Bujinkan Santa Monica

One Friday night back in the old Honbu Dojo, Hatsumi Sensei moved to a very high level of training right from the start. After he asked someone to demo, he immediately went into counter attacks using his fingertips. And he said to be playful. Hatsumi Sensei painted and hung a scroll in the corner of the dojo. He did this every year to express the yearly theme. This year it was 神韻武導 Shin'in Budō . You can read this as Budō of exceptional artistry. Or, when you look at the characters for Shin'in, it could be a Budō that expresses the sound of the heart, the soul, or even  the kami. 神韻武導 Shin'in Budō, Bujinkan Honbu. photo Michael Glenn   Earlier that afternoon, I had made a pilgrimage of sorts to visit 矢切の渡し Yagiri-no-Watashi. The ferry that has been taking passengers across the Edo river for nearly 400 years. The Tokugawa shogunate did not build bridges over rivers to protect Edo. Ferry boats leading to the highway were strictly controlled, but ferries for farmers who had fa...

Buki-mobile at 鎌倉・山海堂商店, photo by Michael Glenn Do you know the deepest levels of 虚実 kyojitsu lead down the path of 捨て身 sutemi? In a recent class I shared a dimension of kyojitsu that I’ve only ever heard expressed from Hatsumi Sensei. But is anyone willing to take this path? During my class demo, I shot the weight of the 鎖分銅 kusarifundō out into the face of my opponent. A surprise 中振 nakafuri strike, but my use of it was for kyojitsu. The sound of the chain and the weight act as 目潰し metsubushi and caught the opponent’s attention. These sensations hid my next move. It isn’t very safe to use a real kusarifundō in class. Unless your training partner likes dental work or a busted eyebrow, it is safer to use a short cord to practice. But then I noticed my students were missing a key aspect of this type of kyojitsu. Most people think of kyojitsu as being a feint or fake. You mislead and distract the opponent from your real strategy. Many students stop there by using a fake-out. But, for kyo...

What are the current Bujinkan Themes? For my second week of Japan training, I begin with a visit to 上野東照宮 Ueno Tōshōgū. This shrine was built in 1627, and enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu. I have visited many times, but they did an extensive remodel a few years ago. This was my first time going beyond the 唐門 Karamon and into the grounds. The entire 本殿 Honden is covered in gold leaf and looks spectacular with the gingko leaves fluttering down around me. Michael Glenn at 上野東照宮 Ueno Tōshōgū Later that night, I arrived a bit early for Nagase Sensei’s class. He had moved the class time back 45 minutes so I took the opportunity to review my notes from the prior class. He has been working with 十方折衝 juppō sesshō and the directions for 天地人 Tenchijin and the sanshin within it. He described many aspects of Tenchijin. He would control his opponent at three points, high, middle, and low. He told us the Ten direction is 天照大御神 Amaterasu ōmikami. The Chi direction is 国常立尊 Kunitokotachi no mi...

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 ...

 Which Dojo's are Open in Japan? After three long years, I return for Bujinkan training in Japan. The world is different. Training in Japan is different. Michael Glenn at the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo I share my expectations and my actual experiences. I came here as a scouting trip. I wanted to see what changed and where the Bujinkan is going. So far I’ve trained in three dojos. Nagase Sensei started my trip with quick, focused taijutsu. Nagase Sensei with Michael Glenn November 2022 I visited my friend Sakai-san for training in Kasukabe. Michael at 酒井一弘 Dojo Novemeber 2022 And Furuta Sensei invited me to his dojo. Furuta Sensei and Michael Glenn November 2022 Luckily, I found more training than I anticipated. And I’m having a great time. I’m encouraged for the future. And this is only part one of my Bujinkan training in Japan report. You can watch the video about my training in Japan here: Bujinkan Training in Japan November 2022

Michael in Leandro Erlich's "The Classroom" at 森美術館, photo Michael Glenn I probably prepare more than most Bujinkan teachers. In fact, I spend 1-2 hours before every training session setting my lesson plan. But when Hatsumi Sensei made me a Daishihan, my prep changed. I had 5 steps before there were two big changes. Step one was easy for me, but step seven I didn’t even know about until recently. Let’s talk about the easy change first.  One: It starts with a Bujinkan theme As you know, Soke used to set yearly themes for the whole Bujinkan to follow. This made it easy to decide what to study every class. For example, If the theme was Gyokko Ryū, we could study the techniques and strategies from that school. But one Fall night in 2017 I showed up to the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo in Japan and change was in the air. Hatsumi Sensei’s wife was ill and Soke had made the difficult choice to move her into a care facility. He sat in front of the Kamidana and said a private prayer at his ...

What can you learn from the Rojodojo membership program? or, Why start an online membership? I have been training all of my life. Started in 1985. Around that same time, I also got into film and video production. So when I began teaching Bujinkan and started my own dojo, It seemed like a natural thing to make training videos. I assumed I would put them out as DVDs. I even made some with chapters, extras (remember those?) and gave them out. But, this was the era of Netflix and streaming video. Many people were abandoning DVDs and VHS was already a dinosaur. Then my next thought was how can I stream these training videos? I put a few on youtube, a few on amazon, and I quickly realized it was a full time job. Between the teaching of classes, the video production, post production, streaming setup… And the equipment wasn’t free either. I knew I had a few friends from my mailing list and from social media who might be interested. So I set up the streaming on my new website Rojodojo.com and I...