Bujinkan Santa Monica

聖観世音菩薩立像 on top of 万人塚 Banninzuka. photo Michael Glenn In December, during a Friday night class at the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo, Hatsumi Sensei repeated a word four times in the first four minutes of class. In fact, he said it both as a statement and a question as if we just didn’t get it. ゆっくりかな。 Yukkuri, kana? First, he had Nagase Sensei stab at him and he said, We’re not studying the form, we’re studying muto dori. ゆっくり。 (Yukkuri) ゆっくり Yukkuri got translated as, “Go slowly or take your time.” But those words in English don’t capture the full idea. A moment later Soke repeated, The feeling is very important. ゆっくり。(Yukkuri). You can create this lock here on the elbow. Take the knife. It has to be connected like this. This kind of feeling is important. ゆっくりと。(Yukkuri to) My training partner stabbed at me and I tried to use the feeling that Soke had just shared. But I saw Soke glance at me and he interrupted the entire class again to demonstrate, This feeling. ゆっくりかな。 This was ...

Noguchi Sensei Shares 40+ year old Gikan Ryu notes. photo by Michael Glenn They love to crank up the heat in the Bujinkan Honbu. I find it too hot on most days. But today I had been doing photography out in the cold pouring rain, so I found myself ready to embrace the warmth of the dojo. Noguchi Sensei greeted me when he arrived. He normally shares a few jokes with me, but today he seemed very focused. Less than 20 students were waiting for him to bow in. He did so promptly as is his custom. Then he announced we were doing Gikan Ryu kata. I was surprised. In more than 30 years I have not been shown these from any teacher. In between kata, Noguchi Sensei showed me a tattered notebook with the kata handwritten in a numbered sequence. He told me these were his actual notes from more than 40 years ago when Hatsumi Sensei taught these only to him. if you are interested, I recorded a video of my experiences for 特訓 Tokkun members of Rojodojo: Bujinkan Kuden: Gikan Ryu wit...

Leandro Erlich's "Port of Reflections" at 森美術館, photo by Michael Glenn In my dojo, we set a theme for each season of training. In the upcoming seminar on January 19th we will explore this theme with a sincere and direct effort. The winter season hints at 平常心是道 heijō-shin kore dō, a calm heart is the way. I encourage any teachers who want this extra dimension for their teaching to train with me when the season is right. If you have passed the Godan, you should be able to know the right season for these things. If you don’t yet have that skill, train with the right teacher! The topics we cover come from my own training in Japan last month. You will be surprised by some rarely taught techniques. And we will take a cue from Wumen Huikai’s (1183-1260) expression of how to have a peaceful mind or a calm heart during every season: 春有百花秋有月，夏有凉风冬有雪，若无闲事挂心头，便是人间好时节 “Hundreds of flowers in spring, And in autumn, the moon. A cool breeze in summer, And in winter, the...