Bujinkan Santa Monica

Safecast Office window, Shibuya, Tokyo. Photo by Michael Glenn My friend Sean Bonner , a long time Bujinkan student, is organizing the Safecast 3 year Anniversary on March 15-16 in Tokyo . He asked me to extend an invitation to any Bujinkan members who live in Japan, or who will be in Japan on those dates. Safecast is a volunteer organization started a week after the 3/11 earthquake and resulting tsunami that caused the meltdown at the Fukushima power plant. Since there was a absence of reliable information for residents of Japan that really needed it, Safecast began, "working to empower people with data, primarily by mapping radiation levels and building a sensor network, enabling people to both contribute and freely use the data collected. After the 3/11 earthquake and resulting nuclear situation at Fukushima Diachi it became clear that people wanted more data than what was available. Through joint efforts with partners such as International Medcom, Keio University,...

Michael Glenn and Chris Chilton Ever since I started this blog in 2009, or launched my Rojodojo website for my Bujinkan videos , or even writing to my private Bujinkan email list , people from all over the world have connected with me. This is always something I loved about our art. It is truly international and one big family. This week I was lucky to meet Police Officer Chris Chilton from Columbus, OH. He had originally connected with me more than a year ago. And now he decided to take a break from the cold and snow in Ohio to come train with me in person. I don't think the fact that we have 70 degree temperatures and a beach down the street had anything to do with it. I convinced him to speak a little about some of his experiences this last week. He was very kind to share his perspective: http://youtu.be/iykmPki5kO8 I had a great time meeting him and sharing lessons I've studied with Hatsumi Sensei. He got along wonderfully with everyone in my classes. And I ...

電柱 Denchuu in front of Bujinkan Hombu. photo by Michael Glenn Hatsumi Sensei spent all class trying to teach us muto dori. This is not unusual. He mentions muto dori in almost every class. He has been doing so for years. It makes sense, if you are not there when the attack arrives, then you have successfully defended yourself. We were lucky tonight. Soke was teaching us how to use our legs and footwork for muto dori. People sometimes think Hatsumi Sensei is talking about psychology, or he is using metaphor to talk about esoteric ideas about disappearing or being invisible. Well right now he just wanted us to move our feet, dammit! But move them in a special way. He said to step "浮舟のごとし"  ukifune no gotoshi. This means to step like you are stepping onto a floating boat or pontoon. How does one step from the stable dock onto a boat? If it is a small boat, raft, or canoe… you step carefully. Any big or unbalanced movements will rock the boat or tip it over. If you are in a f...

Michael's Broken 鞘 Saya, photo by Lisa Peters Here is an excerpt from my training notes I send every week to subscribers. I thought more people should read about this, so > subscribe here < or keep reading: Tonight my class focus was 鯉口の切り方 Koiguchi no kirikata. This is "cutting the carp's mouth," or freeing your sword from the "mouth" of the saya. There are many great techniques to do this. But sadly, most sword schools obsess on only one or two. Tonight I showed 8 methods. This opens the door for infinite secrets. I used the kata 撥倒 Hatto to give us focus as we practice this iai. First the opponent cuts while my sword is still sheathed. Here I am at an immediate disadvantage. To begin to address this we need the fundamentals of iai. The first two I shared were 外切り sotogiri and 内切り uchigiri. These are very common. You probably have already studied these. The first has the thumb on the tsuba as you push forward the break the seal. The second has ...