K I H O N
Newsletter #16
May 2001
May 2001 ISSN# 1534-1437
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An email newsletter focusing on Ninjutsu/Budo
Taijutsu training. Published by www.KIHON.com
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**** CONTENTS ****
>> Shidoshi Insights: Instructor Insights
>> Kata Ideas: Thoughts on Technique
>> Budo Quotes: Martial Arts Quotes
>> Keiko Events: Upcoming Events
>> Shoshin Comments: Comments
*** Shidoshi Insights *****
The Second Lesson
Joe Maurantonio, shidoshi (BNYD)
The second lesson:
A few years ago, a student in class repeatedly
asked what he should do if attacked by a stranger.
He wasn't disrespectful about it, it simply
weighed on his mind and he felt that he needed an
answer. For me, the obvious answer was to "get
away," and that was exactly what I told him. "But
what if you can't?" he countered. I explained that
there was always a way out, but if he could give
me a situation in which there was no escape, I'd
try to help him with it. He let it drop.
Apparently there was no situation he could offer.
After class, the student asked for a moment of my
time. We sat down and he said, "I have got a
situation," and proceeded to describe it. In his
imaginary situation, four guys had surrounded him
and were threatening to do him harm. So, he
couldn't run away because he was surrounded. I
asked him what they wanted, and he replied that
before he could find out they started throwing
punches. (I could see he was playing the "make
believe" game now.)
"Escape," I said. He asked me how I would do it.
The same way we do in class, the same way Houdini
used to escape handcuffs, and the same way you
learn or do anything. One move at a time. The
first punch comes at you and you respond by moving
to where it misses you. That's the first escape.
The second attack enters and you move toward its
opening. Second escape. Keep moving and keep your
guard up. When the opening to run away presents
itself, take it.
He smiled. And so did I.
*** Kata Ideas *****
Training With Nature
Fred F. Feddeck, BNYD
The weather is getting nicer and Spring is here!
Time to get out and train with nature. Training
with nature offers many exercises that you can use
to help condition your body, increase stamina, and
build your spirit. Think of some exercises that
you can do outside. Here are a few to help you get
started:
Run up and down the side of hill to build up your
stamina. If the hill also has a good number of
trees and rocks, practice avoiding these as you
run. This will also help to develop your balance.
Practice running and jumping over rocks and fallen
trees. This will develop your ukemi and leaping
abilities - taihenjutsu is very important!
Use a tree with a low branch to practice chin-ups,
or just hang from the bough, to develop and
stretch your muscles. Another form of muscle
development is to practice the sanshin no kata
slowly while holding rocks in your hands.
Finally, practice your awareness by listening to
nature. Sit down and close your eyes - listen to
the sounds around you and try to identify each one
and how far away it is. Pay attention to your
environment.
I hope this gives you some good ideas.
*** Budo Quotes *****
In modern society, there is the idea that it is
all right to master things by degrees. This
notion prevents the infinite goal, and divides
life, study, and art, and thwarts a person's
growth. [Mastering things by degrees] makes it
hard for people to focus on an infinite purpose.
By Masaaki Hatsumi
[Ninpo: Wisdom for Life, page 144]
http://www.kihon.com/ninpo/
*** Keiko Events *****
* Mark O'Brien USA Seminars
http://www.kihon.com/mob.html
* Bujinkan New York Dojo
http://www.kihon.com/
* Bujinkan New York Dojo
27 Milburn Street
Bronxville, NY 10708
http://www.kihon.com/ny/
*** Shoshin Comments *****
Beneath The Sword
Lauren Brandstein, editor
Practicing tai sabaki last week, I found it very
difficult to relax under the sword. I often became
tense just knowing I was entering striking range,
although it was just a shinai. I began shifting
too soon and telegraphing my movements, or getting
out of the way jerkily, and at the cost of my
balance. I did this time after time, despite the
fact that I knew both mistakes would get me
killed, if not by the first cut, then surely by
the second. Rationally, it is almost inexplicable.
I have been hit with a shinai before, and I know
it doesn't really hurt, so that's not it. It's
possible that I simply don't want to look stupid
or uncoordinated in front of others, and I admit
that is probably a part of it, but not all. So
what is it I fear? No matter what other fears we
may have, I know there is something more basic,
something organic that underlies this need to leap
recklessly away from a source of possible harm. It
is an instinct alive in every creature, an
instinct against a failure that, though this day
is only an approximation of danger, could one day
mean death.
I thought these thoughts, or some version of them,
each time waiting my turn, and then stepping
beneath the sword. I considered how to persuade or
trick myself into relaxing. I thought of fudoshin,
taking the spot and holding it, being unmoved in
my mind, and so immovable. This sometimes worked
to keep me centered there, balanced, but it
sometimes made me too slow, merely beginning to
shift my weight, preparing to evade the strike,
and getting hit before I could really move enough.
Sometimes I tried to see the attack coming, catch
the shift, the twitch of muscle; and sometimes I
tried not to really look at all, focusing wide, on
the whole room, unconcerned, content to let my
body do what it would. And every time I was aware,
on some level, of the whispering of Fear.
Fear is a constant, it is with everyone, and the
certainty and unknowability of death makes the
fear of death the most powerful and pervasive
kind. It goes beyond the instinct to avoid pain;
it is deeper than any of the ego's needs, the need
to avoid shame and vulnerability, to appear strong
and hide weakness. Beneath anything else, buried
by and disguised as the more speakable,
comfortable reasons, is the bone-deep certainty of
mortality, and all the ways it can drive us to
betray ourselves. And the only real way to beat it
is to acknowledge and embrace it, get through it
and past it. Therefore I think it is important
sometimes to "die" in training, so that we can
really live.
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KIHON Newsletter and all contents
Copyright (c) 2001 by Joe Maurantonio
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