Ninjutsu Training Online

Hello Ninjutsu Fans!

Taken from the Gyokko ryu, “Destroy the enemies power, but leave his life.” The Gyokko ryu states that when a fight is about to start, do not let the opponent win, but take him down with a technique that is only as strong as is needed.

Interesting strategy, can you utilize this in your daily life? Dealing with your co-workers, friends and family?

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

Three Preliminary Assessments on Opening Gates

“In the matter of opening doors. In case where there is a lock on the gate, know well about the place and the details of the attached lock. Knowing the details will allow you to choose the method of breaking the lock…therefore, once you have decided to break into a certain house, know the gate and appearance, after which you will be able to choose the appropriate tool for breaking the lock.” – Basenshukai

Ninjutsu, Shinobi-iri or “stealing in” curriculum contains many fantastic skills and tactics utilized for entering into an enemy’s stronghold. As you may note from the Basenshukai, a locked door may not be a match for an ancient Ninja’s skills to overcome with the use of proper tools for the mission.
In the modern day, lockpicking should be a part of your training curriculum. Of course using modern picks and tools, I use a small kit I purchased from SouthOrd many years ago, and it has served me well! Purchase a few locks such as a Master lock No 3, to start practicing on and soon you will begin to see any lock as a challenge, and who knows what could be behind that locked door!

Be safe and practice on the good side of the law!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Living the Ninja Lifestyle.

Alright, it has been awhile since I covered Ninjutsu’s Gray Man Strategies and tactics, so here is a quick lesson for you to work on.

Clothing:

Upper body:

Focus on earth tones and stay away from bright colors that may make you an easy target in an Urban environment.

Belt:

Purchase a heavy duty leather belt if possible, the recent fad for the Tactical nylon belts makes you stand out in a crowd!

Lower Body:

The most common pants out there are blue jeans. Sturdy and they blend in easily in a crowd or in a darkened area.

Foot wear:

Comfortable shoes such as sneakers, loafers, low hiking boots. The idea here is again not to look militaristic or prepared for the zombie apocalypse…

See, I said it would be a short lesson, now go out there and start practicing!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

Recently, I have been study various personality traits, to better understand and improve my knowledge and skill in ninjutsu choho curriculum,  and came upon some interesting material on Psychopathic tendencies. There are a few things we take for granted in social interactions with people. We presume that we see the world in roughly the same way, that we all know certain basic facts, that words mean the same things to you as they do to me. And we assume that we have pretty similar ideas of right and wrong, but for a small – but not that small – subset of the population, things are very different. These people lack remorse and empathy and feel emotion only shallowly. In extreme cases, they might not care whether you live or die. These people are called psychopaths. Some of them are violent criminals, murderers. But by no means all. A criminal psychologist has created the PCL-R assessment and it is based upon the following criteria:

• glib and superficial charm
• grandiosity
• need for stimulation
• pathological lying
• cunning and manipulating,
• lack of remorse
• callousness
• poor behavioral controls
• impulsiveness
• irresponsibility
• denial
• parasitic lifestyle
• sexual promiscuity
• early behavior problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
• failure to accept responsibility for own actions
• many short-term marital relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal versatility

Now I am sure that many of us would recognize these traits as socially maladjusted, but understanding the test and what it discovers is something for a later post as I must now go and exploit my psychopathic tendencies to expand my evil Ninja empire!!! (Bwahhaahaha (evil laughter))

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

Hello Ninjutsu Fans,

I enjoy watching Manhunt starring Joel Lambert. it is a great opportunity to pick up a few “tips” from an ex special forces trained person, so I can relate it back to material in the ninjutsu curriculum. The other other day I came upon this short piece below that has some pretty decent tips, so enjoy!

Just because you’re “the hunted” doesn’t mean you have to be “the prey”. Here are my top tips to outlast the chase and make it to safety.

1. Have a plan, but be prepared to improvise. Know that you may have to choose between survival and escape. Sometimes escape may mean succumbing to the elements—weigh the balance and YOU make an educated choice. Do not allow circumstances to control outcomes if you can help it—and do not allow emotions to derail your plan when times get tough.

