Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutsu(武神館忍術)

おす！！！皆さん、おひさしぶりで〜す

Hey everyone it's been a long time!!

As promised this time I will introduce to you one of the most underrated martial arts which is called Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutsu(or Ninjutsu if you like).

First a little historical facts for the origin of this system.

The Bujinkan (武神館) is an international ninjutsu organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi. It is best known for its association with the ninja. The system taught by this group, called Bujinkan Budō(or Ninpo) Taijutsu, consists of nine separate martial arts traditions.

Several of the above martial arts taught in the Bujinkan can allegedly be traced back to the Iga region of Japan and were developed and used by the Yamabushi and the Ninja. The arts said to be in the Iga-ryu Ninjutsu tradition include Gyokko Ryu, Koto Ryu, Gikan-ryū and Shinden Fudo Ryu. The alleged connection to Ninjutsu is through Hatsumi's teacher Takamatsu Toshitsugu who was, among other things, permitted to copy the Amatsu Tatara scrolls. Takamatsu Toshitsugu's grandfather was a samurai and a direct descedent of the founder of Gyokko Ryu (the Gikan-ryū was passed to Takamatsu Toshitsugu through another source). Other arts, such as Takagi Yoshin Ryu and Kukishinden Ryu were developed and used by members of Japan’s Samurai families. Today the Bujinkan incorporates techniques from all of the above 9 ryu and others.

In 1843 several of the Bujinkan ryūha were mentioned in the Kakutogi no Rekishi (“The History of Fighting Arts”).^[1] Although details of the ryūha were omitted, the publication states, "even though they are not mentioned in this particular periodical, there are several schools that are well-known for being ‘effective arts’ (jitsuryoku ha)." Among the schools listed in this section are Gyokko Ryū, Gikan-ryū Koppōjutsu, Gyokushin-ryū Ninpō, Kukishin Ryu, Takagi Yōshin-ryū Jūtaijutsu and Asayama Ichiden-ryū (which is not part of the Bujinkan’s nine schools but was studied by Hatsumi via Takashi Ueno). The Bujinkan as a whole has been recognised by the Zen Nippon Todo Renmei (All Japan Sword Federation). However, the recorded history and lineage of several of the ryūha taught in the Bujinkan, as documented by the Bujinkan, especially of Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu, have been called into question.

Formation of the Bujinkan Organization

The head of the Bujinkan organisation, Masaaki Hatsumi, is the lineage holder of several ryūha taught in the Bujinkan, transferred to him 1958 by his teacher Takamatsu Toshitsugu.
From 1968 and onwards, the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten has entries bearing the name of Hatsumi below his teacher Takamatsu Toshitsugu for the following school entries: Gyokko-ryū Kosshijutsu, Kuki Shinden Happō Bikenjutsu, Kotō-ryū Koppōjutsu, Shinden Fudō-ryū Dakentaijutsu, Takagi Yōshin-ryū Jūtaijutsu, Gikan-ryū Koppōjutsu, Gyokushin-ryū Ninpō and Kumogakure-ryū Ninpō.

So in essence we have a system which has 9 schools(Ryu)each one with a different feeling,strategy,combat philosophy etc. Although we see a lot of different techniques and kamae(postures/stances) through each school  we also see that concepts of techniques like Kihon Happo(which consist sanpo no kata and goho no kata)remain the same within every school but at the same time totally different.What this mean is that for each school there's a different way to interpret the Kihon Happo,different feeling,different movement and strategy.With this thought in mind you can literally create thousands of new techniques.Which brings us to another concept and philosophy of Bujinkan which is called Banpen Fugyo(a thousand attacks,no surprise).What this means if you are free of the form of a technique you can adapt to any situation that comes before you.That is very deep and has to be studied thoroughly and that's the reason why we have to study as students the Bujinkan system for many years before we understand these concepts.

So as mentioned before we have 9 schools:

Gyokko Ryu-Kosshi Jutsu
Koto Ryu-Koppo Jutsu
Togakure Ryu-Ninpo
Kumogakure Ryu-Ninpo
Gyokushin Ryu-Ninpo
Gikan Ryu-Koppo Jutsu

Takagi Yoshi Ryu-Ju Taijutsu
Shinden Fudo Ryu-Daken Taijutsu and Ju Taijutsu
Kukishinden Ryu-Happo Biken

What is also great about this system is that you learn to use and defend weapons and learn the art of Kenjutsu(japanese swordfighting),Bo Jutsu,Jo Jutsu and Hanbo Jutsu(stick fighting with different kind of staff),Shuriken Jutsu(projectile throwing with blades),Tanto Jutsu(knife fighting) and many more.So actually learn how to defend different kind of weapons which can be life-saving in a realistic situation out on the streets.

