From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Soke is a Trickster, photo by Michael Glenn

Hatsumi Sensei swung the bo across the line of the swordsman's cut. In the dojo we hear a sawing or zipping sound. The bo is hollow!

A weight from the 忍び杖 shinobi-zue swings through the air, barely missing the overhead lights. It continues wrapping around Soke's attacker until he and the sword are wrapped up. But Soke doesn't appear to move at all!

He finally drops the bo, and his attacker collapses in a tangled heap. What just happened? How can any of us in the dojo use that same feeling?

Soke called this 自然力 shizenryoku, natural power or the power of nature.

One of the secrets to this type of natural power is understanding power itself. Power that is not from your own effort or what you put out. It is how you are felt, or the effect you have. The perceptions of the opponent are what matter.

This is the heart of 虚実 kyojitsu.

I go to Japan to study the yearly themes and more. But I never know what I will learn when I arrive. During my trip last month, I learned about some of the paths that the power of 神韻武導 Shin Gin Bu Dou may take. 

You may be lost about this year's theme. Then lighting strikes in the night. In that brief flash, you see a path. Then darkness again. Hatsumi Sensei encouraged us to follow a path of natural power.

Soke describes this 自然力から神の力 shizenryokukara kami no chikara. This power of kami that arrives from the force of nature. That's the path or channel by which we experience this power. There's a natural power or strength from kami, a non-physical power. That power channels down from above and you should follow it.

But tonight in the dojo, Hatsumi Sensei was talking about skipping stones across water. And the moments between skips, The 間 Aida of Skipping a Stone Across Water . He said we should alternate between small kyojitsu and big kyojitsu in this very small moment or aida in the kukan. And each moment is connected in this continuation.

He added that this year is about 自然力 shizenryoku or the power of nature like a stone skipping across water. We should apply kyojitsu in this way. After Soke wrapped his opponent up with the chain and bo, he said,

"This year's theme is to not use our weapons. Or not to beat up the opponent. Just let the opponent become bound up (or bounded)  by his own technique."

He told us that to be able to apply kyojitsu tenkan you have to separate yourself from your own desire. And then follow the path of natural power. Maybe it's the path you see in a flash of lightning.

Hatsumi Sensei said that the very survival of the Bujinkan is because it has been passed from one Soke to the next in this way. Down through the path of the Kami. Along this natural line of power.

This is the lineage and how it is inherited.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Michael Glenn Shares a Stone from the Santa Monica Mountains with Hatsumi Sensei

My punch at Soke left me hanging over the depths. Beneath me was the profound moment of life or death falling into darkness below. I felt I could sink with it.

Above was Hatsumi Sensei, who had just bounced me off the surface of this pond like skipping a stone across the water. I looked at him, he laughed. He wasn't going to let me sink. Not today.

Not today because he is sharing the idea of skipping a stone across the water with the whole class. Last week he used this image again and again in his classes. And right now I was the stone.

When I heard him talk about this in previous classes, I nodded my head. The concept made sense to me. It reminded me of another image he had used last year of 乗換 norikae. Changing trains, going from one track (or technique, kyusho, etc…) to another.

But now when I experienced what it felt like to be the skipped stone, I realized there was so much more. There is the stone, the person throwing, and the surface across which you fly. But there is also the entire body of water. What lies beneath?

If you've ever skipped stones across a pond, you may recall the rhythm. If you have a nice flat stone and a good throw (angle and speed), the stone will skip or bounce off the surface a few times. The first bounce is long, the second shorter, and each one after has less space between bounces. You may even get 6 or 7 before the stone sinks.

But the stone does sink. Just as the opponent is defeated. The final result is the sinking of the attacker into the depths.

Hatsumi Sensei wants us to focus on 間 aida. This is the space between, or the interval from one time the stone contacts the water to the next. During this moment, the stone flies through the air, but falls again toward the water.

Today, in this class as Hatsumi Sensei's uke, I am powerless to stop myself from hitting the surface again.

In this moment, this aida... I skim across the surface and I glimpse something that really surprises me, and that I don't know how to explain. I realize my fate is in the depths below. I am going to sink. But when I look down at the water I also see Soke's reflection, smiling at me.

When he describes to the class a stone skipping across the water, it is easy to think of a stone, of throwing, and watching it bounce across the water. But that is the training that exists above the surface. That is beginner stuff. When you pass Godan you may glimpse below the surface.

He was not just skipping a stone. He was drawing on the power of the depths below without sinking into them himself. And even more, he had decided that he was not going to let me sink either. I felt that at the end. He let me see deeply into the depths of our training by protecting me from what was beneath.

