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Yoroi is Balance

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

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.


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Basics & Fundamentals (part 3)

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Why is the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki so important?
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Until 1990, we had very little knowledge about the schools and the weapons. Remember that we really began the weapons in 1993 with the bô and the study of the schools only in 1998! From the beginning of the Bujinkan (and more precisely when the Togakure Ryû Ninpô Taijutsu was published in 1983) the basics were transmittedthrough the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki. Each student at that time was studying the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki to improve his fundamentals. The Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki was the basic program to reach the black belt. The spreading of the Bujinkan over the last twenty years has abandoned the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki and it has been often discarded by the new generation of teachers.
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What is a Bujinkan black belt?
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A Bujinkan black belt is someone who knows the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki so well that every technique demonstrated looks like a patchwork of elemental bricks taken from the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki. Too often students receive a black belt without the knowledge of the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki and this lack in their practice leads to big flaws in their movements. In 2009 I gave a 5-day seminar on the full Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki in India. When the Indian group went to Daikomyô Sai last December they told their teachers that they could see every component of the techniques taught by sensei and the shihan and recognize the strength of the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki.
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Are you a Bujinkan black belt?
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Then you must know “by heart” the ten and the chi and be familiar enough with the jin. Without this basic knowledge you will not be able to go far within the Bujinkan system. The heart of “kokoro no budô” is the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki. Learn it, study it and you will see your technical level excel and reach a new understanding. Without studying the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki attending seminars is a loss of time. It is like watching a movie of which you are not part of. Learn the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki and become the actor your own life instead of being a passive observer!
Ryaku in Japanese means “principle” but also “truth”. Learn the truth of things and you will become a true human being able to link the sky and the earth; able to be one with nature. :)

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Basics & Fundamentals (part 2)

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

What does the Ten Chi Jin imply?

The Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki is based on the three levels of life: heaven, earth and man. Man is the link between earth and heaven or between outer space and the planet. The old Chinese pictogram is a drawing representing two opposite half circles linked by a cross. The pictogram displays symbolically a human body with his legs on the earth supporting the sky with his arms, and mixing these two influences within his body.
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What are the different parts of the Ten Chi Jin?

The Ten Ryaku deals with footwork, distances and angles; this is the vertical line in the pictogram. The Chi Ryaku deals with the bio-mechanical aspects of the different waza that can be applied once uke has reached tori (gyaku, nage, torite). This is the horizontal line. The Jin Ryaku is a series of about 50 waza taken from the nine schools to show the interaction of the waza and the footwork. This is the point where the vertical and horizontal line cross each other.
The Jin Ryaku has nothing to do with the schools. The waza taken from the schools are often quite different from the waza included in a certain level of a school. They are used as examples to manifest the interaction of body movement and creativity.
This is why they can be trained on both the left and right side and why they do not imply the use of weapons.
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To be continued…

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Basics & Fundamentals (part 1)

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

The Ten Chi Jin from 1987

During my last seminar in Chemnitz, I was asked to explain to the group the Bujinkan system. It was a discovery for many students so I decided to share here in this blog the importance of the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki.

The first thing you have to get clearly is that the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki is the best system ever created to give a martial artist a chance to develop his creativity. This is the kaitatsu explained by sensei recently.
Too often the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki is underestimated by the teacher more inclined to dwell on the rich legacy of the nine schools. This is a major mistake as without the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki no student can really grasp the essence of sensei’s teachings.
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What is the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki?

It is a program put out by sensei in the eighties as a common basic program for the beginners. The first “official” edition was published in Japanese back in 1983 under the title “Togakure Ryû Ninpô Taijutsu”. Divided into three parts which are Ten, Chi, and Jin, it presented in a certain order the elemental bricks necessary to study the nine schools and their specificities. After a few years of practice, it had been reviewed and modified to be even more practical. In 1987, we received from Japan, the first English version of this new system. The majority of the techniques were the same, but the repartition had been changed to facilitate the learning. The first published versions of this new Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki (TCJ2) were done in 1991 by Pedro Fleitas in Spanish and by Mariette Van der Vliet in English. The French Protek was published by me in 1998. An adapted version in German by Steffen Frohlich was also released during the same period.  Many other incomplete and transformed versions were published subsequently.
To be continued…

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Photon & Stardust: the Spirit of Movement

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

the essence of movement

Once again I would like to review  a metaphore used by sensei not long ago. He spoke about “photon & stardust” to me, it is the best way to explain how things should happen in the dôjô.

