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Hatsumi sensei in his office

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Hatsumi sensei in his office

As the Bujinkan is getting bigger, I understood that there might be a Bujinkan Office working full time in 2014. Maybe is it related with the opening of the new Honbu dôjô in April. We have to be patient a little longer, sensei begins to teach mid January.


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The 奇翻 Kihon of 宝剣 Hōken

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

sky pots, at 赤門勝専寺浄土宗 photo by Michael Glenn
There are mysterious and strange surprises when studying the Bujinkan and what it means to be ninja. But the deeper you go, the more you find it is all connected. The mysterious evolves from the not so mysterious. Like kihon.

Let's consider the kihon of muto dori. On its surface, it seems simple. Evade when the sword cuts.

But this is reasoning from analogy. You know that when you don't move you will get hit or cut, because that has happened in the past or in other situations. But what is so amazing about the teaching Hatsumi Sensei has shared with us, is that we don't reason from analogy. We don't do things because that is the way they've always been done before. That produces a dead and lifeless art.

Hatsumi Sensei has written kihon as 奇翻, which suggests an odd turn, or a tricky mind with wondrous power. So, maybe we should reason from first principles instead.

So again, with muto dori, what is the first principle? The sword cut? Or the person cutting?

Why are they cutting? It is their mind or spirit that has made this decision. Their will controls the blade. While our spirit is in danger from it. All are linked and connected.

This kind of thinking will get you in trouble in a fight. But in training, it shines light on strategies that we can actually work on. So when the time comes, we do not sever the connection as Soke often advises.

Let's flip it. You hold the sword. How do you cut?

In our training we study how to cut with good taijutsu. Your taijutsu comes from your own mind, will, life force, or spirit… whatever you wish to call it.

Then we target our opponent and cut. You see how an inanimate object like a sword is connected through your will to cut the opponent and his will to survive? Everyone in the fight is connected this way.

Soke sometimes calls this 繋がり tsunagari, which is a connection, link, or relationship. He always tells us not to cut this connection. In fact, we train to use it for many amazing results in combat or in our lives.

Hatsumi Sensei has also shown us how to do muto dori this way. He calls this 影の無刀捕秘剣。I won't say more about this here, but...

If you hold a sword in your hand with this feeling, that sword becomes something much more than an inanimate piece of metal. It becomes 宝剣 hōken. With this you can cut away the illusion of all obstacles.…

Genkaku no Sekai

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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This is an illusion! it is not me.

In Japanese 幻覚 genkaku is illusion or hallucination. This is the “gen” from genjutsu.
But when you try to understand what illusion really is, or why reality is considered an illusion, you need to get some advice from our elders. Plato has always been one of my favorite philosopher and today I stumbled upon this sentence that made me think a lot about this “illusion/reality” duality. I know now that where there is duality there is lack of unity, and unity is what we are looking for in the Bujinkan. So I tried to unite this dual aspect. 

 

“A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true”.
Plato

Asian philosophies (and many others) have taught us that the world in which we live is not “reality”, that it is “illusion”. And we’ve all accepted it, thinking: “if those clever Asian guys said it so long ago, it must be true”. But is it really true? And here, Plato, who wasn’t really from Asia, helps us understand it better.

The “relative emotional values” (REV) he is referring to are created by ourselves (brain, education, ego) and these REV, in fact, act like shields preventing us from seeing clearly was we have in front of us. It is because we are unable to see correctly with the 心神心眼, shinshin shingan (the eyes and the mind of the gods) that we are stuck in the world of illusion*.

The first problem is that people have accepted this and are happy with it, not trying to see beyond the veil. They know it is wrong but they are too lazy to even try to change it. This is the same in the dôjô, where many come from an illusion of what ninjutsu is and once taught properly stay or leave the dôjô because they do not want to change their initial wrong vision.

The second problem is the concept of “morality”. And the main issue is that the concept of morality bears many definitions** if it refers to onself, the group/family, the city, the country, etc. But whatever morality is, is it still morality when based upon emotions? No.

