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Seeking the true teachings of the Ninja Master

I have been reading many books lately. Not all of them are from the bujinkan, but most of them pertain to martial arts or Japanese history in some way. But I finished reading one book and then started reading another and what they both said connected and kind of inspired me to make this article.

The book that I just finished reading was The Grandmasters Book of Ninja Training by Soke Masaaki Hatsumi sensei. This book is a collection of interviews that Soke made to mostly non-Japanese higher grade don ranks such as Doron Navon, Jack Hoban, and Charles Daniels. This book is basically a transcription of a conversation that the don’s had with Soke and asked him questions about ninjutsu and the Bujinkan. Soke said “… I have told you all not to take any notes while you are practicing. Even if you did, it would be of no use: if you write something down, you’ll actually lose the sense of what I’m trying to teach.” Now this statement went against what has been told to me before. I have always been taught that if you want to remember something you need to makes notes of it so that you can remember it. Soke went on to say “…what really needs to be learned is the feeling, the aspect that has no form or shape.”

So were this really struck me was the next book I started reading, which is a collection of letters that were written by Takuan Sōhō, who was a Buddhist monk of a early sect of Zen Buddhism in late 1600 and early 1700 century. When he first started off he was rather controversial and not well liked. He was accepted and later rather popular in life after he became the friend, confidant, and advisor to Yagyū Sekishusai Muneyoshi who was the leader of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū of swordsmanship. In his first letter, The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom, stated “To speak in terms of your own martial art, when you first notice the sword that is moving to strike you, if you think of meeting that sword just as it is, your mind will stop at the sword in just that position, your own movements will be undone, and you will be cut down by your opponent. This is what stopping means.” Later in the letter he states “If ten men, each with a sword, come at you with swords slashing, if you parry each sword without stopping the mind at each action, and go from one to the next, you will not be lacking in a proper action for every one of the ten. Although the mind act ten times against ten men, if it does not halt at even one of them and you react to one after another, will proper action be lacking? But if the mind stops before one of these men, though you parry his striking sword, when the next man comes, the right action will have slipped away.”

Later on in the letter I think he explains a little better by saying “If one puts his mind in the action of his opponent’s body, his mind will be taken by the action of his opponent’s body. If he puts his mind in his opponent’s sword, his mind will be taken by that sword. If he puts his mind in thoughts of his opponent’s intention to strike him, his mind will be taken by thoughts of his opponent’s intention to strike him. If he puts his mind in his own sword, his mind will be taken by his own sword. If he puts his mind in his own intention of not being struck, his mind will be taken by his intention of not being struck. If he puts his mind in the other man’s stance, his mind will be taken by the other man’s stance.” So on this train of thought; If one puts his mind in his notes, his mind will be taken by his notes.

UNDERSTANDING “RADICAL” ISLAM

Can Islam be saved from the radicals who now seem to be in charge? Well, if you won’t read the books I highlight here, then through your apathy Islam is probably beyond salvation.

On this anniversary of 9-11, I want to take the time to encourage people to understand more about Islam and be educated enough to help those that seek to make it a peaceful religion instead of what it has become under groups such as ISIS.

Let me start with a quote. I hardly doubt that today many will hear words from Muslim groups about being partners against radical members of their religion and not supporting terrorism. So I start with this section taken from pages 203- 204 of Ronald Kessler's, "Secrets of the FBI."

At one meeting, A Muslim group suggested having a photo taken of their members with Bob Mueller to show their community isn't a bunch of terrorists and that they are partners in the war on terrorism. (Arthur) Cummings responded, "Let me make you a suggestion: When you bring to my attention real extremests who are here to plan and do something, who are here supporting terrorism, and I work that baed on your information, then I promise you, I will have the director stand up on the stage with you." To Cummings' amazement, the answers was, "That could never happen. We would lose our constituency. We could never admit to bringing someone to the FBI."

Kind of put things in a new light, right? Many of those that claim to speak for moderate Muslims really aren't. In fact, it has been said that the only thing an islamic group need to do to be considered moderate is to not actively preach violence. Groups like the Westboro church are considered radical christian groups because of their rejection of homosexuals, but they don't urge violence against them. Of course when ISIS tosses homosexuals off of buildings, that makes them radical muslims in the eyes of the world. But it is a fact uncovered by Greg Lukianoff in his role of defending free speech on campus is that every college muslim group he has run across has been allowed to keep homosexuals out. Think about that. A christian group that tried that would be banned for being too hateful and radical. Yet the muslim groups are allowed to follow that pattern.

