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Tucson Taikai 1995

När jag besökte Japan för träning 1992 och 1993 blev jag bekant med en amerikansk bujinkanutövare med namnet Alex (numera utkastad från Bujinkan, men det är en helt annan historia). Han berättade att han tillsammans med några andra amerikaner skulle anordna ett Tai Kai i Tucson, Arizona år 1995. ”Jag kommer”, sa jag.

Så i maj 1995 åker jag och min kusin, Henrik, till Tucson, Arizona via Köpenhamn, Chicago och Denver. Vi anländer sent på kvällen och stupar i säng efter alla flygturer. När vi vaknar på morgonen åker vi taxi till hotell Ramada Inn där vi ska spendera tre dagar med träning under Stormästaren Dr Masaaki Hatsumi. Vi anmäler oss, får våra t-shirts och glider omkring på hotellet.

Kvällen innan själva träningen skulle äga rum var det en happening där vi som var shidoshi fick hälsa på Hatsumi-sensei och hans assistenter. Både Hatsumi-sensei och Someya-sensei blev jätteglada då de såg mig vilket var jätteroligt. Sen var det amerikansk flaggviftning och Hatsumi-sensei fick en vänskapsplakett av Arizona Rangers (polisen i Arizona) samt en välkomsthälsning från President Bill Clinton.

Temat på detta Tai Kai var Kusihin Ryu Naginata och Takagi Yoshin Ryu Daisho Sabaki. På förmiddagarna tränar vi naginata utomhus och eftermiddagarna spenderas inomhus tränandes Daisho Sabaki. Detta på grund av värmen, solen stod i zenit under dagen och det blev galet varmt i Tucson som ligger i ett ökenområde. En av dagarna bildades en märklig ring runt solen som var en imponerande syn att skåda.

hatsumi_someya

Träningarna var mycket bra och givande. Hatsumi-sensei var i en strålande form och, för ovanlighetens skull, gick sakta genom grunderna för naginata. Someyas-sensei och Hiwata-sensei var hans assistenter som hela tiden visade grunderna som Hatsumi-sensei sedan förklarade, gav bakgrund och improviserade kring. Det var väldigt rolig.

mats_someya_henrik

Jag och Henrik åt lunch på hotellet varje dag och de hade tre olika hamburgare på menyn. Vi provade alla tre…

Såvitt jag vet var jag och Henrik de enda svenskarna på detta Tai Kai. Många amerikaner var nyfikna på oss då vi talade svenska samt hade svenska flaggan på våra dräkter. Dessutom var John Gardner från England där. Honom kände jag från japanresan 1993. Han var, för övrigt på Tai Kai i Sverige 1998 också. En härlig person. Vi hade ohyggligt roligt tillsammans på kvällarna då vi drack amerikansk öl som var, eh, svagt. Enda effekten det gav var behov att vattna draken.

Första kvällen var det vilda västern-uppvisning med cowboys och trevliga damer som underhöll med gunfights och hängningar. Väldigt underhållande! Senare var det indianer som visade krigsdans med riktiga indiantrummor. Det var verkligen läckert. Andra kvällen var ett S.W.A.T-team där och visade en fritagning av en gisslan i en bil. Det var rökgranater och ett jädra skjutande med lösplugg. Intressant! Sen visade de upp sina vapen som man fick gå och titta på. Sista kvällen var avskedmiddag där jag och Henrik satt vid ett bord med bl a en amerikansk dam som frågade, ”Do you guys train six, nine or twelve schools?”. ”Eh, nine!”, svarade vi.

mats_gc

Dagen efter lämnade jag och Henrik Ramada Inn i en hyrd vit Ford och åkte till Grand Canyon, vilket var en makalös upplevelse. Jag rekommenderar alla att åka dit. Fantastiskt! Därefter åkte vill till norra Los Angeles, där vi tog in på ett ungdomshotell/vandrarhem vilket inte var direkt ljudlöst om man säger så. Anyway, vi åkte till Paramount Pictures studio och gick på en guidad rundtur där vi fick se en massa olika studios samt säga hej till Robin Williams som spelade in en film just då. Sen besökte vi Universal Pictures som bjöd på en ren nöjespark i filmens tecken med shower och rider. Det var en kanonkul heldag.

