Bujinkan Santa Monica

金龍の舞 kinryu no mai, 浅草寺 Sensō-ji, Tokyo. photo by Michael Glenn This is one of those Bujinkan training trips where I will be sore for the entire trip. Besides the normal beatings at the hands of my training partners, Hatsumi Sensei, Senou Sensei, Noguchi Sensei, and Nagato Sensei have all seen to it that they personally roughed me up. For members of Rojodojo, I made a video: Bujinkan Japan Training Report: Kinryu Edition   Because... Yesterday, I went to see 金龍の舞 kinryu no mai. Dance of the golden dragon. This is a rare sight… the sensoji temple also has the name 金龍山 kinryuzan. According to legend. the fisherman who founded the place saw a golden dragon swoop down out of the sky and create a forest in one night. Eight guys carry the dragon and the 9th guy carries a lotus flower. This is symbolic of the dragon's dual nature. Although the dragon is fierce while attacking, it also protects. Hatsumi Sensei has been saying the same thing for many years. In fact, on Tuesday n...

Shide at 稲荷神社, 南柏 Minami Kashiwa. photo by Michael Glenn In the following account, I describe a night when I killed somebody. The intention rose up my body, filled it, and took over. Then I struck him down. He never saw it coming. Before you report me to the authorities, make sure you read all I have to say about that night. Life and death can flip in an instant. They both exist in the same moment. What separates the two? One moment you are full of life. You were born, grew up, and live with the choices you make every day. You have dreams and goals for your future. But all of your history and all of your future can be taken from you right now. Life. Death. One and the same. In our Bujinkan training, we have strategies to deal with this. I previously wrote about one of these that Hatsumi Sensei calls 過去現在未来之術 Kako Genzai Mirai no Jutsu . This is an art of existing in the moment between life and death. Life or death only happens in the present moment which is ephemeral an...