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Riga seminar in February 2011

From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin

The past weekend I was invited by Juris from Bujinkan Kurokawa Dojo in Riga to teach a seminar on Sanshin no kata and Juttejutsu.

On Saturday I showed and explained the way I feel is the base for Sanshin no kata. First we did the traditional warm-up routine; doing the first technique five times on the right side, and then five times on the left side, and finally ten times alternately on right and left side. Then the same with all the other four techniques. Sanshin no kata consists of five simple techniques…

Sanshin no kata

三心の型 SANSHIN NO KATA

地 CHI (earth)
水 SUI (water)
火 KA (fire)
風 FŪ (wind)
空 KŪ (void)

In the early 1980′s there was a “guy” that had only been training a couple of years and interpreted these techniques with Buddhism and created his own philosophy around these techniques. He wrote many books on the subject, and almost everyone copied his idea. It was a very nice idea, but it was not the Sanshin no kata that Hatsumi Soke taught as many people believed at the time (and unfortunately still believes). Do not think of the elements too much. Just simply look at them as a way of counting, nothing else.

Some people talk about three different ways of doing these techniques and they also have a name (shoshin, gogyo, goshin). I have never been taught this by Hatsumi Soke or any one else of the Japanese Shihan, and I have never seen the source for this. So I’m not teaching this, but I think this also is a good idea. I think it is important to always look at things from three perspectives. For example left, right and middle. The way I taught on the seminar was the following.

The principle of capturing, strike and quickly capture again

Solo training, try to get the form correct and understand all movements, angles, timing, distance, technique, kamae and everything else. I heard that even the Japanese Shihan who have been training for 30-40 years still do this every day. So there is no reason for you to think that you have already learned it. I to still discover many things when doing the forms.

With a partner you will understand the the solo training forms better. The forms you do in solo training will never bee exactly the same when done with a partner, you need to adjust according the way your partner attacks. We did the base (as I see it!) with five different blocks and five different strikes, then moved on to applications and more direct response from natural posture.

Using weapons will increase the understanding even more. If you use a weapon try to keep to the ideas we learn from the forms. But small adjustments are done according the characteristics of the weapons used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN4XcGbDsm8

This 45 minute video from the seminar is available for instant download at BUDOSHOP.SE

十手術 JUTTEJUTSU

the JutteThe jutte or jitte (十手), literally meaning “ten-hand” (i.e., the weapon with the power of ten hands), is a specialized weapon. In Edo period Japan the jutte was a substitute for a badge and represented someone on official business and was carried by all levels of police officers including high ranking samurai police officials and low-rank samurai law enforcement officers (called okappiki or doshin). Other high ranking samurai officials carried a jutte as a badge of office, “aratame” or official inspectors including hotel, rice and grain inspectors carried a jutte.

On Sunday we did the six techniques from the old Hanbo, Tessen and Jutte book published by Hatsumi Soke in 1984 ca. It has six basic techniques, we did them all. In 2003 the Bujinkan theme was Kunai and Hatsumi Soke taught five of these techniques using a Kunai. The weapons are different so adjustments need to be made according the characteristics of these weapons.

落花 Rakka technique

We studied the following techniques with Jutte in mind (not Kunai), first the basic form and then variations and applications.

桐之一葉 KIRI NO HITOHA – falling paulowina leaf (arrival of autumn)
落花 RAKKA – falling blossoms
水鳥 MIZU-DORI – water bird / 五輪碎 GORIN KUDAKI – five rings crush
雷閃 RAI-SEN – flash of lightning
竜下 TATSUGE – inferior dragon
廻捕 MAWARIDORI – revolve and capture

The training both days seemed to be successful and everyone seemed happy about it. I sure had a good time both in the dojo and outside before, between and after the trainings. The first time I was in Latvia in 2002? I asked about traditional masks but I didn’t know so much about them that they understood what I meant. So after the training Juris surprised me with a mask I asked about nearly ten years ago.

The arrival of masked visitors

This practise is variously referred to as budēļi, čigāni “gypsies, going gypsying”, kaladnieki, ķekatas, maski “masks, going masking”, nabagi “the poor ones”, etc. Although this practise could occur at any time of the winter (between Mārtiņi and Meteņi ), it was particularly common on Christmas eve. It is strongly reminiscent of the tradition of mummers and mummering in Great Britain and Newfoundland.

