Skip to content

21 trainings, less people here now?

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

Seems like a couple of groups left Japan now, yesterday (Monday) we was just six people on both Shihan classes. But there will probably come other bigger groups soon? The weather has been quite cold the whole trip, yesterday I looked at the thermometer in Honbu and it was 13 C, it has been that cold the whole time I been there.

Today there was no class (in Honbu at least) during the day so I’ve been sleeping the whole day, and listened to new albums by The Toy Dolls (special Japanese versions not sold overseas). Oh I also found a black tatami mat in Kashiwa that will fit perfect in my newly decorated bedroom.

Soon I will head over to the class with Soke in Ayase.

“tuesday night is bash night this is what they say
we are gonna dig the groove, we’ve waited all day
we wear trendy trousers with belts a mile too long
we are gonna catch the bus into town
we are boogie on down…”

(lyrics from Dig that groove by The Toy Dolls)…

14 trainings in one week

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

We have trained mostly on the first six techniques from Santo Tonko no Kata, the 7th technique is two opponents and you throw metsubushi, strike and disappear, the 8th technique is two in front and two behind, and the 9th is three in front and two behind, you throw teppan and metsubushi, and then disappear. Training on these three techniques seems somewhat pointless, more important is that any technique you train on with your partner you should also try to see everyone else in the dojo as a potential opponent. But there is also many other techniques in Togakure-ryu I hope I will get a chance to study this trip.

This year is even more formless than before, the idea is that a really skilled fighter will pick up what technique you is about to do the same instant you think of it. Almost like the sakki test, but more advanced, it is like the really skilled person can read your mind. So how can we defeat someone that knows what you will do the second you think of the technique? Well, this is not easy, but this is the level Hatsumi Soke is teaching now. If you don’t understand, don’t worry he is teaching to those with 15th Dan, the so called true Shihan of Bujinkan. In other words those who have reached the highest rank in the Bujinkan system.

Traditionally the highest rank in a ryûha is called 免許皆伝 (men-kyo-kai-den、initiation into the secrets of the art), on the new scroll in the honbu Sôke has written Menkyo kaiden with alternative kanji ( 免虚怪伝 ), where the second character means void, emptiness or untrue, the third character means suspicious or mysterious. So maybe becoming a menkyô kaiden in Bujinkan means that you are walking along the mysterious tradition where nothing is as it seems.…

My first training with Soke this year

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

So I’m at the hotel going to bed soon after my first training with Hatsumi sôke this year. Soke was in good spirit as usual. Two basic techniques from Santo Tonko kata was covered, first one being when someone grab the collar from behind. Soke’s kept uke on the toes most of the time by moving before he could get a good grip, it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. He said that we shouldn’t worry if we fail or not, and referring to the poem; “if you think it is there it is not, and if you think it is not there, it is”.

There was around 30-40 people training in Ayase. I think it went pretty well with the techniques and feeling. We trained with Ninja-to, Senban, Shuko and Kyoketsu-shoge, or I should say we tried to, since we didn’t have any weapons to train with. My luggage got stuck in Zurich, I also almost got stuck to, I had to run between the flight connections because the flight from Stockholm was one hour late. But I had three seats on the flight all by myself, so after lunch/dinner I put myself horizontally and sleept until breakfast.

Well, now is bedtime, I should try to rest for tomorrows two trainings. Oh I also got myself a new Tokaido keikogi and belt, so now I look good.…

Web site uppdates

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

I made an even smaller seminar application that you can put on your web sites, check it out here. I forgot to tell you about the two previous versions, the slick one and the facebook application. It is still free to advertice seminars! For more info see here.

I updated the Shugyou portal now with seminar lists for this year and next year. When we moved the websites to a new server some things crashed. I found out that the newsletter mod didn’t work, and I had to upgrade this module. And even that one did not work, so I had to spend half the day reading support forums, and I finally fixed it. So if you subscribe to the newsletters you have a new mail from us today.

