Ninjutsu Training Online

  Hey Ninjutsu Fans, first thank you for coming to this blog for the best Ninjutsu information that can be found on the  web!! (more to come on that in a second)

It is cold and dark outside and I am getting ready to train once again, just like I have been doing now for 40 years!  Yes, today is my birthday and I have been officially training in the martial arts for forty years!! Holy shit, that seems  like it went by in a heartbeat, and it did. I can remember back in 1978 hearing about Ninjutsu for the first time, then in  1979 reading my first article and I was hooked! Not just because of the martial technique but because the philosophy  or enduring and surviving was resonating in my heart. I am still just as passionate about the arts as I was as just a kid so many years ago. I get excited to see the newest martial arts videos or book to read, and I haven’t stopped training since I started way back when in the dark ages. But, this coming year is going to be very different…. How you may wonder??? ….well, I am going to be giving back to all of you loyal fans and practitioners here, with the best and most informative site on Ninjutsu you will find anywhere. Not only that but new and exciting products will be only released here and to those who are actively involved in our community. So get ready, get set and lets start another year of my training off, now it is time to hit the dark hills and trails for a short 5K before I hit the road for my other life and job!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – “Living the Ninja Lifestyle!”

ps: That’s me on the left back in 95 after passing the Godan test!

What there is more…well of course there is! But this is a bit of a divergent post, as it begins to deal with strategy and the application of Mushin, within this context.

In the space between an attack and counter there is a split second where chaos exists. By this I mean it can go either way, either your way or theirs, success or failure, surviving or dying, it is all in a split second between a decision or action or even a non-decision or non-action. This space exists in time, this space exists in distance and learning how to control and utilize it is a high art. Mushin – “no mind”, is exactly there, no thought of success or failure, there is only the now, and you deal only with what is in the “now” in order to survive. How can you deal with what is happened, you can’t you just move on, what about what will happen next, once again you can’t as it is not happening yet. Action in the now, is where the space in between a perfect attack and a counterattack , happens. This strategy is more than just a “strategy” but a piece of living, when you have it happen to you whether in training or when you have become fully engaged in an activity, it is there. There are some who try to grab at it without understanding the basics of the theory I am writing about here. Just so I don’t leave you without any hard lesson and not just my philosophical wanderings, here is an exercise you can practice: During your next training session take 3 or 4 partners and place them around you in a circle, at a specific time, each will attack you with 1 and only 1 attack, you have to only counter with 1 counter, then the next attacker goes, and so forth. The main idea here is not to allow the 1 in the middle to “think” of a counter, the attacks need to be fast, so that the receiver in the middle doesn’t have time to think about what is next. Slowly at first then add progressively more attacks at a faster pace, until it is seamless in flow, countering only with what is, and not anticipating what is next.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

The other day while training with my friend, we began to outline and discuss a strategy that I use  (a have stupidly violated, more on that later) in order to defeat techniques,  I call it “the space between or the moment between.”

Let me start off with a story of how I violated this strategy and learned a lesson: Several years ago I was teaching a grappling seminar at a Karate school. During the event I was demonstrating various counters to choking attacks, at one of the breaks, this large gentlemen whom was a police officer, approached me and asked, “how do you escape a rear naked choke?” I foolishly said it depends and let’s try and see. I sat in his guard and he got behind me and put the choke on. Now I thought he was going to just get in position and see what we could do, but he had other ideas and began to squeeze so hard that I immediately knew I was going out very quickly if I couldn’t escape, so I applied an ankle lock counter and a loud pop was heard with a sudden loud grunt as well! I got up and my opponent said, “if I was five years younger I would have taken you,” I said “ if I was five years younger I would have hurt you a lot more…” and so began the strategy “the space between”.

When any technique is on perfectly it becomes almost impossible to counter, this is especially true with weapons as there is no forgiving when a perfectly wielded attack has penetrated your counter, but it is the moment between the perfect ”ON”, and your counter that will save you. Miyamoto Musashi wrote “There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.” And with that said the space between the movements is where you can successfully learn to protect yourself or loved ones. Counters are just that a counter for a particular attack or defense, but if you truly master the underlying strategy it is almost as if you cannot be touched. Now this strategy sounds simple, but has taken years for me to deeply understand and apply in my martial practice. Soke Hatsumi speaks of the “kukan” which he translated at the time to refer to “Space”, now I move in between the spaces with much more ease, and so should you.

Practice diligently the way of strategy ,

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

Good Morning Ninja Fans!

Well, fall is here! It is dark at 5:00am, and no better when I start training at 5:30…but like I challenged you all to from our Facebook page, what did you do this morning? Did you sleep in, in your cozy bed or did you get up and add some training to start your day?

Think about it!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

(Must work on my Tobi geri after seeing this photo!)