Vi bodde sedan resten av tiden hos en kompis som då hade ett hus i Los Angeles och vi spenderade dagarna med att besöka olika sevärdheter och shopping malls. Den mest berömda sevärdheten var Disneyland där vi hade grymt kul. Bäst var Indiana Jones ride som var helt hysterisk. Dessutom köpte jag och Henrik varsin riktig Indiana Jones-hatt.

Keep Going!

Mats Brickman
Bujinkan Shidoshi, 10 Dan

[Ursprungligen upplagd: 28:e augusti, 2008]

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Ninjago från LEGO [Från Tetsu’s gamla blog]

Man hittar alltid ninjas nånstans och i alla möjliga former. Här har LEGO släppt nån story om fyra ninjas och mästare. Låter bekant! Här är dom mästare på spinjitzu. 🙂

 

Enligt Mats så finns det nåt sort spel också. Inte för att jag sett det. 😉 Men vad gör dom inte för att dra in lite kulor. Blir ni sugna, så får ni slanta 49:- för denna fina “tidning” med bl.a. pyssel och berättelse, samt en ninjagubbe. Den jag fick tag på är den blå. Han heter Jay. 😀 Finns tex. på ICA Maxi.

Hoppas jag får tag på alla. 😉

Är ni mer intresserade läs på LEGO’s hemsida.

Lycka till

[Först publicerad den 30:e juni 2011]

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The Grandmaster’s Book Of Ninjatraining

training

Som första bok ut blir det “The Grandmaster’s book of ninjatraining“, skriven av Hatsumi Masaaki. Det är ingen bok fylld med tekniker, utan är en “frågor och svar” bok.

Tre utövare, Doron Navon, Jack Hoban och Charles Daniels, fick chansen att ställa vilka frågor som helst till Soke om träning, mat, budo m.m.

Boken är delad i tre sektioner där var och en ställer sina frågor. I slutet av varje del finns det en del bilder, dels på enstaka tekniker, men också på t.ex. kamae’er. Vissa bilder ser ut att vara från videofilmerna “Togakure Ryu” som kom ut i slutet av 80-talet.

Jag tycker det är en bra bok, eftersom den ger en inblick i hur Soke tänker, filosoferar, samt vilka åsikter han har. Boken har några år på nacken. Den är utgiven 1988. Kanske att Hatsumi Sensei ändrat på sina tankgånger nu?
Oavsett så är boken väl värd att köpa.

Boken går fortfarande att köpa. Jag har sett den på nätet.
Förlaget är Contemporary Books och ISBN är 0-8092-4629-5.

Det här är också ett inlägg från vår gamla blog.Fr.o.m. nu blir det nya skriverier om böcker om och i anknytning till vår träning och Japan.

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Träna budo

Måhända att rubriken inte riktigt överensstämmer med inlägget, men denna gång hittar jag inte nån rubrik på texten. Jag har snott inlägget från Duncan Stewart på Facebook. Nu har inte alla Facebook eller kanske inte läser överallt där.

Nåväl…….

Här är länken till originaltexten: https://www.facebook.com/BujinkanTasmaniaTokuBuRyuSuiDojo/photos/…..

