Ninja Day Today

Today is apparently international Ninja Day (I don't know who decided it) so have some ninja fun. We'll be training tonight as we always do on Mondays, so it's a perfect time to get some training in.

武 "Bu," To Stop War

Recently my Sensei came to our dojo for a weekend-long seminar. Two full days of amazing training. During the seminar he spoke about the Japanese character (kanji) 武 "Bu." 武 Bu is usually translated as war, or martial. He said this is a more modern definition for the word. The original use of the kanji 武 Bu means, "to stop war."

武 Bu is the first kanji in the name of our martial art, 武神館 Bujinkan. The kanji 神 Jin (or Kami) means divine or enlightened, it can even mean God. The kanji 館 Kan means a castle or hall. Typically, the Bujinkan is translated to mean the Hall of the Enlightened Warrior, or Hall of the Divine Warrior. With the understanding of this older meaning of the word 武 Bu, we can translate Bujinkan as: the dojo of stopping war with God.

Now, we can do a bit of word play simply using a comma. If we write the name of the Bujinkan using a comma so it reads: the dojo of stopping war, with God, then it means that with the aid of God we work to stop war. If we write it without the comma, we can interpret it to mean that we are learning to stop warring against God.

There is a high level of martial thinking called Shin Gi Tai. These can be referred to as the divine techniques, techniques learned from heaven. If one is to ever reach this level in their training, they must stop fighting against the will of heaven, trust that heaven has better plans than we do, and follow the path of enlightenment. Then the Shin Gi Tai can be made usable in us.

So, no matter how you translate Bujinkan, our studies take us beyond the physical training of martial arts, or war arts. Our Soke of the Bujinkan has said, "I'm not teaching you how to fight. I am teaching you how to control evil." This is the essence of our training in the dojo.

Seeing but not perceiving

This is a story from Michael Glen of Santa Monica Bujinkan. It was in an email he shared. Here is his blog page to read more from him if you would like: http://bujinkansantamonica.blogspot.com/

The reason I'm sharing his story is because often times we watch Soke and cannot perceive everything he does. Just because we cannot see something, does not mean it isn't real. This happens often with Soke, his movements are so subtle it is almost impossible to always see and understand what he is doing. 

"In one class I was training with my friend Yabunaka San. Hatsumi Sensei put a sword in his belt and asked Yabu to try to grab it. Then Hatsumi Sensei drew and turned the blade just enough so that Yabunaka's arm slid across the edge.

If that wasn't bad enough, suddenly Yabunaka yelped and few through the air. It was confusing as an observer. Hatsumi Sensei said "If you don't remember this kind of movement here then these weapons won't come alive."

When Yabunaka returned to train with me, he was rubbing his arm to make the pain stop. He wanted to show me what Soke had done to him. Lucky me... It turns out that after Soke forced Yabu to cut himself on the blade, Soke quickly resheathed his weapon. This had the lovely effect of pinching Yabu's forearm skin between the saya and the blade.

No wonder he yelped! This is why understanding Soke's budo is difficult because you may not see it. You must experience it directly or train with someone who has."
--Michael Glenn
From his Rojodojo email newsletter sent 9/22/2016

Kukan

Kukan is a Japanese term for the empty space, but there is so much more to this concept than just empty space alone. This is the space you move within, the space where you create techniques in response to the way the fight shapes, the puzzle you fit within as Nagato Sensei describes. This is also the space through which you project your intentions. We are always playing with the Kukan in class, even if one is not always aware of this. How the Kukan is shaped during a conflict is vital to understanding how to move and what to do. It is also what allows you to perform the techniques we train in the dojo.

Michael Glenn writes about this in his blog, for further reading I'll post the link to his blog because it is really a good post. Here is a quote from Soke he shares: "You've got to play in the space here. Be able to move freely, make your own kukan. Move with the opponent in the moment in a friendly fashion."

