From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Daikomyo Sai apart from being sensei’s birthday is always a very particular moment in the life of the bujinkan. People from all over the world gather here in Noda and Tokyo for this occasion and this year more than ever. I spoke with some residents who told me that they were expecting between 300 and 400 participants this year! Friday night we were almost 200 in the Honbu and 230 on Sunday!

This moment is also special as sensei concludes the theme of the year and introduces the new theme for the next year. On Friday he told us that “kihon happô” will be the theme for 2011 and added: “same sounds but not same writing…”. As sensei invited a few of us for lunch on Sunday, I took this opportunity to ask him about the meaning of this new “kihon happô”. Hatsumi sensei said that “ki” was “season” and “hon” was “reverse”. He didn’t explain about “happô” but I will give you my interpretation.

Before that I would like to share with you a few concepts he detailed last week during the previous classes.. Tuesday he demonstrated a few techniques where instead of hitting uke he would hit the space on the side of uke creating a moment of total fear in his opponent and opening endless possibilities of action. He said that we should “hit the kukan” to influence uke’s reactions. On Friday he defined our movements as being “chûto hanpa” or “half way half finished”. To illustrate this he spoke again of the goshin (ken, tachi, juo, katana, modern weapons). Modern weapons were compared by him to “robots”. Your actions cannot influence a computer or a machine following a program. And if you train budô in a “robotic” way your actions can be interpreted and deciphered by your opponents. On the opposite if your budô is artistic and does not follow a “beginning-end”; if your techniques are not finished then the opponent is not able to counter your actions. In the fight, he added, you have to feel the “fun iki” i.e. “the atmosphere, the ambiance” of the situation and to move accordingly. All the information you need is available to you if you have no intention of doing anything in particular. Your movements are natural ( i.e. not created) and participate of the feeling you get from the situation at hand.

Our footwork is the key to adapt our movements to the situation. Hatsumi sensei said that until recently he didn’t understand why Takamatsu sensei had taught him the “josei no goshin jutsu” (woman self defense). With the small footwork of a woman trapped by the limited amplitude of her kimono (traditional kimono are very narrow at the legs) you can, with tiny movements of your feet, take the balance of the opponent in close-combat (remember that we were around 200 in the dôjô that night and that moving was difficult).

In a situation like that using “josei no goshin jutsu” is the only solution. Instead of doing a technique we move in an artistic manner invisible to uke’s analysis. In the name “martial art” this is where the “art” is to be found. Art is not about applying a technique. This is not the answer. Sensei added that the new mission of the jûgodan was to transform their mechanical robotic budô movements into artistic ones. Through Art one can feel the atmosphere and respond with natural and unfinished movements.

This vision of taijutsu was repeated on Sunday when he insisted on the flow of our movements coming from the feet: “Nagare comes from the legs” he said. In fact uke thinks and then acts (ten-chi process) and tori should do the exact opposite (chi-ten process). It reminds me of Dr. Paul Watlawicz explaining that action should always precede reflection in human relations, and fighting is part of human relations. Too bad for Descartes and his “cogito ergo sum!”.

How come all of the above can be linked with the kihon happô of 2011?

When sensei spoke of kihon on Sunday during our lunch and said that “kihon” is “season reverse” he didn’t explain the new meaning of happô.

When you look in a dictionary happô (hachi hô) has many meanings. My interpretation (possibly wrong) is that hachi is the recipient (bowl, basin), a little similar to the “ki, utsuwa” of 2009 (sainô konki) and “hô” is information. Happô becomes the recipient of all the possible information of a situation. As we understood it in the sainô konki year, the bigger the utsuwa, the bigger the kûkan.

Therefore if “kihon” is the beginning of a new cycle (season reverse) and “happô” as the sum of information in the kûkan, then the “kihon happô” of 2011 could be interpreted as follow: By feeling the atmosphere (fun iki) of the situation i.e. reading the information of our environment (happô) we can change the cycle of action (kihon) and turn it to our own advantage by reacting without any preconceived ideas to the definite actions of uke.

