First I would like to say thanks to Dean Rostohar for coming to us once again, this was the 4′th time we had him over here. Also special thanks to Davor, Hana and Ivica who travelled by car all the way from Croatia just to come here to train and assist their own teacher! Also big thanks to René coming from the Netherlands and Jukka coming from Finland. Also thanks to Tony for helping with transportation and stuff, and Johan for taking pictures and filming the seminar. Finally also thanks to the participants from Kaigozan Dojo, To Nan dojo, Solstaden Karlstad, Eskilstuna Bujinkan, Örebro Kampsportsförening and Berserk MMA.

This was a very good seminar where Dean taught and showed us many, many good and useful techniques and examples from his personal experience. First I felt quite ashamed that I couldn’t get more people interested enough to show up on the seminar. Then I felt pity for the fools that missed the chance to get really good training, what did you do this weekend that was so important? Seriously, I don’t want to hear all bad excuses, let’s leave it at that I’m sure you can convince me you had good reasons .

As always Dean teach from his big heart, you who have been to his trainings know what I mean. The first day he did techniques based on the first technique Ichimonji from Kihon happo kata. But it was different than what he showed before, more realistic and useful. Although he never said that the basics is bad to know or practice, but the basics is basics to teach students a foundation to build up on. When you know the basics well you combine each basic movement to the situation, and it comes alive. You do what you have to do to benefit from the situation. He showed many different taijutsu techniques this weekend.

In the afternoon training Dean and his students from Croatia showed many interesting techniques and team tactics how to work in a group, everything from quickly climbing up over a wall, or in to a window. How to take out a guard and many other examples how to work as a team.

The second day Davor started by showing and teaching his excellent taihenjutsu skills, he did some of the best taihenjutsu moves I have ever seen. He was rolling smoothly and silently like a cat moves, very nice! Then Dean taught more taijutsu techniques from Kihon-happo. Then later on he showed us how to train up the sensitivity, and then he moved on to some sword techniques. Finally he showed and explained to us how to train while blindfolded.

The KGZ BUDO SHOP have many DVD’s with Dean Rostohar. This seminar DVD will be available for order in October 2009, shortly after there will be three more DVD’s with Dean released at KGZ BUDO SHOP. Here is a direct link to the Shinken Kata videos… https://www.budoshop.se/store/videos/dvd-bujinkan-budo-taijutsu/shinken-kata

Happy training!
Mats Hjelm (seminar organizer, dojo-cho at Kaigozan Dojo)

- Mats seminar pictures

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Now it is less than a week until the Ninpo/Ninjutsu Seminar with Dean Rostohar. Here is some updates and news…

Dean is coming on Friday already, but we have no extra training planned. Dean is also bringing some of his top students with him this time, so I’m sure they will also help him with the teaching. This will be an exciting seminar, he will teach lot’s of stuff we usually don’t see in the trainings in a regular Bujinkan Dojo.

• Place: We booked the dojo. We will be in Kaigozan Dojo on Sveavägen 130 in Stockholm city (here is the map).
• Saturday training: We open the dojo after 10:00, the training start at 11:00 and finish at 18:00 with a longer lunch break.
• Saturday evening: As usual we want everyone to join us for dinner at a local restaurant, if you don’t hear about this by e-mail we will inform you about it Saturday morning.
• Sunday training: we start at 11:00 and finish around 15:00. We do not have a longer lunchbreak, so prepare yourself with something to eat during the short breaks.
• Late people: if you haven’t signed up for the seminar do so immediately, or look at the web site first to see if there is places left before you come.
• Seminar fee: One day training is 500 SEK, for both days 850 SEK. We suggest that you sign up and pay early next time to get the discount!
• Seminar DVD: We will film this seminar and you can pre order the DVD for 200 SEK ( we will send it to your address when it is done) at the seminar, or you can buy it at the KGZ Budo Shop later… https://www.budoshop.se/store/

For more information about this seminar see this web site… http://kaigozan.se/seminars/2009-09-26/

Bring it around the body, and make sure it is not crossed on the back (not shown).

On the video below, he tuck in the other end first, it doesn’t matter which one goes first.

