Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

That’s right, I am guilty.  My admission to the charges however allows a certain leniency from my peers.  Let me explain how this all came about.

Because I have been teaching classes consistently over the past few years, I have been in my comfort zone.  When you teach something you know, you make new discoveries but you are not learning anything new.  You may be improving your current skills but you are not expanding your skills.

I am lucky in that I have a chance to travel to Japan and attend seminars which push my current understanding.  But at home when I am teaching I refine current knowledge while those attending the classes make real improvement.  That is until now.

He goes be a few names, “The Booj”, “The Shidoshi Killer”, “one who knows”.  He has taken up Thursday night classes.  This allows me to train, not to think about how to improve other people, but to ingrain movements in myself.  To go through repetitive practise, these are the things which improve taijutsu.

If I fall into the trap of only training when I teach, I am a coach not a practitioner.  The Bujinkan does not need coaches.  The Bujinkan does not need teachers, we have Hatsumi Sensei.  Budo is not an academic exercise like teaching a subject in school.  If I go over some problems in Math I will improve as I show you how to do the math.  If I am teaching you to play the piano, I can show you a scale, you practising the scale does not make me a better pianist, it makes you a better pianist.  Disciplines that take physical skills do not improve but through training.

I invite all of my friends and students (which are usually one in the same) to engage me on Thrusdays as a fellow student and equal.  I’ll say it again, the Bujinkan does not need teachers it needs us to train.

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