From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Yesterday I had the chance to get a quick lunch with sensei after the “memorial day”. In the past these opportunities were not rare but today I consider it a luxury to be able to speak with him directly with only the two of us. 

During a recent class we trained some mutô dori technique and sensei explained that in this situation you have to move forward the cut with your guts. 

Courage is one thing we learn in the bujinkan. When you a re facing a naked blade, a 真剣 (shinken) one needs 大勇 real courage (taiyû) or 雄武 bravery (yûbu) to move forward. But as he said if you trust yourself then nothing will happen. It is the same thing we experience in taijutsu. If you are ready to get hit, somehow you will never be hit. The same happened against the sword, but you have to have good basics in order to survive. 

 

Sensei explained that when dashing forward bravely against the sword (yûshin 勇進), you should never watch or consider the blade itself but the position of the attacker’s hands. As I often tell my students concerning weapon traiing. A weapon has no intention so if you want the weapon to be harmless you have to deal with its brain i.e. the opponent. When you visualize the trajectory of the hands in the air you can determine where to go, the timing of your action, and the position of the body. But this is more a yûgen thinkg than a proper thinking process. You have to get the intuition and move with a yûshin attitude. Then nothing bad will happen.

 

Recently I read in some forum comments speaking about the sword techniques of the bujinkan ryûha. This surprised me as I thought that only the kukishin ryû and the togakure ryû had sword techniques in their densho, so I asked sensei over lunch. 

In life I believe that if you want to improve your knowledge and know the truth 真理 (shinri) you should always go to the source. The source concerning the bujinkan is Hatsumi sensei so the truth of the sword in the bujinkan comes from the sôke (my Japanese abilities being very “light” to say the least, the whole conversation was done in Japanese but mainly in English and was translated to me by Shiraishi sensei). 

 

So here is the shinri, the truth you have to know:

 

• Shinri is, that there are no other densho about the sword in the bujinkan densho apart from those of the kukishin ryû and the togakure ryû.
• Shinri is, that we train juppô sesshô since 2003 and that we must use any weapon with the feeling (kankaku) of any of t he nine bujinkan schools.
• Shinri is, that whatever we do today it is always a mix of the nine schools. They add to one another in our body and mind and this is true also for the sword too.

Last year in 2011, the secondary theme for the year was the shinden fudô ryû sword. During my three stays in Japan, sensei taught many sword concepts related to the shinden fudô ryû. There were no techniques but the interpretation on how to use the sword with a shinden fudô feeling.

The internet is full of these wrong interpretations and instead of spreading them it is always better to ask directly to sensei. For many years this is what I have done and I invite you in the future to ask him before spreading any wrong or unverified information. 

As I wrote in another previous article, the bujinkan is shindô a true path. This shindô exists in every move we make in and out of the dôjô. In mutôdori training the shinken is dealt with shinyû in order to find the shinri.

Bujinkan is shindô, shinken, shinyû, shinri.

Remember that the internet is not shinri. The internet is shinshaku 新釈, a new interpretation often wrong by people not connected to the source. I invite you to spread this around you so that fake comments on the bujinkan sword are not believed anymore.

Shinri exists only in training.

 

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

I am not confused anymore as today, I finally got my answer. I am happy to share it with you as I guess you were all totally confused after my previous post. 

Friday night, Hatsumi sensei was speaking of the necessary adaptation to take into account when using fighting techniques of the past.

His point was that applying techniques that belong to a period of time from the past, might result dangerous in another time.

I remember reading one day a book of strategy for samurai (Heiho Okugi Sho) were it was said that the best side to attack a sleeping samurai was to arrive by the top of the body (head) because he wouldn’t be able to draw his sword in this configuration; and a few pages later , they said to always protect the left side (this is why the Japanese still drive on the left side of the road) in order to protect the sword. These two examples show how wrong a good tactic can become a few centuries later. Today any soldier can shoot reverse above his head, so the first tactic is wrong. Guns being on the right side of the body today is the total ooposite, therefore this is the right side that must be protected (this is why the americans drive on the right side of the road)*. Wrong again. 

