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From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

(version Française)

The last post on “3=5” generated a lot of comments towards the possible misinterpretation of numerology. Two friends added their comments, Jan from Belgium on this blog and Jean, one of my students committed a nice text on his dôjô blog (in French).

Their general idea is that: “you can say anything with numbers and find esoteric significations for everything”. The same idea is very well demonstrated by Umberto Eco in his book: “Foucault’s pendulum” where three friends play with numbers to prove that some Machiavellian plan to rule the world is going on.

But to illustrate that, read the following:

• I am getting close to being 51 years old. To this day I lived exactly a total of 18,608 days,
• My size is 175,5 cm,
• I trained martial arts more than 40 years (exactly 40.309 years),
• I discovered the bujinkan after turning 25,exactly at the age of 25.220.

When I add 40.309 + 25.220 I find: 65.529, I multiply this by my size in cm 65.529 x 175.5 the result is 11500.3395.

Now when I divide the number of days I have been living by this result i.e. 18608 / 11500.3395  the new result I find is the golden ratio of 1.61803 famous in geometry and esoterism!  After all maybe am I the reincarnation of the emperor Jimmu (神武天皇)?
(more on the golden ratio HERE).

My point when I wrote the “3=5″ was simply to help the bujinkan practitioner to solve an apparent contradiction in the names of the techniques used daily in our classes. But remember that sensei is often playing with numerology.

As always with him this is not WYSIWYG but WYSIRWYG (what you see is rarely what you get).

Kyojitsu tenkan hô 虚実転換法

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From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

Today Noguchi sensei did the first morning class and he taught us parts of the koto ryû. Then it was the regular class with sôke but as he had some obligations, I was honoured by Noguchi sensei to begin the teaching.

This is not the first time it happens to me on Sundays but I always find it strange when it happens.  When I remember my first classes here in Japan more than 20 years ago (no Honbu dôjô at that time) I  measure the long path I have been following since then. Back then, I would never have suspected that the young man I was then, would learn so much on how to become a true human being. What Hatsumi sensei is teaching in his budô is not a set of old fighting techniques but really a way of Life that transforms you more than you think. As he said yesterday night we have to behave as members of the samurai class, the upper layer of the Japanese feudal society.

Our actions should be guided by the code of chivalry. Today during the calligraphy session, I asked him to write “chivalry” and I got “shinobi” … I don’t think he made a mistake. He is teaching us through mysterious ways.

During the break, he told me that we (jûgodan) have to follow him and walk by his side as long as we can and do what he asks  instead of thinking too much by ourselves.

Being a sensei he is guiding us as far as possible, and the closer we are to him the further we can go. This is, he said, what he did with Takamatsu sensei.

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From Budoshop by Mats Hjelm "Bujinkan Toryu"

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Click on the button on the right side to pay and download this movie. Payment of $8.99 is through PayPal and download is done from Payloadz. You will get instructions after you pay how to download this movie.

Shortly after his second Japan trip this year training with Soke and the Shihan, he held this seminar. This video contains Taijutsu techniques with variations including the Hanbo (short staff). Also Hanbojutsu basics with Taijutsu applications. You can see how similar the Taijutsu techniques can be done with a weapon, and how easy it is to do a weapon technique without a weapon.

This movie was filmed June 27′th in 2009 at Kaigozan Dojo. This training was taught by Mats Hjelm, Bujinkan Shihan Kugyo Happobiken.

NOTE! The instructions is in Swedish, but there is not so much talk but more action.

This is a movie file optimized for iPod and iPhone and any other device that can handle standard H.264 videos. Import the file to iTunes and sync it to your iPod or iPhone.

On a Windows PC you can watch it in iTunes or Quicktime player (these programs is available for free on apple.com. VLC is another good program that can play these files.

480 x 272 pixels
H.264, AAC
Bitrate 942
70 minutes
450 Megabytes
Chapter markers

Click on the button on the right side to pay and download this movie. Payment of $8.99 is through PayPal and download is done from Payloadz. You will get instructions after you pay how to download this movie.…

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