Think also of what kind of people run groups that fought hard to make their schools buckle under to their discrimination of homosexuals? Would you say they are not likely to encourage tolerance of other beliefs and ways of thinking? Islam needs a reformation. With this blog I hope to get the readers to go out and increase their knowledge of the reality of Islam and help those that are trying to reform it.

To help, you need education. You need to know enough to not help the wolves in sheep's clothing such as the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that pretend to be moderate, but have been labeled terrorist organizations in some nations. My recomendations are two authors, Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi Ali for a start.Ayaan's laters book, "Heretic" is a call to reform Islam and you might want to start there. All the books by these authors (both female BTW) would be good places. You can probably find them at your bookstore or your library.

Right now, I suppose that many are going to say that they heard that they are islamaphobes and refuse to read anything by them. Let me just point out how closed minded that is. Groups like CAIR have managed to get Ayaan and Irshad bounced from TV programs, talks at universities and such by spreading such stories. And people buy it. If your first reaction is to reject the idea of reading something by them, then you have been well trained to not think for yourself by CAIR and others. Maybe it is time you challenge your beliefs and take a trip to your library.

You may think you know about islam and the groups that represent it in the states because you have watched the news. Let me ask if you know this bit taken from Ayaan's new book.

In her book, she breaks down muslims into three groups. The smallest is the reformers. The largest is what she calls the Mecca muslims. They are fairly stable, non-violent types. In between the two groups in terms of size is the Medina muslims. They are the violent, intolerant ones.

Why these names? Well, at first Muhammed set up in Mecca where his group was a very small minority among a lot of different faiths. There were even jews and early christians there, whom he tried to recruit by coming up with the story that he was the latest in a line of prophets. They rejected him and he ended up taking his group to Medina, where all the statements he made about other faiths, and christianity and judaism in particular, was very negative and rather violent.

This is relevant to your education in that islam has a tradition of considering later statements in the Koran as trumping earlier ones. The reasoning is, the more experience Mohammed had, the more accurate what he said was. It actually makes sense.

But the upshot is that all the things you have heard quoted in the Koran about being nice and tolerant pretty much come from his time in Mecca and are not as important as what he later said about things like how there can be no heaven on earth until all the jews are dead. That knowledge scares me, and it should scare you.

I don't know if they will succeed in their quest to reform islam like christianity was centuries ago. It seems to me that the deck is stacked against them by the foundation of islam by Mohammed. It is true that any religion can be perverted, but let's be honest and admit that there really aren't many cases of a nation being invaded, its women raped and its people forced to convert to buddhism. There are pedophiles hiding in the shadows of every religion, but you can find men decades older marrying 9 year old girls in Yeman and even in secret in some places like Europe. They have the justification that since Mohammed marred Aisha and had sex with her at age 9, then it is ok for everyone else. Of course, Mohammed also led raids against caravans, slaughtered unarmed prisoners, took slaves, allowed his men to rape captured prisoners and slaves and praised men who killed his critics. It seems a tough sell to tell people that what the man they think is without sin did is somehow wrong for others to do.

But we have to help those that are making the effort. They can't do it on their own. And a lot of what we do is helping the extremists. The example of the college clubs is an example. We should not tolerate groups operating on taxpayer funded institutions to discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation. We might not be fighting in the mosques, but we can at least shut down one way they are spreading their brand of hate.

Irshad Manji is openly lesbian and has a small group devoted to an islam that loves all, including her sexual orientation. She says that none of the major groups that claim to speak for muslims will accept her group. Doesn't that show that their talk of tolerance for other ways of thinking and doing things is a bunch of bull?

You really can't get the whole picture from just a blog. Please, go out and get some of the books by these authors and find out what groups like CAIR don't want you to. Challenge what Manji and Ayaan write. They would want that. But don't refuse to listen to their words. That is a tactic of those opposed to democracy and free speech.

Good Budo Is Simple. That Doesn't Mean It's Easy.

Photo Copyright Grigoris Miliaresis 2014

I had a conversation with one of my Shinto Muso Ryu students that was interesting. He was having a common issue with a core technique. He was trying to make the technique unnecessarily complicated. The technique (in this case Maki Otoshi) is difficult enough without making it complicated.

