Little 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.Ninjas Are SUPPOSED to Steal – in the Right Way
Nature’s Ninja
Yesterday, I was walking through Harajuku, on the way to an Emergency Training meeting for local community members. I was there to represent the Guardian Angels, and it was nice to learn a few new twists on some First Aid and other details. I’m sure I’ll be writing about that soon on the Guardian Angels Blog, but that’s not what this one is about.
While walking from the train station, I saw some guy just sitting on a step to a local building, eating his breakfast, minding his own business … while his pet monkey was getting all sorts of crazy attention (and some crazy foreigner even stopped to take a picture for this blog).
The strange part, at least to me, was that this little monkey could get all this attention from the people who noticed him (maybe “her” – I respected its privacy, and didn’t really check) … yet some people completely passed him by.
I don’t get it – people walk past a monkey on the street and don’t notice?!
Well, the really useful part was noticing that this monkey, which somehow could travel under the radar of some folks, was also able to get plenty of breakfast, all on its own, even with a leash attached. He found food all over the place, including little bits that dropped from other people sitting and standing nearby … usually without them even noticing! This was one smart little thief!
Normally, I couldn’t really condone the use of skilled thievery as something to emulate as a higher moral standard … but maybe that’s about to change …
Our New Goals as Thieves
Sensei was careful to guide us on quite a few topics during the week of official Dojo-cho training here in Japan. Certainly, he spent a lot of effort on correcting technical issues and adjusting our understanding of the different tactical applications of timing and distance: what we normally describe as ma’ai 間合い as it related to our training.
In addition, he included another topic that was important for us to hear as instructors. “In all the old arts of Japan, including carpentry and visual arts and even Budo … there are some things that aren’t openly taught … that’s because they can not be taught – it’s not possible. It’s up to the students to ‘steal’ these teachings. “
Of course, it’s not possible to physically steal these kinds of things – it’s up to us as students to find ways of grabbing the various pieces that we see, hear, and experience … and then try them out and play around with them, until they become our own “possessions” that we “own” for ourselves.
In a very simple way, if you’ve ever driven a stick-shift car (or a motorcycle), then you could certainly try to explain the details of driving up a hill from a complete stop. There are things that you do need to do for it to work, but the actual feeling of balance between driving too fast and slamming into something, and not giving enough throttle and rolling backwards, and stalling out completely … you can’t really teach that feeling – and it’s the feeling that makes the difference – but you can’t teach it! It has to be tried and experimented and eventually each “student” will learn the nuances in their own way, from watching and feeling other drivers do it their ways … until they can “steal” those details enough to make it happen the way they want to do it.
Now, that’s a pretty simple exercise, especially compared to the technical and emotional difficulties inherent to the study of our Budo. You can easily imagine the level of complexity being much higher than this example, which in turn, requires more and more finesse and subtlety and refinement in your “stealing” abilities. You will have to put in some very hard work and diligent practice to even begin noticing the parts that you’re currently missing …
Said another way, first we have to “know what we don’t know” so that we can learn it, or in this case, “steal” it during our training. That’s a move from “unconscious incompetence” to “conscious incompetence” and it marks a huge breakthrough in every kind of learning we will ever do.
I hope to discuss this in some greater detail, either here, or on the mat. Enjoy training – I’ll be back in Los Angeles soon.
Read MoreMartial Arts: Your Progress Map
My time training in Japan this past week, with nearly all of the Dojo-Cho from around the world in the Jinenkan has helped bring us all together to make the organization even stronger. In addition, the training itself required that we question what we may have thought we already knew. This will be an overview article, that I hope we will discuss in the Dojo and online.
守破離 shu – ha – ri Preserve – Break – Release
These are the three big phases of training – any training in any topic:
守 When you first encounter new learning, the single best thing you can do is emulate it and get good at what you’re trying to learn. You can make fast initial progress by getting a general sense of what’s supposed to happen, and focus on just enough details at any one point to get closer and closer to doing it “right” based on the model that has been presented for you to follow.
破 Once you’re doing an acceptable job of copying the model, it’s time to start asking more questions: why does it work that way? If the context changes, what would change? What would not change at all? Is it the same in any direction? Does it matter who is doing it? What other factors matter, and which don’t matter? It’s time to break up the basic learning pattern, and get thinking about the details that make it what it is.
There is no bonus to rushing to do this, though: go ahead and get good at copying the best model you have … and only then start worrying about why it’s such a great model. If you’ve done a good job in your initial search for a topic to study, this will be easier to do.
離 At some point, if you found a topic worth studying, and you got good at it, and came to a deep understanding of it … funny part is that it won’t really matter any more. The “form” of what you’re doing will be an obvious outcome from the understanding of the details that you have at that point. The natural result of those first phases is that you’ll have a high quality result, probably similar to your initial study, but not because of simple copying. It doesn’t seem to matter when this phase happens either, and it’s impossible to rush to get to it, so don’t lose any sleep over it.
I’d like to discuss these phases of development as they apply to our training. Please do think about it, and either comment or talk about it in the Dojo, etc.
Read MoreMy First Day of Instructors-Only Training in Japan
Sword Ritual
I was exposed today to some interesting training that will certainly have a huge impact on my own training, and training at the LA Dojo, too.
There is a LOT going on when it comes to the “new” training method I discovered this morning when working on the sword ritual that Manaka Sensei was teaching. Many of the other Dojo-Cho had already been working on this, so I had to do my best to make up for lost ground, and got some great help from Sensei, Morris, and the other Dojo-Cho in training today.
Adam Mitchell and I spoke about this in some follow up conversations on the train to and from Kashiwa, and he was very helpful, sharing all of the insights he had already received on this training.
Impact on Los Angeles Sword Training
Los Angeles will have a lot to work on: I am expecting to see this training become a very standard part of training for our Dojo, though I’m not sure what shape that will take. Certainly, it’s obvious that our sword classes will include some of this practice, but it’s also important enough that I’d like to see everyone at least begin learning the ideas. This might not be practical, though.
Thoughts?
Sword Basics = Randori
Hopefully, if you’re in our regular, ongoing sword training at Los Angeles Jinenkan Dojo, you’ve already begun to understand that once you understand the movements, you need to add pressure and intensity gradually, to refine your technique. By having an attacker with very little limitation (if any at all), the training becomes a lot more “alive” at each moment.
We did this kind of training this morning using Kukishin Sword basics, and it was fantastic. While we do this quite regularly in our Dojo, today I could enjoy knowing that EVERY person who stepped in front of me as a new training partner would be a skilled opponent, offering an enormous opportunity for growth and solid training.
I was very happy to see that everyone was comfortable pushing their own limits, and helping their training partner to push theirs, too. This is EXACTLY the kind of training that will make it possible to get better and better, much more quickly than training alone, or with unmotivated training partners.
I can’t say enough how awesome this kind of opportunity is, for those of us in training, and for our training partners at home when we return. I hope I can bring back the kind of intensity and fire that we are already experiencing here, and keep it burning in our Dojo.
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How to Be an Expert
There have been quite a few studies done to find out what goes on in the development of expertise in any field: music, academics, sports, etc. Chances are, if you’re already training regularly at the Dojo, you’re trying to reach some level of relative expertise. Well, wouldn’t it be nice to know how to be more efficient about that?
It turns out, there are a few factors involved that seem like common sense once you hear them, but might not be impacting your study and training as much as they could or should. Take a look at the video I made to ensure quicker acquisition of the material. Please discuss this idea in class, with your friends outside the Dojo, and leave comments (and maybe even argue about it) at the end of this post.
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