Skip to content

Recent Posts

  • Complete SHINDENFUDO-RYU DAKENTAIJUTSU
  • Master One To Master All
  • Encounter With A Polisher
  • Kannin: Keep Going!
  • Change Is A Chance

Most Used Categories

  • Contributors (1,860)
    • SuperfeedEN (1)
  • budoshop (149)
  • YouTube (57)
  • Seminars (49)
  • Kesshi (43)
  • Podcast (15)
  • kaigozan (15)
  • Uncategorized (14)
  • web site update (4)
Skip to content
  • Affiliated to NinZine →
  • Mats Hjelm
  • Kaigozan Dojo
  • Budoshop
  • Seminars
  • Bujinkan TV
Subscribe

NinZine 3.0

Unofficial Bujinkan Dojo Budo Taijutsu E-Zine / Blog

Subscribe
  • NinZine
    • About
    • Articles
      • Archive from 2005
      • Archive from 2006
      • Archive from 2007
      • Archive from 2008
      • Archive from 2009
      • Archive from 2010
      • Archive from 2011
      • Archive from 2012
      • Archive from 2013
      • Archive from 2014
      • Archive from 2015
      • Archive from 2016
      • Archive from 2017
      • Archive from 2018
      • Archive from 2019
    • Main Authors
      • Arnaud Cousergue
      • Budoshop Store
      • Don Roley
      • Doug Wilson
      • Duncan Stewart
      • Mats Hjelm
      • Michael Glenn
      • Paul Masse
      • Sean Askew
      • Shawn Gray
      • Sheila Haddad
  •   ★  
  • Dojo Locator
  • Honbu Dojo
  • Seminars
  • Twitter
  • Budo Shop
    • Budoshop.SE
    • Paart Budo Buki
    • Soft Hanbo
    • T’s – Shut Up and Train
    • Yudansha Book
  • Home
  • kamae

Tag: kamae

三心の構 Sanshin no Kamae: Silent and Deadly

Bujinkan Santa MonicaMay 13, 2011May 13, 2011

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

photo by ngader
We can learn a lot from the Kamae in our art. For example, there are three Kamae that are often associated with hanbo that Takamatsu Sensei called 三心の構  Sanshin no Kamae. These three simple looking kamae contain important insights about the nature of fighting and combat that can change everything about the way you understand Kamae and Bujinkan Taijutsu.

Hatsumi sensei says these Kamae are "three phases:"

型破の構 Kata Yaburi no Kamae – form breaking

無念無想の構 Munen Muso no Kamae – no intention, no thought

音無しの構 Otonashi no Kamae – silent posture

The stances betray no outward signs of readiness for action, offensive or defensive. You stand exposed, weapons lowered, and your body square to the opponent. This emptiness makes these kamae positions of pure, unlimited potential from which all manner of henka can arise. These kamae all pass rapidly from stillness into motion and motion into stillness. Offense and defense are one and the same. Emptiness and reality are embodied in the stances with kyojitsu tenkan ho being a primary strategy.

With 型破の構 Kata Yaburi no Kamae you move in a way to break or destroy the opponent's form. Whether that be the form of his attack or breaking the "form" of his spirit. But this also suggests the destruction of your own form. Or the erasing of your own ego. Which leads us to,

無念無想の構 Munen Muso no Kamae, sometimes referred to as mugamae (non form), is the intention of no-intention, no-thought throughout your body or any weapon you hold.

So with 音無しの構 Otonashi no Kamae, you are lying low;  saying nothing and waiting for an opportunity. It is critical to use space, without showing your weapon, the form, the shape, or the sound. Use it in the unguarded space to take away the opponent's fighting power.

Soke describes this,
"you stand silently in otonashi no kamae (the silent posture) with both hands lowered. Even against a strong opponent you maintain this form. The cross style of this form has a secret meaning that includes both desperation and sacrifice."

The power of this stance often appears in cinema and theater.  Sawada Shojiro returned to Tokyo with Daibosatsu Toge, 1921-1922).  In this performance Sawada played Tsukue Ryunosuke, a ruthless and nihilistic swordsman who goes blind but his swordsmanship does not diminish. Ryunosuke's "soundless stance" (otonashi-no-kamae) sword-fighting style inspired many chanbara heroes that followed including the blind swordsman Zato Ichi.

