From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-vzsck_3o
Heres a nice and well done Enbu by the Croatian Bujinkan Seishin Dojo.…
Read MoreTag: Kesshi
flashback my past 15 years on the internets
From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin
I just found my old web site on archive.org 
, and a lot of memories comes back. When I made my first web site (in 1994 or 1995?) there was only one other web site on the whole internets that contained the word "Bujinkan" (I think his name was Shawn (an American not Canadian 
)). But before that I operated my own Fidonet BBS called 2:201/2123 Moko no Tora BBS on a computer under my bed between 1992-1996 (approximately, I don't remember exactly). I was also at Compuserve when they got their first modem pool in Sweden. At that time you could not access the internets from your home as a private person. There was no provider that offered a modem pool you could call up, it was only at big companies and university's at this time. Until Ragnar Lönn started Algonet in 1994 offering a connection for private persons. If I remember correctly, I got my subscription around Christmas time, and immediately started learning HTML by making the web site.
There was only the MS *plorer and Netscape browsers, I remember Netscape was better because you could change the colours on the fonts and background. There was HTML programs, but they where buggy, annoying and didn't keep up with the new features that the Netscape browser gave. So I learned typing HTML with a simple text editor. I still do this, but I also use a CMS system (this site is on W0rpqr*ss ).
Over the years I had projects that grew too big to handle. More and more people got Internet and found my web site, I see that in the oldest record on the way back machine at archive.org that in May 2000 I had 154 016 hits since march 1995, I'm not sure if that counts the hits I had before on my Algonet page (yes it still sucks!). In January 2002 I had 426 844 hits, Anyway some of the bigger projects was...
BUUYUU www.martial.arts links project
This was link site with thousands of Martial Arts links, driven by a text database, but someone had to manually update with new links, lot's of work. Thanks to Baubak G who helped me with this!
Masai forum board
Means polish your sword or skills. With a couple of thousand members it could sometimes get maybe too political, but often there was good discussions. Back then people where new to the internets and was willing to share stuff, even if it wasn't well researched (me included).
NinZine
NinZine actually started before in my Fidonet and Compuserve days. It was a type of multimedia magazine where you needed a PC with DOS to make it work. Later Liz made Ura & Omote which was more text based articles. I think I only released five or six issues. I tried to find the old zip files but can't find them. If anyone have them, please contact me . I have planned for a while to use the NinZine name again for the bujinkan.me web site project.
Bushikai (the whole Bujinkan world on one site)
Was a kind of portal for each country that showed links to web sites, clubs and local seminars for respective country. Here is Sweden for example (13 training groups, 23 web sites and 6 seminars registered at the time).
Ryu-ha history
This was probably the most popular segment. Thanks to Peter C who gave me most of the school information in the beginning. I added more and more to the pages without thinking or being able to check it's sources.
At the end I removed most of the ryu-ha history notes because I was fed up with some people who knew better that liked to critizice instead of helping, people who took the information and presented it as their own. But mostly because it became too much work, people expected me to update the web site continually, and I wasn't making any money on it. In 2005 I moved the forum to another web site, and about his time I went from 10 000 hits per month to a couple of thousand.
today...
Sure I miss some of the projects a little, but if it means I have to do all the work and it is too much work or I don't enjoy it I won't do it any more. But I moved some of the projects to the bujinkan.me web site...
- The bujinkan.me/ninzine is the new NinZine! It is a script that get articles via selected RSS sources. Contributions is by people with their own blogs that I think make a good contribution to the Bujinkan community.
- The Dojo locator is the new Dojo address database!. This is now handled by Google places, just make sure to include Bujinkan as a tag to get included here.
- The Seminar database is practically the same as before.
- The links..., when I started there was no Google!
My Kabutoshimen / Kesshi web site is more my personal web site and blog, if you are interested in what I'm up to. The Kaigozan Dojo web site is my dojo. I got a bunch of other sites to, I keep it separated (Bujinkan, me, dojo etc.)...
Well I don't know how to wrap this article!
Can't believe I've been doing this for more than 15 years!
I wonder how it will look like in another 15 years?
Anyway... HAPPY TRAINING!
( I think I used this phrase for 15 years to )
/Mats…
Read MoreScam alert for Martial Artists
From 8þ Kabutoshimen by admin
Today I got another scam message (see the original below). I googled his name and found several warnings. I got a similar e-mail a year ago. First I thought it was too good to be true (warning bell 1), then the more I communicated the more warning bells I heard, but it seemed reasonable, until...
He wanted me to charge a credit card number for my salary plus their hotel, meals and expenses. He wanted me to do it very quickly and he prompted me to immediately give 60-70% of the money to his contact so he could pay for their hotel and expenses.
Now it was obvious it was a scam. He had stolen the credit card number, and if I had charged the credit card and given these 60-70% of the money to "his contact", soon after the police would knock on my door and I would end up in jail, having problem explaining why I was so stupid.
So don't fall for this, they might change name and everything so you won't find it on Google. The message below is very general, it doesn't mention my name, my club or even the art I train. Please be aware!
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:57:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: Paul Howard
Subject: Training Classes
To: [email protected]Hello,
My name is Howard Paul. I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from Sept to October,2010.They are all beginners and six in number.What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.
Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it.
I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.Best regards.
Howard Paul
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground,
Mereheath Lane,
Knutsford,
Cheshire, WA16 6SL,Uk
Here is a new one :-/
… Read MoreHello,
My name is Robert Dickson, I want to book training services for a group of six who shall be on vacation to your country for 8weeks.We want an intensive training sessions with you. Their stay will last from May 2011.to July, 2011. They are all beginners and six in number. What can you offer? Can I know your qualification and service rate? This program coincides with our vacation timetable and it is designed towards improving the mental and physical fitness by challenging ourselves beyond our capabilities. Our aim is to improve our confidence, gain self defense skills, increase fitness and enjoy new challenges.
