan

The majority of Bujinkan  practitioners will never fight for their lives. And this is good!

So even if our martial art system has proved its valor in numerous encounters, its power resides in the values that sensei is teaching.

Only a master can do that and in our case this our Sensei Masaaki Hatsumi. But his teachings can bear fruits and benefits to the receivers (us) only if we recognize him as a Master. This is only through this special relation linking the master and the disciple that this transmission can be done properly.

Today the Bujinkan has spread all over the world and each country is filled with qualified teachers. But these technicians when they are able to do the techniques correctly are not always getting the intention hidden in the movements. We said in an earlier blog entry that waza is only the omote. The ura is formless and it develops itself into our heart through the values expressed by Sensei during class. This is why it is important to travel regularly to Japan as this is the only way to understand his way and to consider him as your true master. This is the Shin Gi Tai. The Gi (waza) and the Tai (body) are nothing if one doesn’t get the Shin (spirit).

Without accepting the master and his values, one stays trapped in his ego.

I am who I am because back in 1987, I decided to obey to one man, Hatsumi Sensei. I accepted to see the world through His filters and to abandon my freedom of decision in order to get more freedom. It might sound paradoxical but if you are looking for freedom the best way is then to let it go voluntarily. Less freedom momentarily leads to more freedom permanently.

The waza becomes the means to free yourself from your own certitudes. I compare that with Zen. In order not to think you monopolize your thinking on the mechanical posture. This is the same in Budô, we focus on the movements to learn not to think. By doing so, the rest of your brain is at peace. Even in meditation the kamae is the key to our understanding.

価値観 Kachikan (values) is developed by our ability to get rid of your 自由 Jiyû (freedom). Train with no intention (no reward), obey without thinking, learn the forms to forget them, and you will become free.

Sensei often speaks of 住 jû (living) in his classes. Please be alive through jû in order to become 自由人 Jiyûjin, a free spirit.

If you miss this fantastic opportunity Sensei is giving us, you will end up 自由刑 jiyûkei and be “depraved of your freedom”.


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Tachi Leads To Ken

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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Studying the Bujinkan arts is like going back in time. In this respect the study of sword is typical.
Historically, the Chinese Ken evolved into the Tachi, that evolved into the katana.

In the Bujinkan we have always studied the sword but some years were specifically dedicated to it.

In 1996 we studied the kukishin biken jutsu.
In 2003, the shotô.
In 2004, the Kukishin again.
In 2010, the Tachi waza.
In 2013, the Chinese Ken.

As you know I am training and researching a lot to understand the theme of this year. The many hours spent so far with this new weapon lead me to find similarities between the ken, the hanbô and the Tachi.

The Tachi is the closest type of sword to the Chinese Ken that we have in the Bujinkan. surprisingly knowing Tachi waza was a great help to understand the basics of Chinese Ken.

The Japanese samurai were using the Chinese Ken at the origin but the development of horsemanship has created a need for a different weapon. They created the Tachi.

Tachi waza is one hand as the Ken is.
Tachi is used mainly to stab not to cut. Exactly like the Ken.
Tachi can change from right hand to left hand. The Ken too.

The Japanese developed the techniques from Ken to Tachi to katana but in the Bujinkan we are studying it reverse. Why is that?

My understanding is that the only way to be proficient with these weapons was to learn it that way. Going back in time allowed us to rediscover the reasons for which the movements were created.

Hatsumi sensei once again made it possible for us to increase or understanding if this fantastic. And he used the best approach possible: going back in time.

Learning the katana facilitates the learning of the Tachi.
Learning the Tachi facilitate the learning of the Ken.

Koimartialart just uploaded the Tachi waza online. The Kukishin and Togakure biken jutsu are also available there.

You want to be proficient with the sword? Good! Then study hard.

Knowledge comes only through and  with physical training.