From our perspective, a photon is invisible. Stardust in space is also invisiable to us. A photon is moving at the speed of light in space and stardust is moving also at a permanent speed. Now until they meet there is o way for you to see them. When they collide a spark of light is created. This spark is the movement/technique. Both the photon and the stardust become visible when the spark of light appears. Before the collision they “are non existent” (to our senses), after they are not existent any more. When you fight your opponent what happens is identical.

In  ”l‘esprit du geste“* this is what I tried to explain. There is no thinking process, no intention, only a spark of light. In a fight, there is no technique there is only an opportunity of possibility. It is only a probability of occurrence. Adapt!

Chi does not think

Sui does not think

Ka does not think

Fû does not think

Kû does not think

So why do you think? the sixth element shiki (consciousness) appears, it is not the product of the analytical brain. It is given as everything in Nature, natural movement is only that.

*the book is now translated into English and  soon available.

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Did sensei meet Shakespeare?

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

William Shakespeare

Here is a speech taken from Shakespeare’s play “Henry V”. It carries some values that rings a bell to what Hatsumi sensei explained a few weeks ago (cf. post on chivalry below). Reading this text I wonder if sensei didn’t meet Shakespeare when we did the ’96 Taikai in UK in Stratford Upon Aven, Shakespeare hometown…

This is a text I really like and I thought you might be happy to read it. Enjoy!

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
    To do our country loss; and if to live,
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
    God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
    But if it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
    God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
    As one man more methinks would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
    Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
    And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
    We would not die in that man’s company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.
    This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
    And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he’ll remember, with advantages,
    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words-
    Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.


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Ki ken tai ichi

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Japanese commander

This Japanese proverb means ”mind, sword, and body are one”. This “ki ken tai ichi” is very close to the “ken tai ichi jo” of the ten chi jin ryaku no maki.

On the battlefield, the three elements must be united in order to survive the fight. Ki refers to mental energy, the soul. Ken refers to the weapon (often the sword). Tai refers to the broad definition of body. It includes not only the physical body but also the yoroi (and the horse).

When you mind is fudôshin (inmovable) and determined,

When your weapons move as if they were natural extensions of your physical body,

When your body is reliable because of hard and stenuous trainings,

Then you are ichi, one, united; and when unity is achieved you can become zero, mushin


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Yoroi without yoroi

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Not long ago a student told me that he finally understood the importance of thinking we are wearing a yoroi when training the tachi kumiuchi techniques in the dôjô.

Since 2003, each black belt in my dôjô have been wearing the yoroi on a regular basis and they have experienced physically how to train with it. When you wear the yoroi, your movements are modified and you cannot move as freely as when you only wear your gi. Many practitioners have a tendency to move only their arms and/or to keep them too close to the body this is wrong. With the yoroi the extension as well as the bending of your limbs are limited. Imagine that your torso and your arms draw a pentagon (a geometrical shape with five sides). the five sides are: chest,left arm, left forearm, right arm, right forearm. Each angle between two sides is a body joint (shoulder, elbow). Because of the encumbrance of the yoroi your arms are always extended (not fully) and limited in their movements. It is as if your uppe body could not move indepedently.

This is why the key in yoroi fighting is footwork. Your shoulder line is always parallel to your hip line making your walking look strange. Because of the yoroi the Japanese developed the famous nanba aruki or way of walking where arms and legs move one side after the other and not in opposite way as we do in the west (left arm with left leg and right arm with right leg). You can still see this way of aruki in use with the sumotori.

Actually the “modern way” of walking (military) was brought to Japan at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate when the Japanese began to learn modern military warfare. Historically (sorry Mr Cruise), the first westerners to teach the Japanese samurai were the French military advisors, rapidly replaced by the Prussians after the loss of the 1870 war with Napoleon III.

I often say that if we are centered in the tanden we can easily pivot like the hinges of a door. This is what I learnt by wearing the yoroi often. Footwork is the most important thing.

