From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

When I was young, I spent my free time drawing Chinese ink sketches and listening to classical music (when I was not training on the mats).

I loved, and still love, black and white drawings without colors. And one of my dreams was to get a copy of “Manga”, the famous books of drawings by Hokusai, the Japanese woodblock printer. But these books were not published at a price I could afford at that time. They are now available at amazon.com (1). Albrecht Durer (2) and Hokusai (3) were my favorites.

Hokusai lived in the 18th and 19th century (1760 – 1849) so he died nearly 20 years before Meiji. These books are a testimony of pre-Meiji Japan and depict the life of the people at that time.

Hokusai created the “Manga” in 1811 at age 51, half a century before Meiji (4). And as far as I know, he realized these drawing to teach his students how to draw like him. Remember that these drawings were sculpted on woodblocks by an army of apprentices.

This first manga is a collection of thousands of drawings depicting the daily life of the Japanese people.
In Japanese 漫画 “manga” means drawing (cartoon picture) but I prefer to see it as 万画 “manga” (10000 sketches or images).
This is the origin of the word “manga” used by millions of teenagers and young adults today. The funny thing is that the majority do not know where this word is coming from.

So when I received the two volumes last week, I began to look into them and search for budo related drawings. The image on this blog is the reason why I decided to write this article. Let’s do some archeological history on sword fighting.

On the page, you see two pairs of fighters. The upper ones (5) and the lower ones have their hands regrouped like you would in modern iaidō. Which is typical from peace time period and switch from Tachi to katana. I don’t think Hokusai knew a lot about warfare, but he drew what he was watching. So we should consider this like a photography.

This brings one observation: 50 years before Meiji, the system of holding the Tsuka with hands out together was already in use. One of my former sword teacher told me that the close grip was developed during peace time when there were no Yoroi anymore. This grip was faster and more precise than the regular Tachi grip with hands apart.

Another remarkable point is that both groups of fighters have their legs in Gyaku unlike what was the habit with Yoroi fighting. This is also what is taught today in iaidô and often in battodô (right hand and left foot forward). With a Yoroi this is nearly impossible as you have to use the weight of the Yoroi in the hitting process. But in Keikogi and katana, the distance being smaller it makes sense.

This beautiful drawing by Hokusai is not what is taught in the Bujinkan where we are dealing more with the Kamakura and Muromachi type of fighting. But it depicts exactly the ways of the sword during the Edo period.

Hatsumi sensei is like Hokusai, he copies natural movement because everything is about moving according to the situation. There is no dogma, as long as it works.
Hatsumi sensei is like Hokusai drawing these 10000 sketches, his books and videos are like a modern manga that he gave us to be inspired and find natural movement.

Natural movement exists by itself, it appears without thinking. Like Hokusai, we simply have to watch it unfold in front of our eyes.

Hokusai and Hatsumi sensei are painters, they do not teach techniques, they show that life is like that, something natural that you see. This is the true meaning of “Shikin Haramitsu Daikomyō”.

“Life is like that” or 活然 is pronounced “Katsushika”, and it is Hokusai first name.
_____________________________________________________
1. Manga  also exist in other languages.
2. About Albrecht Durer 
3. About Hokusai life 
4. About Kokusai Manga 
5. the two fighters are in a wrong position on the page. The sword of the black fighter is the same one crossing the sword of the left fighter. They are positioned like that in the book even though he should be above the left fighter.

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

Everything we learn in the Bujinkan is ura and omote. The same goes in life. As we want to be successful in life or on the mats, we are often faced with failure.

The technique doesn’t work, the project, didn’t succeed. A warrior knows that failure is inevitable, but he does his best to survive. Because in a fight death is always a possibility we have to train for in order to avoid recklessness. How is it done? By training hard and sincerely.

People often lose heart when things are not going the way they expected; they shouldn’t. Failure is the omote of success.

All successful people in life have failed many times before becoming successful. In first grade, Thomas Edison was kicked out of school because his teachers thought he was retarded! Churchill twice failed at entering the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst. Henry Ford went bankrupt five times. And the list is endless.
These men became famous because they all had one common quality: Resilience doubled with courage.

We do learn from success, but the lessons don’t stick with us as long as the ones learned when we failed. Failure is indeed your best teacher as long as you never give up. Sensei illustrated that when he translated his famous “Bufu Ikkan” into “Keep going!” at the first American Taikai.
As a person, a group, or inside an organization, we are trained to aim for success but we must admit that failure teaches more than success does.
This apparent paradox is easy to understand. If you are always successful how do you expect to continue improving? After a long period of achievement, the person or entity loses the vision that made it possible. In contrast, repeated failures create more knowledge than repeated success. Failure, when it is not destroying your life, is the sure path to becoming more successful.
We need success, and the “keep going” attitude is the solution to finding it.
In order to be successful in the future, you always have to bear in mind, your errors of the past.
For this to work you need to develop a few qualities. They are resilience, courage, hard work, persistence, commitment.