Good budo is simple. Every koryu I’ve had a chance to work with at all has been extremely simple.  Shinto Muso Ryu has 12 fundamental techniques. The more I practice and study them though, the more I believe there are only 2: a strike and a thrust.

The Shinto Hatakage Ryu Iai I do comes down to drawing and cutting. Even the defensive movements such as suri age and uke nagashi are applications of the fundamental mechanics and principles of good cutting. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.  Cut down. Reverse the motion and suri age. Maintain the relationship between arm, hand and sword and move it to the side for uke nagashi. They are all one.

Kodokan Judo has an impressive list of techniques: 65 throws, perhaps a dozen strangles, and a number of arm locks. They all manage to express the principle of 精力善用, or “maximum efficiency minimum effort” as it is most commonly translated. The throws, all of them, from big throws like seioinage and kata guruma to subtle foots sweeps like  de ashi harai to the seemingly impossible uki otoshi all rely on the principle of kuzushi. The more I study, more I see kuzushi as a simple thing, rather than many different movements I was taught for achieving kuzushi when doing various throws.

Good budo is always simple. I can do all of the jo kata from Shinto Muso Ryu in about 20 minutes. The iai kata of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu can be done in a similar amount of time. The kenjutsu kata of Muso Shinden Ryu can be done in about 10 minutes. There is nothing complicated in any of them. Iai kata are all “draw and cut” or sometimes “draw and cut several times.”  Jo kata, no matter how advanced all come back to those 12 fundamental techniques.

A good question to ask is “Why is good budo always simple?” Simple has several advantages. First, it’s easier to teach and learn. For iai, if you only have one grip on the sword, and you always use the sword the same way, you can learn it much faster than if you have multiple grips and a variety of ways to handle the swords in different situations.

Simple is smoother and more stable. Short, simple, uncomplicated actions are smoother to carry out and leave less room for mistakes. Complexity creates weak points. If I’m doing sword and I have to repeatedly change my grip I create an opening every time I have to change my grip. There is a moment during each grip change when my control of the sword is weak because I have to let go to make the change. If my opponent attacks at the moment there is nothing I can do since I don’t have a solid grip on my weapon, and she will defeat me easily.  The same goes for footwork.  Judo footwork is stunningly simple and uncomplicated. We avoid doing anything complicated that involves crossing our feet. The whole time our feet are crossed, we are standing on one point instead of two, making us unstable and vulnerable.  Complex is weak because it has many connections or joints where it can be attacked. Simple is stronger because it has fewer suki, openings, to attack.

Good budo is based around a few basic principles and movements that can be deployed in an exceptionally broad variety of situations.  Good budo almost never focuses on principles or movements that can only be used in a very few situations. The focus is on making the broadest possible use of the fewest learned movements. That makes each system much more efficient and effective.

Simple systems are easier to apply and use. If I have to choose from dozens of very different techniques, the possibility of me mixing elements of two techniques and ending up with neither increases quickly.  With simple, consistent systems, the techniques are built on a single, common foundation.  This common foundation makes the elements of the different techniques common, which means that there is little to mix up or confuse between techniques, and flowing from one technique to the next is easier because the fundamental elements of all the techniques are the same.

Complex techniques open up another set of problems. Every additional step required for a technique multiplies the opportunity for making a mistake by an order of magnitude. The best techniques are as simple as possible, creating no extra space for mistakes and getting the job done quickly and efficiently.

Simple techniques are also just faster. A two step technique takes twice as long to perform as a one step technique.  A three step technique takes three times as long. The longer it takes to finish a technique, the more opportunity there is for Murphy’s Law to come into play. I don’t about know about anyone else, but I don’t want to give Murphy the least chance to interfere.

As my student was discovering though, simple does not mean easy. It takes a lot of work to develop the most fundamental skills. For me, the most difficult technique in Kodokan Judo is the first technique from the first kata people learn, uki otoshi. After 29 years, I finally feel like I’m beginning to understand it. It’s as pared down and simple as a technique can be. It’s also as difficult to do right as anything I’ve ever tried. My version of Occam’s Razor is “The simplest budo is the best budo.”

Most people would agree that skill is the ability to do something with a degree of proficiency. The more proficiently you can do the thing, the more skilful you are at that thing. But what is skill exactly?

