Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. (Confucius)

Recently, I have begun thinking about my training in the martial arts and life in general while living in Japan. I have found myself caught up in the winds of change. I've begun planning my next years goals and intend on caring them out as well as cataloging my experiences. In no way is this blog intended to become an official blog of the Bujinkan or of any other training, it is merely a blog of my personal journey, ideas for living the good life, the wisdom of my teachers, and my sempai.  This blog is primarily about the proper practice of budo, training of the mind/body connection, and living the good life. 

 

Types of articles one is expected to find on this blog:

• Training regiment
• Diet and Health
• Inspirational quotes and wisdom (Japanese proverbs or famous sayings of the masters)
• Budo stories and other Japanese tales or folk lore
• Meditations/ Life hacks/ other reflections
• Philosophical ramblings
• Bits and pieces of training news from martial arts in Japan
• Book reviews and interesting movies
• Podcasts
• A log of my personal training
• Training insights
• Detail charting of my progress updated weekly

I am not a master of the martial arts, nor am I anyone special. I merely intend to inspire others to begin refining their lives in their own way. I will keep a daily journal of my progress. Some aspects off next year's plan are underway, I will further refine my plan and list a detail outline January 1st, 2010.

上段の構

Jodan-no-kamae may be either right or left handed. With the left hand or hidari-jodan the sword is raised above the head and the left foot advanced. With right handed or migi jodan the right foot is advanced. Both positions are taken with a feeling of looking down on the opponent with a spirit resembling a raging fire. It is used to suppress the opponent with the threat of striking his sho-men. It is essential to suppress the opponents will and action with ones own and to give away not even the slightest opportunity to attack.

中段の構

Chudan-no-kamae, a threat is projected at the opponent’s throat by way of the point of ones sword. The left fist is placed at about a fists distance from the naval and a little below. The feet are positioned with half a steps distance between them, the right foot to the front. The position should be taken as if one had come to a natural halt while walking.

下段の構

Gedan-no-kamae, the tip of the sword is aimed at a point a few inches below the knees of the opponent, and its use is similar to that of chudan-no-kamae. Rather than being a position from which to launch an attack it is more suitable for defense and allows a free reply to an opponents moves.

This covers the explanation of the three kamae otherwise known as 天の構 ten no kamae (heaven), 地の構 chi-no-kamae, (Earth) and 人の構 jin-no-kamae, (Man).

陰の構 （八祖の構）

One of the In-no-kamae is Hasso-no-kamae which is similar to Hidari jodan with the right fist lowered to about level with the right shoulder and the left hand held in front of the pit of the stomach. From this position the opponent is observed and countered.

陽の構 （脇の構）

One of the Yo-no-kamae is Waki-no-kamae, in which the sword is held to the right of the body with the tip aimed down to the lower rear.  The right foot is retreated to leave the left foot forward.  Among the traditional styles and disciplines of swordsmanship there are many variations of kamae but those mentioned are above are the 5 main or root positions. (Noma Higashi, The Kendo Reader)

Noma Hisashi mentions that the first three kamae are know as the ten-no-kamae, chi-no-kamae, and jin-no-kamae.  This is do to the locations that the blade is held, chudan-no-kamae being the kamae in the middle of heaven and earth.  Later Noma Hisashi mentions the In-no-kamae and yo-no-kamae, in and yo better know as yin and yang.  The point of the kamae are for attack and defense and should be used with the spirit and the purpose of cutting the opponent down.

There is deeper significance to these kamae, but I rather not attempt to offer any more than this superficial explanation at this point. 

You can find a free copy of Noma Hisashi’s The Kendo Reader by clicking on the link.  There are various copies floating around in print, but they are sometimes difficult to find.    

Maintaining a daily practice is important. Every great martial artist not only advocates it, but has lived it by example. Martial arts mastery is a never ending journey, it doesn’t begin or end in the dojo it begins the moment you are determined to improve yourself and make the appropriate steps towards that end. The journey ends the moment you think you are good enough, or in the moment you make excuses for not practicing.

