Skip to main content

A Gift From the Heart to All of the Bujinkan

Today a most extraordinary thing happened in Hatsumi Sensei's class. As you probably know, the Hombu Dojo we currently have in Japan is slated for demolition. Many of us will miss it very much when a new Bujinkan honbu dojo is built.

But my friend and student William Kelly O'neill did us all a service. He spent the past many weeks painstakingly (emphasis on pain) recreating the Bujinkan Hombu dojo in miniature as a gift for Hatsumi Sensei.

Hatsumi Sensei and Bill O'neill with mini Hombu
What he didn't know was that it was a gift to the entire Bujinkan. Tonight he presented it to Soke Hatsumi.
Hatsumi Sensei checks out mini Hombu
Bill has been sending me pictures and explaining his design process over the last few weeks. The amount of detail, research, and thoughtful personal elements in his project have been very inspiring to hear about. At first I thought he was a bit crazy, but when you see the results...
Hombu Miniature

I know Bill put his whole heart into this project in a genuine spirit of giving. And everyone who was there was touched. Hatsumi Sensei decided tp present Bill with a Bujinkan Gold Medal. Well, this is when Bill was overcome with emotion and gratitude.

Hatsumi Sensei told me he was going to put the miniature in the new Hombu dojo.

Bill keeps appologizing to me for missing classes back home while he was in a race to finish his artwork for this trip to Japan. I told him, don't worry, you have your own dojo to train in. But since he gave his dojo to Hatsumi Sensei, he'd better come back to class!

Thank you Bill for the inspiration. This was a wonderful gift for Soke and all of the Bujinkan.

Comments

  1. Phillip LegareApril 6, 2014 at 3:50 PM

    Mike,

    This is awesome !! Bill sent me a few pics of the model while in progress. Like you I thought it was a bit of a crazy idea. But when I saw how wonderfully he made it, putting his heart and soul into it, I realized what a wonderful gift this will be. As you say the hombu will be demolished at some point in the near future. But hombu will live on through Bill's hard work and sacrifice! We can all enjoy it in the new hombu over the years. Thanks much for posting and for supporting Bill. Good students come from good teachers. Gambatte !! r/Phil Legare

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japan Report One 令和5年

Every Bujinkan trip I make to Japan feels like a gift. And I always share that with you all in my Japan reports. This trip, I decided to video a lot. Like every day. So there will be quite a few of these. The only issue is that it takes me time to edit all of this video, so these Japan reports may spread out into next year. The first video is here:  Japan Report One 令和5年 The first day of any Bujinkan trip to Japan starts with a marathon. 20 hours of travel by Plane train, and automobile. Also, a lot of walking with a heavy backpack up and down stairs, through airports and train stations, and of course to the Honbu Dojo! Because I’m crazy, I arrived at the airport and went straight to Noguchi Sensei’s class. The class was smallish, maybe 20 people. I was a little shaky on my feet so I slammed some milk tea to get my energy back up. I partnered with Mario From Croatia. Noguchi began with 中伝之捌型 Chūden no Sabaki Gata from 高木揚心流 Takagi Yoshin Ryū. He put a lot of focus into what the opp...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more