Moving softly with the “josei no goshin jutsu” attitude, uke has no possibility to read our actions because we do not know ourselves what we are going to do next. Each one of our movements having no end we only do things half-way,  “chûto”, and never finish them, “hanpa”. Hitting the kûkan will send false information to uke and gives the ability to overcome his intentions.

Everything above is my own interpretation and can be totally wrong.

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

(version française)

I just read a nice article by my brother Pedro Fleitas and I would like to dig deeper in its direction.

When we began training in the Bujinkan martial arts we couldn’t fathom how much it would bring to us as a human being; how much it would transform us. We were more interested in learning a “martial art”. Through the last 26 years we learnt the martial art but  we also learnt to become true human beings.

Too many practitioners today are training for the wrong reason as muscle power is limited in time so it shouldn’t be our main objective while training. What is definitely more important is to develop our own potential, our own abilities. All through these years people have been focusing too much on the omote where in fact only the ura matters. Knowing thetechniques can be interesting for a while but knowing yourself is more vital to live a happy life.

How many teachers in the bujinkan are only teaching “forms” and do not get the essence of the bujinkan? A lot! I remember once speaking with sôke who told me that the important thing he has been teaching in the last years were not the schools but the concepts they conveyed. These concepts of san jigen no sekai, yûgen no sekai, kasumi no hô, shizen, etc have taught us more on how to live our lives than fighting techniques. Even though this apprenticeship has been the key to learn to defend ourselves efficiently. By understanding the ura side of things, the omote becomes obvious.

In 2010 we have entered a new era in the bujinkan with the arrival of many high ranks. Things are changing as always and now is the time to ask yourself the good questions. Long time ago I have decided to put aside the “ninja” stuff and to follow the teachings of a man, Hatsumi Sensei; I decided to become a disciple and not only a good technical martial artist.

Is it what you are doing? And if it is not, do you think it is worth spending your free time collecting forms instead of developing the fantastic human being hidden within you?

Hatsumi sensei might be the last true budô master of Japan and his teachings go far beyond simple body mechanics. Maybe it is time to think about it.

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

control is attitude

(version française)

Last Sunday at the Hombu, Hatsumi sensei said that “if you cannot control yourself, you cannot control others”.

This is the secret of every learning process as we must understand our own behavior before trying to understand the one of others. The quickest path to achieve that is to master our basics.

When you learn the basics, you force your self  (body & mind) into unusual forms and reactions. This is the first step. Here the opponent is not somebody else, it is only yourself. This is the kihon level. Many martial artists stopped their understanding of fighting at this level.

The second step is to learn how your movements can interact with formal ways of attacks. Here uke appears and follow a given set of movements and you apply the kihon that you learned, and you adjust them to a different reality. This is the kata or waza level and this is the main objective when you train in a dôjô with fellow practitioner. There is no surprise here as everything is predetermined, and there is no violence either. Few martial artists get to this level.

The third level is the one of shizen, here the attack is unknown and your personal ability (sainô, 才能) flows naturally and will save your life or get you killed if you did not achieve the personal control at the first two  levels. This is the level of training that is given by sensei to the bujinkan practitioners.

To master and control these three levels of: kihon, waza, and shizen take a long time and only a very small number of practitioners will succeed. This is why it is said that budô is a life-time commitment. Even well polished, a mirror can always be polished a little more. Perfection is an attitude in life, not a manifested reality.

• 基本 kihon: you learn to control yourself
• 伎 waza: you learn to apply this control of yourself to known attacks
• 自然 shizen: you are in control of yourself and any attack is controlled naturally through your ability to flow into your environment. There is no surprise.

This is a  三心 sanshin.

Therefore the dôjô 道場 is not only the place where you learn the way, it becomes the place where you learn to ride with others 同乗 (dôjô). Learn to control yourself through this sanshin and you will be able to control the others.

Banpen fûgyô, 10000 attacks, no surprise.

