From paart budo buki by buki stolar

Dear friends,

here is last version of Jutte with tsuba

soon more info







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From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Kashiwa Annex Frosted Window, photo by Michael Glenn

Bujinkan fighting is an illusion. You will never find two witnesses of a fight who see the same thing. Even if you haven't seen this in a fight, you have in the dojo. Most of the time, no two students in the dojo witness what Hatsumi Sensei has shown in the same way.

One day Soke said this was like  詒転三転 iten santen. I had no idea what he meant until I realized it was a play on words as he is fond of doing. The standard phrase is 二転三転 niten santen. This means being in a state of flux, a sequence of never ending changes.

The way Sensei said it was to imply that these never ending changes are full of deception. A result of 虚実 kyojitsu. This is why Bujinkan is an art. You might say that art is neither truth or fiction.

Soke told us that the real essence of the technique or of kyojitsu exists in

"The place where one cannot see. It's here where changes to the extraordinary happen."

This is akin to the short story 藪の中 Yabu no Naka by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. If you haven't heard of it, it is better known as the basis for the movie 羅生門 Rashōmon. The plot has various witnesses to a murder describing what they saw. Of course no one's version of the crime matches.

What happened? What happens in Soke's classes? What did anyone actually see? Something extraordinary that will never be discerned with the rational mind.

The name of that story, 藪の中 Yabu no Naka has become a common phrase to describe an event where no one can really say what happened.

When I train or teach, I am striving for something that cannot be comprehended. Beyond technique and form. When I succeed I have the pleasure of seeing the confused looks on my student's faces.

That part is amusing. But what really is fantastic for me is to see my students do something I myself cannot comprehend! When that occurs it is sublime.…

From paart budo buki by buki stolar

Last version of ken


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From paart budo buki by buki stolar

This version (shorter than common) of Ninja sword is made by info from Shihan Alex Esteve,
 for his Dojo


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From paart budo buki by buki stolar

This is one of several versions Shikomi tessen, blade hidden in shape of tessen,
 I made this one 2008. for present so if you interested let me know




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From paart budo buki by buki stolar

The name Te yari may not be correct but makes sense to me (te -hand and yari- spear), 
the use of this tool is primarily for small spaces or interior, tool length varies from 35 cm to 95 cm, and for same purpose can be used any Yari in shirasaya(pic. below)


version which I like is this from book


here is one of my older training versions


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From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Michael Glenn at 王子神社 ōjijinja, Mabashi, Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

I wrote earlier this year about my experiences in Japan with the iconography of Aka-Fudō holding the 倶利伽羅不動剣 Kurikarafudō ken. Back then I was seeking to understand what felt like a bomb Hatsumi Sensei dropped in the middle of our taijutsu with one part of the Bujinkan theme for 2013, The 剣 Tsurugi/Ken.

This Chinese style sword holds lessons and qualities of movement that challenge what you think you know about Japanese martial arts.

So it was really a sweet surprise that just the other night, after 10 months of study with this weapon, I found a personal breakthrough in my movement with the tsurugi.

If you want to attempt what I discovered, try two things, one difficult, the other absurd. Or even better blend these two for the full madness that is the tsurugi.

剣 Tsurugi Madness Number One:

You see the pointy end of your ken? It is tiny and sharp. Let that one point become immovable. Just like the immovable spirit of 不動明王 Fudō Myō-ō, it will occupy the kukan and expand out from its physical position to embrace all the combatants.

Then you pivot around it. This is like 要 kaname that Soke taught us about last year. The confusing part comes when you learn that this still, immovable point doesn't have to stay fixed in space or time. This feels like a contradiction but isn't.

剣 Tsurugi Madness Number Two:

When you embrace that previous contradiction, then you let the sword shatter stillness. As I wrote recently in my training notes, at that moment, all hell breaks loose when the ken flashes and writhes through the kukan from one point to another. To manage this, you must embody 不動心 fudōshin.

Not many people know fudōshin in the midst of combat. It is hard enough to do just sitting in meditation, without someone fiercely trying to gut you.  But I think the power of the tsurugi doesn't just require it, it causes it.

When Fudō Myō-ō wields the Kurikara ken, he is cutting through ignorance with wisdom. I must really need to swing that sword around a lot. Lucky for me, Fudō Myō-ō is the patron of people born in the year of the rooster. And so I was.

Here is the Fudō mantra if you want to say it while cutting through ignorance with your sword:

なーまくさーまんだーば さらなんかん
Naamakusaamandaaba saranankan

Don't ask me how to pronounce it, I think I need more training.

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