Latvian “mummers” might dress up as animals (bears, horses, cranes) or as Death. They would go from house to house and were warmly greeted, as they were assumed to drive away evil spirits. They would arrive in groups in front of the house, and sing songs and dance. Then they would be invited in and fed with bacon buns (pīrāgi), butter, sausages, and given ale to drink. They made a special effort to disguise their voices and mannerisms, so that no one would be able to guess who each one was, but if a mummer was correctly identified, he or she would have to “unveil”, i.e. remove the cloth which was covering their face.

It is still common for children to be required to recite an appropriate verse before receipt of their presents (there are many).

Vai, lielie ziemas svētki,
Puiši trekni, zirgi vāji;
Puišiem alus, brandavīns
Zirgiem tukšas redelītes.

Oh my, Christmas time
The lads are fat, the horses lean;
The lads get beer and whiskey
But the hay racks are empty.

I’m happy about the whole seminar, and especially happy that people also came from the neighboring countries Estonia and Lithuania. I was asked to come back after summer, maybe in August. I’m already looking forward to it.

Thank you Juris and everyone who attended and made the seminar possible.

Happy training!

Click here for more pictures from the seminar.

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2011 Seminars

From Bujinkan Zeropoint Dojo by RobRenner

Developing the “Counter Intuition” of Kihon Happo

As Hatsumi Sensei often says:
“You cannot truly understand a technique until you understand its counter!”
With this in mind, I will be showing the progression from co-operation to resistance,
looking at how uke and tori would “counter” each move,
then show how to use that counter to your benefit,
allowing you todevelop your own “intuition” of the proper movement needed for any given moment.


(This methodology can be used for any technique,
but we will be focusing on Kihon Happo in conjunction with Soke’s chosen theme for this year.)


I will introduce the “shiho dori” (4 ways of taking) concept
for developing a full range of options to internalize the principles of kihon happo.

The seminar will focus on the bio-mechanics of budo taijutsu,
showing the developmental progression from beginner to advanced,
utilizing lots of fun scenarios and drills for all to remember!




March 12, 13

Atlanta, Georgia – Stone Mountain Bujinkan Dojo

Contact: Randy Sessions   [email protected] Phone :770 630- 7450

March 19, 20

Chicago, Illinois – Bujinkan Jigokoro Dojo

Contact: Tony Brooks


March 21, 22

West palm Beach, Florida

Contact: Paul Fisher


March 26, 27

Joao Pessoa, Brazil

Contact: Simao Freitas  [email protected]



April 1, 2, 3

Bogota, Colombia

Contact: Andres Bernal    [email protected]  Phone: 3174373261

http://www.ninjacolombia.com/indes.html


April 9

Washington DC – Jujutsu Dojo of Colombia

Contact: Charles Collins  [email protected] Phone: 443-956-0506








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Balance

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

balance is everywhere

Everyday during training we are trying to learn more about balance. Actually in sensei’s first dvds you could read: “bujinkan: martial arts of distance”.

Proper distancing is given by footwork and proper footwork is created by balance. Take a cat for instance. Cats have this ability to always land onto their feet when they fall. This is what we are training to do in the dôjô. But this training requires years of hard work and can only be achieved through trial and error. Cats learn that from early age and when they grow up it is a natural ability they have developed.

Learning balance is learning from being unbalanced. It is the permanent teaching in the dôjô that will help you improve your own personal skills. As Malcolm Forbes put it: “Failure is success if we learn from it.” – so learn from your actions. “Shikin haramitsu daikomyô”, “in every action in our life there is something to learn from.”

Often I am amazed by how much we can learn from our daily mistakes. Accepting to make mistakes is accepting to learn. In the dôjô nothing matters and being wrong often ends with only a few bruises. There is no risk to be wrong in training as long as we learn to learn from this practical teaching. An error is not like a black spot on a white linen, it is a reason for improving ourselves. One of the Japanese shihan said one day in class that when we learn a new waza we make many mistakes and that by repeating and learning from these mistakes we make gradually less and less mistakes. This waza will never be perfect but at least will be heading towards perfection.

