From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

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.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Vending Machines, Matsudo photo by Michael Glenn

I used to have a friend who was so beautiful. She had a classical face like you would see in a Renaissance painting. Her brown skin was rich in color and smooth. She always had a bright smile for me. Then one day, I met her at the grocery store and she had deep wolverine style wounds across her face.

She had gotten into a fight with another woman who clawed her face. The scars were deep, and never went away. She never smiled the same after that. This sad story demonstrates the raw savage power of 蝦蛄拳 shako ken

Hatsumi Sensei taught us some secrets hidden within shako ken in a recent Friday night class at the Bujinkan Hombu dojo. He showed us how to use it not just to attack directly, but to shape kukan.

He held the claw up like 刀匿礮姿 tōtoku hyōshi in the space. Most of us can understand the obvious shape that brings to the kukan. The hand and arm project out from one side toward the attacker and you pivot around it as a shield. That is a very important detail that many people have yet to learn. But I email everything I learn first, so get your email here

But Soke was not teaching only about shielding. He kept trying to get us to understand a deeper, more hidden strategy. One that he has tried to teach for years.

Hatsumi Sensei use the word 片方 katahou. This is a way of shaping the kukan to one side or the other depending on the needs of the moment. Sensei said you should,

“Create Distance with one side and then take the other. There’s no need to create technique or throw the opponent. Because you have created the correct distance. Remember this waza of the kukan.”

Anyone who has trained much with Hatsumi Sensei will recognize this strategy. He often influences one side of the body to affect the other. And it usually is the opposite from whatever surface technique we might be studying in that moment.

That same night, I think Hatsumi Sensei could tell that I wasn't getting it. He told me,

"I've been teaching this kind of kurai dori for 42 years. Whether only in this fight, or in any of the seasons, I move with that time."

To drive home this point he demonstrated on me, and he said,

"There are many ways of holding this. You don't need to grab. You don't need to throw. 空間を梃子 kukan wo teko you use the lever of the kukan. Take it right here. Bring your shoulder down. It's not with the intention of throwing."

During the class break, Hatsumi Sensei painted a picture for me of a beautiful woman with long hair covering one side of her face as she looks back at me over her shoulder. When I look back through my memory, I think of my friend and the way her smile became more wistful and hesitant after the damage to her face.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Rainy Day Gassho at 霊巌寺 Reigan-ji, Koto, Tokyo. photo by Michael Glenn

In one of my classes we were studying a Gyokko ryu kata that begins from 天略 宇宙合掌 Ten Ryaku Uchū Gassho. Maybe you’ve studied this in your Bujinkan class. But even outside of Bujinkan training, if you are human, you have used gassho at some point in your life. It transcends cultures.

That night, as I recorded a training video about this for Rojodojo.com, I wanted to share even more about gassho with everybody. So what I show in the video is that there is much more to this humble kamae then you might think. But if you want to know what mysteries are bound up with this stance, keep reading.

Gassho is a general term that describes any form that brings the hands together, often in a form of prayer or reverence. In the Bujinkan the symbolism of this kamae runs deep. And the position is even sometimes called 金剛拳 kongo ken and it is used to strike or even conceal weapons.

In Buddhism the right hand represents the Buddha, and the left represents you (or all sentient beings). They come together, and one becomes the other. Some different types of gassho include 堅実心合掌 steady heart gassho, 虚心合掌 relaxed, open minded gassho, and 金剛合掌 kongo gassho (vajra, diamond thunderbolt of indestructible truth).

Each finger represents an element. Gassho no kamae holds the unity of chi, sui, ka, fu, ku in your hands. Then you rip that unity apart as the attacker enters. This feels like a void opens and the attacker falls in. But you are really expanding the unity to engulf the opponent until he is no longer an adversary.

If he continues to fight in this space, he will not survive.

You may not know that one form of gassho often shown in Bujinkan kata is called Baku-in 縛印  or 縛拳 baku ken and it comes from Mikkyo. This is a form of “binding,” tying a spirit body or physical body down so they become trapped in a form of paralysis. But it is also for collecting yourself to bind or set your own resolve.