BTNet is also up and running, the forum software is still beta, but it seems pretty stable now. I won’t do any major work on it until the stable release. But this concerns only the back end, so start using it, the messages will still be there after the uppgrade…

There is a lot of new pictures up at the Kaigozan photo album. There was however a lot of spam on it, so I had to update the software. But it is still possible to add spam. It is quite easy to remove, but if it get too much I will close the registration process and ask you to contact me if you want to add pictures. But until then, please start uploading your pictures (Bujinkan related only!).…

Hemsideuppdateringar

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

Har uppgraderat fotoalbumet till coppermine 1.4.14. Laddade upp en hel bunt bilder igår också. Det var en hel del spam på albumet, det var ganska enkelt att ta bort. Jag tänkte prova och se om man kan öppna upp så att man kan registrera sig igen. Blir det spam igen så stänger vi och man måste mejla admin för att bli godkänd.

Forumet tror jag att jag glömt blogga också har blivit uppgraderat. Finns det intresse för medlemmar så öppnar vi ett Kaigozan forum på BTNet, aktivera er på forumet först!

Lade till en Clustermap längst ner till vänster också. Snart kan man se loggstatistik varifrån alla besökare kommer.…

Kaigousuru 1997-2007 RIP …only 19 days left to the beginning of the end!

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

http://www.kaigozan.se/seminars/K2007/K2007.shtml

KAIGOUSURU PRESS RELEASE

1997-2007, 10 years of Bujinkan History

With world renowned instructors such as: Arnaud Cousergue (France), Dean Rostohar (Croatia), Elias Krzywacki (Sweden/Norway), Ed Martin (USA), Hans Nilsson (Sweden), Keith Porter (UK), Lauri Jokinen (Finland), Lubos Pokorny (Czech Republic), Mariette Van Der Vliet (Holland), Mark O’Brien (USA/Japan), Mats Brickman (Sweden), Mats Hjelm (Sweden), Michael Schjerling (Denmark), Pedro Fleitas (Spain), Peter Jonsson (Sweden), Rikard Sundelius (Sweden), Shawn Gray (Canada/Japan), Sheila Haddad (USA) 15th Dan, Steffen Fröhlich (Germany), Sveneric Bogsäter (Sweden/Holland), Thomas Franzen (Sweden), and many more..

Kaigousuru has become one of Europe’s finest Bujinkan seminars/gatherings. It is with not without sadness, that we announce that this year will mark the end of Kaigousuru. We have decided that after struggling for 10 years to make ends meet and meet all the demands of our participants, have taken its toll on us. We will therefore make this end a glorious one, for everyone attending, as it is as much a celebration as it is an end, for all of us.

This does not however, mark the end for us or our continued participation in Bujinkan activities. It is only the natural cause of things, that it has had its way, and that it now opens up for the beginning of something new. It is harder today for any organizer of Bujinkan events to make ends meet, with so many seminars and good instructors available all over the world.

It has been a great time for us, who have organized and hosted The Kaigousuru event for all of you these last 10 years. We have had a great time, and hope that everyone who have attended have had the same.

We hope that Kaigousuru, as an idea, will continue to live on in your hearts, shaping Bujinkan into what it will be tomorrow.

We will end this by giving all of you a challenge.

Don´t miss out on this last event, the last of 10-years creative and familiar Bujinkan training parties!
April 27th, 28th and 29th, 2007

Register now, there is still space available.
http://www.kaigozan.se/seminars/K2007/K2007.shtml

Don’t miss out!

We hope to see you all at Kaigousuru, training and celebrating the end of the beginning with us!

The organizers of Kaigousuru
Mats Hjelm & David Rodriguez…

Bujinkan Kurokawa Seminar

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

777
This weekend I visited Riga again for the third Bujinkan seminar in Latvia sponsored by Juris and the Bujinkan Kurokawa Dojo. It was good to see my old friends again. Also to see how they have grown in the art since last year.

My flight was a couple of hours delayed, so I had nothing else to do than read a good book about Yoga written 93 years ago, quite interesting, and have a couple of Hoegardens (my new favorite beverage).

