Bujinkan Santa Monica

I got up early for a long train ride to 石神井城跡 Shakujiijō ato. I wanted to investigate the ruins of Shakujii castle. This also gave me some time for reflection on my training here in Japan and to add more detail to my training notes. My view on train ride to 石神井城跡 Shakujiijō ato, photo by Michael Glenn Last night in Furuta Sensei’s class we were training in the old middle school gymnasium. He warmed us up with a bunch of ukemi practice. I was doing ok until he went into the standing forward breakfalls. For some reason after about ten of these, fatigue got the best of me. Maybe all of the classes are catching up to me. After that he went into basic 捕手基本型 Torite Kihon Gata. We did 表逆 Omote Gyaku and 裏逆 Ura Gyaku. He had a particular focus on the line of entry to affect balance. Furuta Sensei evolved the technique from there to do 輦輿 Ren’yo. He kept saying 斯う入る kō hairu, or enter like this. He really emphasized the 雲隠流 Kumogakure Ryū way of entering to set up the technique. Next...

Bujinkan training in Japan isn’t only about training. Sometimes it is about cultural experiences you might have there. And sometimes you might even find healing in the dojo! I began this day in Japan with a visit to 美術刀剣松本 Bijutsu Tōken Matsumoto in 西葛西 Nishikasai with my teacher Peter Crocoll. He brought a tsuka from home to be refurbished with new 柄巻 tsukamaki and fittings. We had some nice tea while Peter and Matsumoto-san swapped stories about their experience at this year’s 大刀剣市 Dai Tōken Ichi sword show. While they chatted, I wandered the shop looking at all manner of swords and weapons for sale. By the time we left I was happy to still have my wallet! This is a summary of the video I recorded in Japan which you can see here: Japan Report Five 令和5年 From there it was back to Noda-shi for training. On my way I shared a story from one of the classes I had with Hatsumi Sensei at the old Honbu dojo. Soke was teaching 無刀捕 mutōdori but reversed it to teach us a counter. In th...

Who is teaching at the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo? The Japan training schedule is irregular and I am following my instincts rather than any set schedule. Peter Crocoll shared a story about Hatsumi Sensei using instinct to buy an antique jūmonji yari based on a feeling. Furuta Sensei invited me to his class. He picked us up from the train station and we went to a high school gymnasium. We warmed up with a bit of rolling, sanshin, and 骨指基本三法 kosshi kihon sanpō. Then he went into the kata 乱勝 Ranshō from Takagi Yoshin Ryū. He did a deep dive with many themes from Hatsumi Sensei. The next day, I got up early to have coffee with my friend, Craig Olson . He told me some funny Nagato Sensei stories. He also told me that Furuta-san would be helping out at the Honbu office today. This piqued my interest because I had a lot of ranks and paperwork to be approved and recorded. Many things have changed in the Bujinkan office, and I had a lot of questions. Craig suggested that it would be ...