I'm sure this all sounds crazy, but describing what I felt is difficult. So I offer you the metaphor of the skipping stone that Hatsumi Sensei gave us. It is up to you if you want to pick up the stone for your own training.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Hatsumi Sensei Shares with us, photo by Michael Glenn

Last week Hatsumi Sensei set a tone for class that was subtle but very important. It started in a way that I have experienced before with Soke, with a show and tell before class. He brought out a sack full of books to show us.

Soke said these books were tales of ninjutsu 名人 meijin. They were mostly children's books and many were illustrated budo legends. But something was different about these from ordinary comics or manga.

Before I explain the difference, let me describe an experience from my own life that has the same echoes. It is an experience that is natural as you age, but the pace of change in our current era make it extreme. In my lifetime, a major change is the internet and smart phones.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about this in relation to the experience of learning, training and daily life itself. Many people younger than me did not experience life before cellphones and the internet. They may not know that it had a different quality.

You had to learn differently. Train differently. Find and connect with teachers differently. This made your entire way of thinking.. different.

I have observed the effects of this change in younger students in the Bujinkan. Some aspects of it are really wonderful and Hatsumi Sensei embraces change like no one else. But our art was born of a different time and manner of training.

When I was a kid, I couldn't just look stuff up. I couldn't easily call or text my friends. We had to agree to meet (physically) somewhere ahead of time. Or just find each other.

That happened. Even with my own Bujinkan teacher, I followed my instincts and just found him. There was no website, or even a flyer with a phone number.

This may seem like silly "old man" nostalgia. But really, life was different. You HAD to learn stuff differently. Very few bother to learn this way anymore. Or experience the world through the interface of instinct and their senses.

When I teach Bujinkan, people struggle to remember the littlest things. And their first instinct is to reach for their phone to look it up.

But let's get back to class last week and Soke's books.

Many of these books came from when Hatsumi Sensei and Noguchi Sensei were children. Soke said to Noguchi, "you probably read these as a child…" and Noguchi said, "yes, then we would go outside for ちゃんばら chanbara with sticks" (play sword fights).

Hatsumi Sensei was a bit nostalgic when he spoke of reading these kind of books by candlelight. He said it was before television and children were riveted to these stories. Hearing him speak about this in person rekindled my own sense memories and childhood feelings of a time before things changed.

In Hatsumi Sensei's lifetime there have been enormous changes. Both for Japan and the world. The way people live in the world and interface with it for learning is not the same as that kind of candlelight inspiration from his childhood.

That night in the Hombu dojo he told us that Japan used to have this kind of warrior culture and it is important to preserve it. He said that the Bujinkan has it's own 文化 bunka or cultural heritage. He said we have to preserve these things because they represent and express the abundance of humanity.

One of the special things about martial arts training is that it HAS to be learned in the old way. With your mind, body, and heart working together. And it can only be passed down from a connection from teachers to students through their lives, experiences, and personal histories.

I come to Japan and train with teachers who lived in a time when the Japanese warrior culture was still alive as part of the fabric of their childhoods. And some of my teachers trained with Takamatsu Sensei which takes the thread of connection back even further into ages before internet, TV, radio, cars, telephones…

Back to a time when all they had for training was found in nature, the denshou, or in a teacher's heart.

What did the warriors learn then? And how did they learn it? This is the core of our Bujinkan heritage. Thank you Hatsumi Sensei for sharing that with us.

…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

I arrived early to the dojo because I'm like that, and I helped Senou Sensei cut some fresh 榊 sakaki for the shelf behind us.

When he unlocked the dojo, he walked in and was a bit emotional. He took some time examining everything because things were different. He told me it had been nearly two years since he had taught here.

Then he taught a great class. He told everyone there that all of the good thoughts from people in the Bujinkan had helped him to regain his health.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

師恩 Shion on the wall in Soke's house. photo by Michael Glenn

I want to give you a clue for how to study in the Bujinkan. This clue I will share below comes directly from Hatsumi Sensei. But first, let me tell you why your teacher may not even know this.

Some teachers follow the teachings of Hatsumi Sensei, but many do not. Many have their own ideas about how the Bujinkan should be taught or transmitted. This is a mistake that many who claim to follow Soke will make without even knowing it.

They develop their own curriculum and make their students learn and study in ways that have never been part of the Bujinkan. This includes many lost people who think they can recreate the early training of the old days. If you weren't there, then you don't know. But I guess you can make stuff up.

Bujinkan arts are taught very differently from other martial arts and that is quite intentional. It is a natural strategy that Hatsumi Sensei has chosen. And if you don't understand it, there is a reason for that as well.

Hatsumi Sensei is an artist. How do artists learn from one another? Primarily by inspiration. If you have ever been inspired, think about the energy that put into your mind, your heart, or your body. This energy moves you to act.

Hatsumi Sensei says that beyond even heart to heart transmission is 絵心伝心 eshin (egokoro) denshin. This is artistic inspiration passed from one artist to another. This happens instinctively for artists, but it cannot be put in any training manual.