In Kihon-happo we attack straight to the face with a jodan-tsuki (in basic it should be a shikan-ken), so I will explain from this point of view. If he has a good ichimonji no kamae, he point his arm straight to my center which makes it more difficult. If his front arm is pointing to the side (like Gyokko-ryu), I would try to step on his foot while entering. But he is too clever for that, so he force me to move around his left arm. Going to the inside is not good so I will attack him from his outside.

I keep both knees bent, with the weight a little more on the rear right leg. I keep the spine straight and relaxed. I should be able to jump or push the body in any direction with the left or right foot. When I move in to strike, I want to be as quick as possible without making any signs before I explode forward in to the opponent.

The distance to the opponent decides how big the first step with the left foot should be.

I lift the left foot and quickly push the body forward with the rear right leg. I turn my left knee to the left in the same direction as the left foot is pointing (see the picture). There is no strange angles in the knee, I put the left side of the left foot on the floor first, and when my weight is over the leg, the whole foot will be rooted firmly to the ground.

Then I quickly put the right foot forward. As soon as my body weight passes the left foot I start pushing the body forward with the left foot, as I do this it is important that the left foot is rooted to the ground.

Soon after my right foot is placed on the ground my right fist makes contact. Then the spine twists, and my right foot and leg is starting to stop the body’s forward motion (if that is what I want*) as I strike through the target. The right knee should stop just above the toes, and you should have good balance and both knees bent. More weight on the right foot than the left foot.

*If the opponent jumps backwards or move quickly backwards, I can move the left foot forward very quickly with three more strikes in that left step (I will explain this in another tutorial if I there is interest). I can run after him much faster than he can run backwards, don’t think something else!

Also if the opponent doesn’t move properly here (like I explained in the previous tutorial) it will be very easy for me to kick him in the groin with the left foot (if he move the right foot too much to the side), or placing the left foot behind him for osoto-nage (if he moves his left leg off line).

* Ground the feet’s properly!

It is very, very important that the left foot (picture 2 & 3) does not turn on the ground as you are pushing forwards, then you will loose friction to the ground and you will slip very easily if you push forward strongly. Also Miyamoto Musashi spoke about the importance of rooting the feet to the ground and push the body forwards or backwards with the whole foot rooted, and not on the toes or balls of the feet.

But first let’s make some reference points. To get the distance right we need to understand that the opponent will hit you in the head with his right fist. And that you want to end up at a safe distance where you can block the opponent’s right arm from the inside without being to close or too far away. So you need to move your whole body as one unit about one arms length. So measure how far that is. I will use the tatami mat as a reference point so that you can easily understand. I recommend that you also use the tatami mat as I do here so that you can do the step without looking. And then look down and check if you are on the correct spot, angles and length wise.

Remember that you move the body one arm’s length, it doesn’t matter how long the opponent’s arms is. If he knows how deep he should punch (just through the target and not an inch more!) it will be perfect distance for you.

When you move from point A to point B in the first step you should have the exact same angles but one arms length further back to the side. You should have rotated the whole body about 30° to the left, but the angles and alignment should be the same.

So when you start in the basic Ichimonji no kamae both heel’s should be on the same line and pointing directly against the opponent’s center. I won’t go into detail about anything else than the footwork here. I might do a part two of this tutorial later?

The right foot and toes should be pointing exactly 45° back to the right against the other corner of the tatami mat. Keep a rather low position with both knees bent (in basic training, be extra low), more weight on the right leg.

Lift the right foot and push the body strongly and quickly back to the right with the left foot. You should explode from the position, so make sure the front leg is not too straight. Do not move the left foot first (I say that this is a bad habit). If you keep your right arm straight against the opponent, he will not step on the left foot, as he have to move around your arm.

The right foot should go exactly 45° towards the corner of the tatami. Note how the right foot have turned a little, but the heel should be on the line. At the same time the left foot should follow the right foot in a straight line.

As you can see this angle is about 30° from the starting point. Also worth mentioning is that the feet’s is never this wide apart as it is rather a jump than step, step. It is important that the upper body should not go anywhere else but straight backwards to the side as if you where on wheels.

See how the left foot ends up on the same line. Now you have moved the body 30° back to the right. You should end up in the exact same position as when you started. Your kamae is “closed” and good, aimed directly to the opponents inside.

From here you block and take his balance… as you can see you have also opened up the opponent’s lower region. You have the opening where you will place the right foot as you step in and counter with your own attack.