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

inyo

(version française)

In a recent post we established that “ki” was not magic but only natural.

Q: But what manifests this natural state of things where no preconceived idea can exist?
A: The natural flow and interaction of inyo (yinyang).

The I Ching, the book of changes (ekigyô 易経 in Japanese) says that:

“the only thing that will never change is that everything is changing permanently”.

In this sentence lies the truth about the ki, inyo, life, death (i.e. a fight); everything can be reduced to this equilibrium between in and yo. The inyo concept is based on the eastern understanding of eki 易 i.e. change.

In modern Japanese the word “eki” is used for “divination” (or “easy” when pronounced yasashii). When we study the kanji, eki we discover that it is made of two kanji: the sun 日 on top; and the old writing for rain 勿 under (today this kanji is used for “be not, must not”).

The original meaning was then “weather change” from rain to sun to rain and the only thing to do was to watch those changes and to adapt to them. This is the same in the dôjô. The opponent’s actions are to be watched carefully and “naturally” answered by going with the flow of the inyo interactions. And this is why we should never separate in and yo as it would create a duality; as it is from this duality that things get confused. Unity with uke is the path to the natural flow.

To define this permanent change in the flow of life, the chinese took two old kanji and showing this alternate state in all things. Those two kanji are one in two (in cannot be separated from yo), historically this ishow the Chinese called the two sides of the mountain. The north-facing side, dark and humid (in) and the south-facing side, bright and sunny (yo). You cannot separate them, this is the same with inyo.

Yo 陽 is composed of eki (sun and rain) but separated by a horizontal line (check by yourself). This extra line emphasizes the idea of differentiation compared to a natural change as in eki. It defines a moment in the flow where change will occur, where rain will let the sun shining. This is the end of the rain, an instant of change, a kokû 虚空. A space between two moments.

The right part (after the “B” shape kanji) of in 陰 is composed of gathering, accumulation 亼 and cloud 云 it gives the idea of an accumulation of tension like before the rain comes. Here also we have a kokû, another space between two moments. Change is everywhere and in the encounter only the one who is able to adapt to the permanent switch happening in the instant is able to manifest the ki and use it within the flow of things.

Inyo are (is?) the manifested components of this flow of permanent change that we call the ki. Eki is the essence of the ki and our movements should use this energy to move naturally. In a way we can say that with the use of change eki 易 offered by inyo, we gather 会 the ki 気 so that our actions become easy 易(yasashii).

易会気易 (eki e ki eki): natural change gather the ki to make things easy.

nb: some of the explanations are taken from C. Javary “le discours de la tortue”, ed. Albin Michel

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

(version française)

no comment!

During one of my recent classes dedicated to beginners, one of them after listening very carefully came to me and asked me why sanshin = 3 spirits/hearts when we have the gogyô = 5 elements? Or to make it simple why does 3 = 5?

What I like with beginners is that they are so eager to understand that they come and ask things that a higher rank or older student would not dare to ask. And what I like is that it is often much deeper as a question than what it appears at first glance.

So why does 3 = 5?

The forms of the five elements was originally called shoshin gôkei gogyô no kata and was later called by sensei the sanshin no kata. Today in the bujinkan we call them either “sanshin no kata” or “gogyô no kata”.

Sanshin written 三身 are the three jewels of Buddhism but in the bujinkan it is written   三心 it means the 3 spirits/hearts. We will see later what it covers.

Gogyô are the five (japanese) elements 五行. Here gyô 行 has the meaning of practice, training, or exercise (as in shugyô 執行, ascetic practice). The gogyô are also often called “godai” 五大 or gotai 五体to show the importance of the five elements chi 地, sui 水, ka 火, fû 風, kû  空 they are the basic bricks constituting the fabric of time and space leading to the 6th element shiki 識, consciousness, wisdom (sanskrit “vijJaana”, विज्ञान).