Then the kamae becomes 子持虎の構 komochi-tora no kamae. Hatsumi Sensei told us to start with kongo gassho, where you are unified with the whole universe. This is not a fighting stance. It is the tiger protecting her cubs. Your opponent will see it in your eyes.

Set your mind on perseverance. But if the attack comes, watch out! It can flip like the child holding the tiger.

Gassho no kamae unifies all of the universe within you. Then when you receive the attack, you tear this unity apart into a duality. Like ripping apart yin and yang, or 陰 in and 陽 yo. And that is the large void that the attacker is sucked into.

But you cannot really divide yin and yang. They cannot ever be ripped apart. That is like making the sound of 忍び手 shinobi te, a type of silent clapping, or bringing the hands together without making a sound. What do you hear in silence?

What really happens from gassho no kamae? It expands the unity within yourself to include even more. The attack, the defense, nature, even Kami… All included within the space. This is Shingin Budo.

As you expand like this, all of your ego, strategy, preconceptions, muscle or force, and technique grow smaller and smaller. The more you expand and allow into yourself, the less important and useful they are. You empty yourself more and more to make room.

During all of my trips to Japan last year, Hatsumi Sensei asked us to allow Shingin Budo to fill up this empty space in the void, in the kukan, and in ourselves. But even Soke cannot show you how. Each person has to find their own path to get to that open place.

Clap your hands everybody, and everybody just clap your hands.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Masaaki Hatsumi Sensei Explains 師逢和瀬 Shiawase. photo by Michael Glenn

I had a simple plan to teach 片腕遁走型 Kata Ude Tonsō Gata. But during my preparations for class that night, I was overcome with gratitude toward my teachers. It seems there was a secret power bound up in this kata.

It can be described as 師逢和瀬 Shiawase. Let me tell you how I discovered it.

The Bujinkan has made my life rich. I have made so many friends all over the world. Thank you to my students who come to class and allow me to study with them. Thank you for reading this and for watching my videos or subscribing to my training website. Thank you to everyone who invites me to teach seminars.

I prepare for every class I teach. I feel I owe it to my students to do my home work. But I don’t just owe it to them, I owe something more to my own teachers.

I have studied the kata I was planning for this class with many teachers over the decades. But one of my favorite moments was studying this with Hatsumi Sensei under the Japanese maples during the year of the rat. I wrote a 5 part training series about this for Rojodojo members that begins:

In the ’50’s Hatsumi Sensei met Takamatsu. One rainy morning under the maple trees, Soke bound that connection to all of the Bujinkan… (linked)

師逢和瀬 Shiawase is a play on words. Normally it uses different kanji and means しあわせ shiawase: happiness;  good fortune;  luck;  or blessing. But with the kanji Soke uses it suggests that by meeting a master teacher you will find good fortune and happiness. Or even, that simply finding a master teacher is good fortune in itself.

As Soke told us that day under the Japanese maples, don’t sever your connection with the kukan or you’ll suffocate. His playful admonition is really telling us that the kukan is full of mystery, and it holds all the history, teachings, and connections that I share in the 5 part training series published on Rojodojo. I don't know why anyone would choose to break away from this rich heritage.

For me and my students, the circle is full when I teach something like 片腕遁走型 Kata Ude Tonsō Gata. My own students can trace their introduction to this fundamental form of ninjutsu from me directly to Hatsumi Sensei, and then to Takamatsu, back through the generations. This is the secret power hidden in a simple kata.

We are very fortunate to have these insights available to us. I have to humbly thank my teachers and my students for keeping this connection alive so we can receive this treasure and great history of our art.

If you do not understand what you are missing, then get connected. This is how you cultivate good heart and spirit. Then the Bujinkan will be better with you in it.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

The 道祖神 Dōsojin at Hatsumi Sensei's House, photos by Michael Glenn

Last month in Japan, I gained a deeper understanding of genitalia. It started with the male form. But luckily Hatsumi Sensei paired it with the female for me.