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Jûdan Is Beginning

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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Today one if my close student has been promoted to Jûdan by Hatsumi sensei. Cédric (left on the picture) has been training for many years with me and has a very nice Dôjô near Paris.

It is always a very special moment for a teacher when one of his or her student is reaching this high rank.

The Jûdan rank is the first one of the high ranks, as you know the ranks above are all “jûdan plus an element”.

We call them 11th, 12th ,13th,etc because it is easier to call them with numbers. But do you know that the real names for these ranks are linked to the five elements?

The so-called “jûichi dan” is in fact a “jûdan chigyô Happô biken” where “chigyô” is the border at the limit of Chi and sui. And this goes like that until the last rank: suigyô, kagyô, fûgyô, kûgyô.

To make it simple the ranking system can be divided as follow:

Beginner to ikkyû is like kindergarten.
Shodan to Yondan is like elementary school
Rokudan to Kyûdan is like secondary school
Jûdan to “Jûgodan” is like University.

Do you remember the first day you entered university and the way you felt? The world was yours wasn’t it?

Then when you began to study for real, you increased your knowledge dramatically. The Bujinkan system is exactly the same.

Your growing understanding of the art transforms you and prepares you gradually to be living on your own.

In fact the last Bujinkan rank is like a diploma of Engineer or Doctor.

But like in real life, when you “graduate” from the Bujinkan University, you have only acquired the theoretical knowledge and you have no real life experience. The real work can then begin.

The Jûdan is the first step to become a true practitioner.
Good luck Cédric on this new path. And remember that I’m here if you need help or advice.


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Sonkeishin: Respect

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

hs3The Bujinkan is growing in quantity but it seems to me that some of its original qualities tend to disappear. And 尊敬心 sonkeishin (respect) seems to be the first one on the list of endangered qualities.

I train Bujinkan because I deeply respect our Sôke Hatsumi Masaaki. The respect I feel for him has nothing to do with the arts he is teaching or showing us but with the man he his. I have been in contact with a few “great men” in my life but none, so far, has been able to mould me and influence me the way he did. I am who I am because  I had the privilege to meet Sensei in July 1987 at the first European Taikai organized by Peter.

That was nearly 25 years ago (more than half my age) and through Hatsumi sensei’s permanent teachings (martial and non martial) I was trained to become a true human being.

The Bujinkan Arts  mainly develop one feeling and this is intuition. The Sakki test is the pragmatic proof that one has reached this level of intuition.

In Latin, “intuition” is “intuitus” and means the “act of looking at things”. Our Bujinkan training develops our “vision” and we gradually become able to see or “sense” any situation better than many others. The sixth sense is common to all living creature but is rarely accessible to humans. Luckily, the long hours of strenuous training unearth it from within our brain and makes it available to us. Through Hatsumi sensei’s teachings we learn to become more intuitive, i.e. aware of things without apparently thinking. “Don’t think!” as he often say it in class.

Intuition is also 感覚 kankaku in Japanese and means “feeling”. The more we “feel” (through our 5 senses) and the more we develop our sixth sense.

Now funnily, the word 尊敬心 sonkeishin (respect) is somehow linked to the way at which we look at things. But as “kankaku” exists only in the present, “sonkeishin” is linked to the past.

To respect someone is to look at someone’s actions in the past. The Online Etymology Dictionary says it comes “from Latin respectus ”regard,” literally “act of looking back at one,” pp. of respicere ”look back at, regard, consider”.

What someone has achieved in his life is what creates respect. But the Bujinkan growing in quantity I have the intuition that less respect is shown to the elders. Remember that you are who you are because these elders made it possible for you. Look at how Sensei speaks about Takamatsu sensei. This is how you should feel about those who shared with you what you are so proud to have today. Getting a Jûgodan doesn’t free yourself from sonkeishin, on the contrary.

With time some arguments, disagreements, and fights might appear with your elders, but you should never show a lack of sonkeishin to them.