2. Know your body, know the environment you’re in—and know the limitations and dangers of both.

3. Take every opportunity to hydrate and eat/gather food. You don’t know when the next opportunity may arise—and you might not have the luxury of stopping when it does.

4. Blend into your environment, be aware of the foliage, the wildlife, and animal behavior. Use natural vegetation and mud to break up your outline and to make yourself less conspicuous. Know when to go to ground, and trust your camouflage when you do.

5. Remember, three things will draw unwanted attention. Movement draws the eye, noise can give you away, and shiny objects can reflect light. The sun flashing off of a reflective surface can be seen for miles and miles.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Ninjutsu Renegade, Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

The immortal words from “Mortal Combat”, but what I am referring to is the countdown clock in the upper left hand corner of the website. Yes, the release of the new member’s section is coming on May 1st,!! It will be packed with information, and updated on a monthly or bi-weekly schedule with even more content!! I am pulling out old Videos from Japan, filming new ones on both traditional and Modern applications, new articles and revamps of some of the current Online lessons. Man I am pretty psyched up about this release, so much so that I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should , now alot of people have been asking about the Podcasts and the answer is yes they will be returning to this site as well as Itunes, but I only have so much time in any day so be patient grasshopper(LOL) 

I will be updating here on the new grand opening so stay tuned Ninjutsu Fans!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu- Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

Hello Ninjutsu Fans!

I was scanning through youtube today and came upon a great video of Soke Hatsumi performing the Godan test for a variety of individuals. It brought back memories of 1996, when I took and passed the test.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu

Living the Ninja Lifestyle

“We train in the use of weapons: rope, swords, spears, chains-everything is a weapon. A piece of paper. Anything that is nothing. I’m a walking arsenal – but being a ninja is more than just the physical. It’s teaching awareness, the spiritual. You have to develop a real killing feeling, but with the ability to not kill. You have to have the guts to kill. But also the physical and spiritual ability and strength to not kill, to give your opponent an out, an excuse to back off. In truth I don’t teach them anything. I show them how to lead their lives. It’s up to them to grasp it or not.” – Soke Hatsumi

As a ninjutsu practitioner, we should constantly be honing our ability to utilize and deal with weapons. Whether we were back in the early days or on the modern streets today, attacks with w a weapon happen every day, and if you are not preparing yourself to deal with reality. Hiding your head in the sand and avoiding this type of training could result in you or your loved one being seriously injured or killed. Now, I am not known for not being somewhat controversial in both what I say as well as in my training methods, so prepare yourself for the rest of this post!!(LOL)

Myth Busting 101

“Will traditional ninjutsu training will prepare you to deal with a weapon attack.”

Well, yes and not so much. It may give you a better chance of surviving but having spent 4 decades in various weapon based arts (Southeast Asian, Western, Chinese, and Japanese) I will throw out to you that most training against a static attacker with the application of traditional taijutsu movements will not adequately prepare you for an attack. Why you might ask? It is not real and there is no force on force training going on here. Let me explain what I mean by Force on Force training: This is where two or more training partners are attempting to smack the crap out of each other. Is it sparring, yes. Is it brawling, yes. Can you get hurt, oh yes you can! But without this type of training you will not see the realities of real combat. Now there are many ways to apply this principle in your training, and since this post is about weapons training here are a few suggestions for you.

Force on Force Training

1)      Use simulated weapons that you may carry every day in your sparring sessions. This would mean knifes, collapsible batons, chains/ropes, guns etc.

2)      Start with them in a common concealed carry position and start the simulated situational sparring session having to deploy the weapons

3)      Add multiple man attacks and multiple man counter/defensive situations.

