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Bojutsu Gokui: How to Get Hit Over the Head by the Void.

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

by pusgums
We were in the middle of a bojutsu class and I had an epiphany.  I was trying to explain how to hold the staff.  "You must hold it lightly.  Yet firmly connected to your kamae and spirit."  My words failed me.

Yet, I was feeling something with the rokushakubo I wanted to communicate.  I tried demonstrating various aspects of the movement and grip on the bo.  And none of these things held the idea I felt. Luckily, I remembered a quote from Hatsumi Sensei and I dropped it on the students:

In a verse of the gokui: "striking the void, if there is a response in your hands, that is the gokui."  You must have the enlightenment of the Buddha of the void (koku-bosatsu), whose heart was as infinite as the void itself.  Thrusting the bo into the mist is in truth thrusting one's heart and mind, and this is one method of koku - void training.

Yes!  I was feeling it.  You have to hold the bo very lightly to feel the response from the void.  The response I felt was like creation.

Not long after this exciting insight I was hit on the head by my uke's bo.  If you mess about in the void you might get hurt.   That's one thing I love about training- the immediate feedback that keeps me humble.


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Hiding Behind Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Seeing Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae for the first time can be misleading.  Usually a student's first exposure to this kamae is seeing someone hold a sword out in front of themselves while someone else throws shuriken at them.  Then the instructor hands the sword to you and says, "Next."

by eflon

This aspect of Totoku is often perceived as one of those quirky things in our training that we may try out, but never take seriously.  After all, who has had to dodge shuriken for real?  I'm not counting the dishes your girlfriend threw at you during a recent argument.  Maybe you try this out, maybe block a few rubber shuriken and then forget it.

Totoku forms part of some very rich strategy in our art.  And the more you look for it, the more you will encounter.  I personally have heard Hatsumi Sensei reference it many times, and it wasn't anything to do with shuriken blocking.  It is a running theme in our taijutsu that has to be experienced from a qualified teacher.

Maybe a starting place to understand this kamae can be from the Tachi.  This sword was mainly held in one hand.  There was little tradition of handheld shields in Japanese Budo.  So how do you deal with incoming arrows, spears, or enemy sword attacks?  You use your own sword.  The first use of the sword is to protect yourself before cutting.  It becomes your first line of defense and your shield.

What if you don't have a sword?  The idea of Totoku goes even deeper.  It moves into the idea of hiding yourself behind a shield.  But what is a shield?  Soke speaks about this in reference to Goton No Jutsu:



Examine the character for "Ton" as used above in Tongyo ("hiding one's form"; or alternatively, "the discretion doctrine"), and you can discover it to be a combination of the characters "fleeing" with a "shield" - just as along the path of Ninpo.  The priciple of recognizing the value gained by winning through flight is one of Ninjutsu's cardinal rules.  However it is not simply a question of escaping.  What can one use as a shield?  One can use:
  • the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water)
  • the Five Rings
  • the Five Ways (the way of enlightenment)
  • the Five Arts
  • the Five Teachings
  • the Five Confucian Virtues (benevolence, rightousness, prosperity, wisdom, and sincerity)
  • Nature
  • the shining (or shadowed) glory of the martial ways
  • beliefs
  • politics (or rather policies for life)
the shields are multiple and varied.

Soke says on another occasion,

Everything is a natural shield.  So, anything can be a natural shield.  One should move in a connected way like Juppo Sessho, and Koteki Ryoda which include these teachings.  Such things are written in old Japanese scrolls.

And finally, I watched one day as Soke was demonstrating some of his mysterious muto dori, and he explained, "You must evade by the thickness of air.  Use the air as your shield."


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Scam alert for Martial Artists

From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin

Today I got another scam message (see the original below). I googled his name and found several warnings. I got a similar e-mail a year ago. First I thought it was too good to be true (warning bell 1), then the more I communicated the more warning bells I heard, but it seemed reasonable, until...

He wanted me to charge a credit card number for my salary plus their hotel, meals and expenses. He wanted me to do it very quickly and he prompted me to immediately give 60-70% of the money to his contact so he could pay for their hotel and expenses.

