Two recent good Youtube clips

Mats Hjelm "Bujinkan Toryu"August 17, 2009August 17, 2009

I haven’t had time to check it the latest weeks. I was recommended the first oen on Facebook, and I searched for more.

Moti is a Good instructor from Israel.

The German Buyukai

Edit: Missed this one from Bujinkan Czech Republic

Actually I couldn’t find anything else good the past three months or so. I avoided the guy who always use CAPS (seems kinda desperate if you ask me). Seems like it is only “non Bujinkan clubs” tagged as Bujinkan at youtube, are they so desperately wanting attention or what :-D, you be the judge of that. …

Kukishin-ryu Bojutsu – Keiko Sabaki kata – 03 – Sashiai

adminJuly 21, 2009

From Kabutoshimen by admin

Disclaimer; this is not necessarily the correct way of doing this technique, it is the way I see how it should be done.

差合 SASHI AI

Technique No 3 from Kukishin-ryu Rokushaku Bôjutsu – Keiko sabaki kata

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(A)

1. I assume Chûdan no kamae and plan to make the opponent open up his left side…

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(B)

2. I move the left foot forward to the left and enter in to the opponent’s right side. I angle the body in a way to draw the attention to my left hand and hide the right hand sliding back to the end of the staff.

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(C)

3. I step forward with the left foot and thrust in chudan-tsuki to the opponent and force him to move. Since I enter on his right side I pretty much force him to move to his left.

Note: If he is not moving I strike through his guard and get him. If he put force into the block it is better for me, but I’m not waiting to feel it (physically) then it would be to late for the next step.

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(D)

4. I quickly move the right foot forward and strike his left elbow with dô-uchi.

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(E)

5. Then another quick kote-haneage strike from under to his right arm to completely disarm him. The kata officially finish here, but it is easy to keep going and take control of the space and the weapon he just lost.

Bojutsu - Keiko Sabaki kata - 03 - Sashi-ai(F)

6. Then I jump back to Seigan no kamae and assume zanshin (because the next kata starts from here which makes it easier to remember the next kata).

After you and your partner have learned the kata, try to work on a better defense with the sword. Try to be more offensive and gradually make it more difficult to attack with the staff, instead of moving backwards move forwards and be more offensive. The swordsman’s distance is shorter and he need to be on a safe distance or closer where he can get the opponent with the staff quickly. The person with the staff need to be outside the swordsman’s reach or be completely covered. You can practice this technique with more freely distance and timing, but keep the same sequence of attacks (keep to the kata). If you do this I suggest you use safe weapons (padded weapons) and maybe protections, or just be very careful.

There is also kuden; things taught personally from teacher to student, so please find a good teacher and study with him/her.

Happy training!

/Mats…

STHLM 26-27 September – Seminar with DEAN ROSTOHAR

Mats Hjelm "Bujinkan Toryu"July 6, 2009July 6, 2009

The theme for this seminar will be NINPO/NINJUTSU and SHINKEN KATA. Dean will bring together and teach true Ninpo combat from his experience of trainings in Japan with Hatsumi Soke. And also his personal experience as a Police Officer, from the Croatian civil war as a member of the SJP Alpha, and SPECWOG (SPECcial Warriors Operation Group).

Dean has been practicing Martial Arts for 35 years, he is a former Police officer a member of the SJP Alpha (Special Police Force – SWAT) in Croatia. Dean Rostohar is Director, Chief instructor of SPECWOG and a founder of Tactical Technic Combat System T.T.C.S. For his full resume, check out his web site or the SPECWOG web site.

For more information about this great seminar, go to this web site and please sign up early!
http://www.kaigozan.se/seminars/2009-09-26/

is the third Ninja boom coming?

adminJune 24, 2009

From Kabutoshimen by admin

The first boom was in Japan during the 1960’s, they produced a lot of ninja movies then. The producers asked Takamatsu Sensei and Hatsumi Soke for advice and help. The first “Shinobi no mono” movie had Hatsumi Soke as advicor, it turned out to be really cool movie, they made eight movies between 1962-1968. There was also many other ninja movies.