Edison had difficulties inventing the light bulb. To a journalist asking how he felt about failing 1000 times? He answered beautifully: “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”

The same goes with your taijutsu. When you learn a new waza, you do it wrong. The angle is wrong, the speed and the rhythm are incorrect, there is too much strength involved, etc. But at some point after repeatedly failing, you have it. Success is a question of attitude and hard work.

In the dojo, we open and close the training session with “Shikin Haramitsu Daikomyō”. It means that whatever is happening to us, there is always something positive that we can learn from the experience.

Be happy to be failing, it means you are still learning.

Here are a few quotes* that you will like:

“Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails toward success.” Charles Kettering
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” Michael Jordan
“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” Coco Chanel
“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” Morihei Ueshiba

* from http://www.brainyquote.com/

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

Dear followers,

I just received a message from WordPress, today is the 7th Anniversary of our blog!
Over the course of 2555 days, you have visited  the blog 439645 times! This is an average of 172 visits per day!
Throughout the period going from 2010 to 2014, we shared 338 posts with the Bujinkan community which gives a ratio of about 1300 visits per post. And you participated to the success of this blog with roughly 500 comments. Thank you!

Thank you for your unlimited support during all these years.

This blog was created for two reasons: 1) to force me to remember what I was learning on a regular basis in Japan; 2) to share Hatsumi Sensei’s vision of Budo with a maximum of Bujinkan members in our community. Both objectives have reached their goal. And many posts have been translated or simply copied on many Bujinkan websites. Versions in French, Italian, Rusian, German, Portuguese are available online.

Soon (it is a matter of a few weeks now), we are going to move to the next level as I am publishing these posts in their chronological order in an eBook format. I rewrote, adapted and corrected all articles. An annex has been added to give even more detail to what I explain in the texts and that needed clarification. After each chapter, some pictures taken during the same period in Japan or when giving seminars in the world make a nice break. The pictures are not artistic but represent the strength and diversity of our community.
The first volume of the “Bujinkan Chronicles” series will cover the period February 2008 – May 2010. It contains more than 50 chapters, I hope you will love it.
In a few months, I will also launch a new project called “Babel Project” where anyone in the community will be able to translate part of the eBooks in their language. I will explain it very soon.

Once again thank you for your support and spreading of Sensei’s vision in the world.

Funnily enough, this anniversary falls at the same date the new Honbu is opening in Japan.
From now on, your Honbu and your blog have the same Anniversary date!*

Did you check out my first eBook?
http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Movement-Become-True-Student-ebook/dp/B00PUKZY9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424540255&sr=8-1&keywords=spirit+of+movement

* Thank you, Jim for your comments

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

Since 8 am Pacific Standard Time, my eBook “the Spirit of Movement” is offered with a 90% Off price.
This special offer is valid for another few hours only.
Get it now!
Merry Christmas!

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

Thank you for your 429323 visits.

check this

I wish you all a Happy Holiday season.

Arnaud

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. This is not from me but from George Bernard Shaw.

In Japanese “change” can be written in many ways. One of them, known to all of us is 変化 (henka).

But the compound word “henka” is much more than the word “change”. Both kanji (hen and ka) have the meaning of “change”, but 変 (hen) is the “beginning of the change” where 化 (ka), is the “end of change”. This gives a much deeper understanding of it,  some kind of Inyo cycle (yin-yang).

In fact we often use it wrongly. A henka is not something you make up,  this is not a variation, this is something that is either:

1) natural, when your adjusts the mechanical waza to the situation at hand,
or
2) listed, when it is part of an official set of possible adaptations in a given ryûha (this is the case for example in the kukishin sword techniques).

A few years ago,  Sensei asked us to understand that, and to avoid calling “henka” any variation we would do. A henka is a henka; a variation is a variation. But to make it a little more confusing, some variations might be called henka.

Shaw states that change is the key to progress. This is why we travel and train in Japan. When you come to Japan you have to be ready to change everything you think you know in order to progress. In a way the Japan trip is defining,  building your future; so it would be a loss of time and effort to go there and to only reproduce the things of your past.

Build the future from 中今 (nakaima) the present*, not from the past. 

Your progression lies on your ability to change your Kokoro Gamae in order to modify, and to the better, your Tai Gamae.**

Change your attitude and remember that “… those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything.” **

_______________________
* nakaima literally means “the middle, the center of now”.
** Kamae (Gamae) has the meaning of posture, or attitude (as in 身構え – migamae).