The role of Ryunosuke Tsukue was reprised in the movie "Sword of Doom" by Tatsuya Nakadai in 1966. In this clip we can see Otonashi no kamae at work (WARNING graphic sword fight):


… Read More

Hiding Behind Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae

Bujinkan Santa MonicaAugust 26, 2010January 28, 2011

From Bujinkan Santa Monica by Bujinkan Santa Monica

Seeing Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae for the first time can be misleading.  Usually a student's first exposure to this kamae is seeing someone hold a sword out in front of themselves while someone else throws shuriken at them.  Then the instructor hands the sword to you and says, "Next."

by eflon

This aspect of Totoku is often perceived as one of those quirky things in our training that we may try out, but never take seriously.  After all, who has had to dodge shuriken for real?  I'm not counting the dishes your girlfriend threw at you during a recent argument.  Maybe you try this out, maybe block a few rubber shuriken and then forget it.

Totoku forms part of some very rich strategy in our art.  And the more you look for it, the more you will encounter.  I personally have heard Hatsumi Sensei reference it many times, and it wasn't anything to do with shuriken blocking.  It is a running theme in our taijutsu that has to be experienced from a qualified teacher.

Maybe a starting place to understand this kamae can be from the Tachi.  This sword was mainly held in one hand.  There was little tradition of handheld shields in Japanese Budo.  So how do you deal with incoming arrows, spears, or enemy sword attacks?  You use your own sword.  The first use of the sword is to protect yourself before cutting.  It becomes your first line of defense and your shield.

What if you don't have a sword?  The idea of Totoku goes even deeper.  It moves into the idea of hiding yourself behind a shield.  But what is a shield?  Soke speaks about this in reference to Goton No Jutsu:



Examine the character for "Ton" as used above in Tongyo ("hiding one's form"; or alternatively, "the discretion doctrine"), and you can discover it to be a combination of the characters "fleeing" with a "shield" - just as along the path of Ninpo.  The priciple of recognizing the value gained by winning through flight is one of Ninjutsu's cardinal rules.  However it is not simply a question of escaping.  What can one use as a shield?  One can use:
  • the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water)
  • the Five Rings
  • the Five Ways (the way of enlightenment)
  • the Five Arts
  • the Five Teachings
  • the Five Confucian Virtues (benevolence, rightousness, prosperity, wisdom, and sincerity)
  • Nature
  • the shining (or shadowed) glory of the martial ways
  • beliefs
  • politics (or rather policies for life)
the shields are multiple and varied.

Soke says on another occasion,

Everything is a natural shield.  So, anything can be a natural shield.  One should move in a connected way like Juppo Sessho, and Koteki Ryoda which include these teachings.  Such things are written in old Japanese scrolls.

And finally, I watched one day as Soke was demonstrating some of his mysterious muto dori, and he explained, "You must evade by the thickness of air.  Use the air as your shield."


… Read More

Yoroi is Balance

kumafrMay 6, 2010

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumafr

Black belts should wear the yoroi to understand the value of balance. When you are dressed with the yoroi, the weight is spread all around the body and not only on the back as we experienced it with a backpack.

Naturally the extra weight transforms the body repartition and we move with about 50% of our weight on each leg. This is why the kukishin ryû and the takagi yôshin ryû kamae do not have the same appearance compared to the togakure or other low kamae systems.

Peter on the picture is showing here the kosei no kamae as if he was receiving some kind of attack from his opponent. As though “kosei” means “attack” he is absorbing the blow with his protected forearm (aite to kumu kokoro gamae) and uses his legs to cushion it. Next he will spring forward and take uke‘s balance to counter-attack. Once the blow has been received, there is no power left in the weapon, the momentum is gone.

As sensei said back in 2003, concerning the yoroi kumiuchi: “when there are two attacks (body or weapon) they are not of the same quality”. The first attack is fuelled by the footwork and his strong and fast, the second starts where the first one was stopped and uses a different distance.

Note that the back hand stays at the hip level as if Peter was holding a tachi.

Every waza in Japan originated from yoroi kumiuchi.


… Read More

足運びの構え Deep kamae

adminSeptember 13, 2008

From Kabutoshimen by admin

One of the shihan who have been training with Soke for 47 years! Said that in the beginning when they trained in the basics they to did very deep kamae. But the feet was just shoulder width apart not so wide apart as most westerners do when they go deep in their kamae.

He said that they did this for some 20 years, then the next phase in training came when the theme changed to much wider stances. And this was around the same time the first westerners came to train in japan in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

足運び ASHIHAKOBI is the name of the technique the Sumo wrestlers use when they walk with the center of gravity as low as possible. With the feet’s too wide apart it would be very difficult to move quickly. And with the center of gravity too high they would be easily pushed out of the ring. Maybe now you get the idea better. 

Please don’t misunderstand me, keeping the feet wide apart makes it more difficult and useful in training, which I strongly believe is good for training drills. I think it is better to make the training drills more difficult and more demanding. But in practical use you should not keep the feet too far from each other because it will slow down your movement too much. It is very important to know what is a practice drill and what you would do in reality! 