Like many things Soke tells us, this is a play on words relating artistic inspiration to 以心伝心 ishindenshin which is a mutual and natural understanding between people that borders on telepathy. This is when you can give somebody a glance and they know exactly what you mean.

This artistic inspiration and mutual understanding guided me to Hatsumi Sensei's dojo in the first place. We didn't know each other and had never spoke. But our hearts communicated across time, culture, and distance to bring us together.

Soke says that this is the path of Budo. Nothing needs to be explained or said. By training with and being in the presence of such a teacher, you just get it.

This is how I study Bujinkan. I use 画心 gashin or an artistic instinct that I have developed and received from many years of being inspired by my teachers. And I repay their 師恩 shion (a teacher's grace and kindness) with gratitude by sharing this inspiration with my students.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Richard chats with Peter Crocoll

I went to Arizona last weekend for training. This was more than just a normal training trip. One of my long-time students, Richard, was going for his initiation to shodan.

In many dojos, a Bujinkan 初段 shodan  is not really treated as such a big deal. In most of the Bujinkan it requires at least a few years of study and a proficiency with the basics. But in my dojo and my teacher's dojo, we see it as an important event in a student's journey. So we approach this threshold with certain key ideas.

Peter Uses a Ninja-to on Richard

To begin with, skill and technical ability are important. Richard had to demonstrate this, but by the time I put any student up for shodan, I already know very well what he is capable of. So we only look at technique to make sure the student knows for himself what he is AND is not capable of.

The next part has to do with the personal journey. How or why did you start? Why do you keep going? For most of us, these reasons change as we grow in the art. Richard's path to his shodan was not straight or direct, but it was natural like life.

Peter Disarms Richard

Then there is the connection to our history. The student should be able to trace a direct line from his own training back through his teachers to Hatsumi Sensei and the history of the art in Japan. The more direct this connection the better. Lucky for Richard, he was surrounded by many people who have trained with Hatsumi Sensei in Japan directly and some who have been doing so for decades.

The importance of 忍 nin in our study cannot be overestimated. We often think of nin as perseverance. And it is.

Peter Cuts Richard Down

But some deeper meanings arise as you advance in training. The character for nin has the sword over the heart. This has been suggested to mean that even under the threat of the sword, the heart will persevere.

You may also find your heart reflected in the polish of the sword. It might be a way to hold your own blade or you may find it reflected in your enemy's weapon. But your heart can be made clear by the polishing done in the dojo.

Richard relaxed and happy before the storm

When you have completely polished the mirror (your heart) it is absolutely clear of dirt or imperfections. So then perseverance is easy, because there is nothing there. You reflect your enemies back to themselves. You embody nothingness and you are not a target. There is nothing to attack or defend and endurance is a matter of sutemi.

This idea takes us well beyond shodan. But this weekend all of us who were there to help Richard were there to be nothing but a mirror for him. Our job was to remove our agendas or egos from the process so that he would only find himself reflected back.

Michael Glenn and Richard with his new shodan

Congratulations Richard! Thank you for training with me all these years.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Kabuki Performer, photo by Michael Glenn

One of our Bujinkan gokui comes from the secret writings of Shinden Fudo ryu and it says, 

豹変して必ず勝つ hyohen-shite kanarazu katsu. 

"Sudden change will always prevail." This kind of change suggests sutemi or discarding the self.

Hatsumi Sensei tells us that this kind of change can come from the unconscious. He uses the expression 早替わり hayagawari to describe this quick change.  And it can lead to a complete transformation in combat, your Bujinkan training, or even your own life.

What is 早替わりhayagawari? Like many of the references Soke gives to us, it originates from Kabuki theater. It is a quick change technique for actors on stage. The tricks they used allowed them to quickly change from one occupation to another, male to female, young to old, good to evil, etc.

Sometimes actors would even play more than one character in a play. Then they would need tricks called 外連 keren to make a quick change on stage, or hayagawari. They might have one costume hidden under the layers of another. Or, the actor could add makeup to quickly transform his face. Actors used different masks over the face, or even 後面 ushiromen which were masks on the back of the head.

All of this calls to mind the ninja techniques of 変装術 hensojutsu. There were a number of stock characters the ninja might employ like a craftsman, priest or monk, traveling entertainer, or even a samurai! A quick change of mannerism, accent, language, or attitude could complete and really sell the effect.

Add to this other kabuki/ninja effects like 宙乗り chûnori, and you could fly. Or the tricks used for rapid appearance or disappearance of the actor. I saw a demo of some of these last April in 墨田区 Sumida and I was reminded of Ninja disappearing tricks I have learned over the years.

One secret to all of this is that by adopting the outward, physical change, there is an inward change that occurs. This is a secret for life. We learn it as children with our play and the art of pretending to be something you are not. Fake it till you make it.

