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How Do I Prepare for a Bujinkan Class?

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

Leandro Erlich's "The Classroom" at 森美術館, photo by Michael Glenn
Michael in Leandro Erlich's "The Classroom" at 森美術館, photo Michael Glenn

I probably prepare more than most Bujinkan teachers. In fact, I spend 1-2 hours before every training session setting my lesson plan. But when Hatsumi Sensei made me a Daishihan, my prep changed.

I had 5 steps before there were two big changes. Step one was easy for me, but step seven I didn’t even know about until recently. Let’s talk about the easy change first. 

One: It starts with a Bujinkan theme

As you know, Soke used to set yearly themes for the whole Bujinkan to follow. This made it easy to decide what to study every class. For example, If the theme was Gyokko Ryū, we could study the techniques and strategies from that school.

But one Fall night in 2017 I showed up to the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo in Japan and change was in the air. Hatsumi Sensei’s wife was ill and Soke had made the difficult choice to move her into a care facility. He sat in front of the Kamidana and said a private prayer at his family shrine.

Then he began class talking about change. He told us,

We have lots of Daishihan around the world now. Being able to change is the way of living. Our Tradition continues because it changes. It’s the same feeling as mutōdori. People change as they get older. Now is the time for the Daishihan to take the Bujinkan into the future.

Little did I know I would feel that weight of taking the Bujinkan into the future in less than an hour.

It happened right after the break. Hatsumi Sensei sat on the floor as they cleared away his ink and brushes. Then he looked at some of the Daishihan and said, please nominate anyone you think is worthy to be a Daishihan. Two of them immediately pointed at me. 

I was relaxing on the mat behind Soke, so he turned quickly to see who they were pointing at. His face lit up when he saw me and said, “Ok!” I think he noticed my shocked expression because he smiled and quickly called Furuta-San over to talk to me.

Hatsumi Sensei Awards Bujinkan Daishihan to Michale Glenn
Senou Sensei reads Michael Glenn's Daishihan certificate. photo Peter Crocoll

In the following class on Sunday Hatsumi Sensei made the formal announcement and presented me with the certificate in front of the whole dojo. I bowed and then Soke said to everyone,

There is a time for these things and when the time is right they should be given.

He continued,

Next year is the start of a new Bujinkan. I started Togakure Ryū with Takamatsu Sensei in Showa 33 (1958). But I hadn’t been training long. But Takamatsu gave it to me to grow into it. Please think about these Daishihan not as coming from me, but from Kamisama. To make a community of great people. 

The rest of my trip was filled with thoughts of what did it all mean? One thing it meant when I got back home was that I still had to teach my classes. But Hatsumi Sensei was no longer setting clear themes for us to follow.

I decided it was my responsibility to set themes for my dojo. So far, this has been easy for me. I basically decide what subject I'd like to do a deep dive on and set the theme accordingly. My current theme is Juppō Sesshō and we are using a variety of weapons to explore this.

Two: Bujinkan students are the focus

When preparing to teach a Bujinkan class I must consider what my students need. I anticipate which students will be there that day and what I think will help them the most. Some are beginners, some are advanced and they all need different things from me.

Three: Review the Bujinkan 伝承 Denshō

Knowing the theme enables the next step where I review the 伝承 Denshō. I do this to get as close to the original forms and traditions as they were passed down to Hatsumi Sensei. This step is tricky, because translations and copies of the kata are not always accurate.

I use several trusted sources and compare and contrast them to get as close as I can to the “proper” form. I use multiple translations because each one has a different flavor depending on the pedigree of the translator. Then, I even do my own translation to confirm. This takes a long time.

Four: Hatsumi Sensei's Books

Next, I consult Hatsumi Sensei’s books. In a recent class about the use of jūji sabaki and the jūtte, I have 3 different books with 3 different approaches to the same kata. I compare them with the Denshō to try to get as close as possible to a “kihon” version of the kata.

In each book, the version of the kata that is shown will differ depending on the era the book was written. Or maybe Hatsumi Sensei had a specific focus for that book. I bring that all together with the next step.

Five: Hatsumi Sensei's Videos

After I get the steps down in my class notes, I watch Hatsumi Sensei’s videos. We are lucky that Soke has made a lot of videos. Over the years, I have made notes about where a kata appears in a video so I can fast forward to the exact moment it was shared. Again, the same kata will be presented differently depending on the era and the focus on the day the video was made.

Six: My Personal Bujinkan Training Notes

From here, I reflect on my own personal experience and training notes. In normal years, I would make 3 trips to Japan every year. This worked out to about 6 weeks of training with roughly 2-3 classes every day.