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Being wrong is good
The first class with sensei is always a fantastic moment that I enjoy pretty much. And this one was not different. It was rich and full of new feelings that will brew in my brain and body to create a new flavored taijutsu.

As often when I arrive in Japan for my first class, Hatsumi sensei asked to open the class and as I have recorded recently the Takagi Yôshin Ryû with my Indian Buyu, this is a Takagi like movement that came out. When you are asked to show it is always better to have nothing “ready” so that what you are doing reflects your own personal evolution since your last trip and not a fake movement repeated over and over to “look good” in front of the Sôke. Over the years I noticed that often the simplest movements are the best to trigger his creativity and in that way everyone in the class whatever rank he or she is wearing is able to get something out of it.

Uke is attacking with his right fist and you ura jodan uke his attack with the left elbow then grab his left hand softly, extend his left arm and bring him to the ground in a kind of musô dori. At least this is what I remembered showing but when, five minutes later, sensei asked to repeat it again he watched and said: “no Arnaud do the first one you did”. I am sure I looked confused and lost because I honestly thought that this was the one I did. I will not take any responsability here, I will blame the jet lag.

We found out later that the first technique ended with a jûji dori on uke’s arms using the right one under the left to add some leverage and ease the throw. This “leverage thing” is one of the basic concepts used in theTakagi Yôshin and the Kukishin and is called teko (梃 – lever) shiten (支点 – fulcrum) it uses also the second main principle of these two fighting systems the jûjiron (十字路 – crossroad), the principle of always using a perpendicular control whatever you do.

Confusion (1)
The interesting thing (apart form the techniques) is the state of confusion I experienced when sensei stopped me in the demonstration. Funnily this was one of the very interesting development he taught during the class. Confusing your opponent is the best way to create openings in his attacks; it changes distances and overall it modifies his perceptions of reality in front. Actually uke is sure to make the good choices where in fact he is living in an illusion. Remember that ninjutsu is genjutsu (幻術 – magic). This holistic attitude (body and mind) creates a fake reality for him and triggers his actions. The distance he sees is wrong, the timing he perceives is wrong, his whole world of certitudes is off balanced. Off balancing uke’s brain, is always the key and your movements should always allow you to react instantaneously to the changes he is creating.
As always Sensei did many applications with weapons, manly daisho sabaki ones and insisted a lot on not grabbing. If you grab, he said, you are locking yourself and become unable to adapt to uke’s changes. Since he redefined for us at dkms the meaning of henka (beginning and end of change) I see it everywhere. But here it was making a lot of sense. Every minor change in uke’s intentions and actions is addressed immediately because we are not grabbing. Uke is the one grabbing himself. To me it looks like if we grab uke we shut down our ability to read the next step: grabbing reders you totally blind. Controlling uke with the body on the contrary gives you the eyes of the hawk. As hawk is taka (鷹) and gi (or waza – 技) is technique; the Takagi becomes a technique of a hawk.

Sword and daisho sabaki
The Daisho sabaki (大小捌き) forms add an infinite set of new possibilities. Sensei explained that the goal here is not to draw uke’s blade but to use it to trap his mind and apply basic controls with the body as if you would be using a simple stick. The blade still sheathed there is no risk for you, but in uke’s mind you are going to cut him soon and he freezes. This freezing created by his inability to read your intentions creates new opportunnities that you use to finish him. And this works also when more than one opponent is facing you. At one point, sensei applied the technique against three opponents. When weapons are flying in the air everyone tries not to be hit or cut and this creates another illusion for each uke. First they don’t want to injure one of their friends, and second they do not want to get injured themselves. At one point sensei was controlling effortlessly three opponents with swords on the ground. Each one trying not to die and having no understanding on where he was and what he was going to do. In this situation, the group disappears and each one thinks individually to escape from the situation. Everyone was confused… except for sensei.

