• Thursday, December 31st, 2009
We had a question about ukemi, which is the ninjutsu system of receiving an attack physically and mentally. The question was:
I feel that the physical aspects are straight forward, but I have been wondering about what kind of exercises one can do to improve on mental ukemi?
I don’t believe the physical aspects are as straightforward as one may think. Learning to roll and break fall are drills that teach you to be an uke. They change you, they are not collected things and then you move on to the mind versions. The question seems to imply (to me) that there is a difference between the physical and the mental or emotional. They are all the same. The physical ukemi exercises are the exercises you start with to control your mind and emotions and vice versa.
During a session at New England Warrior Camp my senior student Derek got to be uke for my friend Paul. Derek is a very good uke but Paul was showing some very intense techniques. It was clear that Derek was at the edge of his ukemi.
We had a quick discussion about his mental state. I told him he was fighting the pain too much. He agreed and (bravely I feel) said that fear had crept in because he hadn’t trained at this level for awhile. We talked about giving in completely to it as if you had fallen asleep or died. Not comforting thoughts but effective.
Derek went back to uke for Paul almost immediately. There was no time to change his “physical” technique, only enough to change his mind. Instantly he looked more relaxed and was able to handle much more easily. He came back from a crushing throw and lock smiling.
He changed his physical response in an instant by changing his mind. The physical training he has done for almost two decades has taught him to control his mind and emotions, which he used to control his body. They’re all the same. My suggestion to learn mental ukemi…punch in.
• Thursday, December 24th, 2009
I’ve been thinking about this thread for a while. Unfortunately I have been directly involved with knifes. This question is in fact why I went looking for ninjutsu. I didn’t know I was looking for ninjutsu at the time I just wanted an answer to all the knifes that were in the bars I was bouncing in.
From the time I started training with Mark Davis in ninjutsu we have always trained with the idea that our opponent was armed. If you think about it historically there’s more chance that they were fighting armed then unarmed and more than likely that weapon was some type of blade.
I am always interested to see that for most people there is a perception of difference in knife fighting and fighting. To me they are the same. I won’t deny there are concerns when a blade is involved but the defensive concepts should be the same.
I heard Dr. Hatsumi talk once about how many martial arts fight like animals (lion, snake, etc..) but how he fights like a human because when you go to a zoo the animals are on the inside and we’re on the outside. He talked about how we control animals by controlling the space around them instead of rushing head on and trying to over power them.
The same applies to our fighting system. At some point you have to give up on “doing” techniques and learn to control the space around your opponent. There are an entire series of evasions that allow you to move in on an armed attacker that are based on where the space is in relation to the geometric plane of attack created by the moving knife.
An example would be the tangent to a circle, a line that intersects a circle at one and only one point. This concept is the basis of avoiding a slashing attack. To start have your partner make the slash in a large arc toward your neck. First let them hit you to be sure of the distance. Then as they attack again move to either side from that point of contact and the knife should go right by. Don’t step back, move to the side or as you get more comfortable move in to the space along the arc of their cut. This lets you avoid the cut and bridge the gap to facilitate control.
This same concept can be used against a bat, a hook punch, a roundhouse kick or any circular attack. There has to be principle-based responses that work regardless of the weapon used because it is impossible to have a set answer for the infinite variations an attack can take.
• Thursday, December 17th, 2009
The Go-Gyo elemental system of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire is very important in ninjutsu and is also the basis for the ninja goton-po (five element escape method).
In it are contained the lessons of Dotonjutsu, the use of the earth element to aid in escape, Suitonjutsu, the use of the water element to aid in escape, Katonjutsu, the use of fire, Mokutonjutsu, the use of wood and plants, and Kintonjutsu, the use of metal objects. All part of stealth training in our ninjutsu art.
Beyond these teaching or memorization tools for stealth there is also the understanding of the flow of energy in an event. This understanding could be used to plan ahead by predicting probable outcomes or could be used to look backward in time like a detective.
In higher levels of taijutsu the understanding of the flow of energy allows practitioners to not be where attackers perceive them to be in the middle of an attack. This understanding of Go-Gyo concepts of energetic flow can be considered part of Kyojutsu, the methods of exchanging truth for false and false for truth.
The best place to begin your study of these concepts is again in Mr. Hayes’s books, specifically volume 4 chapter 2 of the Ninja series.
• Thursday, December 10th, 2009
We had a question about knee alignment in ichimonji no kamae (a defensive posture) from a student with knee problems. The angle of your knee for inchimonji no kamae is dependent on which classical school you’re looking at. Each has it’s own alignment for historical reasons.
But if you are looking at it from a modern perspective the alignment of your knee with your foot from side to side is more important than the alignment (angle of the knee) from front to back. The latter is determined by the situation and your personal leg and knee strength.
The alignment from side to side can be checked with a visual tool. If you imagine your foot creates a lane or line forward from the toes and backward from the heel, your knee should be over that line. If you dropped a plumb line from your kneecap down it should hit that line regardless of the angle of the knee.
Where I see most students having problems is that they’re knee falls to the inside of their foot. This puts pressure on the knee joint, which is a cause for concern for safety reasons and also puts and outward pressure on the foot which can cause you to loose your footing on a slippery surface.
The alignment of the knee and the foot should create a pressure straight down into the ground when landing back into ichimonji. Ask yourself if you made the movement back to ichimonji on ice would it work? If you’re using gravity to move yourself and landing properly aligned it does work.
Having had a number of knee surgeries (from football not training) may I suggest you take it slow. Our movement done well will actually help your knees become stronger. Good luck.
• Thursday, December 03rd, 2009
We had a question from one of our students on how to practice staying covered with the sword as they cut if they don’t have a training partner. This is a drill that may help a little with the feeling.
Take a bo or broom stick and set it up so it is horizontal to the ground pointing straight at you. You may put it on a shelf or in the branches of a tree for support. Any way you can set it up in your training area.
Now as you practice your Kihon (basic) cuts see if your weapon is moving out in front of you to keep you covered as you cut or are you moving in with your body first then cutting?
If you do it correctly the bo pointing at you will not affect your cut. If you are not you will feel threatened or off balanced by the stick pointing at you.
Its a small detail but as you practice more and more you will find that when you do get the opportunity to train with a partner that your cuts will affect the opponent much more and you will be able to move in on someone easier.