 

The Dojo is not a mere social outlet, nor a place where people can appease their desires and do what they want. Budo is military and thus, the fundamental basis is to listen and learn, and entrust oneself to Mu and the teacher. Taijutsu is the art of the body. We are learning the technical body art of war. This must be remembered and thus the right attitude and spirit developed from the beginning. This is why we have Seishin Teki Kyoyo at the commencement and conclusion of keiko and paramount in every art learning top killing techniques for survival.
People enter the dojo with too much of themselves. The concept of “emptying one cup at the door” is so important. Even those who have trained a long time have yet to relinquish their ego and beliefs. The only way to understand, is to be a bug on the horses tail.
Bad habits come in all guises. Purification of the self is searching deeply and being sincere enough to “feel” ones shortcomings and then have the courage to weed them out through blood,sweat and tears. In other words, Musha Shugyo.
In the old days, the truth of the budding students character was shown through having to endure being uke for a long period. Or, clean the dojo and do errands.
Nowadays, we often see students enter the dojo and are able to practise waza straight away and not have to lift a finger to clean or assist in dojo maintenance. This is the consumer mentality. I feel the modern way of many is a sickness, and it breeds students and teachers who will never come close to understanding the heart of budo, regardless of if they train forever.
For those who truly have budo in their heart, they should not have to be told to help or clean, etc etc. It should be in the soul of the person. The dojo environment will assist in activating this sense of duty, obligation and selflessness. If it doesn`t, than it is nothing but a hall for sports.
The higher ranks have a duty. This duty is to continue to learn and discover their faults. They are then to transmit these life experiences to the juniors to assist in their own development. An example is that the high rank will often be the lower ranks uke. The lower rank will then receive greater ability and knowledge from experiencing the open heart ( shin den ) and open body ( tai den ) of the higher rank.
Unfortunately nowadays, we do not see this, as most teachers believe they cannot show weakness or be thrown by lesser ranks. In good dojos, the teacher will often express the essence of waza from taking the role of uke. The ability to receive is the basis of all learning,development and teaching. If the teacher ceases to take the role of uke, a separation occurs in both mind,body and spirit. This move from the path is felt by both students and the teacher and, marks the beginning of the end for the teacher. This is why Soke admonishes all of us not to become teachers but students. The only way is to keep training with the heart of receiving.
The dojo is a sacred place. In fact, no matter where you are, if you are holding the budo heart, the very place you stand is sacred. Those that have the true budo heart permeate this and, if we are honest, we can feel something very unique about them. I believe it is for that very reason that they hold a just and sincere heart devoted to a good path.
It is this heart that I try to understand in my training.

When you enter the dojo, please enter with the Bujinkan heart.

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“Sanningen” om gogyo no kata

Det finns många som tycker och tänker om alla möjliga saker på den fina webben.
Jag kommer fortsätta slänga upp saker som jag anser vara relevanta för oss inom Bujinkan.

Läs följande blog från en kille i Colorado.
Den handlar om gogyo no kata (san shin no kata) och den elementsanknytning som fanns en gång i tiden.

Intressant för alla, men kanske mest för oss som började träna “way back in the day”. 🙂

Här finns bloggen: http://www.coloradospringsninjutsu.com/Blog/Entries/2014/3/12_The_Truth_About_the_Godai.html

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GODAI

 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014
So, is this a fire technique?”

The guy was serious. I looked over at “P” who trained with Stephen Hayes and loves to needle me about such things to see if he set it up. If so, he was doing a great job of acting surprised with a bit of, “Oh boy, this is going to be good!” thrown into his expression. The guy honestly wanted to know if the move I just showed was part of the Godai system.

Sigh….. Looks like a lot of people still have not gotten the message.

I was around when the ninja first really hit the media. It was revolutionary in it’s outlook. The ninja were marketed by Hayes as a group of oppressed jedi nights (BTW- Greedo never got off a shot in case you didn’t know) with an outlook that appealed to many. One of these was the godai system of outlook and fighting. The system went from Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void. In Japanese they are called “chi-sui-ka-fu- ku.” The techniques we saw were explained in terms of these five methods. Earth would be centered and standing your ground, while fire would be aggressive, etc.

The problem was, it is not part of actual ninjutsu. You would never know it reading about it in English as the following example shows.

http://books.google.com/books?id=edIDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&lr=&rview=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

In the article by Hayes, there is no mention of the fact that Hayes created all the ideas about the godai as a system for combat. Today, many people still believe that it is part of the traditions taught by Masaaki Hatsumi, as my recent experience shows.

