Bujinkan Santa Monica

山田 記央 photo by Michael Glenn It was the normal chaos at the Bujinkan Honbu dojo. The training had just ended, and everyone rushed to get their photos with Hatsumi Sensei. I rushed to my notebook. I did this because Soke finished the class with a huge surprise for his teaching of 無刀捕 mutōdori. He showed us 空間を作る kūkan o tsukuru, or how to create space. So I scribbled a note about the hidden location for this opening before that secret disappeared into the night. Earlier that day, I had gone into Tokyo to visit Norio Yamada-san. He makes 江戸手描提灯 Edo Tegaki Chōchin, Edo style hand painted paper lanterns. He called to say my order was ready to pick up. It never occurred to me that there could be a connection to Soke’s teaching later that night. Hatsumi Sensei said, “You’re not evading, 空間  浮かす Kūkan ukasu, you’re floating the opponent in the space.” If you’ve ever held one of these paper lanterns, they feel like you’ve caught light and air itself as it glows softly in the ...

Bujinkan 提灯 Chouchin, Hatsumi and Takamatsu Sensei's 位牌. photo by Michael Glenn The Bujinkan theme for our Spring training is set. Please study the idea 千変万化 Senpen Banka. This theme of innumerable changes is what Hatsumi Sensei gave us earlier this month. When I returned from Japan, we held the annual 春修業 Haru Shūgyō   All of the students were focused and trained hard to grow from this season’s theme. Here is a bit of what we studied. We warmed up with 初心五型 Shoshin Gokei. Hatsumi Sensei has had a multi-year focus on 無刀捕 mutōdori, so we next did 五行の型 Gogyō no kata as mutōdori! If you’ve never studied this, it will really surprise you. Hatsumi Sensei gave us perspective on this kind of 三心 sanshin. In the Hagakure, a famous quote says, 武士道といふは死ぬことと見つけたり The way of Bushido is found in death. But Hatsumi Sensei told us this idea is often misunderstood. He said that in the Bujinkan we study the way of living, and to protect life. Soke said, “武士道は生死生よう Bushido wa seishi seiyō”...