Before I describe what Soke shared, let me explain my first phallic encounter.  A local guy from a certain neighborhood told me about 鬚神社 hige jinja (beard shrine). I was intrigued because I thought I had seen all the shrines in this neighborhood.

He took me to 聖天島 shōtenjima where (土俗の神様 dozoku no kamisama) a local folk kami is enshrined on the island. The island was surrounded by brown, dried out lotus plants in their ugly fall phase.

I followed him to the edge of a moat. There, across the water, was what appeared to be old ruins. We walked across a small footbridge. He pointed at one statue that looked like a giant penis.

But why was it called hige? He told me I had to look at the back of it. I shimmied on the tips of my toes along the edge of the moat to get a look. The ura side of the statue was a depiction of 役行者 En no Gyōja who usually has a beard.

Phallic 役行者 En no Gyōja statue, photo by Michael Glenn

En no Gyōja is the founder of 修験道 Shugendō. In this statue, his pilgrim's cloak is wrapped around his head and shoulders in such a way that from the omote side he looks like a large cock!

Phallic 役行者 En no Gyōja drawing from here

This made me and my guide laugh out loud among the wilting lotus leaves.

He told me that back in the Edo jidai, the neighborhood was known as a place for lovers. There were lots of 出会い茶屋 deai chaya or teahouses that offered sexual services, or where people could have a secret rendezvous with a lover. People may have prayed at the shrine for virility, fertility, or even to protect themselves from disease.

A few days later I went to Soke's house. He showed me the far corner of his yard where there were stones representing male and female genitalia (see top picture). These were examples of 道祖神 Dōsojin, a traveller's guardian deity. You can find these monuments throughout Japan. They often portray a couple in embrace or even lovemaking. But often the stones are in the shape of phallus and vagina.

There is an interesting connection with En no Gyōja. First of all, he was a legendary traveller. Second, he had two servants named  前鬼 Zenki  and 後鬼 Goki. They started out as demons but En helped them become human and now they are a married couple representing yin and yang.

When I look at portrayals of Dōsojin that are of the embracing couple, I am reminded of Zenki and Goki. 前鬼 Zenki means front demon, the yang, like the phallus image I was greeted with on the island. 後鬼 Goki is the behind demon, ura, yin and maybe represented by the parted and open robe or cloak.

So next time you are training with Soke and he paints a big phallus, or a kunoichi with a red vagina on your scroll, maybe he is wishing you safe travels! If you are lucky, no one will ask whose bed you sleep in during those lonely nights in Noda.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

My friends walk into the Shibamata Sun, photo by Michael Glenn

Tuesday night I was in a class with Hatsumi Sensei at Ayase. I watched him throw somebody without touching them. Then he taught us an aspect of toate no jutsu, or striking from a distance.

These things are extraordinary to witness. But it is important to look past the miracles. Because it is the way he taught us these things that holds the key to understanding them.

Soke asked one student to explain what it felt like. The student said that he didn't understand what was happening to his own body. Soke replied that if you could figure it out he would be troubled by that. And then Hatsumi Sensei addressed us all,

"We're studying these things which can't be understood. Although you don't understand it, you might understand in your subconscious. 潜在意識 senzaiishiki, the subconscious, is the most natural part  of your consciousness. Since it's the most natural part it connects to juppo sessho."

Our unconscious training is like an iceberg. The conscious part is the small bit you see above the surface. The 氷山の一角 hyouzannoikkaku, the tip of the iceberg. But what is hidden beneath?

Conscious learning cannot possibly hold all of the Bujinkan, all of the 9 schools, all of the kata, even more henka, all of the knowledge from previous Soke, hundreds or even thousands of years of human experience.

This is why Hatsumi Sensei told us, "I'm not doing technique, I'm changing it into the subconscious. I'm teaching in a way that will be absorbed by the subconscious."

So how do you unlock the subconscious learning of the Bujinkan? One key was repeated again and again over my last two weeks here in Japan. Seno Sensei called it 分散 bunsan during one morning class when he showed my training partner Mats Hjelm and I how to receive a sword cut.

分散 Bunsan means to scatter or disperse.

