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Japan Report Six 令和5年

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael


I was invited to Furuta Sensei’s home dojo out in the countryside. He is very generous and picked us up from the train station. The only problem is that he plays a Lady Gaga CD on repeat during the drive.

Furuta’s home dojo is very rustic with traditional tatami mats. He started training with ukemi and my cotton tabi really slid across the straw! His exploration of 基本八法 Kihon Happō is influenced by his study of 雲隠流 Kumogakure Ryū. As the next Soke of Kumogakure Ryū, he is hard at work learning and studying this school. And I feel lucky to be part of this journey every time I study with him.

At one point he showed a detail of how to attack the 急所 kyūsho 血止 chidome and 血ダメ chidame. The name of this kyūsho means to stop the blood. Obviously this would incapacitate an opponent if you pull it off. But Furuta Sensei used a hooking strike into chidome to unbalance with one finger.

The kyūsho becomes a 支点 shiten. The pressure creates a pivot or a fulcrum to affect the opponent’s structure. Studying the kihon in this way to find shiten within them will really transform your understanding of taijutsu.

My luck continued when Furuta Sensei pulled out the pole weapons. First up was a 刺股 sasumata. This had been on everyone’s mind because of a viral video where a security guard in a Tokyo jewelry store fought off three smash and grab robbers with a sasumata.

Furuta brought out a heavy iron and antique looking sasumata. I had never trained with one before. He used it against a sword and a 長巻 nagamaki. He used the hook to lock up the attacker’s blade. The sheer weight of the iron can swing like a pendulum grounding the opponent and his weapons.

Furuta Sensei also shared some yari. We studied with 片鎌槍 katakama yari, 三角槍 sankaku yari, and 管槍 kuda yari. These were live blades so we had to be very careful in his small dojo. The kuda yari was so long I had to thrust out the open door from the dojo into the garden!

I had little prior experience with some of these weapons. But this is the kind of opportunity that arises if you form good relationships with the teachers in Japan. Then they’ll share things with you that not many people get to study.

Furuta continued his generosity after training by taking us on an excursion. First we went to lunch at 末廣 Suehiro, which is a restaurant frequented by Hatsumi Sensei. Then we listened to more Lady Gaga as we drove to 夢楽堂 Murakudō for some shopping.

Hatsumi Sensei also likes to shop at Murakudō, an antique store packed to the rafters with many things, including weapons. My teacher, Peter was looking for 矢の根 yanone as you may have seen in my Japan Report Three 令和5年 video. Another member of our group bought a sword. And people were looking at tsuba, tessen, yari and even a nice 仕込杖 shikomi-zue. I had trouble guarding my wallet.

After the shopping, I went back to Noda-shi for an evening class with Paul Masse at the Honbu Dojo. Paul began with a form of 手解 tehodoki. But this was just an excuse to explore more themes related to 支点 shiten.

He raised his forearm to create support under the attacker, then he dropped it away. This caused the opponent to stumble and expose other weak points. He added in knife techniques, but all through the class he was creating shiten then throwing them away.

Having personal relationships with the teachers here makes my visits feel like family. Then the training feels like sharing. And no matter how long my days are, I always come away energized and excited for the next day’s training.

If you like what I do, you can support my writing and video productions by signing up at Rojodojo. Then you can watch the FULL video of this report here https://www.rojodojo.com/japan-report-six-reiwa-5/ along with more than 400 other training videos

 …

Japan Report Six 令和5年

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael


I was invited to Furuta Sensei’s home dojo out in the countryside. He is very generous and picked us up from the train station. The only problem is that he plays a Lady Gaga CD on repeat during the drive.

Furuta’s home dojo is very rustic with traditional tatami mats. He started training with ukemi and my cotton tabi really slid across the straw! His exploration of 基本八法 Kihon Happō is influenced by his study of 雲隠流 Kumogakure Ryū. As the next Soke of Kumogakure Ryū, he is hard at work learning and studying this school. And I feel lucky to be part of this journey every time I study with him.

At one point he showed a detail of how to attack the 急所 kyūsho 血止 chidome and 血ダメ chidame. The name of this kyūsho means to stop the blood. Obviously this would incapacitate an opponent if you pull it off. But Furuta Sensei used a hooking strike into chidome to unbalance with one finger.

The kyūsho becomes a 支点 shiten. The pressure creates a pivot or a fulcrum to affect the opponent’s structure. Studying the kihon in this way to find shiten within them will really transform your understanding of taijutsu.

My luck continued when Furuta Sensei pulled out the pole weapons. First up was a 刺股 sasumata. This had been on everyone’s mind because of a viral video where a security guard in a Tokyo jewelry store fought off three smash and grab robbers with a sasumata.