4)      Wear real everyday clothing

5)      Utilize an AAR (After Action Review/Report) of the session, film it or have others record the highs and lows of the sessions, what worked and what didn’t

6)      Add low light situations

7)      Add realistic and explicit language

Ok, there are a few tips, but your training should be fun as well, and there is nothing wrong about taking your traditional weapons practice to new levels by applying the above training tips. I have sparred with bokkens, shinai, naginata, various swords, shields, spears, staffs, flexible weapons etc. etc., I know I am a bit crazy and I have taken my share of injuries, and gone home healed up and came back for more. You may or may not want to take your training that far, but there are alternative padded weapons and protective armor that will allow you to still gain some of the benefits of this harsh level of training. Here is a link of one of my students and I demonstrating at a training event several years ago, this was not scripted and was at full power with control.

Well I hope I have stimulated some thought and changes to your next practice session, more on this subject to come.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – A Ninjutsu Renegade!

Living the Ninja Lifestyle!

Alright Ninja’s! It is time to start kicking your physical conditioning up a notch. Below is a workout we use prior to starting our training session. The names of the exercises may be strange to some of you, so please feel free to contact me for any explainations you may need. Oh yes, the workout must be completed in 20mins or less, so welcome to the suck!(LOL)

2 X 3 min rounds skipping rope (1 min rest between sets)

2 Mins of death (JJ, SS, Burpees, MC) 1 set

5 Heavy bag shoulder lifts(100 lbs)

5 Pull ups – 5 Over and Unders (2 sets no rest)

5 Ring body/ab extensions (Hold for 30 sec)

30 Situps

10 Side crunches (L and R)

25 Push ups

5 Turkish get ups (60% 1rep max)

Downward pyramid  Round Kicks (start at 5)

Jab, Cross – Bob and weave (Focus mitt)

Notice that there are other “arts” techniques in this session, yes they are there for a reason! So learn to apply them properly and they will serve you well in combat.

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Live the Ninja Lifestyle

Its Sunday a day of rest, right?

NOT!

Sunday is a great day for training of the body and mind. Hopefully, you aren’t slacking off just because most people take Sunday as a day of rest. I like to think of it more as a day where I can improve and or have some time to spend with the family doing some training. This morning, for instance my wife and I decided to go for an intense 3 mile power walk in the hilly area around our home. It had to be on the streets though as the snow is yet still not melted from the trails on our property. Of course this morning I definitely needed a long stretching and mobility session from Saturday’s class and workout (excellent time and practice my friends!!) So, you may ask why I am rambling on about training on Sunday? Well, it is all about what I have written about here before, the Ninja Lifestyle. The Ninja Lifestyle isn’t one that is easy, soft, or even a wanna be. It is something that permeates your day with energy and fire to know and understand more and be better within your life each day. I take this very seriously and apply it to all areas of my life, and I do mean all areas, why wouldn’t I?

Now, this website has become quite popular lately, but it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, it took several years of steady posting great content that others within the ninjutsu community needs and or wants to learn more about. It took patience and dedication, and learning from my mistakes(Oh I have made lots of them!!) You will be hearing me (or reading) more about Living the Ninja Lifestyle, and I think you are going to enjoy it, but I have to leave you with at least 1 new lesson for today!

1)      Go and get your training journal, and please you better have one by now!

2)      Review what you accomplished last week for learning new techniques, tactics, and strategies, and write them down

Now this week you are going to have a goal, one based around your fundamental nutrition plan,

1)      Take your Training journal out and review everything you have eaten or drank throughout the day and log it in

2)      Add a column for supplements and vitamins

3)      Now repeat this each day.

Now the trick here is to not change what you are doing just because you are recording it. The purpose of this exercise is to determine your nutritional weakness and honesty with yourself is of the utmost importance. Each time I run through this drill I gain a better understanding of when I need to fuel the fire with high quality items as I am binging on some snack food because my blood sugar is heading down. So start this lesson as a first step in understanding what you are taking in on a routine basis, it will surprise you, never mind how many extra calories you may be sneaking into our nutrition plan. Alright, go on and take on the week with a fire in your belly to improve your nutrition!

Bufu Ikkan

Airyu – Living the Ninja Lifestyle