Nagato Sensei: A Very Strong Nurse

Nagato Sensei with Michael Glenn

During the Kunoichi Taikai, Soke asked Vanessa Adán to show some things from her experience dealing with mentally disturbed or drugged patients at a hospital. Patients are often bigger and stronger than the nurses who have to deal with them. Especially for smaller women nurses.

Patients may act violently and react with aggression. Hatsumi Sensei suggested that we learn to

"Move in such a way that the opponent doesn't resist. He doesn't continue to fight or create more agrression."

Of course in these jobs, one of the key challenges is to calm, subdue, or control the patient without injury to them or the staff. This can be difficult in a chaotic situation where accidents may occur. Another strategy Soke gave us was,

"to move in such a way that it doesn't give the opponent any feeling. Once you feel something, you need to be able to change. Otherwise there will be an accident or something will happen. Move in such a way that you're not a catalyst for an accident."

Sensei also advised us to use our surroundings. For example using a chair to unbalance or as a barrier between yourself and the opponent. He said,

"This is important, because the obstacle… the chair becomes a weapon."

Since there were no chairs on the mats at Ayase, Sensei asked Nagato to be a chair. Nagato crouched down on all fours. This itself was a lesson to everyone.

I've seen Hatsumi Sensei ask his senior students to do things that are somewhat embarrassing or seemingly beneath someone of their stature. Yet, they never seem fazed or unwilling to cooperate. They have so much respect for their teacher, and Sensei always makes these requests without ego or pretense. I don't think Nagato would very likely pose as a piece of furniture for anyone else except Soke.

So Nagato Sensei is posed on the ground as a chair. Soke knocks the "patient" down across Nagato's back and says, "Then the chair picks him up and takes him away."

Nagato stands up with the guy slung across his back and walks away. Hatsumi Sensei says, "he might be a very strong nurse!"