If you want change in your training, or in your life, use sutemi and discard the self. Act the part. Take on the role. Learn your lines. Before you know it you will achieve 早替わりhayagawari. You might be more surprised than anyone else at how quickly you transform.…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

(if you can't see the image click here) …

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Black Market at 江戸東京博物館, Edo Tōkyō Hakubutsukan. photo by Michael Glenn

One of the secrets to understanding this year's theme of 神韻武導 Shingin Budo  is the ability to find the hints and openings hidden everywhere. These are like the lingering sound of a bell that hangs in the air after it has been rung. If you did not hear the original strike of the bell, would you know what you were hearing or where it originated from?

This sound is like the hidden training that takes place in the Bujinkan. Training that takes place in the unconscious. If you are only learning with your body and mind, you are missing out on the important unconscious training that is very real in correct Bujinkan training.

You may know that your unconscious affects ordinary life. It also is at work in combat or in the dojo. But do you know what it is doing?

Hatsumi Sensei has written 無意識 muishiki (the unconscious), as 武意識 buishiki which is warrior consciousness or military awareness. With this kind of unconscious ability, you will always be able to tap into hidden fighting strategy. Or find a surprise victory in an impossible situation. This is also a secret for hidden ninja weapons.

The best hidden weapons are not weapons you are hiding. That takes too much conscious effort and can be seen, read, and even countered. The best hidden weapons are hiding in plain sight.

Soke tells us we can find 鉄扇 tetsubane, 鉄刀 tetsuto, 馬手差 metezashi, and 隠し武器 kakushibuki hidden everywhere in normal everyday life. These things leave hints or suggestions (暗示 anji) to the warrior who is attuned to their resonance. Your unconscious can read these clues and allow you to find these hidden weapons.

If everyday objects can be transformed into weapons by the unconscious following these hidden signs, then what about yourself?  Soke says that this type of knowledge will make your life pulsate (生悸に一変) and undergo a complete change. It can make it possible for 早替わり hayagawari, or for you to quickly change into anything. This is the real shugyo.

Martial arts create this kind of transformation in life. Seek out a dojo that has these hidden hints and signs for your unconscious intelligence. Remember, if you're the smartest guy in the dojo, then you're in the wrong dojo. Look for hints that lead you to hidden knowledge and the right teacher for your whole self, not just the conscious part.

…

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Michael Glenn with Paul Fisher and Friends. West Palm Beach, Florida 2014

I just returned from teaching a seminar in West Palm Beach, Florida. My friend Paul Fisher and his students were friendly and gracious hosts. And maybe I learned more from them than they did from me!

It all started when one of Paul's students reached out to me after subscribing to my training notes. He emailed me privately to ask a technical question about training and during our correspondence, he asked if I ever came to Florida. I said no, but I would if there was interest.

Well his teacher Paul Fisher is an open and adventurous sort of guy. And he quickly embraced the idea. Now it was up to me.

Since my recent trip to Japan, I have been actively studying the strategies I learned from Hatsumi Sensei regarding this year's theme of 神韻武導 Shin Gin Budo. Out of all the notes, and all of my recent training, three points stood out to me that I could share with my new friends in Florida.

I wrote about these 3 strategies back in May: Kyusho of Zero in Three Easy Steps  But writing about them and sharing them live are quite different. Luckily, Paul's friends and students at the seminar were up to this kind of exploration.

Using two kata from Shinden Fudo ryu as a place to start, we quickly took these kata to their inevitable 自然至極 Shizen Shigoku outcome. We did this by expanding our own personal kukan, understanding and using 気配 kehai, and through mirroring the attitude and kamae of our opponents.

The people training with me were smart. They asked hard questions and kept it real. They also trained with a focus and diligence that was surprising given how hot it was. I was inspired by their commitment.

Florida in the summer is not my natural habitat. So I ended up drenched from my own sweat most of the trip. Luckily, I anticipated this and packed many changes of clothes.

Michael Glenn and Paul Fisher Lounging with Coconut

Like me, Paul's life revolves around art, Bujinkan training, and nature. I felt so lucky to make a new friend that I can connect to on these levels. He took me to an art opening that was a fundraiser to address bee colony collapse.

Morikami Gardens

He also took me to the Morikami Japanese gardens where we saw the most incredible landscape, along with amazing wildlife including gators! The museum gallery there had a sublime exhibition of paper sculptures by Kyoko Hazama, as well as a fantastic display of Japanese arms and armor.

Kamakura period sword at Morikami Museum

But Paul was never far from his own personal menagerie of birds, cats, frogs, and lizards. It isn't easy to share the feeling of 神韻 Shingin all of this brings to Paul's life, but I felt right at home.

Paul Fisher with Midori

Thank you Paul!

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