Then in the beginning of the 1980’s the second Ninja boom cam, and it became really big in the west. The Swedish “Ninja Mission” hit big in the US, it was more popular than the new Clint Eastwood movie at the time. It had Bo Munthe who then was a 4′th Dan in Bujinkan (the highest ranked in Europe at this time), and many of his students did stunt work.

There was also plenty of ninja movies and TV series from Hollywood at the time. People came from everywhere and wanted to study this mysterious art Ninjutsu. In Stockholm the dojo had several hundred meters of people lining up to start training. In other countries which hadn’t so well established Bujinkan dojo’s there was charlatans who saw the opportunity to make money. The choice of American filmproducers how they displayed the art was not in favour for true Ninjutsu practitioners. It was often kung fu, tae kwon do, karate, kendo practitioners who got the stunt cordinator job for these movies, the biggest star of this era was probably Sho Kosugi.

He claims he learned Ninjutsu from a “strange neighbour” when he was 7 years old. I believe the neighbour was strange, but I don’t think he knew much about Ninjutsu. How the film industry portaited the Ninja was not good! I wish they (Hollywood industry) spent more time on research than listen to someone who was taught Ninjutsu by a crazy guy when he was seven years old.

Now 54 years later Kosugi still have too much influence in Hollywood, who apparently decided that there will be a third Ninja boom to cash in money on. They still prove they are too lazy to do proper resarch. The forth coming Ninja Movies (see below) this summer and autumn of 2009 will probably not be as successfull as in the 80’s, but they will certainly enforce the stereotype of what a Ninja and Ninjutsu is, which is not true at all.

Ninja Assassin (2009) by James McTeigue

He previously worked with films such as Matrix, V for Vendetta, and is currently working on the new X-Men to be released in 2011. In this movie the old star Sho Kosugi is playing Lor Ozunu. The main character Raizo in this movie is played by Rain, who is a big pop star in Asia.

Ninja (2009) by Isaac Florentine

The film stars Scott Adkins as a westerner named Casey, who is studying Ninjutsu in Japan when he’s asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja. Somehow, cops, the mob, and a rival ninja enter the picture. Much death, sword slashing, and ninja ass kicking ensue.

The Warrior’s Way (2009) previously The Laundry Warrior

G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra by Stephen Sommers

Not exactly a ninja movie, but there will be ninjas in it.

Kamui gaiden (2009) by Yoichi Sai

A Japanese Ninja movie, the ninja movie boom never really went away in Japan.

The Rope Joint

Shawn GrayJune 2, 2009

From The Magick & The Mundane » Bujinkan by Shawn Gray

The reason I can do the technique this way is that I’m using my spine as if it were a rope.
– Hatsumi Sensei

Last week Sensei spoke again of the importance of connection, using the examples of the joints in the body. The body has many joints which both connect all the parts together and allow it to move smoothly. The fewer joints, or connections, we have, the less smooth our movement will be. Demonstrating a technique, he said that he could do it this way because he was using all of the joints in his spine together, as if it were a rope.

The rope is an important tool in this years’ training theme as it demonstrates the connectedness of things. Sensei also mentioned that the rope is like one big joint working as a whole – it has no links or joints in it, such as a chain does for example, so it can be used in a supple and fluid manner. Perhaps another way of looking at it is viewing the rope as being composed of a billion tiny joints which have been amalgamated into one thing which works as a single unit. All of the separate parts have been united to create a new thing – and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, as they say.

The word for joint in Japanese is ‘kansetsu’ (関節), and it is also interesting that the word for ‘indirectness’ is also pronounced ‘kansetsu’ (官設). I certainly felt both aspects of this when he allowed me to feel the technique. He was controlling me so lightly that it felt like I was being held in place by a single sheet of paper. It was the indirect manner in which he responded to my punch that allowed him to do it.