This of course has caused a lot of confusion as people go to Japan and ask questions about it, sometimes only getting blank looks, sometimes worse. When I translated for a certain Japanese teacher and someone asked the question, I knew I was in for at least 20 minutes of him going on not only about how Hayes created something and tried to pass it off as Bujinkan, but all the other sins that the Japanese could not forgive him for.

Sean Askew had at least one similar experience when talking to Hatsumi directly as the following shows,

http://www.kutaki.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=3728#forumpost3728

The exchange went like this,

“Recently I asked Hatsumi Sensei to talk a little about the inner meanings of the San Shin kata. I wanted to know how important is the “Five Elements Mandala Kata” and is it a necessary part of Taijutsu?

Usually Sensei does not give a straight answer, but for some reason this time he gave it to me on a silver platter. “Oh that’s Mikkyo, religion!”

OK, and how does this relate to Taijutsu? “It doesn’t!”

Evidently, exchanges like this and the tales from people coming back from Japan about blank looks and rants from the Japanese caused Hayes to finally clarify things in public. In a March 1996 e-zine called Ura and Omote he finally detailed how he came to create the godai system he was teaching. His experience in the Bujinkan in Japan with the concept was limited to this,

“Everyone else at the dojo assured me that the five elements were just a device for counting as far as they were concerned. Convinced that there had to be more, I continued my cultural detective work. I sought out descendants of the monks and mountain priests allied with the roots of ninjutsu who referred to the five elements in the form of mandala graphics that described like blueprints the human psyche.”

http://www.ashidome.com/uo/0396.htm

This point can’t be stressed enough. All the native speakers of Japanese who were learning Bujinkan alongside him were telling Hayes that it was just a system of counting. Can we be more clear that it is not part of what Hatsumi is/was teaching going by Hayes’ own words? And yet, we still have people in Bujinkan dojos using the system. And he admits that the source for his creating the system came from other sources other than the Bujinkan. He went instead to people that were involved in religion and got the older, religious version rather than what everyone else in Japan was using. As Hatsumi stated, it was mikkyo and had no relation to taijutsu.

Here is the thing about the historic godai system. It is indeed a counting system and it was indeed originally based on some aspects of Buddhist thought. In the same way, the days of the week were originally named after the Norse gods. For example, Thursday used to be called Thor’s day. Hayes seems to have made the same type of mistake as someone that believes that anyone in the modern age that schedules an event on Thursday must be wanting to channel the power of the god of storms. Hayes went a little bit too far in seeking things out, hampered as he was by his limited experience, knowledge and Japanese ability. He was not satisfied with the boring reality of a simple counting system and instead sought out a more mystic and exciting way of looking at things. From his point of view, it would be very natural to wonder why the Japanese just didn’t use numbers to count instead of something that he could find on old Buddhist sculptures called the Gorinto (see below). It is a hell of a lot more exciting to think of things this way, but it isn’t what is being taught in the Bujinkan.

In the actual Bujinkan as I learned it in Japan, the five elements are used as a counter for what we sometimes call the san shin. These five techniques are solo moves meant to build up habits. They are not combat techniques per se, rather they are supposed to build up default settings for the way movement is done. Once you get in the habit of moving your body in a certain way constantly, then learning a new kata is a lot easier since you don’t have to worry about some things just as you don’t have to worry anymore about the proper way to change gears on a car while driving a dangerous road. There is no mental aspect to doing the san shin. I know this from all the people who constantly used me as a translator to ask time and time again.

In the same article from the e-zine, he claims that the kihon happo was created in the 80s. This is not correct. I have read quotes from Takamatsu Toshitsugu talking about the kihon happo, and he died in the early 70s. When I told some Japanese teachers what Hayes wrote about the Kihon Happo’s creation, they just laughed. I believe that Hayes just was not able to follow many things because of the language barrier. Teaching in Japan is often just someone showing a move and everyone does it with no real talk about the name of the move or it’s place in the system. You see it, you do it- end of story. So it is not surprising that Hayes could have seen the same techniques over and over again and yet have no knowledge of it’s importance.