Here is two video clips of Sumo matches, one is very bad use of ashihakobi, and one is good. The first one is the bad example, with these not so good “sumo wrestlers“. Compare the center of gravity of the previous ones with these two and you clearly see the difference. It is also a quite funny Sumo wrestling clip.

The first kanji 足 means foot or leg. The second kanji 運 means `carry’, `luck’, `destiny’, `fate’, `lot’, `transport’, `progress’, `advance’.…

Read More

Shut-up and Train T-Shirts

武神館無段者の案内所
MUDANSHA - BEGINNERS GUIDE TO BUJINKAN

Price: $14.99
Prints in 3-5 business days

English, Perfect-bound Paperback, 96 pages richly illustrated with pictures and illustrations.

武神館有段者の案内所
YUDANSHA - BUJINKAN BLACK BELT GUIDE

Price: $27.77
Prints in 3-5 business days

English, Perfect-bound Paperback, richly illustrated with pictures and illustrations. Available in two sizes
- 184 pages (8.26" x 11.69") Paperback
- 184 pages (8.26" x 11.69") Coilbound
- 244 pages (6.14" x 9.21") Paperback

Budoshop Downloads Budoshop Downloads

Recent Posts

 

    • ()

 

Archives

RSS Bujinkan Seminars

  • 2023-08-18 NOGUCHI TAIKAI (Stockholm, SWE)
  • 2023-03-11 KUSARIFUNDŌ & IKEN-HASSŌ with MATS HJELM
  • 2022-12-17 KGZ TomteLäger

Our Recent Tweets

  • Budoshop.SEBShuriken at Kaigozan Dojo. Here is a link to the blog about this video.https://t.co/ejcsaLJ8Qd @ Bujinkan Kaig https://t.co/GxmW9Sp5Hc

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:22am - 2 May '20 - 1059 days ago

  • Budoshop.SEThis is the Te-no-uchi for my first B-shuriken Kata. I will explain this with text, pictures and video on my blog https://t.co/3fIozFuikf

    Reply Retweet Favorite 8:35pm - 29 Apr '20 - 1061 days ago

  • Budoshop.SEFick en frga angende svrd som kanske andra ocks undrar ver. Hej Mats!Vet du har man kan hitta en iaito som https://t.co/Oep9K2sCqr

    Reply Retweet Favorite 8:35pm - 29 Apr '20 - 1061 days ago

Follow @budoshop
  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoI improved the Kusarifund! Check out my new page on my web site. https://t.co/7Sesef4zXP @ Bujinkan Kaigzan dj https://t.co/Papt0H2Z3f

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:38am - 3 Feb '23 - 52 days ago

  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoNew Shimenawa is up, so we are protected another year. First training of the year was done. #Kami #Dojo #Bujinkan https://t.co/GIkhgjAu3W

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:14am - 4 Jan '23 - 82 days ago

  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoGott Nytt Vatten Harens rNy bloggpost https://t.co/xtBG6iM09Y @ Bujinkan Kaigzan dj https://t.co/ENYdjZ6Nyv

    Reply Retweet Favorite 11:18pm - 31 Dec '22 - 85 days ago

Follow @kaigozan
  • Mats 兜鉄Impressive! https://t.co/Fp2KhCJWel

    Reply Retweet Favorite 5:26pm - 9 Mar '23 - 17 days ago

  • Mats 兜鉄@BrianRoemmele The clip below is around 20 years ago. But my point is that we have come a long way, it has been in https://t.co/WWzKTRvxyL

    Reply Retweet Favorite 5:31pm - 10 Feb '23 - 44 days ago

  • Mats 兜鉄Police and ambulance was called but both idiots had left before they arrived. This was self defence, no charges. https://t.co/xGCVsHYu4X

    Reply Retweet Favorite 2:42am - 30 Jan '23 - 55 days ago

Follow @kesshi
Budoshop Downloads Budoshop Downloads

Recent Posts

  • Complete SHINDENFUDO-RYU DAKENTAIJUTSU (March 20th, 2023)
  • Master One To Master All (February 28th, 2023)
  • Encounter With A Polisher (February 27th, 2023)
  • Kannin: Keep Going! (February 26th, 2023)
  • Change Is A Chance (February 25th, 2023)

Archives

RSS Bujinkan Seminars

  • 2023-08-18 NOGUCHI TAIKAI (Stockholm, SWE) February 27, 2023
  • 2023-03-11 KUSARIFUNDŌ & IKEN-HASSŌ with MATS HJELM February 25, 2023
  • 2022-12-17 KGZ TomteLäger November 7, 2022

