Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

Disclaimer: This is specifically about Sundays class so if you don’t get it, sorry.

I forgot on Sunday to mention some points that I want you to practise.  When you are throwing your tsuki you must keep the distance in mind.  I have now seen far too often students losing power because they are disregarding the distance and becoming disconnected in their kamae.

For now it is enough that you worry about having moving in kamae.  When you are a beginner it is easy to get caught up in trying to accomplish something.  If you just go move through the fundamentals of the technique it does not take much work at all.

When I was going through school (up until the year I graduated) I was put in Piano lessons.  Classical piano lessons.  Although I hated going through and doing exams every year, I did not mind being able to read music and for the most part working my way through songs that I wanted to play.  It occurred to me after thousands of hours of practise that I could not make any of it up.  I was stuck playing music that others wrote, line by line without any variation.

I do not want that to be the Taijutsu of myself or any of my students.  Over the years I have seen many awesome practitioners with their own unique styles.  In Japan and throughout North America I have met people who have taught me many things for which I am thankful and respect.

As a dedication to them I will do my Taijutsu as a reaction to all of their movements good and bad.  I will take the feeling that they placed in my body through their techniques and use it to make carry on the traditions that Hatsumi Sensei is trying to pass on.  As a sign of respect I will not copy them movement by movement and turn our living art into a dead set of kata which must be done according to the scrolls.

Oh and I will relearn piano as well.

As many of you who know me know, I like to go to Japan for training.  That said if I have either Brian or Russ teach a few classes understand it is a direct result of my love for training in Japan.  I have some work which needs to get done for this trip to happen.  For the sake of my training and anyone who trains at the club I need to make it to Japan as often as I can.

In addition, Brain and Russ are both fine practitioners who take time to go to seminars and Japan when they can to improve their abilities.  Make sure not to miss their training if I am not at a class.  Missing it would be a mistake.

For those who are going to Japan with me the dates of October 22nd to November 17th are 95% certain.  I will begin looking for tickets so have your money ready.  Usually I can find something for around $1000 Canadian, it seems like this trip we will be looking more in the ballpark of $1200 Canadian.  I will keep you up to date on what I can find.

The kanji of the title is TenSai.  It means genius, prodigy or someone with a natural gift.  I have heard this used in a martial arts to describe many people over the years. Gichin Funakoshi, Kyuzo Mifune and Morihei Ueshiba to name a few.

There is an idolization of men like these in their respective arts.  You will often here in the more ‘modern’ martial arts that no one is or will ever be as good as the founder.  They were a type of genius that we were lucky to witness and will never see again.  So as it follows the next generation is always weaker than the last (in a Japanese sense of strength not physical power).

The Bujinkan is not like that.  We are in a living art.  If one of those TenSai can accomplish in 1 day that which takes us a month, it doesn’t matter.  We stand on the shoulders of 34 recorded generations and over 1000 years pushing us forward.  If we use the strength that we have inherited from those people who have gone before us passed down teacher to student we can rely on their knowledge.

We don’t have to rely on our own natural ability; we don’t have to have the knack for the martial arts.  If you could just win as a natural fighter, there would be no need for the martial arts.  If every generation could never be as good as the last then in a few generations there would be no point in taking the martial art.  An art that holds those who have gone before in high regard is good, because you can use their experience to help you progress.  There must however be balance with the experience, which you receive and add to the martial art to help the next generation.

Oh and to get the training, you have to go see a true Genius of the martial arts, Hatsumi Sensei.  He will get you where you need to be.  No books, scrolls or DVDs will get you the knowledge you need; Sensei and those who actively train with him are the only sources for this knowledge of the Bujinkan arts.  There you go a post by request, you’re welcome.

In short it was awesome. The long explanation, I have a lot of work to do.

Lubos brings with him a unique feeling of Japan that I would challenge you to get from any other ‘non resident’. The control which he exhibits, his use of space and natural movement is incredible. The feeling of reality in his techniques is terrifying. Mastering what he has to show will raise your taijutsu to a new level.

For those of you who attended, please work on what he has shown so that we can try to keep that feeling and apply it from to our taijutsu. We were lucky enough to cover ukemi (receiving) right through to kenjutsu, bojutsu and tanto (sword skills, staff kills and knife work). I know there is some sharing that needs to take place for those who didn’t make it to the Thursday and Friday night classes. I will do my best to make it down to Calgary for some training in the next few weeks, that is if I am welcome.

Special shout out to Bujinkan Manitoba for supporting the seminar. There has already been some feedback on the seminar, but I look forward to hearing more from those who attended. Your feedback after all is what make me think that people might actually read what I have to say from time to time.