However, when Hatsumi started stressing the importance of the kihon happo, Hayes refused to follow his lead. As Hayes explains it, he had too much invested in the system of his creation already and decided to present the art of Hatsumi using his method rather than the method his teacher wanted his students to use. I believe this is one of the things that started the path to the eventual banning of Hayes from training in Japan.

Interestingly enough, some very partisan supporters of Hayes have tried to say that it was always acknowledged that this was a creation of Hayes and the folks like the guy at the beginning of this story are just not very bright for not realizing it. But since the first time I heard that defense of Hayes used, I have been trying to find a source prior to the 1996 e-zine that states it openly. So far, I can’t find anything.

Since the godai method of attitude is not part of the Bujinkan as taught by Hatsumi, it should not be presented as such. Many Bujinkan dojos still cling to it and pass it along as being Bujinkan material. This is wrong and unethical.

As a system, it is interesting. Back when I started reading about it I was really attracted to it. In the early 80s, snarling and such was about the only things you could find in martial arts magazines. The idea of a wind technique, that you could use with a relative you loved but had a bit too much to drink, was a totally different way of looking at things. As a concept, it might be a good tool to start some thinking.

However, as a system it is not only NOT part of the Bujinkan, but also not really tested by centuries of experience in combat. Inside the Bujinkan, you can find concepts such as mushin, fudoshin and zanshin. These are recognized not only in the Bujinkan but in other classical Japanese arts as well. If you want to do Bujinkan, these are the types of things you should be exploring.

It has been nearly a decade since Hayes has been allowed to train with Hatsumi in Japan. He now teaches his own creation of Toshindo and with it his version of the godai. He has his path, and the Bujinkan has another. People need to decide which path they want to walk down and then turn their back on the other. If you claim to teach Bujinkan, you need to turn your back on the godai and start looking into the actual mental models being taught in Japan.

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Lära eller träna?

Jag läste en blog med rubriken “Vad är skillnaden mellan att lära sig och att träna?”
Läs citatet!

Hela inlägget hittar ni här: http://www.feldengood.se/2014/03/09/vad-ar-skillnaden-mellan-att-lara-sig-och-att-trana/?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_campaign=hootsuite

Vad är skillnaden mellan träning och lärande?
Jag skulle förenklat vilja säga att när man tränar gör man något man redan kan men när man lär sig så gör man något man inte kan.

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Ninja Ninpô Gahô av Hatsumi Masaaki

Denna gång blir det en bok riktad till barn. Detta har jag fått berättat för mig, för jag läser fortfarande inte japanska.

Boken heter “Ninja Ninpô Gahô”. Den är skriven Hatsumi Sensei och han berättar (vad jag förstått) om den historiska ninjan och vilka tekniker som användes. Det är hela kitet som visas, hur man tar sig över vatten, klättrar över murar, använder redskap(vapen) osv…..

Som tur är så är att det är mycket bilder i den.

Jag tror inte den går att köpa längre, men vill ni försöka så kommer här lite info. Och lite blir det eftersom jag inte kan japanska. Författare är Masaaki Hatsumi. Den är tryckt 1977. Inte en aning om förlaget, men ISBN är 8076-215004-0028.