Furuta brought out a heavy iron and antique looking sasumata. I had never trained with one before. He used it against a sword and a 長巻 nagamaki. He used the hook to lock up the attacker’s blade. The sheer weight of the iron can swing like a pendulum grounding the opponent and his weapons.

Furuta Sensei also shared some yari. We studied with 片鎌槍 katakama yari, 三角槍 sankaku yari, and 管槍 kuda yari. These were live blades so we had to be very careful in his small dojo. The kuda yari was so long I had to thrust out the open door from the dojo into the garden!

I had little prior experience with some of these weapons. But this is the kind of opportunity that arises if you form good relationships with the teachers in Japan. Then they’ll share things with you that not many people get to study.

Furuta continued his generosity after training by taking us on an excursion. First we went to lunch at 末廣 Suehiro, which is a restaurant frequented by Hatsumi Sensei. Then we listened to more Lady Gaga as we drove to 夢楽堂 Murakudō for some shopping.

Hatsumi Sensei also likes to shop at Murakudō, an antique store packed to the rafters with many things, including weapons. My teacher, Peter was looking for 矢の根 yanone as you may have seen in my Japan Report Three 令和5年 video. Another member of our group bought a sword. And people were looking at tsuba, tessen, yari and even a nice 仕込杖 shikomi-zue. I had trouble guarding my wallet.

After the shopping, I went back to Noda-shi for an evening class with Paul Masse at the Honbu Dojo. Paul began with a form of 手解 tehodoki. But this was just an excuse to explore more themes related to 支点 shiten.

He raised his forearm to create support under the attacker, then he dropped it away. This caused the opponent to stumble and expose other weak points. He added in knife techniques, but all through the class he was creating shiten then throwing them away.

Having personal relationships with the teachers here makes my visits feel like family. Then the training feels like sharing. And no matter how long my days are, I always come away energized and excited for the next day’s training.

If you like what I do, you can support my writing and video productions by signing up at Rojodojo. Then you can watch the FULL video of this report here https://www.rojodojo.com/japan-report-six-reiwa-5/ along with more than 400 other training videos

 …

The Sound of Bujinkan 変化 Henka

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

One Friday night back in the old Honbu Dojo, Hatsumi Sensei moved to a very high level of training right from the start. After he asked someone to demo, he immediately went into counter attacks using his fingertips. And he said to be playful.

Hatsumi Sensei painted and hung a scroll in the corner of the dojo. He did this every year to express the yearly theme. This year it was 神韻武導 Shin'in Budō. You can read this as Budō of exceptional artistry. Or, when you look at the characters for Shin'in, it could be a Budō that expresses the sound of the heart, the soul, or even  the kami.

神韻武導 Shin'in Budō scroll in the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo
神韻武導 Shin'in Budō, Bujinkan Honbu. photo Michael Glenn
 

Earlier that afternoon, I had made a pilgrimage of sorts to visit 矢切の渡し Yagiri-no-Watashi. The ferry that has been taking passengers across the Edo river for nearly 400 years. The Tokugawa shogunate did not build bridges over rivers to protect Edo. Ferry boats leading to the highway were strictly controlled, but ferries for farmers who had farmland on the opposite bank were allowed.

For people who were not allowed to enter Edo, they would cross on these ferries disguised as farmers. A good use of 変装術 Hensō-jutsu! Maybe a few ninjas made this crossing during their travels.

My student Jesse waits, 矢切の渡し Yagiri-no-Watashi pier
My student Jesse waits, 矢切の渡し Yagiri-no-Watashi pier

This ferry was the setting for the sad love story between Masao and Tamiko in Sachio Ito's novel ``The Grave of Wild Chrysanthemums''. It is also the setting for a popular song of the same name. I was surprised to discover that in 1996 the Japan Ministry of the Environment selected this ferryboat as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan.

Besides the sound of rowing, you might hear the rippling water of Edogawa, some black headed gulls, and skylarks. These sounds were like a mediation for me, setting the tone to prepare for the dojo later. Sometimes what you do before and in between classes is almost as important as the training itself.

Now when I show up for a class like this, where Soke is teaching many subtle lessons in his quick and energetic manner, I might have a chance of keeping up. If I can understand just a little of his teaching, my whole trip to Japan will have been worth it.

The sound of training wisdom came just before break time. Hatsumi Sensei was showing a form of 指押さえる yubi osaeru, controlling just like I shared in my training reports from Japan. He grabbed a hold of Nakadai-san and really applied the pain. Nakadai yelped into the rafters from the intensity.

But while it may have looked like the finger manipulation was the key to this technique, Soke had actually shifted his shoulder and chest forward. He did this by dropping his left shoulder and raising his right. This made Nakadai’s 胸捕 mune dori almost useless. And it also fed into 親殺 oya goroshi right under Soke’s thumbnail.

