Hiding Behind Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae

Seeing Totoku Hiyoshi No Kamae for the first time can be misleading. Usually a student's first exposure to this kamae is seeing someone hold a sword out in front of themselves while someone else throws shuriken at them. Then the instructor hands the sword to you and says, "Next."

by eflon

This aspect of Totoku is often perceived as one of those quirky things in our training that we may try out, but never take seriously. After all, who has had to dodge shuriken for real? I'm not counting the dishes your girlfriend threw at you during a recent argument. Maybe you try this out, maybe block a few rubber shuriken and then forget it.

Totoku forms part of some very rich strategy in our art. And the more you look for it, the more you will encounter. I personally have heard Hatsumi Sensei reference it many times, and it wasn't anything to do with shuriken blocking. It is a running theme in our taijutsu that has to be experienced from a qualified teacher.

Maybe a starting place to understand this kamae can be from the Tachi. This sword was mainly held in one hand. There was little tradition of handheld shields in Japanese Budo. So how do you deal with incoming arrows, spears, or enemy sword attacks? You use your own sword. The first use of the sword is to protect yourself before cutting. It becomes your first line of defense and your shield.

What if you don't have a sword? The idea of Totoku goes even deeper. It moves into the idea of hiding yourself behind a shield. But what is a shield? Soke speaks about this in reference to Goton No Jutsu:

Examine the character for "Ton" as used above in Tongyo ("hiding one's form"; or alternatively, "the discretion doctrine"), and you can discover it to be a combination of the characters "fleeing" with a "shield" - just as along the path of Ninpo. The priciple of recognizing the value gained by winning through flight is one of Ninjutsu's cardinal rules. However it is not simply a question of escaping. What can one use as a shield? One can use:

the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water)
the Five Rings
the Five Ways (the way of enlightenment)
the Five Arts
the Five Teachings
the Five Confucian Virtues (benevolence, rightousness, prosperity, wisdom, and sincerity)
Nature
the shining (or shadowed) glory of the martial ways
beliefs
politics (or rather policies for life)

the shields are multiple and varied.

Soke says on another occasion,

Everything is a natural shield. So, anything can be a natural shield. One should move in a connected way like Juppo Sessho, and Koteki Ryoda which include these teachings. Such things are written in old Japanese scrolls.

And finally, I watched one day as Soke was demonstrating some of his mysterious muto dori, and he explained, "You must evade by the thickness of air. Use the air as your shield."

Comments

Japan Report Seven 令和5年

I began the morning in a hurry because I had to get to the dojo early. My days in Japan are very busy. I run and gun to fit in all of the classes, recording my video reports in between. And I still have to find time for food, laundry, sleep, as well as tourism and shopping. Today I planned three classes, Furuta Sensei, Nagase Sensei, and Noguchi Sensei. But I didn’t have time to review my notes until the next morning in a cafe. The coffee sure helped. The FULL video review can be found here: https://www.rojodojo.com/japan-report-seven-reiwa-five/ The first class was at the Bujinkan Honbu dojo with Furuta Sensei. We began class wearing a lot of knives. He said you should wear at least 9 knives. He didn’t mean that literally but the number 9 implies an infinite amount. So you have the ability to respond or attack infinitely. He kept hiding behind the attack of his opponents. I learned this approach from him a few years ago during our study of 雲隠流 Kumogakure Ryū in ...

Japan Report Six 令和5年

I was invited to Furuta Sensei’s home dojo out in the countryside. He is very generous and picked us up from the train station. The only problem is that he plays a Lady Gaga CD on repeat during the drive. Furuta’s home dojo is very rustic with traditional tatami mats. He started training with ukemi and my cotton tabi really slid across the straw! His exploration of 基本八法 Kihon Happō is influenced by his study of 雲隠流 Kumogakure Ryū. As the next Soke of Kumogakure Ryū, he is hard at work learning and studying this school. And I feel lucky to be part of this journey every time I study with him. At one point he showed a detail of how to attack the 急所 kyūsho 血止 chidome and 血ダメ chidame. The name of this kyūsho means to stop the blood. Obviously this would incapacitate an opponent if you pull it off. But Furuta Sensei used a hooking strike into chidome to unbalance with one finger. The kyūsho becomes a 支点 shiten. The pressure creates a pivot or a fulcrum to affect the oppon...

Japan Report Four 令和5年

I start off my Japan Report Four video going to Hatsumi Sensei’s house and the Bujinkan Honbu office. I do this on every trip because this is how I submit my rank paperwork for my students. In the video I talk about my “secret” route to his house. I also recall past times when I could just visit and have tea with Soke. During my walk to his house, I review some of my notes from old classes with Soke. During one class he said 自分の第六感兼ねあいうち Jibun no dairokkan kane aiuchi. This is when you make your intuition match reality. Or, more directly, your intuition is combined with something concrete such as a strike. Later in that same class, Hatsumi Sensei said 意識をさせない Ishiki o Sasenai. He was telling us not to allow our opponents to sense our intentions. Don’t put out any intention for your opponent to read. I thought it was fascinating to think about dairokkan and the use of intuition while also hiding your intentions. Hatsumi Sensei’s classes were full of subtle lessons lik...

Bujinkan Santa Monica

Search This Blog