Now if we look at the name gôkei the only thing I found is 合計 and means “total sum”. Knowing that shoshin here 初審, means “initial, original”; the name can be understood as the “five training forms to develop the initial unity (body and mind)”. To put it simply these five exercises are the root to understand the whole, the multiplicity of possibilities leading to unicity; or how to move naturally.

Then, why 3 = 5? Because both terminologies define different aspects of the same things.
Sanshin refers to past, present and future. You learn through the five forms to move before the attack, during the attack, after the attack. With this you develop your understanding of timing and rhythm.
Sanshin refers to the three levels of ten chi and jin. You apply the 5 forms and focus either on the arms (ten level), on the legs (chi level) or on the whole body (jin level).
Sanshin also refers to the 3 moments in each one of theses forms: kamae, ukemi, kaeshi. Attitude, reception, counter.
Sanshin refers also to beginners, intermediate, and advanced as anyone can find something new depending on his or her level of proficiency. This last explanation also tells you why there can be different “truths” in how to do these movements.
Sanshin is behaving with the mind of a three year old kid. If you can keep this at any time you will find the natural movement.

Gogyô refers to the five elements that we perceive. Please note that we refer here to the Japanese (or Tibetan) elements and not to the Chinese. The godai or gogyô are always centered on chi, earth. Sensei explained once that unlike the Chinese, the Japanese understanding of the elements always went through chi. We have chi, chisui, chika, chifû, chikû. When you make it in a drawing it draws some kind of cross with chi in the center.
Gogyô refers to the five senses leading to the 6th sense. We saw that shiki, consciousness is achieved through the mastership of the five elements.
Gogyô also refers to the five directions (forward, backward, left, right, middle). The naname 斜め  (diagonal, obliqueness) are variations of the previous ones.

Those five exercises are excuses to master the five manifestations through footwork and movements in order to find the natural flow to achieve consciousness with the help of these three hearts. So 3 = 5 and this also why in certain schools like gyokushin ryû, sensei calls the sanshin no kata, the kihon happô! “In the Bujinkan dôjô the rank of 15th dan, (…) expresses the idea of 3 hearts x 5 elements = 15 austerities” (“unarmed fighting techniques of the samurai” Hatsumi sensei, p. 34).

The sanshin no kata or gogyô no kata is the essence of the bujinkan arts and this is why we have to train these series at each class. As sensei wrote in the TRNT (page 69): “I look for a warrior who has, shall we say, the cardinal point of consistently embodying the warrior way with the spirit of a three year old even as he reaches one hundred, the soul of sanshin, a talent of imperfection”.

Shut up and train!

• nb1: did you notice that there are 5 explanations for sanshin and 3 for gogyô?
• nb2: did you notice that the explanation for sanshin in the TRNT book is given p. 69?
• nb3: do not trust your senses, develop the 6th one!

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

• (version française)
• In the Abidharma sutra the Buddha (5th century BCE) says that “nothing is created, all is energy”.
• At about the same period Anaxagoras, a Greek philosopher said that: “Nothing is born nor perishes, but things already existing combine and then separate again”.
• Much later in 1789 Antoine Lavoisier, the “ father” of modern chemistry, said that “nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed”. He was beheaded (transformed?) during the Révolution Française in 1794.
• This will lead in the 20th century to Einstein and his Theory of relativity.

But to us, martial art practitioners this is the best definition of what energy really is. It is the “thusness” of Buddhism.

Buddhists, pre socratic philosophers and scientists all agree about the endlessly recombination of everything . There is no magic here nor mysticism, only facts brought by pure observation. This “ever existent thing” is what the universe is made of. This is the “matter-energy” or “vital energy” of the universe of science and of Taoism.

気 is what we call “ki” or “Ch’i”; and it is “simply” the primordial emptiness or primordial existence of all things that flows infinitely and pulsates in everything. Ki is not esoteric at all and through long training we develop the eyes to see how it transforms itself and flows in order to adapt to it. I am sure that this is what sensei means when he spokes that we have to understand (or to get?) the “shinshin shingan”, the “mind and the eyes of the gods”. When the opponent attacks, our reaction must be attuned with the flow of the moment and this is why no preconceived idea must exist. The natural movement is there when the practitioner has the intuition of what to do next. Intuition or intuitus in latin means “to watch thoroughly, contemplation” it is the subtle observation of the situation that brings your body to move correctly.