Yes Lubos is here.  With him he brought monstrous taijutsu.  Let me explain if I could by compareing Lubos to a certain Bearded shihan that I know.  When you are attacking this Bearded Shihan, it’s like you are attacking a Battleship with a slingshot (See top 10 giant movie monsters).  When you are attacking Lubos, it is like you are fighting a war of attrition and he is not.  You loose every weapon that you attack him with and never get it back.  There is an understanding of controlling the Kukan which is just unreal.

Let me put it another way.  Looking at Lubos do techniques is just like looking at Hatsumi Sensei without experiencing his feeling.  You would swear what he is doing is garbage.  It can’t be seen, only felt.  It is unfortnate that he is not better known around the world.  It is a real loss to Bujinkan budo taijutsu not having a teacher/practitioner of his caliber spreading this information.

Anyhow more on this seminar after I write that book review.  Which means this weekend I will read through the Kevin Book again and give you my opinion.

Thanks for coming out for that everyone.  As far as I know everyone who attended had a good time.  Look forward to an actual weekend seminar next year.  It will be held one week before the Edmonton Blues festival 2009.

In a fight you may get hit.  I view that as a failure on my part if I do get hit.  I don’t give myself excuses like oh in a fight you are going to get hit.  If you get hit you have done something wrong.  That said it’s always best to go with the philosophy ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst’.

This drill is one that I shamelessly stole from Rob Renner (Zero Point Bujinkan Dojo).  It is called the progressive impact training drill.  This is a drill to get your body accustomed to taking a hit while keeping kamae and remaining relaxed.

Start with the attacker using their palms.  You slowly and lightly strike your opponent (to start) and the receiver takes the force and moves back in kamae.  As the receiver becomes more accustomed to it pick up the speed (but do not add weight yet).  This will make it more difficult to remain relaxed while receiving the hit.  When the reciever is hit he must remember to breath out when the attacks are aimed at his torso.  As the receiver becomes more accustomed to the fast pace, slow it down this time adding weight to the strikes.  Afterwards speed up the exercise with weight behind the attacks.  When you are able to do this the exercise must be repeated with fudo ken and all the other weapons.  Remember the Hiken ju roppo are what give the techniques of the bujinkan unique strength.

This will allow attackers to get accustomed to attacking with their full strength.  The receivers will gain confidence in their abilities to take a punch so that fear does not set in if they do come under attack by a real opponent.

If you need me to clarify this drill let me know.

Just letting everyone know, there will be no seminar for Japan material. Why you may ask, there are more than enough people whom were in Japan. The reason I had the previous seminars was, because it was just me. It is important for the information to be passed on, if I was the only one who went to Japan, I wanted to share the feeling. Since there were so many people there this trip, just train with one of us and take the feeling from them.

I will tell you right now, I am not saying that everything that everyone does is right, that’s nonsense.  I won’t say that you have to go to Japan every year, not everyone can manage that it is understandable.  You don’t have to copy everything that your teacher does, some of it won’t work for you.

This is however the Bujinkan, there are right ways and wrong ways to do things.  There are nine schools so there are many different variations but we look at what is the same not different.  If you can’t go to Japan find someone who does and train with them to keep the feeling.  Things will change based on your body, but you must have the essence.  To find that train with the many good Shihan around the world.

If you disagree with what I have said, take it up with Hatsumi sensei because I am just saying what he has said.  If you don’t believe me then go to Japan and hear it in his own voice.  I am growing tired of people who hold themselves up as ‘representatives’ of the Bujinkan but what they are saying and doing completely contradict what Hatsumi Sensei is teaching.  These are the same people who knock those who actually have some understanding of what Hatsumi sensei is trying to teach.  They will go and talk about the importance of cross training when if they actually put the time in to learning proper taijutsu would discover that it is completely unnecessary.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not giving poor skill level a free pass but this goes beyond that.  Just because you do well in a fight doesn’t mean that you are doing Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu right.  Just because you don’t win in a cage match doesn’t mean that you are learning the wrong way.  It’s our stupid North American philosophies and egos which destroyed this art and it’s reputation.  If we can’t be bothered to swallow our pride, forget what we think fighting is and trust what Hatsumi sensei wants us to learn, why are we still in the art?  If you don’t think that this art works then switch to one that you feel does.  I wish you all the best in your new endevours.  But rather than try and change an art that has protected me, in real life, on more than one occasion, in the past year do what Hatsumi says.

Go ahead read his books, watch the DVD’s and sit there happy assuming you have learned everything.  Your ‘tactical reality based Bujinkan training’ will just take up valuable space in the Honbu Dojo anyhow.  Hatsumi Sensei is the kuden, he is the living densho, he can teach you what you can not learn from books or videos and I have felt its effectiveness firsthand.  I’m done, for now.