Brain Tricks From My First Use of Traditional Budo
The first time I ever used the martial arts skills I had learned from the initial approach to kobudo that I started studying in high school, an interesting thing happened.
Of course, over the years there are details I don’t remember – this was high school. And, now that I’ve learned enough about the likely results of what must have included some adrenaline in my blood at the time, I recognize that it’s entirely likely that most of the “actual” details that I might remember would be at least partially wrong.
With that in mind, I’m not so interested in recounting what skills got used or what worked and what didn’t work – I only remember a very little bit. What would be useful, though, is to discuss an odd thing that happened, that I actually DO remember … one that I have recently learned happens a lot to people doing something stressful and “new”.
Read MoreSummer Camp Helped in Real Life
The last day of summer camp was one of the best days of summer camp. Our young folks lived up to every expectation I had, and they outperformed beyond that, too. This week included sleight of hand, swords, hiding in public spaces, and today: rescuing a damsel (or two) in distress.
We had just had lunch and were walking to the park, when across the street we saw two women looking at their car, holding up the hood, with an empty bottle of coolant next to them. We all looked at each other and realized this was a great time to put into practice some of the skills and attitudes that we practice every day. We’ve used some of our “Urban” summer camp weeks to do a little basic car maintenance, and this was perfect timing!
Read MoreTwo Way Radios for Summer Camp: Which One is Best?
Want to be a real professional “operator” at Summer Camp this year? We talk a LOT in Summer Camp, and we have a great time … and some of that talking is done over the radio. We learn to use modern phonetic alphabet, “ten-codes” and we’ve even built simple receivers from scratch.
While there’s NO requirement to buy your own radio, it’s a super handy part of emergency preparedness, and it’s a ton of fun, you will hopefully use it plenty outside your camp time, and it’s actually quite affordable.
We will discuss plenty of alternative (and traditional, ninja-style) communication methods, too. But let’s also remember that even cool, old-time ninja were contemporary at their time, and used the coolest gadgets they could get their hands on, too.
Read MoreLittle Known Ninjutsu History: Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu
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.10 Minutes, Twice a Day for Massive Martial Arts Improvement
What 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:
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Thanksgiving Weekend Camp
Get your fix of camp fun during a different season!
Alright, ask and you shall receive! Apparently Summer Camp mayhem is so missed that we have had a few people request more. Well, it can’t be “summer camp” but we will be doing a little weekend camp for Thanksgiving weekend! Saturday and Sunday, November 27 & 28, from 4-10pm, we will be doing an evening training camp like we did during the last weekend of summer!
Camp is an great opportunity to work on those ancient and modern ninja skills. We only have a limited amount of time in class to cover material that would have once taken an individual’s lifetime to procure. At least with these extra-curriculars, like camp, we have the opportunity to take a glance at what it truly meant and means to have that ‘nin’ 忍 perseverance of the ninja. Much was encompassed in becoming a well rounded individual in a variety of skills, that would come in handy for missions and life in general. With the future being a little less secure than it might have been a few years back, being fully knowledgeable or at least familiar with a variety of skills might be what makes the difference between having ‘good luck’ or an ‘ill fate’. Though we will be looking at some heavy topics, we’ll definitely be having a great time while increasing our knowledge base!
Last Jinenkan Seminar in USA with Unsui Sensei: swords, jutaijutsu, wisdom
Have you wanted to take advantage of the absolute best training opportunities in the Jinenkan? It’s entirely possible to train with a living master of several ancient traditions of some of the best martial arts available. That’s why I want to take a moment for a quick review of this:
The Last Jinenkan Seminar in USA with Unsui Sensei: Swords, Jutaijutsu, and Wisdom
Four of us from the Los Angeles Jinenkan Dojo had the opportunity to travel across the country to attend the final USA seminar with Manaka Unsui Sensei – who opened the training of Kobudo through the Jinenkan to make it available to the public over ten years ago.
Read MoreCurrent Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu Training in Los Angeles
History of this Jujutsu School
According to the newsletter from Manaka Unsui Sensei, a Buddhist monk named Unryu devised training for taijutsu, bojutsu and shurikenjutsu (unarmed fighting, staff fighting, throwing stars) around 1570, which eventually became Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu or Jujutsu.
In 1645, Takagi Oriemon Shigetoshi added more grappling, and in 1671 Takagi Umonosuke spread the training widely and included Naginata skills. Much later, around 1841, three top students branched off to make their own “seito-ha” or student-breakoffs of training: Fujita Takagi Yoshin Ryu, Ishibashi Takagi Ryu, and Ishitani Takagi Yoshin Ryu. Our training is derived from the first and last of those named above, giving us a total of 94 unarmed jujutsu techniques from the Takagi martial arts lineage.
Read MoreImperfect Self Defense & You
We spend a lot of time at the Dojo working on effective self defense. We also spend time discussing acceptable self defense: when morality and legality are taken into consideration, there are a lot of important things to consider.
Our training covers a range from pinching a little skin, to cutting our adversaries in half from nine feet away. That’s a pretty big range for this “use of force continuum” in our training. The selection process of appropriate response is a little more difficult than you might think.
For example, you might pick the perfect response to a situation, but then realize that your judgment about the situation itself was not so perfect. There are huge moral implications to that. And, there are legal implications to that, too.
Imperfect Self Defense
“Imperfect self defense” (which only applies if there is actual but unreasonable belief in the need for self defense) reduces a murder to a manslaughter.
Read MoreKata vs Kamae: Brutal and Subtle Martial Arts Training
In 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.
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