July2015JapanReport

From https://www.rojodojo.com Here is a flashback from my #bujinkan Japan training in 2015. It’s been really wet and rainy because of a typhoon that is in the region. And I feel Hatsumi Sensei moved like a typhoon in his classes!




My first class off the plane was hard because I was tired and jet lagged.
But sometimes those are the best classes. It was great fun.




Hatsumi Sensei was throwing people without technique. And he recommended that we all throw away our technique. He then said something confusing, “@/warui-kankaku-use-your-bad-technique-as.html,” which is a bad feeling.




It’s a bad feeling when an opponent attacks you. Or maybe your technique is
no good, and that’s a bad feeling. Soke said that we should take this
bad feeling and turn it into something good.




This is part of the theme for this year. We purposely try not to focus on technique. So being able to turn a bad situation, bad luck, or a bad technique into something wonderful is the deep lesson Soke is sharing.




In my next class with Hatsumi Sensei, I had the chance to study 槍 yari or 槍術 sōjutsu and I noticed an interesting detail. He wasn’t stabbing or
taking a kamae like you might expect with a spear. He simply let it free
in the space. It would connect to his body and cut or stab as the
opponent tried to get around it.




In this same class, I gave him a gift of 鬼灯 Hōzuki. These “demon lanterns” are a very vibrant plant with a red husk that resembles a paper lantern. I was surprised when he then painted this plant on a scroll for me.




He continued the class, by using the kukan in a unique way. He said it was a ghostly kukan. It was decidedly eerie atmosphere but all I got was a punch to the throat. He used a unique double fist in a hammer and anvil attack. One hand was the hammer of a boshi ken, but the other had the knuckle of the little finger extended behind my larynx as the anvil.




The class had suggestions of @n-kuden-sandai/ as we transferred from one thread to the next. Nothing was fixed or static. It was a constant evolution or technique, thought, and mood.
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