Training drill

A very good training drill is to stand in Ichimonji no kamae and move from point A to point B as explained above. Repeat this several times, you should move in a big circle keeping a perfect Ichimonji no kamae the whole time. Then change side and do it to the left. This is a good exercise that strenghten your legs and gives you a good foundation.

Happy training!

/Mats

差合 SASHI AI

Technique No 3 from Kukishin-ryu Rokushaku Bôjutsu – Keiko sabaki kata

1. I assume Chûdan no kamae and plan to make the opponent open up his left side…

2. I move the left foot forward to the left and enter in to the opponent’s right side. I angle the body in a way to draw the attention to my left hand and hide the right hand sliding back to the end of the staff.

3. I step forward with the left foot and thrust in chudan-tsuki to the opponent and force him to move. Since I enter on his right side I pretty much force him to move to his left.

Note: If he is not moving I strike through his guard and get him. If he put force into the block it is better for me, but I’m not waiting to feel it (physically) then it would be to late for the next step.

4. I quickly move the right foot forward and strike his left elbow with dô-uchi.

5. Then another quick kote-haneage strike from under to his right arm to completely disarm him. The kata officially finish here, but it is easy to keep going and take control of the space and the weapon he just lost.

6. Then I jump back to Seigan no kamae and assume zanshin (because the next kata starts from here which makes it easier to remember the next kata).

After you and your partner have learned the kata, try to work on a better defense with the sword. Try to be more offensive and gradually make it more difficult to attack with the staff, instead of moving backwards move forwards and be more offensive. The swordsman’s distance is shorter and he need to be on a safe distance or closer where he can get the opponent with the staff quickly. The person with the staff need to be outside the swordsman’s reach or be completely covered. You can practice this technique with more freely distance and timing, but keep the same sequence of attacks (keep to the kata). If you do this I suggest you use safe weapons (padded weapons) and maybe protections, or just be very careful.

There is also kuden; things taught personally from teacher to student, so please find a good teacher and study with him/her.

Happy training!

/Mats

I also added two new more pages under “Bujinkan”, it is Kukishin-ryu Dakentaijutsu and Bojutsu. I plan to add pages for the other schools and weapons later.

Then in the beginning of the 1980’s the second Ninja boom cam, and it became really big in the west. The Swedish “Ninja Mission” hit big in the US, it was more popular than the new Clint Eastwood movie at the time. It had Bo Munthe who then was a 4′th Dan in Bujinkan (the highest ranked in Europe at this time), and many of his students did stunt work.

There was also plenty of ninja movies and TV series from Hollywood at the time. People came from everywhere and wanted to study this mysterious art Ninjutsu. In Stockholm the dojo had several hundred meters of people lining up to start training. In other countries which hadn’t so well established Bujinkan dojo’s there was charlatans who saw the opportunity to make money. The choice of American filmproducers how they displayed the art was not in favour for true Ninjutsu practitioners. It was often kung fu, tae kwon do, karate, kendo practitioners who got the stunt cordinator job for these movies, the biggest star of this era was probably Sho Kosugi.

He claims he learned Ninjutsu from a “strange neighbour” when he was 7 years old. I believe the neighbour was strange, but I don’t think he knew much about Ninjutsu. How the film industry portaited the Ninja was not good! I wish they (Hollywood industry) spent more time on research than listen to someone who was taught Ninjutsu by a crazy guy when he was seven years old.

Now 54 years later Kosugi still have too much influence in Hollywood, who apparently decided that there will be a third Ninja boom to cash in money on. They still prove they are too lazy to do proper resarch. The forth coming Ninja Movies (see below) this summer and autumn of 2009 will probably not be as successfull as in the 80’s, but they will certainly enforce the stereotype of what a Ninja and Ninjutsu is, which is not true at all.

Ninja Assassin (2009) by James McTeigue

He previously worked with films such as Matrix, V for Vendetta, and is currently working on the new X-Men to be released in 2011. In this movie the old star Sho Kosugi is playing Lor Ozunu. The main character Raizo in this movie is played by Rain, who is a big pop star in Asia.

Ninja (2009) by Isaac Florentine

The film stars Scott Adkins as a westerner named Casey, who is studying Ninjutsu in Japan when he’s asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja. Somehow, cops, the mob, and a rival ninja enter the picture. Much death, sword slashing, and ninja ass kicking ensue.

