Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

Well I had to spend 12 hours in MSP airport but I made it back safe.  Was moved to first class on the way back from MSP, it was nice.  One person mentioned they were in seat 15F.  Under my breath I said “Do seats go up to that many letters” which got a laugh out of everyone who heard.  I know I’m the bad guy.  Don’t worry next class I will be in Coach so it’s OK.  Now the real training starts, figuring out how to put what I learnt in my everyday training.

In my opinion thats the secret, practise of what you saw in Japan.  That’s what used to happen when we did not have a lot of information.  People would travel to Japan and take what small parts they could from the Shihan and bring it back to practise.  The problem is we have some much information, what do we practice.  The answer is simple anything we want.

Calm down now everyone, are at a 10 I need you at a 2 (thanks Cenk).  Kihon Happo is important, but the more I train in Japan, the better my relationship becomes with Sensei and the Japanese shihan, the more I hear them telling me about Kihon.  The small points in technique that we need to know.  So it doesn’t matter what techniques you practise so long as you know what’s important.

Anyhow I have three things to work on.

1.  Moving through the hips.  (Courtesy of Noguchi Sensei)

2.  Moving slowly enough to feel opponents reactions, but quickly enough to act on them. (Courtesy of Oguri Sensei)

3.  Capturing the opponents without strength.  (by Hatsumi Sensei)

I will take some time later to elaborate on this.  Especially if you have questions on one of the afformentioned skills.  Anyhow it’s time to rest up for class tonight.

I am leaving Japan tomorrow.  I am sad to go.  I told Noguchi Sensei I was leaving and went to shake his hand, I got a hug instead.  I told Hatsumi Sensei I was leaving, he said good training and be safe (he told the other guy be safe, no mention of training).  Japan is great, I don’t want to leave but I will again.  Canada is my home and I don’t want to stay away for too long.

I look forward to the real world again, training with all of you at home.

Oh and Liz, I did not go bamboo.  This blog is still written in English after all (no matter how poor).

I trained during the day and tonight had Yaki tori.  It was a good day.

She seemed to enjoy it anyhow.

That’s what I was told on the Friday Night class.  I am not sure I believe that because Hatsumi Sensei’s comments can not be trusted.  (You are all doing good techniques but I am not teaching techniques.)  But I got a painting of a kama kiri and this picture.

Just one question, why is Lubos in the Background?

There seems to be questions which many people have about if the techniques can work.  At first I though this was a fooling thing to be asking, but maybe not so much now.  If you have questions of if your techniques will work agaist someone bigger and stronger then either you have learnt the techniques wrong or your are being taught something other than Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu.

Too many people seem to thing that the techniques that they are being taught are ineffective then look at them again.  Find someone who can do them against an opponent while using no strength.  Look for a good Shihan who has the solid technique and understanding of what Hatsumi Sensei and the Shihan are doing.  One who will correct you when you are doing something wrong.

If you can’t get someone who says “no” when you don’t get it, someone who will point you in the right direction you are in trouble.  These techniques, this feeling that Hatsumi Sensei is trying to pass on can save your life.

I was lucky enough to have teachers which built a foundation and desire to look at what is good and even question what I was being taught.  Then I was fortunate enough to go to Japan several times to continue my learning.  The information is out there sometimes it is hard to find bu you can get to it.

Your life is on the line, practice your well.

Once again last night, Hatsumi Sensei said to us “Everyone must look at the Takamatsu DVD and see that I was not very good.  So don’t worry about your progress”.

If this was the first time he said it, I would pass it off as nothing.  Well no I wouldn’t but I would have kept it to myself.  We must improve.  As a whole we in the Bujinkan must improve.  On some fundamental level we give ourself the excuse that in time we will somehow get to a point where our techniques do not require force.  When will this be?  Will it just magically happen without training for that goal.  Esentially we were being compared to Hatsumi sensei in his early training with Takamatsu.  The problem is we have been training for years.  If we pay attention we should be getting better.

Anyhow I am sure Sensei was talking to everyone but me.

Well I was in a sensei class and I made a mistake.  When asked to explain what a technique felt like I explained what happened in a non abstract fashion.  I should have gotten a page out of the arts playbook and made my answer more nebulous.  I guess the problem with my answer was it would make sense to people with my background.  Mechanically it was correct and many people said from what I described to what they saw it made sense.  But for those who are not connected to a solid understanding of mechanical things, this would not clarify anything.

Next time I will talk about animals and the earth moving around the sun and random nobel laureates<spelling corrected>.

For the last 3 Japan trips I have been able to go to Oguri Sensei’s Dojo to train.  This to me is a big deal because often you don’t go over the same material in a class as you do at a home dojo.  The advantage of training with Seno and Oguri when they decide to do basics is that they have seen the techniques over the last 40 plus years so they can give you a good sense of what basics were taught and why.  This is of course in no way taking away from the other instructors, however I have found many teachers going through material which is solid without explanation as to why.  This does not take away of course from the good material which they have to offer, it is as I said actions which are done because that is what they were taught.

We spent two hours going over tsuki and uke nagashi.  That’s right two hours.  It was fantastic.  I have much to work on and lots to share.  I look forward to it.

For the world, for the states and for my family it is a big day.  I must sit in this moment and take it all in.  Drunk as I am in Japan, this is a historical moment that I must celebrate.

So a short note on training with Paul Masse.  Protect your boys, he does not hold back.  He took a page from keeping it real Doug Willsons book.  Oh and him and Yabunaga san play a twisted game of lets see who can hurt each other the most in a sensei class so be aware of that.