Archive for August, 2012

Concealed Spaces

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

There are times when you need to have items hidden within your home. Be it a weapon, money, important documents or just something you don’t want your noisy spouse to easily find. So here are 5 easy locations that are often overlooked in a cursory search of a home.

  1. Empty cereal boxes on the shelf of your cabinet or  pantry.
  2. Above the door or inside the closet (not a walk-in) up      over the door.
  3. Behind a decorative blanket hung on a wall
  4. Non-locking hideaway picture frame.
  5. False bottom in bedside drawer.

I have a long list of locations and instructions on how to build concealed location, to help keep your “hidden” items hidden!

Bufu Ikkan

 

Gambatte

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

Gambatte (Keep Going!)

“Forget your sadness, anger, grudges and hatred. Let them pass like smoke caught in a breeze. You should not deviate from the path of righteousness; you should lead a life worthy of a man. Don’t be possessed by greed, luxury, or your ego. You should accept sorrows, sadness and hatred as they are, and consider them a chance for trial given to you by the powers…a blessing given by nature. Have both your mind and your time fully engaged in budo, and have your mind deeply set on bujutsu.”

Soke Hatsumi

 

What does it take to “keep going” for you? Is it a friend to push you to go and train? Is it that need and drive to continue on in the face of adversity?

Just what does it  mean to you to “Keep going.” In the martial arts and in life? Have you actually spent some time thinking about this very simple yet complex few words?

The journey in the martial arts can be short or it can continue until the day you pass on. The student’s who remain student for life, keep going, because they are learning new things each day. They challenge themselves to overcome adversity, injury, sickness, their ego, greed etc, in their pursuit of an everlasting training and learning. Often I have to reflect back upon my days and years in training, whether the training was hard or soft, the dojo was hot or cold, I have always kept training, day after day, year after year. Why I have to ask myself and you should as well, do I continue to learn and train? I push myself each day to learn something new, whether it is in the martial arts or my many other interests, I am continuously trying to move forward and grow. Many of you who are reading or listening to this short piece would do well to reflect on your past training, review you r notes, films and photos of days past, but remember that tomorrow is a new day and new learning should occur.

My final words for you to reflect upon:

Do not become trapped in the conventions of someone else’s purpose for your training. Strive to be better in little steps each day and keep going, move forward, don’t look back and hold regrets that you should of, or could of done something differently, instead take the leap and  as Nike says “ just do it.”

Bufu Ikkan

Sensei Steve Lefebvre

 

Ninjutsu Wisdom

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

“A Ninja never carries a grudge when humiliated or denounced. A Ninja possesses a compassionate heart and pursues peace and harmony. This attitude is called the spirit of Ninniku. Ceaselessly helping the people around him, a Ninja uses Ninpo to maintain a just society, weak persons and justice. For this purpose, Ninpo Bugei, the origin of all martial arts and a previously guarded secret can now be taught to all.”

Shoto Tanemura

Why the Ninja’s Espionage (Choho) Skills are vital today!

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

The collection of intelligence was and remains a fundamental purpose of a Ninja. The gathering and sorting of information skills served a Ninja’s clan with the ability to predict and interpret what was heading their way in terms of trade, military movement, even potential new business arrangements. A Ninja agent is like a spider sensing its prey from a vibration on its web. Their network of informants was their web just as your network can work the same for you.

In order to accomplish a task the Ninja would first develop a plan that took into account the six major considerations for a successful espionage, I have included a little to the Why is this is still of vital importance for you today.

  • Anonymity – Maintaining secrecy about oneself and that of their mission. How important is this in an age of instantaneous blogging, tweeting, video capture etc.
  • To be able to determine the aims of the opponent. Being prepared with knowledge of an opponent’s goals or end point in mind will help you potentially negotiate a raise, buy a business, land a new job, just to name a few.
  • Gathering information. This goes hand in hand with the above statement, but gathering the information and understanding it can be a tricky process.
  • Sowing confusion or setting up a false path for an opponent to follow. Ahh yes, someone is trying to find out about you on Facebook, and of course you have only the most appropriate posts regarding your lifestyle, right?
  • Figuring out the tactics of your opponent, their numbers and movements. I can easily relate this to recent suggestions I have given some students on job searching and what to come prepared with at their interviews.
  • Finally, counterespionage, hey now who is searching you and what can you do to help thwart their activities, learn to become unpredictable!

 

From our Ancient traditions, tactics and strategies, the modern practitioner can utilize choho skills as a method to protect ones family and friends, advance themselves professionally and or even search out information on an opponent’s martial skill, financial background, education in order to prepare yourself for a conflict or negotiation strategy.

Bufu Ikkan

Ps: Yes, for those who already know there will be a new product coming soon, and you guessed it, it will be covering Choho skills! Ancient to the modern strategies, tactics, tricks and tips this will be the first time anywhere that a lot of this information will be available so stay tuned for the product launch!!