The Warrior’s Way (2009) previously The Laundry Warrior

G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra by Stephen Sommers

Not exactly a ninja movie, but there will be ninjas in it.

Kamui gaiden (2009) by Yoichi Sai

A Japanese Ninja movie, the ninja movie boom never really went away in Japan.

Recommended reading

If you as an practitioner or teacher in Bujinkan Dojo is getting interviewed by journalists, this article “Ninjutsu and the media” by Mike Hennessy is really good.

For people who doesn’t know much about Ninjas and Ninjutsu apart from what is portrayed on movies, comic books, and games, there is a few things you should know.

There was a Ninja master who died in the 60’s, his name was Seiko Fujita. He wrote books about Ninjutsu (only available in Japanese, and if you are lucky). There is many people who claims that they was taught by him. As far as I know they are all lying. Fujita died without a successor. Basically everyone that claims to teach from the Koga-ryu are all fakes, so please be careful about who to trust.

There was another Ninja master called Takamatsu Toshitsugu had many students in his life time, but at the end when he died in 1972 he only had one true student, and this was Hatsumi Masaaki. Before the first Ninja boom in the early 1960’s there was no other known master of Ninjutsu other than Seiko Fujita (who died without a successor), Takamatsu Toshitsugu and his student Hatsumi Masaaki (Yoshiaki at the time).

Hatsumi Soke is still alive today, he has many, many students all over the world. Hatsumi Soke is the last true Ninja…

Hatsumi Soke had two older students that only once met Takamatsu Sensei that broke off and formed their own organizations, namely Genbukan and Jinenkan. Hatsumi Soke still have students that still trains with him weekly in Honbu Dojo that also meet Takamatsu sensei on the same occasion. Anyone else living than Hatsumi Soke claiming to have been a direct student to Takamatsu Sensei is not telling the truth at all. Unfortunately there is people claiming this.

Organisations that is more or less still teaching Ninjutsu is the following…
- Bujinkan Dojo (headed by Hatsumi Masaaki)
- Genbukan (headed by mr. Tanemura Shoto formerly student of Hatsumi Soke)
- Jinenkan (headed by mr. Manaka Unsui, formerly student of Hatsumi Soke)
- Toshindo (headed by mr. Stephen Hayes, formerly student of Hatsumi Soke)

Unfortunately there is bad examples everywhere, so please don’t judge a whole martial art based on a few rotten apples. Keep an open mind.

There is also a few Japanese Ninja Museum’s, some of them also have coreographed demonstrations (rarely with no authentic Ninjutsu training at all). Please keep in mind these are Museums, and they are not Martial Artists!

Soke says that it is time for us to throw away the basics. He said we should throw away Sanshin no kata, Kihonhappo and everything else we know at the moment. This reminds me of a famous story about a zen master, I will quote the story from memory (so please don’t take it literally)…

Once an experienced samurai visited a zen master and said that he knew everything about the martial arts, but he have not yet reached enlightenment. So he is coming here for advice about how to reach it. The zen master offered him to sit down and have a cup of tea and talk about this. He put a cup on the table and started to pour into the cup. The cup was filled but the master kept pouring. The samurai said, can’t you see that the cup is already full?
The master said yes, and it is the same about you! You have to empty the cup (mind) before you can fill more into the cup. The samurai understood and later on finally reached enlightenment.

This is the meaning of 器 UTSUWA. It can mean a bowl, vessel or container. But it can also mean ability, capacity or caliber. When you have learnt all the basics and all the techniques there is the cup will be full. In order to pass beyond this stage you need to empty the 器. See other posts about the theme of this year and 才能魂器 (sainou kon ki / sainou tamashi utsuwa).

Everytime you go to training you should throw away everything you know, “empty the cup”. Then eagerly try to take everything in like a sponge with a playful and artistic kind of mind. This is the 極意 GOKUI essential point passed on through many generations in Gyokko-ryu that we study in Bujinkan Dojo. Keep the mind of a three year old kid that want to learn everything. Even if you think you know everything (see my previous essay) throw it away. The one who gives away everything has it all.

Keep this in mind when training. Also keep in mind that there is 20 years of 面 omote-training and then 20 years of 裏 ura-training. I might come to this in a later post.