In another class, during an attack, Hatsumi Sensei said to dissipate each other's strength and power. And another time during a throw he said, get rid of your body. in the middle of it just throw yourself out. It is important to dissipate your body and create this space. This is a type of 体変術 taihenjutsu.

This kind of scattering or breaking up in all directions is like safety glass. Safety tempered glass has outer surface in compression and the inner surface under tension. When this balance is broken, it crumbles and shatters in a web of small pieces. This is much safer than the splintering shards of plate glass.

Doing this in combat makes your opponent crumble and his attacks become harmless. But more importantly, you do this to your own intention or consciousness. You scatter it and dissipate it. Then you will have access to the huge unconscious ability that you have inherited from Soke and the Bujinkan.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Hatsumi Sensei Throws a Look at Michael Glenn

I was training with 手塚 Tezuka-san in Hatsumi Sensei's class at the Bujinkan Hombu dojo, when Soke did something funny to him. He threw Tezuka without touching him. Tezuka came back to me and asked, how did he do it? I said I saw it, but I can't explain what I saw. Tezuka said it felt like magic.

The throw happened in the air. In the space of a breath. Soke refers to 空気浮き kuuki uki when you float your opponent in the air. But then he said to throw him like 空気の投  kuukinotou, throwing air.

The day before I was on a quest for an effigy of 役行者 En no Gyōja that I had heard about. He is considered the  father of Shugendō. Shugendō followers are on a "path of training to achieve spiritual powers." This involves transforming their bodies through harsh physical endurance.

The 役行者 En no Gyōja I was seeking is one that is not well known and hidden from public view. I literally had to use 体変術 taihenjutsu to get there. As soon as I did, I was mysteriously greeted by a guide that appeared from nowhere. I wrote more about that here: Hatsumi Sensei's 道祖神 Dōsojin NSFW Except in Japan.

Hatsumi Sensei has been training us to understand taihenjutsu. This goes beyond taijutsu and technique. The 変 hen that occurs is mysterious. It comes from a different place than technique. It can be the same source as Shingin and this year's theme.

体変 taihen is an interesting word. It can mean changing the body or changing reality, or, even a strange body or reality. This is what it felt like to witness my training partner Tezuka being thrown by Soke. Reality changed in front of my eyes, and Tezuka experienced something that confused his mind and body. He was disconcerted for the rest of that class and I couldn't help him get grounded again.

Shugendo followers seek to transform their bodies through physical endurance to gain spiritual power and enlightenment. But Soke said you can go directly there without sitting under freezing waterfalls. This is the kind of 体変術 taihenjutsu that Soke is sharing with us here in Japan. …

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Michael Glenn at the Bujinkan Takamatsu Memorial

The fall weather has been beautiful and the training very rich. More about that soon, but this afternoon Hatsumi Sensei invited as many as we could caravan over to his country house.

driving to Hatsumi Sensei's country house

After an pleasant drive, we arrived to be greeted by Soke.

Hatsumi Sensei opens the gate

It says Hatsumi

Hatsumi Sensei is very welcoming

We also were welcomed by his horses.

Hatsumi Sensei's horse

Hatsumi Sensei's horses were always searching for food

Soke really enjoys describing all the statues and monuments to us.

Hatsumi Sensei tells us about the monuments

a gorinoto

Hatsumi Sensei examines the Takamatsu memorial

Then Hatsumi Sensei made sure that everyone found a place for their stones.

Hatsumi Sensei looks for a stone

I brought a stone from Santa Monica during my trip in September and Soke had placed it just to the left of Takamatsu's bust.

A rock from Santa Monica Mountains now in Japan at the Bujinkan Takamatsu Memorial

The horses meanwhile found where I left my backpack and were about to tear it open... Hatsumi Sensei thought this was very funny.

My backpack (in the back) is discovered by Hatsumi Sensei's horses

Hatsumi Sensei couldn't get his horses to stay still. It was funny watching him chase them.

Hatsumi Sensei tries to hold his fleeing horse

Hanging out with Sensei is always relaxed and full of humor.