One of the great secrets of budo – something that is truly ‘hiden’ but which is so simple it’s hidden in plain sight is this – skill is acquired through repetitive practice, not through acquiring new information.

It’s actually pretty obvious, but often people misunderstand it. It’s not about how much you know, it’s about how deeply you know what you know. Depth in this regard means how deeply you’ve explored it or in the context of budo, how many times have you done it.

And not just how any times have you done a thing, but how many times have you done that thing correctly?

If you only train at a dojo two or three times a week and don’t otherwise do any practice, the truth is it’s going to take you quite a long time to become skilful. The dojo is somewhere you should go to acquire new information, to error check your existing understanding and to make sure you’re on the right path.

It’s NOT where you go to become skilful – it’s where you acquire the tools to do that for yourself, in your own time at home.

Sure, just going to the dojo is better than nothing and everyone has periods of their lives where they’re very busy and it’s basically the best they can do to just make class. But even five or ten minutes a day of personal practice adds up and who doesn’t have that?

Alex Meehan

Source : http://happobiken.com/index.php/blog/entry/building-skill

Budo Isn't life.  It's training for life.  

I was reading an article about a writer who became a carpenter, but didn’t stop writing, and it made me think about the mistake I sometimes see people make with budo.  Budo is a Way, and as ways go, I think it is a great one.  You can explore strength and conflict, peace and stability, action and quietude, moving with things without being moved by them, and many other points that are important in life. For all that, budo is not life.

I’ve see a number of people over the years who become so involved with training in budo that they let the rest of their lives go to hell.  They often become fabulous martial artists, but their personal lives are train wrecks, with disasters everywhere. These are people who make the mistake of putting budo training above everything else in their life. Budo is training for life. When you let the practice become so large that it squeezes out everything else, including the application of the training to your real life, you have completely missed the point. In fact, you’ve failed as a budoka.

Budo only has meaning in the context of a complete life.  When your training gets in the way of a complete life, you should be asking what’s wrong. If your only friends are people you train with, why don’t you have time for anyone else? If budo has replaced all your recreational activities, why are you becoming so one faceted? If budo is the only thing you enjoy, why is that?

Budo is difficult. Training is hard work. That’s fine, it should be. If you are training so hard that your only relationships are with your training partners, maybe something’s wrong there.  One of the lessons of budo is not that training is hard work. The lesson is that life is hard work, and if work hard at it, you can do good things. Good relationships take hard work. If you’re spending all your time in the dojo, you’re avoiding the relationships that you need to be working on. Good relationships with friends, family, coworkers and partners takes at least as much hard work as training in the dojo.  

Letting budo training squeeze all other relationships out of your day-to-day life is a sign that there are things you need to work on. The problem can be lots of different things. You could be avoiding difficult situations that you’re not good at and you don’t feel comfortable with. You could be focusing on doing something that makes you feel good and gives you a sense of accomplishment to the detriment of maintaining healthy relationships.  I admit, maintaining healthy relationships isn’t something you can brag about. You don’t say “Yeah, I put my wife’s wishes ahead of my own and did those dishes instead of an extra set of kata last night.”  It just doesn’t sound as cool as “Dude, I pushed myself and squeezed in two extra kata sets last night.  I was completely wiped out!”  Maintaining good relationships just doesn’t work as bragging and ego building material.

Budo training is hard work and the returns are slow and difficult.  If you are letting budo training muscle everything else out of your life though, what are you really getting out of your training? If you are learning it for self defense, but you’ve given up every other part of your life to train, what’s left to defend?  Make a full life so you have something really worth defending, friends and relationships and people who love and value you. A life with nothing but dojo training in it doesn’t build anything of value, and all that training never has a chance to contribute to the world. Budo is a Way, a Do, 道, that reveals better ways to travel the path of life. You can’t travel that path in the dojo. You have to go out the door and interact with all parts of life, even the boring ones, the ones that don’t do anything for your ego, and especially the ones that are hard for you.  The lessons of the dojo aren’t really learned until you start applying them.

Girls heading to Kyudo practice in Japan. Photo Copyright 2015 Grigoris Miliaresis

Budo training should help us conquer our egos. Budo training is an ongoing lesson in doing the hard work that doesn’t have quick returns and isn’t glorious. I’ve been beating my head against the wall of kata that make up Shinto Muso Ryu lately.  It’s not easy to remember all those kata, and to keep each branching straight in your head so you don’t accidentally slip from one kata into another at a juncture that is similar in more than one kata. On the other hand, this is so fundamental to the art that nobody is ever going to pat me on the back and tell me “Good job Pete.” just because I remembered the proper sequence of steps. If I can’t remember those, we can’t get to the real practice.