Jin is Hanpirei
Another interesting point sensei developed was that we must learn how to do the technique as tori and how to avoid the technique when being uke. Only when you are able to do this are you really in control of the technique. To illustrate this sensei played with the kanji for man, 人 jin, and he said that in this kanji there is one line splitting in two lines like the ura/omote or the yin/yang. This is to symbolize the ability to reverse any action and to transform defeat into victory. Everything comes in a flow and you keep reversing the situation by surfing on uke’s intention.This is why grabbing is out of the question (tsukamidori to grab – 掴み取り). Sensei’s movements were “hanpirei”, inversely proportional to mine. Grabbing the opponent would be stopping the flow of things and locking the brain; and leading to defeat.

It felt like a wave
During the class I went to sensei to feel the technique as I didn’t get it. It was amazing. While receiving the technique I got the feeling I was caught by a wave. I told him and he confirmed it to me. This nami (波 – wave) sensation was soft but there was nothing I could do to avoid being drawn. It seems that letting go was the best thing to do. It was amazing because sensei was not using any strength at all, he was only playing subtly with my body reactions. I was the stupid witness of my downfall, and it seemed logical. In fact his relaxed movements were creating tension in my brain and body and my automatic reactions were opening a kûkan. Once a new kûkan would open, sensei would reverse it proportionally to his own benefit. To understand it better, it was like supporting yourself on a collapsing wall. Suddenly, there is nothing and there was no warning nd no violence.

Shuko and Kaname
In every technique we did, sensei insisted how much easier it would be if we would have worn a pair of Shuko or a pair of ashiko. The Bujinkan is a martial art where everything is used and we have to keep an open mind on what is possible…even if it is not in the book. The kaname (要) of this year, the “essential point” is exactly this. Actually we can define two types of kaname, one addressing the body/technique; the other one the brain. After some point you will figure out that those two are one but for today seeing these two aspects can help you improve your taijutsu.

Confusion (2)
So during the class sensei apparently spoke about confusion. At least this is what I thought until I checked in the dictionary… During the class sensei used a specific term but then I am not sure of what I heard exactly. Once again our senses are the one creating our off balancing. I thought he spoke about “confusion” when he used the word “jûkyo”, and speaking after the class with some resident on the platform at the train station, he confirmed it to me.
Now back in my hotel room I went through my dictionary and found that jûkyo meant house, residence. So I thought that my Romaji transcription or my hearing were not good so I tried every close possibility:

• chûkyô: Communist Chinajûkyo: house, or residence
• jukyô: Confucianism
• jikyo: retiring leaving
• jikyou: confession
• shukyô: primary mirror of a telescope (the telescope again!) or main mirror
• shûkyô: state boundary, or religion
• shûkyo: removal, or religion

Now was there any “confusion” in the translation between the sound “confusion” and “Confucian” pronounced by a Japanese? I don’t know but I will ask him tomorrow; but one thing I do know is that the class was confusing and let me with even more questions.

At the end of the class sensei said that he was teaching exclusively for the fifteenth dan. I wish I was only fourteenth to have an excuse to be so lost.

Ganbate!

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

I had my first class of the trip tonight and I must say that I was a little lost. It will take me some time (and sleep) to be able to tell you exactly what we did. So to feed you with something I will explain a new concept taught by sensei before I arrived.

On arrival in the lobby yesterday, I met friends commenting a recent class with Sôke who spoke about “hanpirei”and I thought I could share it with you. This concept reminded me of the famous drawing (see picture) by M.C. ESCHER a Dutch graphist of the end of the 19^th century.

Last week sensei spoke about “hanpirei” 反比例 or “inverse proportion”. Why? and for what? I do not know yet. I guess that I will learn it in my next classes with him. But thinking about it, it reminded me about an image he used recently and about which I wrote recently (the article can be found here: http://kumafr.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/use-a-telescope-to-see-through-space-and-time/).