This means that there is a good chance I studied any particular kata with Soke or the Japanese Shihan in Japan. I made many detailed notebooks from these studies. Reviewing these notes will trigger a specific memory or insight that will change how I teach the class.

An idea of 以心伝心 Ishin Denshin

The final step is one that I only recently realized was an essential part of how I prepare for class. This is the idea of 以心伝心 ishin denshin, a direct heart to heart communication between teacher and student. I received this from Hatsumi Sensei.

And I feel like I just woke up to my responsibility as a Daishihan when I discovered this next step.

Seven: What would Soke do?

What is the best way for me to convey Soke’s feeling to my students? This is the final step of my preparation for Bujinkan training. When he awarded me the Daishihan certificate he said,

This year is the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bujinkan dojo. During this time, there were a lot of people out there who don’t understand what real budo is. And teaching without knowing real budo. Recently, I have been teaching mutōdori and this is 上層部 Jōsō-bu, the highest echelon or essence of budo. Some people understand it and some don’t, but it’s very important.
Who can say they understand Hatsumi Sensei's movement? I don't make any claims. But what I can do is try to share the feeling I got from him. 

Like the time I tried to grab him and he disappeared. Or the time when he struck me with one finger, moving a bone behind my larynx and I was hoarse for a week. He thought that was quite amusing... Or another time when he threw me on the mats in Ayase and I blacked out. I came to with his face over mine, laughing again.

He gave me a feeling too when he made me a Daishihan. He told us,

It’s important to transmit these things by word of mouth and in person. The Daishihan can teach people how to live around the world. The gokui of mutōdori is really nothingness and very pure. I feel fortunate that I could teach people up to Daishihan level and they can now take over.

This is the future of the Bujinkan right in this room. 

I didn't know it that day, but his words still guide me many times a week as I go through these steps to prepare for class. I made a video about all of these steps called Bujinkan Kuden: How I Prepare for Class with the 十手 Jutte if your curiosity drives you to dive deeper.



 

 





3 Tips for 大外掛 Ōsoto Gake You Should Start Using Now

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Michael

3 Tips for 大外掛 Ōsoto Gake You Should Start Using Now
Bujinkan Honbu Masks, photo from same day by Michael Glenn

Tonight in my class we studied 夢落 yume otoshi. The last time I did this in Japan, Hatsumi Sensei gave us some insights that I want to share with you. He began by telling us 空間で嚮導 Kūkan de kyōdō, or lead the opponent in the kukan.

That was when I should have changed into a new gi. Because it was like a new life for an old ninja. I had a breakthrough for my understanding of taijutsu. But my day leading up to that experience gave no warning it would be special.

I trained for about 6 weeks in Japan every year. So not every day could be amazing. This particular Friday was cold, wet, and boring. I had only errands to keep me entertained before Hatsumi Sensei’s class.

Even my lunch was uninspired. I hunkered down at the low budget family restaurant, Saizeriya in Nagareyama. I only wanted to get out of the cold rain for a bit and work on my training notes in a quiet booth.

Christmas music was already playing, but the holiday decor was only half done. There was a lone Christmas tree surrounded by traffic cones for some arcane reason known only to the カラーコーン fairies. I watched a broken, discarded umbrella blow across the plaza and crash into the soggy tree.

Lucky for me Soke had changed the start time of his classes to 6pm. His 米寿 beiju (88th birthday) was in a couple of weeks. And preparations were underway for his party.

It took almost his entire class to clear my head. I was training with an XXL guy from Finland and he didn’t allow any technique to be done easy. I was beginning to feel like that broken umbrella at the train station.

Then, Hatsumi Sensei showed how to do the 大外掛 Ōsoto gake from yume otoshi. It was only a couple of minutes until the end of training. But he made some wonderful points:

  • First, he said our foot placement was too wide. We should only allow enough space for the knee to come through. 
  • Second, Get the 姿勢 shisei, or posture right by expanding the chest and keeping the head up. 
  • And Third,「頭の向きは投げる方向」Where you look is where you will throw. But the ura side of this is getting the opponent to look in a direction so he throws himself!

Then Soke told us,

空間で嚮導 Kūkan de kyōdō, lead the opponent in the kukan.  You must study something beyond waza, beyond technique. Transcend waza. Without avoiding you move like this. Step slowly, then hold it like this. Let’s try that… that will be the end.
Now here I am two years later sharing these same tips with my students. I do my best to remember the feeling from Soke that night. I would like to take them in a time machine so we could all eat lunch at the Saizeriya and go to Hatsumi Sensei’s class together. But time travel is only in my head training with my memories.

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.