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

It is Friday 1pm and I’m back to Europe.
Hatsumi sensei’s Friday class at the honbu just finished.

Each time I’m back to Europe, I have this strange feeling. I wish I could still be there and train with him at the honbu.
Each time I’m back I try to figure out what is it that I’m missing from his trainings when I’m not there.

Sensei’s Budô is not something you can learn in a book,  it can only be learnt by being there physically. Over the last 25 years I have been quite many times to Japan to train with Sôke, and I am happy for that. But still, I missed all the classes he taught when I was not there.

If I do the math,  I attended only 7% of the classes he has given in this period. And I sometimes wonder what would I have been able to acquire, if I had been attending those missing 93%? A lot I guess.

The path of Budô is an endless one, and one life cannot suffice to learn all that it is to learn. So 7% is really far from enough. This is why personal training is so important. Over the years I noticed that the “magic” of Japan doesn’t last more than two weeks, but if I train the things and feelings that I got while at the honbu, then this “magic” can stay alive a little longer.

But since we entered the essence of things, things get more complex. In the latest themes of the year, there is nothing mechanical to reproduce. Things were much simpler when the themes été covering schools or weapons.

Since we moved to highest expression of Juppô Sesshô,  there are no techniques to train,  only feelings. And being away from the source,  the  betterment of our taijutsu is more and more difficult every year.

When I look back at this last Japan trip,  I have a hard time figuring out in which direction I have to go. Sensei’s movements are non existent. There is nothing because he is doing nothing,  but this nothing is everything. His taijutsu has reached such a high level that mimicking what he does – or in this case, what he doesn’t do –  becomes nearly impossible.

Yes it is sad to know that I missed the class tonight.

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog

Last night after being awarded the Dai Shihan with my friends Jack, and Par,  we were asked to teach. When sensei gives you a new diploma, you are often asked to demonstrate, and you always feel more lost than ever (if possible). Tuesday night was no exception.

Whatever movement the three of us would do, Sensei would turn them into something impossible to reproduce.

At first, I thought about 中途半端 (chûto hanpa) some “half cooked technique”, but then I understood that it was more than that as sensei didn’t even try to do a technique. His uke would be stuck in mid-air as if unable to move or to continue his attacks, and sensei was hardly touching them. As this has been the case for the last week of training, Sensei used no force, no speed, and nearly no contact. Uke was fighting gravity and only sensei’s presence, and the little contact us the only thing preventing from falling.

He spoke again of 中心 (chûshin), the axis. When you look at the kanji you see “center” and “heart”. Sensei is standing at the center of everything. But as 心 Kokoro is also the mind for the Japanese, we can say that sensei is inside uke’s mind. Whatever the attack sensei was placed in a position where he was enslaving uke on himself. Uke’s body was the axis around which sensei’s actions were turning.

Sensei added that we have to move at the unconscious level. Meaning that our body moves slowly by itself and adjust to uke’s balance by creating an ever shifting axis. Uke being out in a situation where his first priority is to stay up has no more willingness to pursue his attacks. Being able to activate this unconscious toute of movement – or to deactivate it – is what his Budô is.

Juan Manuel Serrano was my partner during training and because of his high level we could really try our best to do what sensei was demonstrating. Juanma is not only a high level Jûgodan but also a sixth dan in jûdô. This means that taking his balance is not an easy task. The class went by very fast as the both of us were training intensely.

As this is one of my last post for this 55th trip (there is another article coming about the last class I had with Nagato sensei today), I beg you to understand the importance of coming and training here in Japan. Many Bujinkan teachers came here once, and behave as if they knew everything after that. This is wrong.

Let me be clear here: this is not the movie “the matrix” where chosing between the blue pill and the red pill will do the job for you. We don’t have a plug behind the neck to download the Budô feeling. It is by training here often, that, little by little, you can absorb these 神技 (kami waza), these “divine techniques”.

It is not important if you feel lost and don’t get it. As sensei put it last night: “it is not important that you get it or not, the important is that you train it”.

This is the “keep going” that matters.

The art of Hatsumi sensei transcends our human nature and makes us better human beings. This is what his Bujinkan is about. So next time you are here please forget your certitudes, and be ready to ride on the path of the martial winds of of the Warriors of Budô.

Bufu Ikkan! or Bufû Ikkan *

_________________
* this is one is sensei’s on playing with the signs: “Bufu Ikkan” = 武夫一貫, “warrior consistency”,  i.e. Keep going. And “Bufû Ikkan” = 武風一環, i.e. “the greater plan of the martial winds”

From Shiro Kuma's Blog by kumablog