Hatsumi Soke sharing the Takamatsu memorial

Hatsumi Sensei and Marilyn Monroe welcome us

I feel very lucky to be part of the Bujinkan with such a generous Soke.

Guarding the gate at Hatsumi Sensei's house

Hatsumi Sensei's giving nature informs our Bujinkan training like a connecting thread through the generations. I will write more about my training here in Japan soon.

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From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

I return to Japan again in two weeks. (if you can't see the video above, it is here: http://youtu.be/BGPhYFcs_cU )

A little more than one month ago I had an interesting experience there. I was walking around minami-shin ozakimachi neighborhood.

Just wandering...

Then I heard a sound. It was a clear soft chime in the warm breeze. I followed the sound down an alley.

There it was. The chime came from two 江戸風鈴 Edo fuurin. Edo fuurin are are glass wind chimes from edo, or old Tokyo.

I stood in the alley admiring their sound. They chimed from a back window of a restaurant kitchen.

A woman came out to see what I wanted. I told her I was listening to the furin. She went back inside.

I didn't want to bother her so I walked back down the alley.

I heard a yell. A man had come out. He took the bell down from the window and chased after me.

Then he gave me the furin! I said thank you and tried to give him some money but he refused.

The sound of the bell had struck on my heart and I followed it. Now it is with me across the pacific ocean.

That is why I return to Japan in two weeks for training. The sound of the dojo has struck on my heart so I must follow it.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

San Francisco from Alamo Square, photo by Michael Glenn

I was preparing for my seminar in San Francisco this weekend, and I wondered, what is the best way to share the feeling I have gotten from Hatsumi Sensei this year?

I have told my own students that I don't know how to teach this year's theme. But that is no longer true. After my trips to Japan this year and a lot of study in my home dojo and elsewhere, I have had some breakthroughs and insights.

Damion tabi shopping in Noda, photo by Michael Glenn

My friend Damion was very gracious to help organize a day of training in San Francisco.  To help people who were there to connect in a deeper way to their experiences, here are notes about what I shared on Saturday. But these notes can also be useful to any of you studying the 2014 Bujinkan theme.

We can start with the basic concept, "don't use your own power or technique." But if not, what do you use?

It is best to approach this question from various paths. For each person and moment there is an effective path. When I help students explore more than one path we may find it together. And if we are lucky we can stumble to a path Soke has pointed out to us, 神の道 kami no michi.

I wrote previously about 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou and creating space for it in your training. But there is a natural progression for this that students of different levels may take. The first is moving from technique to 自然力 shizenryoku or the path of natural power.

1. Power in combat is not what you deliver, but rather what is felt.

The forces of nature are far greater than any of your muscle. What natural forces do you have at your disposal? Which powers of nature can you summon to your aid? The first that we all learn about is gravity.

It seems that nothing needs to be said about gravity. But far too many martial artists use muscle where gravity can do the job and do it better. Good technique, leverage, and bio-mechanics all address this. If you only study these, you can go far.

2. Power in combat is greatest when the source is not perceived.

Hatsumi Sensei told us that training after godan is mienai keiko. Unseen training, invisible training. Some other natural paths in combat are psychology, strategy, and kyojitsu.

The fastest strike is the one that is not seen. The scariest enemy is invisible. And the toughest combat of our lives is with ourselves. Bring all of that to bear on your opponent.

Strike in ways that cannot be perceived. Disappear or make yourself zero so he doesn't even know to fight you. And reflect back or magnify his internal struggles. Give him no easy choices.

3. Real power cannot be understood.

Soke continued by telling us that after mienai keiko we pass into wakaranai keiko. This is training that cannot be understood. He has been saying this all year.

In class, he says if we don't understand something, that is good. It is purposely not understandable. He said things that are understood will get you killed.

Think of a natural disaster or even random violence like a bombing. Why some survive and others do not is incomprehensible. No sense can be made of it.

This is the path Soke wants us to find in our training.

So it is with Shingin, you connect to this incomprehensible force. You get on the same path with it and invite it into the kukan. Live in that place where you've found it or created it.


A big thanks to Damion and my friends in San Francisco. It was fun training with you. I look forward to the next one!

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