Little is known about Ninjutsu – since it’s been open to the West in only the past 30 years. Where does it come from? What inspired masters to keep with their training? How did they begin? Where here is a little background that goes past what is considered ‘common knowledge’ that is really not so common. Articles and discussions on Takamatsu Toshitsugu Sensei, Hatsumi Masaaki Sensei, and Manaka Unsui Sensei seem to be relatively abundant in the martial arts community, and more specifically, in the Takamatsu-den community, but for some reason the man behind most of what we study today is often overlooked. Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu was the 32nd soke of Togakure Ryu ninpo, as well as soke of Gyokko Ryu Kosshijutsu, Koto Ryu Koppojutsu and Shinden Fudou Ryu Jutaijutsu/Dakentaijutsu. He was also soke of two lesser-known ninjutsu schools, the Kumogakure Ryu and Gyokkushin Ryu, all [excluding Shinden Fudou Ryu] of which he inherited from his father, Toda Daisaburo Chikahide, who had in turn inherited them from his father, Toda Eisaburo Nobumasa. Togakure Ryu Ninpo was passed down hereditarily within the Toda family for 10 consecutive generations, from 1624 with Toda Nobutsuna Seiryu until 1968, when it was passed on to Hatsumi Masaaki. (See Togakure Ryu genealogy below. )...
Learn MoreWhat can you do to improve your martial arts skills faster than anything else? I guess, in my own pursuit both as a student and an instructor, that’s the biggest question that I want to answer. And that’s what I hope to discuss today: 10 Minutes, Twice a Day for Massive Martial Arts Improvement I got to meet Unsui Sensei just after the Jinenkan had formed. My good friend Christopher Penn served as the technical end to arrange a meeting with him. In fact, he had informed me of the formation of the Jinenkan just after I had graduated from college, and once I moved to Japan, since I didn’t yet have an internet connection (my town wasn’t that tech-ready then), Chris helped me make the connections I needed. So, thanks, Chris! Anyways, I did finally get to Noda City and started training in the Jinenkan. It was awesome: every day I showed up I was able to dig in and find some new bit of information, or nuance that would improve my own training or understanding. With that pursuit in mind, one day after class I asked Unsui Sensei, “What physical exercises should I be doing?” Note: I had just moved to Japan, and as a young...
Learn MoreIn our summer special training, we spent a lot of time studying the embodiment of the feelings of the kamae of Jinen Ryu. This was very inspirational, and in Los Angeles, I’ve made an effort to bring that idea to the attention of the members of our Dojo. This past Saturday, training was approached in a more “advanced” way than usual, and the intensity was taken up a notch at the same time. In case you’re interested in trying to look at the same concepts, here’s what we were doing: The Meaning of a Kata Let’s start off by recognizing that martial arts “kata” or “forms” can exist to teach a specific lesson relevant to immediate application as-is for self-protection/fighting and/or to teach a concept/idea that serves a more general approach to learning. Both are incredibly important, and I’m not at all going to tackle the topic of comparing and contrasting those two sides of Kata training in this post. Instead, we can take a very direct look at the “meaning” of the martial arts kata as derived from its name, and from the feeling Unsui Sensei has indicated that the kata is supposed to help us understand directly. Those two are often identical, but sometimes have some difference....
Learn More虎玉流中略之巻変化 Training was awesome this morning. We went through the first few kata of the Gyokko Ryu Chu Ryaku no Maki by doing the original of each, followed by any recorded variations. I already love Gyokko Ryu: it’s a very strong martial arts lineage, with powerful, dynamic movements, and covers a huge variety of problems to overcome, all with unarmed techniques. The variations in this case do a pretty good job of reminding you of the original kata, generally with only slight changes. This is, of course, quite different from some variations of kata from other lineages, which quite often have very little overt parts that are reminiscent at all to the original techniques. Our Dojo We will have a little bit of a difficult time trying to figure out when we can do some of this training We are pretty well full up with our regular schedule, already lasting 36 months for a full rotation. Unless this is, somehow, a major issue for someone, I don’t think we’ll have much trouble with that. Perhaps it can find its way into the Advanced Class curriculum? What do you think you’ d like to see...
Learn MoreMy time training in Japan this past week, with nearly all of the Dojo-Cho from around the world in the Jinenkan has helped bring us all together to make the organization even stronger. In addition, the training itself required that we question what we may have thought we already knew. This will be an overview article, that I hope we will discuss in the Dojo and online. 守破離 shu – ha – ri Preserve – Break – Release These are the three big phases of training – any training in any topic: 守 When you first encounter new learning, the single best thing you can do is emulate it and get good at what you’re trying to learn. You can make fast initial progress by getting a general sense of what’s supposed to happen, and focus on just enough details at any one point to get closer and closer to doing it “right” based on the model that has been presented for you to follow. 破 Once you’re doing an acceptable job of copying the model, it’s time to start asking more questions: why does it work that way? If the context changes, what would change? What would not change at all? Is it the same in any direction? Does it matter who...
Learn MoreNew Senate Bill Pushes Self Defense in School It could happen. Senator Christine Kehoe here in California has put together Senate Bill 1290, which would require students of certain ages to attend a new part of their physical education requirement: self defense training. Of course I want everyone to have basic self defense skills – that’s why I have the Saturday night free classes (aimed at the Guardian Angels, but open to the public for no cost). Now, do I think this is going to be handled especially well if it passes? Of that I’m not so sure. I have a VERY particular opinion about what people should do in a course designed to teach self defense, but as nobody in government has come along and asked for my two cents, I am not currently expecting to contribute directly. It does bother me a bit when I look at the law proposed and see that it could potentially include “boxing” in the syllabus for a self defense class! I have of course written to Senator Kehoe to voice my opinion, and I hope you’ll do the same. In fact, if you support the idea, please Sign the Petition by going to her page designed for that: http://dist39.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={A20B8BE9-1C94-4D8D-9D98-B72369074B58} And, in...
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