Tags

Basics budoshop Budoshop.se bujinkan bujinkan.me Doug Wilson Download Download movie Duncan Stewart essay General thoughts Henka History iPad iphone ipod Japan training Japan Trip kaigozan keiko Kesshi Kihon Kihon Happo Kukishin-ryu Mats Hjelm News ninjutsu Rob Renner Ryuha Seminar shugyo Sveneric Bogsäter Sweden tabi Taijutsu Taikai Thoughts on Budo togakure-ryu training Uncategorized update videos weapons YouTube Zeropoint

Our Recent Tweets

  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoI improved the Kusarifund! Check out my new page on my web site. https://t.co/7Sesef4zXP @ Bujinkan Kaigzan dj https://t.co/Papt0H2Z3f

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:38am - 3 Feb '23 - 52 days ago

  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoNew Shimenawa is up, so we are protected another year. First training of the year was done. #Kami #Dojo #Bujinkan https://t.co/GIkhgjAu3W

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:14am - 4 Jan '23 - 82 days ago

  • Bujinkan KGZ DojoGott Nytt Vatten Harens rNy bloggpost https://t.co/xtBG6iM09Y @ Bujinkan Kaigzan dj https://t.co/ENYdjZ6Nyv

    Reply Retweet Favorite 11:18pm - 31 Dec '22 - 85 days ago

Follow @kaigozan
  • Budoshop.SEBShuriken at Kaigozan Dojo. Here is a link to the blog about this video.https://t.co/ejcsaLJ8Qd @ Bujinkan Kaig https://t.co/GxmW9Sp5Hc

    Reply Retweet Favorite 12:22am - 2 May '20 - 1059 days ago

  • Budoshop.SEThis is the Te-no-uchi for my first B-shuriken Kata. I will explain this with text, pictures and video on my blog https://t.co/3fIozFuikf

    Reply Retweet Favorite 8:35pm - 29 Apr '20 - 1061 days ago

  • Budoshop.SEFick en frga angende svrd som kanske andra ocks undrar ver. Hej Mats!Vet du har man kan hitta en iaito som https://t.co/Oep9K2sCqr

    Reply Retweet Favorite 8:35pm - 29 Apr '20 - 1061 days ago

Follow @budoshop
  • Mats 兜鉄Impressive! https://t.co/Fp2KhCJWel

    Reply Retweet Favorite 5:26pm - 9 Mar '23 - 17 days ago

  • Mats 兜鉄@BrianRoemmele The clip below is around 20 years ago. But my point is that we have come a long way, it has been in https://t.co/WWzKTRvxyL

    Reply Retweet Favorite 5:31pm - 10 Feb '23 - 44 days ago

  • Mats 兜鉄Police and ambulance was called but both idiots had left before they arrived. This was self defence, no charges. https://t.co/xGCVsHYu4X

    Reply Retweet Favorite 2:42am - 30 Jan '23 - 55 days ago

Follow @kesshi

Categories

  • budoshop
  • Contributors
  • kaigozan
  • Kesshi
  • Podcast
  • Seminars
  • SuperfeedEN
  • Uncategorized
  • web site update
  • YouTube

Blogroll

  • Budo Shop Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Web Store
  • Bujinkan Kaigōzan Dōjō training in Stockholm area, please come and visit us!
  • Kabutoshimen Mats Hjelm’s Bujinkan web site

Contributors

  • Comments for Classical Martial Arts Research Academy Promoting Martial Exellence
  • Budoshop The Bujinkan KGZ Video Downloads Store
  • Budoshop on Youtube
  • Bujinkan Santa Monica Train smart. Live better.
  • Bujinkan Zeropoint Dojo Rob Renner’s bLog
  • Classical Martial Arts Research Academy Promoting Martial Exellence
  • Kaigousuru Taikai 2025 Bujinkan Kaigōzan Dōjō
  • Kasumi An Study Center – 霞庵スタディセンター Junan taiso, martial arts, ink painting and other Japanese arts
  • Ninjutsu in the World We delve into the treasures of martial arts and the mysteries of Ninjustsu. <a href="https://kasumian.com/" >Kasumi An Study Center – 霞庵スタディセンター</a>
  • paart budo buki My contribution to perfecting your Budo
  • Schlog Shawn Gray’s Schlog
  • Shiro Kuma Arnaud Cousergue Bujinkan Kuma Dojo
  • Shugyo – Budo for Life Duncan Stewart’s bLog
  • TENRYU English Blog from Christian Petroccello
  • Wanderings in Budo musings on a journey along the warrior path
  • YŪDANSHA NO AN'NAISHO Bujinkan Black Belt Guide Book
  • 武神館兜龍 Bujinkan Toryu Mats Hjelm’s Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Web Site
  • 術心悟 The Art of Enlightening the Heart
Copyright All Rights Reserved Kaigozan Dojo | Theme: BlockWP by Candid Themes.