If you do so then 尊敬心 sonkeishin (respect) will turn into 損敬神 sonkeishi (loss of reverence) and the Bujinkan magic will be lost.

Thank you Sensei for your guidance all through these years, and for your help to become an adult.

Respectfully, your student Arnaud


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CONGRATULATIONS!

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

ImageCONGRATULATIONS! You did it!

ImageAfter 5 years (plus one week) you have visited this blog over 250,000 times!

It is a quarter of a million! and represents 50,000 visits per year. This is something we can proud of. Thank you!

During all these years I tried to deliver, through my articles, my feelings about the Bujinkan and all the “secrets” I could get from Hatsumi sensei’s teachings.

I have the chance to go to Japan three times a year I created this blog primarily to help those of you who cannot travel to Noda as often as you would like, so that through these articles you could get a glimpse of what sensei is teaching in his classes.

Even if this is my interpretation, I will continue as I have the feeling that it is helping many Bujinkan members.

This blog is now available in 4 languages and I want to thank here the translators. First of all is my friend Elias who has been doing that for a long time and who is the first one to translate the articles. And also Christophe and Raphael who began to translate them too. Thank you guys I deeply appreciate your help.

Now I have a message for you the reader. Many of your buyû are not able to read English so why don’t you volunteer and translate them into your own language? Send them to me and put them also on your own website. There is nothing to gain here except maybe the pleasure to do something useful for our warrior community.

Contact me if you want to be part of it and help us build a stronger Bujinkan. Remember that information is power.

Thank you again “merci beaucoup” for your endless support.

 

Arnaud Cousergue

Bujinkan Shihan


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Ken Tai Ichi Jô

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

 

In the Bujinkan there is the concept of  劒体一条 ken tai ichijô (body and weapon are one).

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This concept makes a lot of sense when wielding a heavy sword in 片手 katate (one hand) because the free arm is often in the way. And this is even more difficult to manage as the blade is double edged.

We discovered this same problem when we studied the Tachi. But with the Ken this is even more accurate.

In the Kukishin ryû one of the kotsu is to “keep the elbows/arms close to the body”, this is for the same reason. If you train with the 万力鎖 manriki gusari this is also mandatory.

When I was stationed in Lebanon for the UN, I attended a very interesting Kukri* demonstration by the Nepalese Army. It was impressive and I noticed that the 200 soldiers moving in unisson always kept their free arm off the weapon for themselves and also for their neighbours. I took a video that I might post here one day.

So, as we are discovering the Ken, please keep your free arm as close as possible to the body at all time. Whatever you do with a new weapon has to begin slow. The first achievement is to avoid getting injured by it.

  • A weapon has no conscience and no intention. It moves naturally following the laws of 重力 jû ryoku (gravity).
  • A weapon is not impressed by your rank, it will do what your body movements make it do.
  • Therefore a weapon has to become truly a “natural extension” of your body/mind in order to avoid accidents.**

Confidence and ease are the natural results of heavy and long rehearsal. So please train slowly your katate movements, they are very powerful and devastating with such a heavy sword. Your security (and the one of your neighbours) should always be your first concern in training. Don’t be too presomptuous about your own abilities, learn step by step, and keep your free arm to your body.

If you don’t pay attention and don’t learn these movements correctly in slow motion then, instead of   劒体一条 ken tai ichijô, we will do  献体一冗 kentai ichijô, and ”give your useless body to a hospital for medical research”. Interested?

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*The khukuri (Nepali: खुकुरी) (alternatively spelled khukri or kukri) is a Nepalese knife with an inwardly curved edge, used as both a tool and as a weapon.For more information check THIS Wikipedia page.

**This is also valid for any object or weapon.

NB: In a previous post I wrote about the weakness of the wooden Taichi sword that can break easily when stopping an attack in the dôjô. Those of you using one, add a layer or two of duct tape and it will increase the security and lower the risks of injury during training. Also it will add a little more weight which is even better.

 


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