On Friday there was an extra training in the dojo which is located in the middle of the old town in Riga. We started with basic warm up which in my way of teaching almost always includes Sanshin no kata, Taihenjutsu ukemi and Kihon-happo. Then after maybe 40 minutes, I let Ivars show a technique he wanted me to work on, this evening it was a defense technique against a straight punch to the nose. I did a few variations on it, both with the opponent trying to hit the face area with his fist, but also against a hidden weapon. For example a hidden knife hold reversed in the attackers hand.

fireworks

On Saturday we started the seminar with basic jodan-tsuki and jodan-uke drills, then we went in to ukemi, and then later Gekkan from Shindenfudo-ryu. Then it was time for lunch in the local food court at the shopping mall. In the afternoon, more training.

Later in the evening there was fireworks in the city. It was the national independence day and it was very crowded. We were a little late so we couldn’t get to the front row, but we could still enjoy the fireworks. After we went to a salsa club in old town for a few drinks, salsa is big in Riga now they said. We didn’t stay for long, there was training the day after to.

On Sunday we started with sword training, just the Jodan-giri cut. From Jodan no kamae down to Seigan no kamae, with both hands and also with only the right hand (like a cut with the tachi) but also with just the left hand for practice, that was difficult and good strength training for the arms. Then we did a shindenfudo-ryu technique (I forgotten now which one), then lunch. After lunch we did some Jutte training, just basic kata from Kukishin-ryu. Then in the afternoon we finished with a Nawa-jutsu technique and a few rope tricks.

the group

On Monday, my flight was promptly on time much to my surprise, and the trip home went smoothly.

A BIG thanks to Juris (on my right on the picture), Ivars (on my left on the picture) and all the other guys for taking so good care of me. I’m already looking forward to the next seminar, hopefully in August when the weather is a little better.

For more information about training in Latvia please check out the Bujinkan Kurokawa Dojo web site at w w w . k u r o k a v a . c o m web site.

Happy training!

/Mats…

Ozaru runs for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

From Kabutoshimen by Toryu

http://www.japanesetranslations.co.uk/bujinkan/ozaru-run.htm

The silver bearded gorillaI got this message from a Bujinkan bûyû from UK that will be running 7 km for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, please read…

About Ozaru, well he is most famous in Bujinkan for travelling around the world with Hatsumi Soke for many years as his translator for Taikai in the 90’s up until the last Taikai in 2003. He also translated the Bujinkan Densho Sanmyaku, more about him at his web site.

Dear customers, colleagues and friends,

In less than three weeks’ time, on September 24, I will again be dressing in a gorilla suit and running through the streets of London to raise funds for The Gorilla Organization (until recently the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund). Some of you will know that I’ve done this for the last three years — thanks to your support, last year I even managed to be the top individual fund-raiser at the event (see www.japanesetranslations.co.uk/bujinkan/ozaru-run.htm). This year might however be my last, as I’m not sure my knees will last another year…

I’m naturally hoping to raise more than last year, and have enlisted the help of several friends. So far the team stands at 5, but there is still time to join us. It really is great fun, and despite what I said above, not too arduous — have a look at www.gorillas.org/greatgorillarun for details, and www.rungorillarun.com/sponsorme.html for a cool Flash video.

If you’re unable to take part yourself, we’d all be very grateful for your sponsorship. It’s in a very good cause, as TGO not only works to save great apes in great danger, it also works to promote ecologically sustainable development in the surrounding communities. The easiest way to sponsor us is by credit or debit card via www.justgiving.com/ozaru2006, as this also makes it simpler for the charity to reclaim Gift Aid from the taxman. Companies can even account for their donations as publicity expenses (you’re welcome to include a link to your website in your comments on the page). If you don’t have a credit/debit card or can’t donate via the website for some other reason, let me know as there are plenty of other methods.

Otherwise, I hope you’re all well, and look forward to hearing your latest news soon.

Best wishes,

Ben Jones
MITI, MTA

…