The train from Atago station rumbled and thundered by at just that moment- rattling the whole dojo. Soke just laughed and chuckled his way through two more opponents. It was hard to hear what he said, but I was lucky to be right under him when he explained,

分散させる。変化させる。虚実、な？
bunsan saseru, henka saseru, this is kyojitsu, isn’t it?

Bunsan saseru means you may break up or scatter to create variance. You distribute your response to the opponent in a way that causes the breakup of his attack, his tactics,  and even his mind or will to fight. Soke expressed the kyojitsu here by offering his mune on one side, but capturing the oya goroshi on the other.

While henka saseru allows you to create change. The transformation of the technique arises from shin’in. While Nakadai was screaming in pain up into the rafters, Hatsumi Sensei used his whole body to control from that one point. Then he said 次 次 次 tsugi tsugi tsugi Next next next... The kyojitsu is hidden in the Next.

One of my students who made the trip to Japan with me was on his own after that class. I wasn’t very conversational. I sat quietly on the train back to my hotel. I wrote some notes in my composition book. But I paused to listen to the sounds of Japan.


…

Don’t Rattle Your 忍者刀 Ninjatō

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Mt Fuji all the way from Kashiwa, photo by Michael Glenn
Hatsumi Sensei surprises me with his teaching. The night before I left for Japan, we studied 忍者刀 Ninjatō in my own dojo. Then, on Friday night in Soke’s class at the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo, he taught one of the secrets of this weapon.

I try to prepare for these lessons, yet I am still surprised. I suppose the only way is to always be ready. This is the ukemi of being Hatsumi Sensei’s student.

I landed at Narita Airport around 5pm local time. My normal plan is to run through immigration and customs as fast as Japanese bureaucracy will allow. Then catch a two hour train ride straight to Hatsumi Sensei’s class.

One hour into the train ride I began to lose my motivation. Warm trains make me sleepy. That, and the 20 hours of travel that wasn’t over yet.

I stood up to shake off the tired. It was already dark out, and the train cabin was reflected back to us in the window. I leaned my head against the door to watch the lights pass outside.

It looked wet and miserable out. I already felt the cold when I transferred at the last station. But when my eyes adjusted to the dark I couldn’t believe what I saw between the railroad ties. Patches of snow flashed by like a flickering reel of film!

It was only November. Snow in Tokyo is extremely rare this time of year. I already had two shirts on, and now I pulled a hoodie over those.

The old Atago station was dark and quiet. My breath fogged. A patch of snow crunched under my boot. During my walk to the dojo I wondered if class was cancelled.

I came around the corner and I could see the lights were on. I marveled at the snow on the rooftop. I slid open the door… Konbanwa!

A warm crowd inside and many old friends greeted me. I changed quickly into my gi. Was I ready? I don’t know, at least I was there.

Hatsumi Sensei taught at an intense pace. He started off class at the highest levels of training. It was all about letting go and 空間利用 kukan riyō, using the kukan.

The train passed by and shook the building.

"Hai, OK!" Soke called out. Then he started with the 忍者刀 Ninjatō and I paid close attention. Someya Sensei cut in at him...

Hatsumi Sensei was in 棟水之構 Tōsui no Kamae. He lifted his blade softly as if to shield against the katana. Someya tried to cut again. Soke let his sword slip and then smacked it into Someya’s neck without cutting.

He told us one of the themes this year was 一刀万方 Ittō Banpō, which is one sword, many possibilities. It may also be written 一刀万宝 Ittō Banpō which means one sword, many treasures.

There are many treasures in the study of the Ninja-tō.  Hatsumi Sensei wrote
忍者の剣は、闇夜の剣を避けがたし
This can be read many ways. One interpretation is that “the sword of the ninja doesn’t rattle in the dark of the night”. In other words, avoid rattling your sword.

What does that mean beyond being stealthy? Lucky for us Hatsumi Sensei has also shared this gokui in relation to the Ninja-to:
抜かず勝て、抜けば切るなよ、ただ忍べ、命をとるは大事とぞ知れ
Win without drawing the sword
if you draw it, don’t cut
Simply persevere
Know the significance
Of taking a life.
When Hatsumi Sensei smacked the blade against Someya’s neck he was demonstrating this principle. He even told us that night that we were all too quick to use the sword. He said that when we tried to use the sword, we missed the kyojitsu.

I hold onto these memories and lessons from Soke like treasures. During the first hour of my train ride (which you can watch part of here: Ninja True: How to get to the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo) I caught a glimpse of Mt Fuji in the distance. The slope of Fuji Sama seemed to hold the burnt sunset for every last bit of warmth.…