The days and nights have become cold and crisp out in Noda. The founder of Ittō-ryū was in my thoughts during my brisk walk to the Bujinkan Honbu dojo for a class with Sakasai-san. For now, I pulled my thin jacket tight around my shoulders. There were only three of us in the dojo. Ueki-san, myself, and Rich from Florida. Sakasai said it would be his last class for the year and he would resume on the 19th of January. Despite this, tonight he covered a lot of ideas with us. He began with 一文字 ichimonji, 十文字 jūmonji, and 飛鳥 hichō. But he combined them all into one response to the opponent’s attack. Then he did something similar using 五行の型 gogyō no kata. The attack was two punches, and then he adapted chi, sui, ka, fu, and ku to break the opponent down little by little. Next he used 生音 Seion to explore some very subtle angle shifts. No striking, and he did it without the 外掛け soto gake. He wanted us to throw through positioning alone. I found it very difficult because people...
Train smart. Live better.