Our emotions are flawed and make us see things different from what they are. Therefore when morality derives from emotions that are based upon our inability to see reality; what we obtain is a “system of morality” that is not able to provide us with the tools to survive in the real world. The Chinese were the first to understand the difference between theory and praxis. Apparently this system of morality is only theoretical and not at all practical.

So I would rephrase Plato’s sentence and say instead: “A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values defines a theoretical reality, and a practical illusion”.

We do not live in 幻覚の世界, genkaku no sekai (the world of illusion) but in 現実の世界, genjitsu no sekai (the world of reality). The Bujinkan is an art based solely on practical reality.

 * This is the blue pill/red pill of the Matrix movies
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality


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Susanô was Amateratsu’s (sun goddess) brother

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Susanô was Amateratsu's (sun goddess) brother

This is Susanô who retrieved the original Kusanagi no Tsurugi from the tail of the hydra and gave it to his sister, who gave it later to Ninigi no Mikoto the first “godsend” ruler of Japan. This Tsurugi with the mirror and the jewel are the three regalia proving the divine mandate given to him. They are the symbol of the Imperial rule over Japan.
Ninigi’s great-grandson Jimmu, was to become the first Emperor.


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得心 or 心得 (kokoroe 2)

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

 hscollageI do not speak Japanese but I love to “understand” the meaning of Japanese kanji.
This is one of the many things I learnt from Sensei during all these years.
Today, a friend sent me an interesting comment about “kokoroe” (cf. recent post). Kokoroe, “knowledge” is written 心得 shin/kokoro + u/toku. But when the two kanji of “kokoroe” are reversed: i.e. 得心,  it is “tokushin” and means “understanding”. So knowledge is also about understanding Nature and Life.
This is good but it gets better!
The sound of the first kanji “toku” in tokushin can be written with different kanji and have different meanings in Japanese. For example, we all know that  Karate, 空手 (“empty hand” today) used to be written Karate 唐手, Chinese boxing before Funakoshi Sensei changed it to have it accepted as a Japanese Budô at the end of the 19th century. Obviously a Chinese fighting system couldnt have recognized as a Japanese Budô.
So for “tokushin”, if we keep the sound but change the kanji, we get three interesting meanings.
1) The regular toku: 得, is the kanji we used so far, and it means “benefit or gain”. This is the one in tokushin, but change it (same sound) and you obtain (toku) two other interesting meanings which are:
2) Toku: 匿. This “toku” means shield. Tokushin then can also mean that our mind/heart is shielding us, protecting us from the outside world. Kokoroe, going from Omote to Ura is protecting us from what is bad or wrong. Because through hard training we reach the level where we obtain (toku) the “intuitus” (see “intuitus” in blog), or the awareness and ability to see through; we are protected.
But there is more, and I was totally amazed with what I discovered.
3) This last “toku” written 徳, becomes “benevolence”! In the post on Kokoroe, I quoted Takamatsu sensei writing about “Jihi no Kokoro”, the “benevolent heart”. This new kanji gives a deeper interpretation of the above mentioned text by Takamatsu sensei. In a way, we can see that tokushin (written Toku no Kokoro  得の心) is conceptually similar to Jihi no Kokoro (慈悲の心).
The Bujinkan art is not about war, assasination; it is about peace and this new Sanshin made out of “kokoroe, tokushin, and jihi no kokoro” is there to help us achieving this “benevolent heart” through long study. The only thing to do to get that is to commit oneself to the art. Ranks are nothing if they are not supported by high skills. Training is the key and will lead to true knowledge, the knowledge of the heart!
Takamatsu sensei confirms it when he writes: “Personal enlightenment can only come about through total immersion in the martial tradition as a way of living. By experiencing the confrontation of danger, the transcendence of fear of injury or death, and a working knowledge of individual personal powers and limitations, the practitioner of Ninjutsu can gain the strength and invincibility that permit enjoyment of the flowers moving in the wind, appreciation of the love of others, and contentment with the presence of peace in society.
Peace is our goal, and Ninpô our tool.
Remember that “Budô is not made in Japan, it is made in Human” (Hatsumi sensei). And this is why the Bujinkan path is open to anyone with a pure heart.