Balance in your taijutsu will bring balance in your life and this is the most important in the Bujinkan martial arts. Errors are making it possible for us to become better practitioners and better human beings. This is why accepting changes is of utmost importance. If you think you know and never change what you take for granted you cannot evolve. The things you know will work for you well in some occasions but will also bring more troubles in the long run. Remember the tao (道), and its “don’t do anything and nothing will be left undone”. Inaction will never bring action, actually by not accepting those permanent changes you are preventing yourself from success; it is like betting your life on a toss of a coin! This is wrong.

Whatever you do always consider that things are not stuck, everything evolves and everything flows. This is the nagare (流れ) that we are looking for. Footwork, distance and balance are linked and we accept to change. As Aristotle said “change in all things is sweet”, so we need to look for these changes in our lives and become true human beings.


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Pull Yourself Together With Bushinwa 武心和

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

photo by ghindo
In the Densho for Gyokko Ryu Kosshijutsu, one of the 9 schools we study in the Bujinkan, there is a precept which is expressed like this:
 Bu Shin Wa O Toutonasu 武心和を尊 The heart of the warrior holds peace righteous, or, a warrior heart holds harmony as sacred. 
Of course the idea of Wa or harmony is vital to understanding the physical aspects of our training. But there is something deeper in this idea. An idea that is deeply Japanese and connects us to the roots of our art and the history of Japan itself.

Wa 倭 until the 8th century, when the Japanese replaced it with 和 is the oldest recorded name of Japan. The idea of harmony in Japan is expressed in art, the tea ceremony, philosophy and even in daily manners or enforced through law. Many of the codes of honor of the Samurai were the result of an attempt to preserve harmony.

Honor of a bushi was most important in this code. Abusive language was punished by confiscation of the samurai's weapons and property or even banishment. All because it could lead to an armed fight over honor that might end in death. Striking a bushi was such a grave insult, that the offender would pay with his life or serious physical injury.

Hatsumi Sensei says that this Bushinwa idea from the Gyokko Ryu Densho can be traced  back to ideas expressed by Shotoku Taishi (573-621, the Prince of Holy Virtue, a Japanese regent, statesman, and scholar) in his Jushichijo no Kempo. This was one of Prince Shotoku's most important written pieces, the so-called "Seventeen-Article Constitution" completed in 604 AD. The title "constitution" does not accurately describe Prince Shotoku's writing. But, Shotoku's document does set forth 17 specific laws or principles applied to nation-wide behavior.

Hatsumi Sensei says,
 Early Samurai were strongly influenced by the teaching of Shotoku Taishi.  The first phrase from Shotoku Taishi's Seventeen article constitution, "Cherish the harmony among people" is assimilated into the Gyokko Ryu idea that "Bushin (the warrior heart) cherishes the harmony among people."
Here is that first article from Prince Shotoku,
604 AD, 4th Month, 3rd day.
(1) Harmony should be valued and quarrels should be avoided. Everyone has his biases, and few men are far-sighted. Therefore some disobey their lords and fathers and keep up feuds with their neighbors. But when the superiors are in harmony with each other and the inferiors are friendly, then affairs are discussed quietly and the right view of matters prevails.
Shotoku was himself strongly influenced by Confucian and Buddhist writings. So this idea was basically an adaptation of one of the Confucian Analects:
When there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in a state of equilibrium. When those feelings are stirred and act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called a state of harmony. Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all acts of humanity; harmony is the universal path that guides them.
Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout the heavens and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.
When Hatsumi Sensei says that we should not act out of personal desire, but learn how to fight to protect life, this is part of the depth behind those ideas. Peace, Harmony, and a better life for all! That's what the warrior's heart is all about.

As the old saying, " Bushiwa Aimi Tagai," puts it, it is customary with the Japanese samurai to understand and aid one another; and they even extend sympathy and aid to the enemy soldiers, killed or disabled in battle.
In the ego's world of illusion, all things are in flux. But continuous change is constant chaos. When the ego sees itself as the center of so much swirling activity, it cannot experience cosmic harmony.
-Han Shan


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KAIGOUSURU 2002 TAIKAI with 14 INSTRUCTORS from DENMARK, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, UK and USA

From Budoshop by BUDOSHOP.SE

Buy the VideoCD click here!