I don’t get any ego polishing from this. It’s just part of the training.  In fact, the longer I practice, the less ego polishing I get from any of the training.  It’s something I do because of the way it informs and improves the rest of my life. Budo is about dealing with conflict in it’s rawest, most straightforward form.  The same strategies and tactics and practices apply to life though, both in the way we train in budo, and what we are training.

We go to the dojo and we train. Training feels good and I enjoy it just for its own sake.  That’s a lesson right there.  Enjoy things for their own sake. It’s something that’s easy to forget to do.

The training teaches me to deal with the discomfort and pain and exertion required to get good at budo. This is perhaps the most basic lesson we should be getting out of budo practice. It’s also the easiest to ignore. It’s a lot easier to put forth the exertion, to put up with the discomfort and the pain, for something I really enjoy doing than it is to apply that lesson to something that doesn’t have the immediate reward of being something I love to do. Having cultivated that ability to endure pain and discomfort though, it becomes an ability I need to make use of nearly every day outside the dojo.

The effort necessary to maintain good relationships isn’t easy. Sometimes it is downright uncomfortable, and even emotionally painful. If I can exert myself in the dojo, than I can put similar effort into being a good human being with those around me.  It’s not easy.  I know there are several people in my life that I would love to smash, or at least be rude to and then ignore.  

http://www.budogu.com/Default.asp

That’s not good budo though. Good budo extends those lessons everywhere in your life. You take that ability to exert yourself, and you make effort to endure emotionally uncomfortable and even painful situations and treat people well. Every practice we work on remaining calm and undisturbed while people attack us physically. Shouldn’t we be making the same effort to remain calm and undisturbed when people attack verbally and emotionally? Is it any wiser to allow someone to manipulate you verbally or emotionally outside the dojo than it is to let people manipulate you physically in the dojo?

If your focus is only on getting better at your budo so you can defeat others in competition, you’ve completely missed the point.  Budo training isn’t about defeating others in any sort of competition, it’s about improving yourself.  If your reason for training is only to defeat others in a game, you have already defeated the purpose of the training. The lessons are not lessons about winning a game.  They are lessons about life.

If you’re only applying the lessons about structure and ma’ai and timing in the dojo, you’ve missed out. All situations have structure and ma’ai and timing. A good life really requires that we apply the lessons of perseverance and endurance and continuous effort for improvement to all aspects of our lives, not just the ones that we are comfortable with. In fact, that’s probably a good clue about where you need to apply the lessons you’ve learned in the dojo. If there is an aspect of your life that you’re not comfortable with and that you keep avoiding, it might be time to apply the lessons of budo to that area of your life.

The newly revised and hugely expaned edition of Old School by Ellis Amdur If you’re doing budo all the time because it’s what you’re good at, I’ve got bad news.  You’re going to to have to get good at other things to be a good budoka.  Even in ancient Japan people recognized that someone who is only good at budo isn’t a well-developed person.  The phrase 文武両道 bunbu ryodo stretches back to at least the Kamakura era. It means roughly “martial and academic are both of the Way.”  Even then it was recognized that a person who only mastered martial arts was not complete.

In the dojo, we train to be able to handle someone trying to crush us with their strength. We practice remaining calm as our partner is trying to hit us with their hands, a stick, a chain, a sword. We strive to remain cool and relaxed while people attack. If we can do that in the dojo, but we can’t do that in stressful, uncomfortable situations outside the dojo, we’ve completely missed the point our our training. To be true to the training of budo, we have to strive to apply the same lessons we practice in the dojo to every corner of our lives.

Budo should compliment all the other aspects of our lives, and help us improve them. It should never become so dominant that it squeezes the rest of life out. Even professional martial artists need a life beyond the dojo. It’s worth noting that one of the greatest martial arts teachers of all time, Yagyu Munenori, was known not only for his budo, but he was also known for singing and performing Noh theatre. Many budo teachers in Japan are known far outside budo circles. Kaminoda Tsunemori of Shinto Muso Ryu is recognized for the excellence of his calligraphy.