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Kihon Happo

I Tetsu följer vi alltid det tema som Hatsumi-sensei bestämmer i japan och jag tycker det är viktigt att göra det. I år är temat, som bekant, Kihon Happo och Shinden Fudo ryu iaijutsu. Anledningen till att det är Kihon Happo är för mig rätt självklart. Låt mig berätta en historia från ett av mina japanbesök. En ung kvinna (1 Dan) från ett land på Balkan, vi kallar henne X, bodde på samma ställe som oss

Vi tog med henne på en träning med en av våra favorit-shihans. Efter träningen frågade jag henne vad hon tyckte om träningen (som jag tyckte var mycket bra). Hennes svar var att den inte alls var bra. Jag blev förvånad och frågade varför? “Det var så mycket Kihon Happo”. Varför tror du att det var det? frågade jag X. “Vet inte!”. Förmodligen för att alla som var där inte kunde det, svarade jag. Jag tror och hoppas hon ändrade uppfattning efter att jag frågade henne om hon verkligen ansåg att hon kunde Kihon Happo. Jag såg att det startade en tankeprocess hos henne. Jag förklarade att jag som tränat mer än 20 år fortfarande lär mig nya saker om Kihon Happo.

Kihon Happo är dörren till det som kallas Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. Möjligheterna till variation av dessa åtta tekniker är oändliga. Vad händer om du lägger en åtta på sidan? Du får tecknet för oändlighet. Intressant, eller hur?

När teknikerna i Kihon Happo börjar sitta hos en elev finns möjlighet att börja variera teknikerna. Jag menar, det finns väldigt många sätt att göra en ura gyaku eller en omote gyaku. Däri ligger tjusningen. Med Kihon Happo i ryggmärgen blir det lättare att träna, förstå och ta till sig de waza (tekniker) som finns i de kata (tekniksamlingar) som utgör de skolor (ryu) som Bujinkan vilar på.

Min nästa blog kommer handla om waza.

//Mats

[En text från 2011]

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Togakure Ryû Ninpo Taijutsu

taijutsu

Togakure Ryû Ninpo Taijutsu av Masaaki Hatsumi

Togakure Ryu Ninpo Taijutsu, även kallad “Taijutsu-boken” blir det denna gång. Den kan ni endast köpa begagnad eller som fotostatkopia.

Precis som jag har många blandat ihop den med “Ten Chi Jin Ryaku No Maki”. Nu har jag inte TCJRNM, men mycket är samma i dom två, vad jag har förstått.

Boken innehåller beskrivningar av tekniker, mathållning och historia. Som tur är, för mig, så har boken en hel del bilder, för boken är skriven på japanska.

Boken är skriven av Masaaki Hatsumi och jag tror inte den kommer att tryckas igen. Jag återkommer med årtal och ISBN. Jag har inte boken hemma just nu.

Det finns kopior och översättningar att införskaffa. Jag tror Richard van Donk säljer en sådan.

[Denna fantastiska 😉 text skrevs för ca 8-10 år sedan]

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Things that make you go ‘Hmmmm’…

Då är jag här igen med en intressant text.
Den här är också från Facebook.

Denna gång är författaren Mark Lithgow.
Mark är känd inom Bujinkan och är den person som bott längst i Noda.
Mark är inte så dokumenterad på nätet, så det blir inte så många länkar.

Fråga gärna mig eller Mats i dojon.

Det är en text med en massa kommentarer.
Som jag skre på Fejjan: “Orkar ni inte hela tråden jag delat här, läs Mark Lithgows inlägg”.

Just det, jag kan inte hitta var originaltråden ligger. Det här är kopierat från en dansk Bujinkankille.

Mark Lithgow:

Things that make you go ‘Hmmmm’….

A couple of seminar posters were brought to my attention the last couple of days. Wow! It really looks like people sit down and think about how to word these things as eloquently as possible to justify that they will basically just be ‘making stuff up’!!! People can be so quick to quote Hatsumi sensei on how important it is to be able to move freely… But where were they the many times that he’s said “Don’t teach what you’ve never been taught!” and “Until 15th dan, it’s important to work on getting strong technique!” What I get from that is that if you want to play at the old ‘free-movement dance’, do it among 15th dans. But to teach to lower ranks at seminars, teach them good strong technique as a base for them to build on!

Just a couple of days ago at the Honbu Dojo, Sensei said “Ato wa renshû dayo!” (Now it’s just a case of practicing it!). Why aren’t comments about ‘practicing’ ever quoted, but quotes that justify making stuff up ARE? I know a little about Japanese martial history too, and seeing some of the ‘history’ on some of these seminar posters is embarrassing! As I said… Hmmmm!!!!