Kaigousuru 6 -- the sixth International Bujinkan Training Party with Mats Brickman, Tomas Franzén, Gunnar Björnsson, Martin Spring, Mats Hjelm, James McNab, Eric Gyllenberg, Rikard Sundelius, Ed Martin, Christer Westberg, Mariette v.d. Vliet, Micke Clysén, Michael Schjerling, Hasse Nilsson in Sweden.

The theme of this year was Takagiyoshin-ryu and Bujinkan Taijutsu, knife, sword and sticks.

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden October 2002


71 minutes, 490 Mb for $14.99
Buy the full VCD, click here!


Sample clip from the video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSp2SV84PoA

About the download

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Kaigosuru 2002 Taikai

From Uploads by shugyou by shugyou
Kaigousuru 6 - the sixth International Bujinkan Training Party! Instructors: Mats Brickman, Tomas Franzén, Gunnar Björnsson, Martin Spring, Mats Hjelm, James McNab, Eric Gyllenberg, Rikard Sundelius, Ed Martin, Christer Westberg, Mariette vd Vliet, Micke Clysén, Michael Schjerling, Hasse Nilsson. Theme: Bujinkan Taijutsu (Takagiyoshin-ryu), Sword, Stick and Knife Recorded: Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden October 2002 The theme of this year was Takagiyoshin-ryu. A lot of instructors where invited, and a lot of people came to play and party. This is a very good tape for people that haven't seen so many instructors move. All the instructors move and teach different, you will get a lot of variety, and a lot of good ideas to play with. This video is also available as VCD at BUDOSHOP.SE www.budoshop.se And available as Download... www.payloadz.com
From: shugyou
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Ninpo Ikkan: Find Your Own Treasure

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

photo by katclay
Understanding Ninpo Ikkan will unravel conflict and obstacles in a way that feels like 解脱 gedatsu (being liberated from earthly desires and the woes of man to reach nirvana). Does that seem unreachable to you? It is nearer than you think. Read on so I can explain where you may find it.

What is Ninpo Ikkan exactly? Well, as with a lot of Japanese to English interpretations you will find many answers (an interesting lesson in itself).  A simple expression of Ninpo Ikkan is consistent devotion to the way of the ninja or the way of perseverance. Ninpo 忍法 being the way of the ninja, or as Soke sometimes writes,  忍宝 NinPo, or the treasure of nin.

Where is the treasure?

First, to find the treasure, you must empty yourself so that Isshi Soden becomes possible. You cannot receive this direct transmission of knowledge from a teacher or from nature unless you are free from your own life. Soke says that Bushido means "to die." This is sutemi. Throwing your life away, erasing the self, making your mind empty and feeling like you are dead. In that place is a surprising treasure! You cannot be trapped or defeated because you do not exist. You may live each day with a peaceful mind.

As Doug Wilson describes Hatsumi Sensei's Ninpo,
"It is often misunderstood that since the meaning of “Nin” in Ninpo, means to endure, that one must endure and persevere in a fight.  But the ultimate goal is to feed the fight nothing but emptiness, on a physical and mental level, resulting in no physical conflict whatsoever, and ultimately no need to exert any effort or need to endure.
This is the Ninpo that Hatsumi Sensei teaches."

Soke says you can begin to learn this through fuza,
"... straighten the spine and breathe through the belly. It is also effective generally for maintaining good health. You start to understand Ninpo Ikkan when you achieve mental patience by sitting for a long time. The value of looking about one meter ahead with half closed eyes is to teach you that if you open your eyes fully and try to look far, you may not recognize the satori right around you..."
A Zen story about Banzan describes this moment:

When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.

"Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer.

"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best."

At these words Banzan became enlightened.

This helps us see that if you can be grateful and take things as they are, then everything is good for you. When you accept what is, every piece of meat - every moment - is the best. The moment you are living right now is the best — because it is the only one you have and the only one you can live right now.

My friend Paul Masse describes it this way,
"No matter where you are, no matter what time it is, no matter what is happening, isn't is always the best time, the best place?  If you grasp this, you can fully appreciate this moment.  When you have appreciation, light will come into your life and you will begin to perceive the miracles all around you."

This is one way to read the air like 気学 kigaku and create your own fortunate victory!


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