If you do budo right, it is very much that dangerous road that Bilbo Baggins told Frodo about ““It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  It will creep into every corner of your life and force you to face those parts you aren’t confident about, and work to polish them just as much or more than it demands that your polish your strikes, cuts, and throws.

If you’re serious about doing budo, you have to get out of the dojo and have life. You have to work at making that life a good one, and making yourself better in each aspect of your life. Real budoka don’t hide from the world in the dojo. Real budoka train, take a shower, and then go out and engage their life and the people in it, while applying the lessons of the dojo to all the difficult, uncomfortable parts to make them better.

Awhile ago I got the great pleasure of attending a seminar by Shihan Mundo Ruiz Tapia. I am not going to go into long winded details about what kata we studied or anything else that you should really just be learning from your sensei, but I will say that it was a great class and I learned a lot. I say class because I picked up a nail coming home Saturday night so I couldn't return on Sunday. No this article is going to go over two major things that I learned from not the martial parts of the art themselves but what I learned from how Sensei Mundo teaches and trains.

One of the major criticism of the Bujinkan is that the training speed is and for the longest time I figured that it moves slow for beginners and to avoid injury. As a beginner though it's really easy to see that a couple inches can make all the difference in some of our techniques. I personally have one particular kata that I can never manage to get unless I go super slow and make sure that my arm gets exactly in the right spot. I can hear all the detractors now, "If you can't do it slow how could you possibly do it at combat speed!?"

Well you see at this point I am not expected to do anything at combat speed, I am still just trying to learn the forms. I shouldn't even be thinking about using anything I have learned in this art in any form of combat. I need to be concerned with just learning them right. If there is one thing that you learn from firearms training, it's muscle memory. You do something enough times your body will soon learn to do it correctly over and over without thinking about it. So as Sensei Mundo pointed out you do everything slowly in training so that you can get it without any mistakes. You take your time and do the kata correctly over and over again. In doing so you are teaching your body the correct way of moving for the forms so that when and if the time comes you can do the forms CORRECTLY at combat speed without thinking. I was frankly amazed that I never caught on to this before because it's the exact same training methodology that is used in the army today. What is the use of learning a technique if you move to fast, learn it incorrectly, and then when the time comes your Budo is completely off causing your moves to fail. You would be shooting yourself in the foot and frankly waisting your time in even trying to learn it.

Up until I started practicing ninjutsu the only weapon I ever had a chance to even play with was tanbo (aka kempo sticks) and besides that all I really ever saw was stuff from movies. That’s not to say that I have never wanted to learn how to use them. Who hasn’t wanted to use a katana, a bo, or my favorite the sai? There is always a certain amount of elegance and beauty comes from martial arts weapons. A sense of water that comes from using a weapon as an extension of your own body.

In contrast I consider empty handed combat to feel very earthy. The two provide an interesting contrast. So much of the art has its roots grounded in a heavy earth feeling. The wide low stances, quick strikes, rigid blocks, using gravity against your enemy, and even going as far as using a enemies own earth energy (weight) against them. Then you take a weapon and the movement ties together in a different way. You don’t feel the earth power you are using more of water or air, depending on the weapon.

A couple weeks back we did a class with a hanbo and let me tell you I am in love. Small weapon that is fast moving and can strike like a typhoon. I never thought that such a small thing could be used as a tool to move people, take someone out with a strike, or grab them and lock them where you want them. I now see why police forces still use them, they are a strong, versatile, and hard hitting tool. I actually carry one around in my car with me.

Fast forward another couple classes and we worked with the Bo. Bo was pretty difficult for me to get a grasp on. I have never really worked with a weapon that large before. I feel that I learned a lot with it though. For the most part after doing something three of four times normally I get it down, for the most part, and then after that I don’t really have to concentrate on doing it anymore because muscle memory takes over. Now so much for me with this weapon, I had to try and think though every single movement because I kept wanting to grab it the wrong way. I can see its power and I know that with more practice I can truly start to see its potential.

Last weapon we have been working on lately has been the Sword (ie katana). This is the weapon that everyone dreams of. Every kid takes a mop handle and pretends it’s a sword. I guess that I was weird because I was the only kid pretending it was a katana. I was the only one standing in On No Kamae while everyone else had broad swords in full (imaginary) plate armor. With all that aside I had never actually had a chance to learn anything with swords. The closest I ever got was samurai movies and anime. So after a couple classes of working with a bokken I can honestly say that I love it. It’s simple, elegant, fluid, powerful, and crazy fun. I now see the appeal of doing things like kendo.