There is no thinking because there is not time to think.

There is no time to think because time is relative.

During your next class try to react without thinking, you might discover a new world of possiblities.

Be happy!

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Gyaku Nage and Kyushô

The quality of our taijutsu depends on strong foundations. But what does taijutsu and foundation really mean?

Taijutsu is often understood as the sole body movement but when you are used to Hatsumi sensei’s vision of life it is always interesting to dig a little deeper and see what the word(s) really encompass it is necessary to review the various writings and meanings of the words.

First 術 jutsu is either art, means, or technique as we know but this is with the various meanings of tai that we have subtle changes in the understanding of the word taijutsu. But when you look at the three meaning of “tai” you discover that they can be applied to your training.

体, tai has 3 main meanings: 1: body; physique; posture. 2: shape; form; style. 3: substance; identity; reality. Taijutsu is a jutsu done with the body that goes from the pure omote (body) to enter the world of ura (reality). This is integrating the taigamae (体構え) and the kokorogamae (心構え). This is a self centered taijutsu.

対, this other tai expands our understanding of taijutsu by precising that it is also: 1: opposite; opposition. 2: versus; vs. 3: equal footing; equal terms. 4: against …; anti-. This new taijutsu is expanding and adds the idea of fighting the enemy and to balance the forces of the opponent. Now we are into the man to man fight.

隊, this last one means: party; company; body (of troops); or corps. Now taijutsu expands again and includes the idea of army fighting and to interact with our friends and our enemies.

The interesting thing here is that by digging through the various understanding of “tai” we moved from the apprentice training where we are alone; to the encounter with a single opponent; to the battlefield feeling. So taijutsu a general system to prepare our bodies and mind to go from the beginner to the advanced level.

Our foundations are based on the quality of the basics that we learn alone and then with a partner through years of training. Taijutsu help us to grow from the omote to finally reach the essence of the ura. In Japanese 大本 is the kanji for foundation. It reads either “taihon” (taihen?) or “ômote” (omote?). Maybe this is how we must understand sensei when he speaks of 実践 jissen (practice; practise; put into practice) and 実戦 jissen (combat; actual fighting).

On a practical aspect we have to keep in mind what sensei has repeated many times concerning the densho. “densho are for kids (beginners)” as techniques have to be taught step by step. Historically the young samurai would begin his warrior training at  around 10 years of age and at 15 years of age would become an adult and be allowed to go to the battlefield. In fact, the 15 ranks in the bujinkan were created by sensei also to symbolize this. When you begin you are a beginner and then after many years you reach adulthood and become responsible of your own actions, you are jûgodan. But without good basics your taijutsu will lack credibility. Therefore our training in the three tai defined earlier will guide us in our mastering of taijutsu. We will move gradually from taijutsu (体術) to taijutsu (隊術) which included the use of yoroi and weapons. The first tai (body) is the modern translation for the word but in the past tai encompassed also the mind, the weapons and the yoroi. If you think about it, it is quite logical. As we said earlier, young samurai (mostly kids) were not able to understand the subtleties of high level techniques including weapons. So in order to keep it K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple & Stupid) the trainers striped the techniques off the weapons and began to teach unarmed combat only. This is why we begin our training with unarmed combat. On the battlefield warriors would always carry weapons and unarmed combat would be rarely used.

The foundation of our taijutsu is a set of basics acquired in unarmed combat and regrouped by sensei in the tenchijin ryaku no maki in 1983. Once mastered, unarmed taijutsu is completed with all the usual weapons of the samurai and the yoroi to create a natural flow of movement.

This is why taijutsu (体術) is the true foundation of taijutsu (隊術).