How does one make their own Kukan? You have your own space, it is not simply the Uke that creates the space. Think on the SanShin. Think of each of the waza in this kata. The Uke attacks, we move in the space, that is first and foremost, and there is some form of defense. But this shouldn't be though of as a block or deflection, it creates Kukan as well. So does your attack, but your attack will change based on the Kukan from your defense and from the Uke's response also (because an attacker won't stop after their first strike). So, you strike through the Kukan, strike the Kukan itself. Understanding this will make you far more efficient and effective.

For Budo Like Soup

Ah Soup, it is a wonderful concoction that every culture in the world has at least one version of. Soup is what made it possible for humans to eat certain vegetables in their diet that were normally too tough to eat alone, improving the health of the cultures that learned to cook vegetables in pots with water.

Have you ever tried to share your favorite soup with someone. Especially one that is very good, and they just don't like it, they prefer their own? This is a bit of a metaphor, but I think you know what I'm talking about. Once, I entered a small community chili contest. I didn't have any aspirations to win, I mostly just wanted to share my chili with my friends and acquaintances in this group (ok, I thought I had a good chance of winning too). I bought prime rib (yes, I was going for overkill) and seared it before braising it for four hours. No ground beef for my chili. I made the chili flavoring from actual chilis, seven different varieties. I flame roasted them, then pureed them. Instead of sugar, I used chocolate to sweeten the chili. When it was done, I was super proud. And throughout the night, people kept telling me how amazing my chili was. There were other chilis I tasted that I thought were going to give mine a run for first prize (I asked them how they made their chili and got some good ideas, and they asked me how I made mine and I shared also).

I didn't even place though. Neither did the ones that I thought were also really good. The judges were just some random people asked to do the judging and they all liked the watery chilis with corn and ground beef in them (that was the first prize winner) or with lots of different beans but standard chili seasoning (second prize). Those ones were the ones that won. Those judges liked what they liked, and it didn't matter beyond that. I even had a friend years later tell me about a chili contest he entered for his church. He bought two different brands of canned chili from the store, dumped them together in a pot, added some extra seasoning to it like garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder, and he won the blue ribbon and the home made quilt that went with first prize!

So, what does this have to do with Budo? Quite a lot. It also has a lot to do with religion. Budo and religion are very similar in many ways. Have you ever tried to discuss religion with someone when you are both on very different sides? It's nearly impossible. Everyone likes their own soup and they are fine with that. Hey, even a boring soup is still better than the ingredients alone (hopefully anyway, lol!). So, when a person who is dead set on their way of thinking, it is so hard to change it. Even if you do some actual sparring and beat the person silly, they will still think their martial art is superior in many cases. I've seen this so many times, I just had this happen this past weekend when talking about the difference between Budo and sport fighting with someone that also is a teacher.

It was a friendly discussion with some very light sparring. I had the upper hand each time and stopped at the moment of the very serious strike or break. It didn't matter, this person still thought the sport art was better. In only a very few instances have I had someone say, "wow, I've never seen it like that before, that's really cool." Usually, they are still dead set on thinking what ever art they study is still superior. So, just enjoy your own soup, and remain open to what other people have to offer. You can still pick up something. Don't be like the person who refuses to give up their way of thinking, even when it is literally beat into their skull. Or when they say their way of striking is superior and you let them have a free shot and it does nothing, so they switch and say "well, then I'd do this," and it doesn't work, or this, and it doesn't work, and then the time for free shots is over and you move in and stop short of really hurting them, and they still don't see the problem with their training, there is no longer a point in trying to help them see a better way. So, here is a mantra to live by when discussing Budo with someone who does sport fighting. Just ask them, "Do you enjoy what you do?" And they say, yes. "Well, good then." And leave it there. As with religion, only people who are open to accepting new ideas will understand Budo and want to learn more because they will be seeking it out.

Are there other factors? Of course. Such as the particular skill of the person being a larger factor than their art. Am I as biased, quite likely. But I found this art after doing sport fighting and spent a couple years just exploring martial arts and that was when I found the Bujinkan and haven't had a reason to look back.