Staying Alive: Japan Report Three 令和7年

I’m staying alive for my third Japan report from my recent trip. I had some rank paperwork to submit for my students, so I made the walk to Hatsumi Sensei’s house. To my surprise, when I walked past the 大黒天 Daikokuten statue, some workers were in the process of demolishing the house. They are building the 新武神館本部事務所 new Bujinkan honbu office and exhibition space to open in 2027.

It hit me hard right in my nostalgia 急所 kyūsho. I have so many memories of my visits to Soke’s house. Many afternoons drinking tea, listening to his stories and jokes while hanging out with his dogs (and so many cats!). I guess the only constant is change. As they say,「十年一昔、」even ten years ago seems like ancient history.

Staying Alive with 古田先生 Furuta Sensei

I had time to ponder my nostalgia on the walk to the Honbu Dojo for class with 古田先生 Furuta Sensei. He started class from 天略宇宙合掌 Ten Ryaku Uchū Gasshō and evolved from there into 虚空 Kokū. He really emphasized the cross step footwork and unwinding into the 蹴返 keri kaeshi.

Next he threw himself into the 天地陰陽之構 Tenchi In’yō No Kamae. He used an an extreme angle, and reached up to the heavens. It looked like the dance pose of Travolta in Staying Alive. He used the phrase, 上げ倒し age taoshi, suggesting you throw your hand up high while the other is thrown down.

天 Ten and 地 Chi, heaven and earth. You throw them apart to separate 陰 in and 陽 yō. This is an explosive motion for staying alive. And he even used the high hand to throw a weapon.

He then raised up again into a 片手投げ katate nage henka. He kept the focus on controlling and shielding. And during the cross step he even added an attack with his knee to 時 toki. Or even kneeling down on the back of the leg after the keri kudaki.

As in the prior class, Furuta Sensei changed to 半棒術 hanbōjutsu 基本 kihon. He reviewed what we did last time, but he showed one fascinating detail. When you release the hanbō to strike, the releasing hand maintains a connection. He did this with the back of his thumb. Then as the hand slides along the stick to re-grip, you can change the angle or type of strike at any moment because of that connection.

Then he used the hanbō to control space against a knife attack. In the first example he projected it forward from the 縦(盾) “tate” position. This was like a vertical shielding move that redirected the knife attack. Then he did the opposite by collapsing the shield to draw the opponent into his trap.

Again, like the previous class he finished with 六尺棒 rokushakubō. He showed a very cool sliding foot assist for a 胴打ち dō uchi strike. Then he cross stepped to hide behind his bō, before slamming it to the ground like the kata 鶴の一足 Tsuru no Issoku.

I still have many days left here in Japan. I will probably have more classes with Furuta Sensei, so I’m curious to see if he continues along the same course of study. I look forward to more and will see you in Japan Report Four 令和7年.