Do you have a training facility where you conduct classes? if not,we can arrange one for it. I would love to know the possibility of working with you during this period.Kindly. Kindly get back to me with your proposals so that we can make booking asap.
Best regards
Robert Dickson,
BCSSA,Egerton Training Ground
109-113 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington,
London,UK, SW7 5LR
Stick Fighting DVD feed back :-)
From Kabutoshimen by admin
Today I got an e-mail from Mr Tom Lang, who is the author of The Stick And Cane In Close Combat: Jointlocks, Takedowns and Surprise Attacks
. Here is what he wrote...
Mats: I recently acquired your DVD on the hanbo. It is by far the best available. I have made a special study of hanbo and cane techniques for the past 10 years and have collected more than 150 books and DVDs on these techniques, so I believe I can make that statement with confidence. Congratulations!
Tom Lang
Author of The Stick and Cane in Close Combat (Unique Publications)
The Stick Fighting DVD can be found here, it is also available as and iPod version for download here.
Happy training!…
Read MoreTaihen Kuden Shinden by Arnaud Cousergue
From Kabutoshimen by admin
Here is another old article I had on my web site 10 years ago, enjoy!
- Mats 2010-08-18
---
Background: This article was the result of me asking about the Shu Ha Ri (learn the technique, break the technique and then leave the technique) on a mailing list. And the response was so good that I thought more people should be able to read it. Click on the image on the right and it will explain the meaning of the Kanji. Shu-Ha-Ri is not only a Bujinkan term, it can be found in many Japanese Budô arts. And as Arnaud explains below, not necessarily just Budô, it involves everything we learn and master. Enjoy the article!
/Mats Hjelm - January 2000
Taihen Kuden Shinden by Arnaud Cousergue
Mats said: "I need some more information about that. I think most japanese Budô arts have this saying. Can someone give me a few comments or more information about this?"
The process of learning for human beings (maybe animals too) follows three basic periods:
you learn the new stuff,
you understand the new stuff,
you go beyond the new stuff, making it your own stuff.
If we take the process of learning how to ride a bicycle we have the following steps:
- When you are a kid you first learn to stay balanced on your bike, you learn to stay up (i.e. not to fall). To help you keep your balance, your parents (Sensei?) add two small wheels to your bike so that you cannot fall on your side so easily. With the help of the wheels, you can learn to move the pedals and you can move forward.
- Then you develop your experience by playing with your friends (training with partners) over the months. You fall sometimes but, little by little things get easier. You begin to feel and understand how the whole thing works and you free yourself from the "form".
- After a while, you know how to ride your bicycle, you do not fall that much, you do not think on "how to ride" but more on "how to get to this place". You know how to ride a bicycle and you adapt your knowledge to your environment.
By learning how to ride your bike, you followed the three steps of: learning, breaking and leaving! But this is not the end of the story. You have been riding your bike for a few months and the little wheels are bent upwards because you trained hard. They do not touch the ground any more, but you don't know it. You think you are still using them to balance your bicycle and prevent you from falling. One day, your parents (Sensei?) see that and with a tear in their eyes admire your mastery Watching you, they even saw that sometimes these little wheels where preventing you from riding properly. Because they love you, because they are proud of you they decide to take out these little wheels that you do not really use anymore, to make you more free of your movements.
Alas the whole process is to be followed again! You have to learn a different way of riding your bicycle. Everything you knew from experience is not good anymore.
- you have to learn a new form of moving because without these little wheels you feel unbalanced (even if, without knowing it, you were not using the little wheels anymore). You fall again very often and you get more pain and bruises as you progress in learning this new process.
- After a while you understand the new rules. You learn new angles you can use to change direction. Your bicycle becomes more the extension of your self.
- After a small period of time, you do not pay attention anymore to your bicycle, you are more interested in getting to some place(adapting the technique to the environment). Your movements are free you are not limited anymore by the little wheels (basics?).
And if one day you want to learn how to ride a motorbike, you will have to go through another (yet the same) learning process of "learn-break-leave".
This is the same in Budô. You first learn the body motion trying to reproduce what your teacher is showing. You cannot do it but you try hard to understand the "mechanics" of motion.
Then by training hard with your partners you build YOUR understanding of body motion and little by little you adapt it to your own body and capabilities. You break the forms and use what is good for you leaving what is not. You break every step into small parts so that you can integrate them easily in your body natural movements.
One day, the movement is no more your teacher's movement but it is yours. You reached the "leave the form" step until you get a deeper understanding of it that will put you again through the learning process and the three steps.
Now, if we want japanese names we can give the following names for these steps:
- learning the form = TAIHEN: learning through body motion,
- breaking the form = KUDEN: breaking the form through the experience you develop by yourself, with your partners and with the help and advises of your teacher,
- leaving the form = SHINDEN: you create your own form "naturally", your own spirit feeds your understanding of body motion. you can adapt your actions without thinking because you are one with the technique, you are above the form. The movement exists and you "manifest" it naturally, including it in different situations and environments.
For me this is what Hatsumi Sensei is teaching us. He is not only teaching movements or techniques. He is giving us freedom and this freedom can only be attain through hard practice, sweat and bruises. There is no limited time to get it, this is a whole life study!
I hope this will help you Mats
Arnaud Cousergue
http://kumafr.wordpress.com/
January 25'th 2000…
Read More