Archive for April, 2018

Principle of Nature

Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

Within the Shinden Fudo Ryu tradition there is a principle of nature, or training in nature. This seems so simplistic by its shortness, but it actual encompasses so much more when you peel back the layers.

First, we all should be practicing in nature, outside of the confines of the dojo. Yes, this can mean training in a field or nice safe area, but what I mean here is to train in all-natural environments in order to test and develop your fighting and survival abilities.

So, let’s do a little exploration here!

Training in urban environments:

Take your training out into the urban world. This would include, practicing falling, leaping and fighting in areas you may need to utilize these skills. Additional examples, a parking lot, fighting from your car, stairwells, dressed in cold weather or warm weather clothing, use a mall for counter surveillance drills, practice intonjutsu skills by entering your home unconventionally, how do you deploy or conceal weapons with street clothes on? Now these are just a few suggestions but clearly not limiting a host of other ideas (and yes I will have a more detailed list and scenarios for you soon!)

Training in rural environments:

I am blessed that I am in a rural area but this does pose unique situations for training and preparedness. These would include, medical management (being away from a local hospital you may need to treat a person prior to transport), physical training – trail running, natural training such as log carries, rock lifting etc., as with urban training – weapons management, deployment, use of off road vehicles and animal handling, wilderness survival and land navigation skills, and these are just to name a few!

Blended Environments (Travel):

I travel a lot so how do I apply and train for travel? Well, non descript concealed weapon usage, intelligence gathering on my travel location, terrain familiarization and escape route preparation (how do I get to a secure location), educational research, language familiarization, etc. There are always opportunities for learning, no matter where you are.

As this is just a brief overview, you can possibly see you can spend a great deal of time on breaking down your training and pushing yourself and students into areas that will challenge and excite them to continue to grow. Ninjutsu is not a dead art, the principles contained within it’s multifaceted ancient arts translate into modern applications, but this is totally dependent on the teacher and or the student who wants to realize and utilize them in this fashion. My belief is that if you are not evolving you will be dead. Your opponents are not just hanging around doing nothing, they are sharpening their skills so why wouldn’t you?

Now get out there and train!

Bufu Ikkan

Modern Practice: Losing a Tail

Saturday, April 7th, 2018

Hey ninjutsu practitioners, it is time for some real world skill building here and that is on how to lose a tail. ENJOY!

First you need to determine if there is an individual or team following your route. You can do this by varying your pace and noting if the potential follower varies their pace to match you. Turn in the opposite direction see if they stop to tie their shoe or peer into a shop window etc.

Lastly, watch your reflection in a window to see if the potential follower is really tailing you. So, you have determined you are being followed, continue to walk and give them no indication that you know, make a mental note of what their appearance is, call for backup or police if necessary.

So you know, now what? Well here are a few steps to help you escape!

  • Try to speed up enough to be able to duck out of sight
  • Change your appearance (hat on/off, lose the coat, change shirts, add glasses)
  • Blend into a crowd
  • Enter a building then quickly exit via another entrance or exit
  • Enter a building go upstairs and quickly change your direction and go back down and out a new route
  • Be careful when you attempt to “hide” if you are caught you have given up your mobility and may end up captured.
  • Lie in wait and use a weapon to counter as a last resort to being captured

Now, one “live” drill you can play at to develop skills in both the tailed or tailing individual, is to go to an urban area with a partner or partners and take turns tailing each other. Be prepared with alternative clothing and potential disguises that you can use to fool your partners.

Practice is the best method to ingrain the skills into your repertoire. Now this is just a very short, down and dirty lesson but it is just the first in many new lessons coming your way here at NinjutsuTrainingOnline.com!

Now get out there and practice and practice!

Bufu Ikkan