Last November after one training with sensei I wrote the following: “To summarize the whole training that day sensei used a nice image. He said: “don’t be strong, don’t be weak, be zero and through this zero you can see the solution”. Saying that he put his hands in a circle and looked through them as if using a telescope. Once again everything is linked. Telescopes are used to see through sideral space and the stronger they are, the further back in time they can see. You should become a powerful telescope and see through time and space in order to be aware of what is coming next even before Uke knows about it.

It goes quite well together with this “hanpirei” concept. “Hanpirei” 反比例, this « inverse proportion » can be understood as watching through the other end of the telescope. Therefore instead of going in the past through time and space you become able to foresee the future and solve the problem before it is created.

Still going through time and space, but this time in the other direction you will be where uke will be and counter his moves even before he is moving.

Strangely, if you look into it from any end you will be able to « react » before the « action ». If you are seing through the past, then you are aware of the origin of his movements. But if you are watching into the future, you will see where he will be and what he will do.

And this is also the meaning of the « koteki ryûda juppô sesshô » of 2003. As you are the tiger and the dragon at the same time, you let uke in his past and projected in his future; and you move in a present that he is not able to see because he is never there. Everything is linked.

Through the kaname 要of your present, you are seeing through the past and into the future of uke. Present is nurtured by both the past and the future. It is a self-creation like the hands by Escher. This is the « henka » principle. Being aware of hen (the beginning of the change) and ka (the end of the change) you are in the « kû » state of mind (the completion). Zero.

You are « zero » because you are everywhere at any time and in any space.

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

When one begins to walk the path of Bujinkan Budô he is often puzzled by the apparent complexity of the system taught by Hatsumi sensei.

This apparent complexity only fools the one believing in the world of manifested illusions. As we know ninjutsu is genjutsu, i.e. an illusion itself or better said an ability to see through the illusions surrounding us.

In fact, from the outside, the Bujinkan is similar to a giant tree with roots hidden in a deep past far away from our daily concerns and understandings. This huge tree digging its roots deep and far has a common trunk which is the Tenchijin but the main branch is the Gyokko Ryû. The other main branches are important, too, but the Gyokko Ryû gives us the Kihon happô and the Sanshin no Kata which are the true fundamental technique of everything we study in the Bujinkan.

The Bujinkan has only one door allowing the practitioners to learn the other branches of the art and this door is the Gyokko Ryû. Back in 2009, sensei asked us to teach the basics to the beginners and this was including an extensive time of training the Ukemi, the Kamae, the Uke Nagashi, the Sanshin no Kata and the Kihon Happô.

In Japanese, the word Kihon consists of Ki – fundamental or 基 and Hon – true, book, main or 本. In fact, in Japanese there is a saying “this is the A B C” (korewa kihon desu) これは基本です。 The Kihon of the Gyokko Ryû are the true fundamental techniques of the Bujinkan.

Many practitioners never had the chance to study these fundamentals from the Gyokko Ryû extensively and at a certain point in their practice this lack of basics shows and prevents them from reaching the next level. This door, if avoided, will not allow you to reach all the branches of the tree.

Today the Bujinkan represents a big group of practitioners but this vast number is only an illusion of knowledge if the basics are not mastered. Training correctly is your responsibility and understanding the whole tree is your sole objective on the path. Many are lost on the path to excellence and no one except themselves can be blamed for that.

Remember what Aristotle said: “A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.” please help us to make the Bujinkan a great martial art, not a populous one.

Arigato

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Sensei displaying the densho at dkms 3

Even though a few days have passed since the last day of the daikomyô sai the memory of this last day is still vivid in my mind.

Densho: The morning session was replaced by the exposition of many densho from the old time, sensei displaying in front of us invaluable makimono, techniques, and heihô concepts of many ancient fighting systems from the feudal times of Japanese warfare. Some of these scrolls had been rebuilt and consolidated and were 3 to 4 centuries old.

