Bujinkan Santa Monica

Not so clumsy Butterfly at Nihon Minka-en. Photo by Michael Glenn When anyone tries the ura waza for our Bujinkan Sanshin no kata for the first time they “blunder and fumble like a moth,” in the same way I quote clumsily from Faulkner. I show it to them, then they try it… then crash and burn. You can almost see the synapses misfiring across the hemispheres of their brain. Not many Bujinkan teachers train the ura waza of 三心の型 sanshin no kata. And our bodies get used to the kata we always do. In my own classes, I use many approaches to sanshin to keep us adaptive. Each time we do it, it should be new again. I will be teaching this as part of my Rojodojo Expert Rally if you want join us in Phoenix or Chicago . If you can’t make those cities, you can invite me to visit your dojo . As Hatsumi Sensei says, these things are 参考書 sankousho (a reference) for training. I felt new again when Hatsumi Sensei showed a very practical use for the ura waza of sanshin no kata during one of my v...

In a recent class we studied Bujinkan uke kihon gata. I demonstrated how to physically do a jodan uke. But here is what I wrote in the training notes that I send out to my subscribers :  "performing jodan uke begins with an attitude. Remember, uke comes from 受けるukeru which means to receive. There are three important moments when I  have to remind students of this: during ukemi; when performing uke nagashi; and even when being an uke." But the fourth moment for this attitude is the MOST critical for your Bujinkan training. It is so important that I made a video about this word that you can watch below: the most adaptive word in the Bujinkan? Is this the most adaptive (and important) word for your Bujinkan training? Posted by Rojodojo on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 you can also watch this on http://youtu.be/2pN1StVJhD4 receptive. that’s the sense of an approach no, more of an attitude for training. some students arrive clear and receptive others show up...