You hear no footfalls

From the enclosing darkness,

Now I have expressed it before and I will more than likely express it again, I do not like trying to learn martial arts from a book. It is so easy look at something and then think you know what the move or kata is and you end up missing a very important part. Over the years I have met several so called library martial arts masters. Oh they studied from this book and that book and they have practice so much, but when it really comes down to it they have no idea what they are doing. That doesn't really stop people in this day and age anymore. Many people take no pride in what they do, they just want a title of black belt or master, but that’s a topic for another time.

 With all that said this book made me understand something, that if a book is done right it can be a great tool for learning a martial art. Mind you I said tool, not guide. Even as good as this book is I still wouldn't want to try and learn from it alone. With that said this book is the best I have seen for any martial arts books.

 No black and white photos that are hard to tell what is going on. The type doesn't look like it’s the 30th copy off of a Xerox machine. All the photos are in color and take up most the almost every page. Every move and kata looks like it was taken with a high speed camera and they went through and took out the best stills. As you go along there are small text portions that explain small details of what you should be doing. These are the items that you normally miss with the old martial arts books.

 It’s not just the quality of the book that makes it worth it, it is also the info that it contains. If you look at many ninjutsu and Bujinkan books you will quickly realize small things like the fact that a ton of them will list the 9 schools of the Bujinkan but not many of them explain what the schools teach. This book also has information on many aspects of Bujinkan that are missed by many dojos, books, and courses. So few of our resources go into talking anything about stealth, medicine, climbing, etc. You know the skills that played 95% of a Shinobi No Mono actual job. Last thing I will say about the content is that most the time you have to buy a book about empty hand fighting, then you would have to get another book for a type of weapon, and then another book for another type of weapon. This book covers the basics of almost every Bujinkan style.

I am Ninja

My Magic is Training

My Body is Control

My Strength is Adaptability

My Weapons are Everything That Exists

My Way is Ninjutsu

aka To find a dummy

Ok so I have been looking into a way to practice kata at home. The major problem that I ran into that so many of Bujinkans forms involve a joint lock and then taking your opponent to the ground. So that means that I need something that can be thrown around and I need something with arms. On top of all that the joints need to be able to lock.

So for this I toyed with a couple ideas so far. I first looked into a grappling dummy, but majority of those are only meant for BJJ and only one or two actually stand by themselves. When I was looking at those they cost a ton of money and most of them have arms that are basically stuffed and will flop around. The major problem is getting them to stay standing and then release when I throw them. So I was looking into some kind quick release system. Basically it adds up to a ton of money.

Next thing I looked at was heavy bags. Most of them are have to be hung and then cannot be thrown. So that leaves free standing bags. There are a couple that can be taken down but I did find one new type of bag that is made by Century that is free standing, can be tossed around, also can be used for striking. So that solves the problem of something to hit, all I need now is some way to have arms for it. So after looking around for longer than I am willing to admit I found a set of arms.

Alright so at last class something dawned on me, I have a very long road ahead. I came into this thinking that "Oh hell I did other forms of martial arts this won't be that hard." Holy shit was I wrong. I have to relearn how to move, when to move, and in which direction to move in. I step in when I should step out, I try to use muscle when I should be trying to just move my body, and in general I just tend to move in the direction that is wrong. Most of it comes from muscle memory, year after year of knowing that I need to move like this and now I need to move like that.

I think most of it stems from knowing styles that rely on muscle power. Things like hit hard, kick harder, and get in close and take them down. Now it's about taking their balance, use them against themselves, and doing as much damage as possible with using as little energy as possible. I am not used to having to go so slow to try and catch on to everything. It can be frustrating to not catch on to things like you are use to.

Bright and cold, the flash of steal

as I lay in desolated fields

My sword I need no longer

Ok so someone is going to ask on out of all the ninjutsu ryu out there how did I decide on the style at I would study and overall what did I end up choosing to study and how to study it.