Synes ikke godt om længere · · Del · for 8 timer siden ·

Du, Sveneric Bogsäter, Elias Krzywacki, Oliver Piskurek og 77 andre synes godt om dette.
.

Billy Ristuccia Like, Like, Like, Like, Like… oh sorry just hitting the Like button a few hundred times!

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Nick Armsworthy Well said Mark, well said.

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Stu Klemm Well said Mark, I am sorely tempted to attempt some joke about some esoteric something that we are studying this week. But, I’m sorry, we’re just practicing ukemi gata taihenjutsu and kihon happou, with a bit of zan shin thrown in for good measure… “Yawn….” Aren’t we wonderful? Our excellence is only exceeded by our humility. LOL

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Paul Richardson Brilliant post

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Jan Peter Tanja *applause*

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Rich Maloof Thank you.

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Steve Delaney （スティーブン・デレイーニ） Kihon, kihon, kihon!

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Roger Andersson in general I’m guessing people want to ‘be good’… ‘becoming skilled’ takes too much time and study… but I’m just guessing here

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Norman Victor Meldrew Smithers Or partly because they believe they are as good as the grade they have?, as Steve said, Kihon, Kihon, Kihon.

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Billy Ristuccia I suddenly feel the need to cancel all my Gikan Ryu seminars. ;p

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Ashley Curtis Egos and the Bujinkan go hand in hand unfortunately.

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Norman Victor Meldrew Smithers These egos are sometimes fed from those in Japan unfortunately

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Steven Hesterman very well put

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Martin Faulks Question for Mark Lithgow and Michael Pearce. Where did the whole “make your own martial arts” idea come from in ninjutsu ?

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Mark Lithgow Maybe that’s a good test of character Norman…. Having your ego fed, but keeping your feet on the ground!

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Norman Victor Meldrew Smithers Totally agree Mark

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Mark Lithgow: That’s an interesting question Martin. When I first came to Japan, we simply did basic techniques. We’d line up in the dojo and march up and down like in a karate dojo, punches, blocks, shutô, kicks, etc. We’d work on having strong movement and strong technique… on having a strong structure to our body. THAT’S what we used to call ‘Taijutsu’. Then we’d run through the Sanshin no Kata, and then we’d work a lot on Kihon Happô, with no henka. After that the teacher would go to the Tenchijin Ryaku no Maki and we’d work on a few techniques from there. We’d work on the ‘textbook version’, and maybe a couple of ‘henka’. The henka would often be textbook henka too… working from a different side, or from a different attack… but usually closely based on the original kata. Over the years, Hatsumi sensei and some of the others got bored teaching the basics, assuming that people who came here for a couple of weeks a year were spending the other 50 weeks of the year at home practicing the basics and practicing what they’d learned over here the time before. Little by little they started stressing the henka more and more. Stressing the importance of being able to adapt to the situation. Unfortunately, people took that the wrong way. When they were here, they saw Sensei doing henka… making stuff up… and they felt that they should just go with that, and felt that they were qualified to make their own stuff up too. The 50 weeks a year that they are not in Japan, rather than working on their own technical base as Sensei intends them to be, I think many (though, of course, not all!) are just taking the easy way out by making their own stuff. As far as seminars go, I think that it probably comes from this idea that many people have that ‘people attend seminars to be impressed’ attitude (Personally I don’t agree! I think they go there to LEARN! …To take something home that will add to their own training!). They want to show students things that they’ve never seen before. There are so many seminars these days that many teachers feel that they have to outdo others by showing ‘new’ things. To show new things, they feel the need to make stuff up.

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Jeff Christian Thanks for the history, Mark.

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Michael Pearce Don’t get me started. Great post. I remember those days. God they were hard but great.

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Christopher Davy Thanks Mark! Great post!

