Bujinkan Santa Monica

Hatsumi Sensei Throws a Look at Michael Glenn I was training with 手塚 Tezuka-san in Hatsumi Sensei's class at the Bujinkan Hombu dojo, when Soke did something funny to him. He threw Tezuka without touching him. Tezuka came back to me and asked, how did he do it? I said I saw it, but I can't explain what I saw. Tezuka said it felt like magic. The throw happened in the air. In the space of a breath. Soke refers to 空気浮き kuuki uki when you float your opponent in the air. But then he said to throw him like 空気の投  kuukinotou, throwing air. The day before I was on a quest for an effigy of 役行者 En no Gyōja that I had heard about. He is considered the  father of Shugendō. Shugendō followers are on a "path of training to achieve spiritual powers." This involves transforming their bodies through harsh physical endurance. The 役行者 En no Gyōja I was seeking is one that is not well known and hidden from public view. I literally had to use 体変術 taihenjutsu to get there. As s...

Michael Glenn at the Bujinkan Takamatsu Memorial The fall weather has been beautiful and the training very rich. More about that soon, but this afternoon Hatsumi Sensei invited as many as we could caravan over to his country house. driving to Hatsumi Sensei's country house After an pleasant drive, we arrived to be greeted by Soke. Hatsumi Sensei opens the gate It says Hatsumi Hatsumi Sensei is very welcoming We also were welcomed by his horses. Hatsumi Sensei's horse Hatsumi Sensei's horses were always searching for food Soke really enjoys describing all the statues and monuments to us. Hatsumi Sensei tells us about the monuments a gorinoto Hatsumi Sensei examines the Takamatsu memorial Then Hatsumi Sensei made sure that everyone found a place for their stones. Hatsumi Sensei looks for a stone I brought a stone from Santa Monica during my trip in September and Soke had placed it just to the left of Takamatsu's bust. ...

I return to Japan again in two weeks. (if you can't see the video above, it is here: http://youtu.be/BGPhYFcs_cU ) A little more than one month ago I had an interesting experience there. I was walking around minami-shin ozakimachi neighborhood. Just wandering... Then I heard a sound. It was a clear soft chime in the warm breeze. I followed the sound down an alley. There it was. The chime came from two 江戸風鈴 Edo fuurin. Edo fuurin are are glass wind chimes from edo, or old Tokyo. I stood in the alley admiring their sound. They chimed from a back window of a restaurant kitchen. A woman came out to see what I wanted. I told her I was listening to the furin. She went back inside. I didn't want to bother her so I walked back down the alley. I heard a yell. A man had come out. He took the bell down from the window and chased after me. Then he gave me the furin! I said thank you and tried to give him some money but he refused. The sound of the bell had struck on ...