 Let's start by saying that there are a TON of different things saying that they are ninjutsu. You have Budo Ryu Ninjutsu, Dux Ryu Ninjutsu, Genbukan, Banke Shinobinden, Nindo Ryu Bujutsu Kai, To-Shin Do, and finally Bujinkan. Now with all of these styles each one has their own drama, most of it that involves internet trolls or some form of pointing fingers saying that "your styles is not real!!!!". So when I started looking at all the different styles I decided that I would try to look at each style for with an open mind. I was trying to look at each one and determine myself via authenticity, locations of dojos, online support, history, style, and cost.

One of the major things that I wanted was an actual dojo were I could train. I have learned from experience that books don't work and I am hesitant to try to train by video alone. If push came to shove I would train via a at home kit and then try to use seminars as a stop-gap. Next thing I looked at was authenticity. But let's start by saying that locations of dojos knocked out a ton styles. There are some styles that are located only in California, here, or there. Basically in a location that I am not going to be at anytime soon and I am sorry I will not move my entire family for a dojo, sorry but I am not rich.

Next came authenticity, I am sorry but even a layman can look at some of these styles and say that they are not ninjutsu in any way. Some of the schools are somewhat believable and the only real way to tell was to actually study under the school. While some of the schools you look at have a clear lineage. After this step that narrowed down the schools to I think three.

So overall I decided to study the Bujinkan, but I was in the situation that dojos are spread out all over the US almost none of them are connected with each other, there is no one site online that lists them all, some are not listed on any site, some are only spread by word of mouth, and some have instructors that less than reputable. So while I spent the next three months trying to find a physical dojo I decided that I would try to get a head start by using a video study program.

After looking at many online programs I narrowed it down to Shidan Richard Van Donks black belt home program, Stephen K. Hayes To-Shin Do online program, Budo Ryu Ninjutsu online dojo, or Shihan Mark Roemke's online dojo. All of these programs are either pure Bujinkan or based on Bujinkan. So when picking these was the big problem of cost, quality of training, and the ability to gain real ranks. My first choice was Shidan Donks program but sadly the cost of his programs are very high. $300 bucks might not be much for some people but honestly that a bit much for me to just drop on martial arts training, something that my wife doesn't really consider a priority in our life.

So after much deliberation I decided that I would go with To-Shin Do online course. Overall I am very happy with it. They have a low monthly cost, good quality videos, but no way to test for rank. As time goes on I might go through and look at another program to back this up but for now with is serving me just fine.

Ok so first off let me say that I love history. Even in my teens when I would skip all my classes I would go back to school for history class. Let's be honest though sometimes historians don't use common sense. Personally have nothing against Anthony Cummins, never met the guy. From the information I can find online he is a historian that took up an obsession with ninjas and samurai. He at one time, by his own statements, studied Bujinkan at one time.

Mr. Cummins has actually done some great things for the ninjutsu community. For all of you who do not know Anthony Cummins is an anthropologist and author. He founded the “Historical Ninjutsu Research Team” with a goal of studying what his team can find of the old ninja scrolls. He and his team have published the translations of The Shoninki, The Bansenshukai, The Shinobi Hiden, and a collection of Iga and Koka ninja scrolls. For anyone who is trying to study past just the martial arts of ninjutsu these books are a must have. For English speakers like myself they are the only real connection we have besides the martial studies to the original ninjas.

Where I start to have a problem with Mr. Cummins is that he has made continually made statements saying that ninjutsu is not and does not contain any form of martial studies. He has gone as far as to say that Bujinkan is fake, which is fine it’s not like he would be the first to say that. You have to understand I really disagree with Mr. Cummins on a professional level and not a person one like many people do. He has stated that has been called the great betrayer something or another. I have also been told stories that he has out of the Bujinkan for whatever reason. To be completely honest I don’t really care that much.

The major holes that I have with his theory about ninjutsu have any form of budo is that he states that ninja were in fact samurai class. While I can see that this is true for later era japan I have a hard time believing that all the other research done before his was wrong about ninjas coming from the peasant families of the Iga and Koka regions. My second major misgiving about his theories about a ninjutsu budo not existing is that it is frankly moronic to think that ninjas wouldn’t develop their own fighting style among their own people, if it was based on other form of martial arts or not is beside the point. Why wouldn’t it be in writing then? We’ll let see here for one it’s extremely hard to learn any form of martial art through pictures and writing. Hell I don’t even consider video a proper way to learn martial arts. You have to at least in part learn from an actual person. So much of their manuals already have huge sections that just cut off because they were only transferred orally. So why a martial art of the ninja wouldn’t be transferred orally is beyond me.