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Kokoroe And Jihi no Kokoro

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

hsjihiIn Japanese  心得 knowledge is kokoroe. Interestingly it is made up of two kanji 心, “shin” which is kokoro (heart, mind) and 得, “u” that has the meaning of: to get; to acquire; to obtain; to earn; to win; to gain; to secure. 
Therefore, acquiring kokoroe (knowledge) is seen by the Japanese as obtaining things through a better heart, a better mind and not “intellectual knowledge” as we see it in the West. 
 
And this definition reminds me of what Takamatsu sensei in wrote in a text called: “Essence of Ninjutsu”, in which he defines the 慈悲の心, the jihi no kokoro or “benevolent heart” of the ninja. 
 
He writes: “Stronger than love itself, the benevolent heart is capable of encompassing all that constitutes universal justice and all that finds expression in the unfolding of the universal scheme. Born of the insight attained from repeated exposure to the very brink between life and death, the benevolent heart of Ninpo is the key to finding harmony and understanding in the realms of the spiritual and natural material worlds”
 
But then, if knowledge is linked to the heart it is not linked to the learning of waza and kata. This benevolent heart will develop through therepetition of these waza and kata but these forms are only the Omote and not the ura. Over the last thirty years I have trained an lot in order to understand and master the forms of theBujinkan but in the process I noticed that these forms ans techniques were not tthe answer. In fact the more I train in Japan the more I iunderstand that there is nothing more important than the feeling of the situation.
 
So we we come to see a huge paradox. We have to learn the forms in order to discover what lies beyond them. It is similar to trekking where the next hill might unveil a fantastic panorama. But before reaching this hilltop there is no indication of what lies behind. Walking the path of the Bujinkan you will come to understand this type of thing and be able to apply them in your daily lives. 
 
The Benevolent heart of the Bujinkan is not something you can learn, it is given to you once you have polished your “brain knowledge” to turn it into a “heart knowledge”. And when you think about it, the concepts developed by Hatsumi sensei over the years, such as: “feeling, no strength, no waza, be happy, don’t think etc, make a lot of sense.
 
If you want to develop the 慈悲の心, jihi no kokoro, learn the forms, train hard, then destroy the forms and feel the moment; and do not rely too much on your knowledge. 
 
As Sensei repeated many times: “in a real fight, a waza will get you killed!”
 
*benevolent heart: http://www.winjutsu.com/source/hatsumi.html

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Important if you’re ordering DVD’s from now on

From Budoshop by BUDOSHOP.SE

dvd_caseShipping costs is getting higher, we’re not selling as much DVD’s as before, more and more people are happy with the download videos. We are also running out of DVD cases, and we buy them in bulk and they take up office space.

So instead of raising DVD or shipping costs we’re gonna start delivering the DVD’s without the plastic case from now on. When order you will get the DVD and a print out of the cover, but no plastic case.

I guess most of you who buy DVD’s have some system where you store the DVD’s to save space without the plastic cover anyway. If you want a plastic cover you can find it every where, search for “DVD case”. …

Gensô illusion

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Gensô illusion

Wearing the ninja outfit doesn’t give you the abilities. The Omote side is nothing compared to the Ura side of reality. Too many of us forget that 幻想 Gensô Is illusion. This is the same as in Genjutsu, and the essence of Gen jutsu, for me, lies in 虚辞 kyojitsu. And remember that kyojitsu is the backbone of the bujinkan. 虚実皮膜, “the difference between truth and fiction in art being very subtle, Art abides in a realm that is neither truth nor fiction”.


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Zero no Chikara – no power

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Zero no Chikara - no power

The theme for 2013 was mainly ken and mutô dori. Sensei ended the year by speaking a lot about “zero no Chikara” or “no strength” (picture).
But did you know that 力 chikara and 刀 sword are nearly written the same? -the vertical line protruding on top of the”ken”. Therefore strength and sword are linked; and if you are not using any strength then you achieve 無刀取り mutô dori.
By using no power you have unlimited power as 無刀取り mutô dori is having the courage to do what you have to do, whatever the outcome might be.


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