Now it was obvious it was a scam. He had stolen the credit card number, and if I had charged the credit card and given these 60-70% of the money to "his contact", soon after the police would knock on my door and I would end up in jail, having problem explaining why I was so stupid.

So don't fall for this, they might change name and everything so you won't find it on Google. The message below is very general, it doesn't mention my name, my club or even the art I train. Please be aware!

Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:57:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: Paul Howard
Subject: Training Classes
To: [email protected]

Hello,

My name is Howard Paul. I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from Sept to October,2010.They are all beginners and six in number.What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.

Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it.
I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.

Best regards.
Howard Paul
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground,
Mereheath Lane,
Knutsford,
Cheshire, WA16 6SL,Uk

Here is a new one :-/

Hello,

My name is Robert Dickson, I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from May 2011.to July, 2011. They are all beginners and six in number. What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.

Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it. I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly. Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.

Best regards

Robert Dickson,
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground
109-113 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington,
London,UK, SW7 5LR

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Stick Fighting, techniques of self-defence with Mats Hjelm

From New Products from Budo Shop Store by New Products from Budo Shop Store

Stick Fighting, techniques of self-defence - Hanbojutsu and Tessenjutsu

Mats: I recently acquired your DVD on the hanbo. It is by far the best available. I have made a special study of hanbo and cane techniques for the past 10 years and have collected more than 150 books and DVDs on these techniques, so I believe I can make that statement with confidence. Congratulations! Tom Lang Author of The Stick and Cane in Close Combat (Unique Publications)
Instructors: Mats Hjelm 15th Dan

Theme: Stick Fighting for self defence (cane and short stick) Recorded: Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden - June-July 2010

Format: DVD/R- (it might not work on older DVD players! check your manual first!) 70 Minutes playing time, available in NTSC system only.

These are very effective and simple self-defence techniques that anyone can learn. You can use a cane, sticks of all sizes, pencils, rolled up magazine or anything with a stick like form.

On this video Mats show all the techniques from the classic “Stick Fighting” book by Hatsumi & Chambers. We recommend you to buy this book for further studies. For more information see this web site... http://bit.ly/stickfighting

buy it at Amazon

DVD and book contains the following techniques

  • - 8 basic movement techniques
  • - technique 1-11 is against fist attacks
  • - technique 12-16 is against foot attacks
  • - technique 17-31 is against wrist holding
  • - technique 32-43 is against sleeve and lapel holding
  • - technique 44-47 is against seizure from behind
  • - technique 48-51 is against stick holding
  • - 7 immobilization techniques

Note: We do not sell the book, you can buy it at Amazon!



Download version

This video is also available for download at http://budoshop.payloadz.com/

About the instructor

Mats Hjelm started training in Bujinkan for the first time around 1983, but it wasn’t until 1986 he had the opportunity to start training more seriously under a Shidôshi. He met Hatsumi Sôke for the first time in 1988. He attends around 20 seminars, go to Japan 2-3 times every year. Since he started training he never had a training break. He takes his budo training very seriously!

If you want to sponsor a seminar or course, please don’t hesitate to contact him. For more information see his web site www.kesshi.com

Skr239.00
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Stick Fighting DVD feed back :-)

From Kabutoshimen by admin

Today I got an e-mail from Mr Tom Lang, who is the author of The Stick And Cane In Close Combat: Jointlocks, Takedowns and Surprise Attacks, that really made my day. I see that his own book got really nice reviews on Amazon. I guess I did something right for once ;-) . Here is what he wrote...

Mats: I recently acquired your DVD on the hanbo. It is by far the best available. I have made a special study of hanbo and cane techniques for the past 10 years and have collected more than 150 books and DVDs on these techniques, so I believe I can make that statement with confidence. Congratulations!

Tom Lang
Author of The Stick and Cane in Close Combat (Unique Publications)

The Stick Fighting DVD can be found here, it is also available as and iPod version for download here.

Happy training!…