So there you have it.A brief overview of what Bujinkan is all about.In fututre post we're going to see techniques from each school and we're going to analyze them.

Until next time
頑張ってください(please do your best)
John



 

 

Aikido 合気道 Part 2

武芸者ブログへよこそ

And welcome to Bugeisha blog!!!

As promised in this post I'm going to be discussing about an Aikido technique,so that you can have a better understanding of what Aikido is all about.By no means one technique is a factor to judge the art overall,and that goes to any martial art,but it's the best way to show the mechanics and basic philosophy of the art.I can honestly tell you that I haven't practiced Aikido as much as Judo but I know the basic techniques required for 5th and 4th Kyu,thus I can analyze at least one technique that I have practiced numerous times.

So without further ado the technique is called Kote Gaeshi(counterattack from the wrist or forearm).
I'm sure many of you have seen this technique before,mainly from movies(Steven Seagal has performed this technique in many of his movies).

Before analyzing the technique let's start with the basic terminology,in order to make sense of what I'm talking about:

Ai hanmi katate dori: uke stands with left foot forward and tori with right foot forward(so they are exactly opposite in their stances,uke then steps forward and grabs the wrist from the inside of tori's hand.
Katate dori: both uke and tori are standing like mirror images,same foot forward.That means that when uke initiates a wrist grab,his palm will be at the outside surface of the wrist.
Irimi:enter
Tenkan:turn
Tai sabaki: circular step
Omote:inside
Ura:outside

Kote Gaeshi

Uke: from katate dori he steps forward and attacks to the wrist of tori.

Tori: does a small fraction of a step forward(Irimi) to actually countermeasure the distance of uke and turns(Tenkan) thus creating a tai sabaki outside the range of the attack,so tori is actually outside of uke,right at the moment that uke grabs the wrist of the front hand(which is actually used to bait the opponent in order to create an opening)tori uses the opposite hand to deflect the force created by uke in order to grab uke's wrist with his other hand(previously mentioned front hand.

Since tori is outside the range of the attack of uke,naturally uke will follow trying to deliver a second attack(otherwise there is no point the technique finishes right there).It's common sense that when somebody attacks you and fail they'll go for a second attack(duh).

Using all senses(mainly the sense of touching and motion),tori takes advantage of the follow technique,grabbing the wrist of uke and twisting it in the direction of uke's balance and centrifugal forces take over to actually throw the opponent on his tracks.

In practice when this technique is performed uke actually does an ukemi(breakfall)in order to reduce the stress created in his joint.That explains the "fancy flips" you see in exhibitions,it's for self-protecting purposes,it's not to impress you with acrobatics.And for the doubters I challenge you to get under one such technique and I promise you,you'll be flying all over the place in order to avoid this painful joint lock.

Of course katate dori is not the only grab that you can use kote gaeshi for,there's a variety of attacks like chuudan tsuki(middle punch),ryote dori(grabbing both hands),ai hanmi katate dori,ushiro ryote dori(grabbing both wrists from the rear) shomen uchi(front sword hand strike)and so on so forth.So we see that one technique can be used for a variety of attacks which shows how versatile Aikido is.

So there you go,that's one of the many impressive and effective techniques of Aikido.I hope by now you have grasped the concept of harmonizing your energy with the energy of your opponent through motion.If you practice and grasp the true essence of Aikido you are one step closer to understanding the universal truths about energy and harmony.To my understanding that's the true essence of Aikido,creating something beautiful through motion.Although it sounds quite poetic don't misjudge the effectiveness of the art cause remember,samurai have used these techniques for centuries,so they're tested on the battlefield.If it worked for these warriors it'll definitely work for us modern age fighters ;)

In my next post I'm going to start a series for my favorite so far martial art which is Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu(or Bujinkan Ninjutsu) of Soke Hatsumi Masaaki(he's not the creator but the successor),the art of 9 ancient ryu(schools) of samurai and ninja(yes they are real and not some fiction hollywood pijama assassin killer freak).

Until next post 

頑張ってください(do your best)

John