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Ride the Tiger: Japan Report Seven 令和6年

Michael tries cola flavor Ninja gummies, a gift from 中川将志 Nakagawa Shōshi

I went out to do some laundry and grocery shopping before training. Along the way, I stopped in at the bookstore to find some inspiration from Hatsumi Sensei’s painting. As I flipped through the pages, my eyes settled on a painting of 毘沙門天 Bishamonten riding a tiger.

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Hatsumi Sensei gave the painting the title of 坂上 田村麻呂 Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. This historic figure was one of the first Shōgun in Japan. Legends around him grew over the centuries and he was considered an avatar of Bishamonten, a god of war, and warrior king.

Hatsumi Sensei wrote some poetry from 虎倒流 Kotō Ryū on the painting. Soke said that when he visited Takamatsu Sensei, Takamatsu recited this poetry to him. The poem extols the virtues of a figure like Sakanoue, but I suspect Takamatsu Sensei was also honoring Hatsumi as his student. 

Tiger Messenger 

Tiger at 善國寺 Zenkoku-j, photo by Michael Glenn

The tiger symbolism reminded me of my visit to 善國寺 Zenkoku-ji which enshrines a famous statue of Bishamonten. One may view the statue on the day of the tiger. Based on the Chinese zodiac, this day is considered lucky. The tiger is Bishamonten’s messenger, appearing “in the Year, Month, Day, and Hour of the Tiger.” There is a saying “Travel a thousand miles and return a thousand miles” making this a day when “what goes out surely comes back,” meaning what you give you also receive.

I remember visiting Hatsumi Sensei’s garden where he showed us statues of the seven lucky gods. The Bishamonten statue in his garden may be the 多聞天 Tamonten portrayal, which means “listening to many teachings.” And I did listen intently during these visits with Soke.

愚痴壺 Guchi tsubo rant

Michael shouts into the 愚痴壺 Guchi tsubo, complaint pot

Later, while I was waiting for the train to the Bujinkan Honbu dojo, I recorded one of my 愚痴壺 Guchi tsubo rants. I noted how everyone fills your head when you start training. Violence from your own past, victories and defeats, friends and bullies—are all there in your head to influence your training.

Other people’s opinions and criticisms may affect how you train. But worst of all are your own ideas of what training should be. All of these things are there taking up space in your head.

Any ideas about martial arts crowd your thoughts. Ideas from movies, from sports martial arts, and from things you’ve read or seen online—these all fill you up and make it difficult to learn anything new. They cloud your judgement about what martial arts should be.

If you keep training, all of these people and voices start leaving, one by one. Then you are left with only yourself. And if you are lucky, even you leave. When you reach that state of “zero,” that’s when martial arts can really begin.

Training with Noguchi Sensei 

Noguchi Sensei demos on my friend Oliver Martin
When I arrived at the dojo, it was a warm day and I quickly broke a sweat. Noguchi Sensei came up to me at one point and asked if it was too hot in here. I said yes and he went to turn on the air conditioners.

Noguchi was doing 九鬼神流打拳体術 Kukishin Ryū Dakentaijutsu. But everything was not as it seemed. He showed grappling techniques as strikes. And striking techniques became throws. At one point he bit one of his attackers and said, “you have to go from being a human to become an animal!”

There was a moment when I noticed his opponents were yelping in pain for no obvious reason. Noguchi Sensei came close to show me that he was wearing 角隠指釧 kakuin yubi, horned or spiked rings. In this class I really felt Noguchi Sensei’s Dakentaijutsu expression of Kukishin Ryū. 

Every class begins a new dream of progress. I pack my gi and head to the dojo. See you soon with Japan Report Eight 令和6年 

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