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Martin Faulks So basically people who should be learning scales are trying free form jazz because the the teacher does that in his performances.

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Mark Lithgow LOL…. Exactly Martin!

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Martin Faulks So thats my all the notes are wrong!

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Phillip Legare: Very well put Mark Lithgow. I think you’ve identified the problems exactly. People don’t practice building that strong base 50 weeks a year anymore. We just all want to imitate Soke. I recall not all that long ago Soke calling out a gaijin to demo the first kata from the go gyo and he did the kihon instead. Soke turned to some of the Japanese and said we don’t know our basics. For the next year he told the Japanese to just teach the basics. At the next year’s DKMYS the same result happened and Soke said basically the same thing. Noguchi Sensei then taught the Tenchijin for the next couple of years, in fact he was still teaching from his notes last November. The bottom line is we just don’t practice building our base enough. I think it’s great that whenever you or Mike teach a seminar here you ground everything on building a strong base. I recall Mike even being ordered to teach basics at least on two of his trips over too. So obviously this is something that is extremely important yet we all seem to have missed it over here. The other issue on seminars, well don’t get me started as Mike said. Suffice it to say there are too many seminars being offered way too frequently everywhere. In order to get a big turn out you have to teach sizzle. Or at least that is what many think they need to do to sell the seminar. Who wants to pay $175 for 2 days of basics and hearing, you suck, anymore? Funny thing is, people WILL attend if the instruction is good, reasonably priced and spaced out/coordinated so as not to overburden the students. But that would mean coordinating teaching events amongst the dojo leaders and limiting who and how often people come over. Coordinate between dojos? The horror of it all !! Back to the ego again. Last note. There are many gaijin who live in Japan now who never had the old line drill experiences you both have had. They may only train with Soke and may only know henka. Some of these guys are teaching seminars on the only thing they know and have zero base to support them. These guys , in my opinion, are continuing the false perception that this is what we should train on the most (and not our base). And they probably think they are doing a great job imitating Soke and giving us just what we pay for!! Okay sorry for high jacking your post Mark. I am off for a coffee!

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Martin Faulks Is it that flashing or exotic things get people to come to seminars ?

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Phillip Legare Sizzle = sexy.

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Phillip Legare Sexy = sales.

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Martin Faulks The irony is the sales are not that good for most events

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Phillip Legare Same here, but I have been lucky in these last few years after moving back. I do try to coordinate my seminars, I only have a few big name instructors come in each year (like Mark one year, Dean the next) and I have some really talented senior instructors living within a 4-5 hour drive to draw from. Our recent black belt seminar was very well attended. Karl Koch, Morten B. Østenstad, Don Schmidt, Steven Schmidt were some of the instructors. Funny, I can’t remember when the last time was that I did my own seminar here at my own dojo !! I am enjoying bringing people in like Mark Lithgow, Michael Pearce, Dean Rostohar so I can continue to learn and grow too. To me, that is the secrets to having a successful seminar. Coordinate, dont over saturate, pick great instructors that you yourself want to learn from.

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Brent Earlewine: “Quality Control” either starts from the top, or it has to be self imposed. If the top of an organization does not establish and then enforce/re-enforce baseline structure and methodology, then it falls to the individual to do so. Unfortunately, human nature finds the illusion of self importance and “look at me” too alluring to make self imposed quality control work consistently as a method for decent standards. When you add the ego trap of martial arts into this discussion, it magnifies the problem. We in the Bujinkan are our own worst enemy. By design or by accident, Soke essentially leaves us to our own devices. Senior instructors around the globe offer what they think students want. As Phil-San states – sexy/sizzle sells and each tries to outdo the other. This dynamic would stop almost instantly if each instructor that wanted to offer a seminar had to ask permission to teach it, AND had to prove they knew the subject well enough to even offer it! And to paraphrase Michael and Phil – don’t get me started on the issue of over saturation of seminars within the Bujinkan… In the meantime, my students and I are doing a several month step by step review of Kyu level material. Again. See you on the mat