♦

More on the French military mission of Capitaine brunet: http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Jules:Brunet.htm 

More on nanba aruki: http://kikuko.web.infoseek.co.jp/english/namba-aruki.html


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balance your tachi, balance your life

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

Tachi kumiuchi is fighting with sword and yoroi but tachi alone also means standing up. In fact tachi kumiuchi is about acquiring the ability to keep our balance. The tachi (sword) too is balanced but on a horizontal plane, sensei insists on this in each class. When the tachi is in the belt with the cutting edge down, it protrudes more than the katana. The way it is balanced in the belt is linked to the size and weight of the weapon.

Datô no kamae

By having your body standing up vertically (ten ryaku) and your sword balanced at the hip (chi ryaku) you link the ten and the chi through the jin (adapting the movements to the situation).

You are free to move in all directions balanced by the tenkan (axis, pivot). Juppô sesshô is created because your movements can go in any direction during the encounter with the opponent (kumiuchi). Adding the perception of the dragon to the movements of the tiger, you are fed by the kaitatsu and flow (nagare) naturally with things.

Training in tachi kumiuchi develops the knowledge on how to use the weapon but enlighten us also on how to handle our life better. What sensei is teaching is to bring things to life, ikasu and get a happy life.

Rokkon shôjô!


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Tachi tips & tricks (2)

From Shiro Kuma's Weblog by kumablog

picture taken from http://www.teppojutsu.com/The tachi is not a katana and therefore should not be used in the same way.

Sensei explained that we have to understand the evolution of warfare in feudal Japan in order to be able to adapt our techniques to the moderne world. He was mainly referring to the goshin. At first there was 1) the chinese ken, then 2) the tachi, then 3) the the ju (rifle), then 4) the katana, then 5) the cannon. These are the five spirits of warfare.

When you look at this list of periods, you are surprised that you can actually put dates on them. The chinese ken preceded the muromachi period. The muromachi was mainly tachi. Then with sengoku jidai the rules changed by the extensive use (Nobunaga and his followers) of the rifle (teppo – musket type) that led to the Tokugawa/Edo period. It is only when peace time was established and heavily controlled that the katana  began to widely used by the samurai.

The muromachi and azuchi-momoyama periods were times of nearly permanent wartime. Samurai would wear the yoroi everyday and a heavier weapon like the tachi was of good use. The sengoku jidai introduced the rifle and the yoroi was no more the safest outfit. One day in his home, sensei showed the helmet of a shogun‘s personal guard. Even though this antique helmet was in a  very bad shape, sensei pointed out to me a big inward bump the size of a musket ball (approx. the size of a kid’s marble). The helmet was not pierced through but we can imagine that his former owner did have huge headaches afterwards.

So the introduction of teppo into the wargame created a major change in battlefield experience. It must have been painful to the samurai to discover that their techniques were not good anymore after the introduction of rifles. Eventually this is how the Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa managed to get the unification done.

When the Tokugawa period began, there were no big battle anymore and the yoroi was abandoned. No battlefield, means no need for yoroi anymore. The regular gi (reminder kimono is only for women) was no more protected. This was the beginning of the katana period when cutting abilities were developed (battôdô). This led to Meiji (1868) and the use of heavy cannons, the fifth big change.

From all that it is easy to understand that the tachi and the katana being used in two different periods, their practical use should also be very different.

A few tips and tricks to remember when using the tachi:

1. the tachi is a shield and the yoroi is the weapon, use the tachi more like a stick than a sword. This is also why you can flip the blade from one hand to the other the same way you use a hanbô.

2. the tachi being held cutting edge down, hontai nuki gata is the only logical way to draw it.

3. the tate nuki gata, doesn’t mean vertical as in modern japanese but shielding as in the ancient understanding of the term.

4. the koshiate *(holster hanging down from the belt onto the thigh) made it possible for the samurai to have more freedom in his movements.

5. as the tachi is used katate, the other hand would carry the yari. In this case, the yari becomes the shield and the tachi is the weapon.

So please during your tachi trainings do not use the tachi as if it were only a big katana. With the year of tachi kumiuchi you are learning a totally new way of fighting.

As sensei was saying recently: the real sword masters are the tachi masters. The samurai who were using the katana did it because the didn’t understand the tachi.”

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*to see drawings of various koshiate, please refer to “Samurai Sword Fighting” by Hatsumi sensei. Page 19 in the English edition.

picture taken from http://www.teppojutsu.com/


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