While displaying these treasures sensei insisted a lot on the value of these old documents and he explained that our budô was not a simple martial art (like a sport martial art) but that we should see it as a transmission (densho) of old warfare. As he said, even if you don’t understand or cannot read them, the simple fact of breathing the same air is already impacting our abilities to the better.

The techniques described in these scrolls have survived actual combat and have been transmitted by the ones who used them in fight. Unlike writers such as Nitobe who emphasized the values of the warrior, these densho are the living proof of their inner truth. They are not the romantic vision of an hypothetical fight but the result of their true efficiency. If these techniques had not proved their value in actual combat nobody would have survived war and therefore would not have been able to write them down on paper.

Sensei also added even though they had been the result of true fighting experience, they have been written down during peace times so they were written from memory by old men that didn’t fight for a long time. This is why we have to respect these forms but adapt them to the modern world and to today’s conditions of fight in order to ensure our survival.

As I often point remind the students: “remember that the best fighting manual will never fight for you except if you hold firmly with your hands and hit the opponent with it!”.

Personal training (keiko – 稽古 ) is more efficient when backed up by the knowledge of history (keiko – 経緯 懲 i.e. learn chronology by experience ). The solutions of today are to be found through our knowledge of the past. We should not do those techniques of yore exactly as they are described in the densho but use them as optional parameters or insight to take into account when in a real combat.

Therefore keiko (稽古) is deriving from keiko (経緯 懲)

After the brain training of the morning, we moved to body training in the afternoon. Through the various techniques and movements demonstrated by the jûgodan, sensei explained that genjutsu, the magic of art (幻術) was god given where ningenjutsu (人間術), human technology (human technique) is only man made. Art comes from the heart but technique comes from the brain and therefore is limited and not of such a high value.

This is something sensei has been repeating during the last week in his classes. Knowledge is easy to get in this media age but art is coming from within our Self. From this I understood that we should develop the kanjin kaname (eyes and mind of god) more than any type of intelectual knowledge. Back to the densho he repeated that even though we had to respect these historical truths, it was today and with our own abilities that would have to survive. Jû taijutsu deals with being flexible physically but also to give us the ability to survive any dangerous situation through our adaptability (jun nô ryoku).

A few days ago sensei was speaking of tenmon, chimon and gakumon, where gakumon was knowledge. And we explained that we had access to two types of knowledge. This is here the second knowledge (read the post) that we have to nurture and not the first one that is only biomechanical. Too many practitioners collect techniques instead of living them and develop only their biomechanical skills. Truth has many aspects and you will have to find yours in order to approriate these techniques for yourself as you are the one fighting.

“your ignorance alone creates the universe.
In reality One alone exists.
There is no person or god other than you” Ashtavakra Gita (15.16)

You train for yourself and your interpretations are as good as any other, but this can become a trap if you are sure to be right. Remember that “for who is holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.

On the technical side we continued to develop the gan shi nankotsu trilogy and sensei developed a new aspect to it. He used his thumb (shito ken) as he would a katana. He said that cutting through the opponent flesh was important. This shito gatana (指頭 刀) or yubi gatana (指刀) (he used both terms) is adding to the feeling of danger felt by uke.

At the dkms party sensei announced the theme for 2012 being “katana” and I think that this yubi gatana was already a hint on how we will use the sword next year. The sword techniques (densho) of kukishin ryû, togakure ryû, shinden fudô ryû being known (keiko), it is now time for us to free ourselves from these forms and to put our adaptive taijutsu into motion through the use of the sword and the mutô dori. Mutô dori is the highest level of weapon fighting and the proof of true mastership.

So please study (keiko – 稽古) and review your sword kata from the past and train them thoroughly (keiko –  経緯 懲) in order to be fully prepared when  Hatsumi sensei will be unveiling the shinken gata in a few weeks.

ps: On Sunday morning he confirmed the theme for 2012 as being “Ken” (all of them). He also precised that in 2013 we will be studying Yari and naginata.

Be happy and enjoy the christmas and new year time!