As soon as you decide not to practice or begin to make excuses why you don’t practice, is the moment you must realize your journey has ended. This is not the same as taking a rest or resting for the sake of practice. Baring injuries, if you go weeks on end without stepping foot in a dojo, or working on the foundations of budo is the moment you have quit following the way. 

Those who don’t practice and only talk about mastery are merely telling their own stories and writing their own lines. They will become imitation budoka and won’t ever become the real thing. Imitation plants don’t grow nor do they bear fruit, imitation budoka are worse as they can more easily trick people with their imitation fruit. But, in the end their fruit will only leave a bad taste in the mouth once people taste the real thing. Don’t become an imitation budoka, become the real thing.

Recently, I have been suffering from the effects of over-training and training injures. I feel exceptionally heavy. This is probably due in part from my complete lack of a monitored and proper diet. From a budoka prospective I'm completely mis-managing my training.

Proper diet and rest is a part of training, however I need to find a way to decrease my recovery time and better fuel my training. So far I have decided to take the following path towards smarter training.

I need to intake a bit of protien/carbs before training sessions. After training I need to intake fluids and rehydrate, studies have shown chocolate milk is actually the best to supply the body wih essential fats, protein, and carbs to fuel recovery. I also need to decrease the size of individual meals and extend them over the course of the day.

The final aspect is the most difficult to get which is amble sleep for recovery. With my current training and work schedule this is a bit difficult. I'm lucky if I get seven hours of sleep in a day. I need to rearrange my training schedule a bit and try to get eight hours after the days I have the most training.

To help with getting more sleep or deeper sleep I will begin to strech before I go to bed. This will hopefully align my muscles and joints properly and make for a deeper and more relaxed sleep.

I'll provide updates on this periodically.

Kuzushi is often mentioned as one of the key elements in performing techniques, but kuzushi goes beyond mere taking the aite’s physical balance.  The concept of kuzushi in Japanese martial arts are similar, although each of them describe it or focus on different aspects.  In kenjutsu and kendo, the unbalancing will discussed in terms the tip of the sword or “剣先" (kensen).  In kenjutsu the “正中線”"(seichusen) and various other places of point the tip of the sword are used to control and unbalance the aite.  This also applies to jojutsu and bojutsu, with the use of the tip of the bo pointed along certain lines or used to control or judge the lines.  Also various kamae are also used for unbalancing and controlling the aite. In jujutsu/taijutsu kuzushi is discussed in terms of direction of balance and controlling certain space to allow for a throw. Also various kamae are used to set initiate and control of the directions of balance. 

Kuzushi is primarily about splitting the aite’s lines of strength and power, and moving into a place where you are more balanced and have strength. An easy way to think about kuzushi is to think about moving yourself or some attack through their weakest lines while lining up your stronger lines along those lines. Or more simply, move where they are weakest, slowest, and can’t regain balance.  To off balance an aite effectively requires that one understands their own balance through an attack and defense. It also requires that one understands where their lines of force are directed. These lines of force are understood as the relation between the joints and the direction of force they can impose on an attack and defense. This is also important for cutting quickly and effectively, if your arms and elbows are out of line with your hips and legs you will actually oppose yourself when you cut. As your force is spread out over a wide angle.  This is the difference between a flash light and a laser beam when it comes to cutting.

Balance can only be effectively broken when the other person can’t fight effectively or easily regain balance. This requires a type of training that most don’t know where to look. For kendo it is sometimes easier to train these than in some traditional schools. In judo, it is also easier to train this than some traditional schools. Non-compliance in training techniques is a mainstay of the martial arts.  However, it depends on the relationship of the uchidachi and shidachi, to have an effective practice your uchidachi ought to be better than you. 

Also, the mental balance can be taken to unbalance the body.  Unbalance the mind and you can unbalance the body.  This can be done with varying tempo or capturing the aite’s attention and have them focus on things that lead their balance towards your stronger lines and into their weaker lines.  In kendo, this can be done with varying kinds of seme.  Also it can be done with feints and direct attacks alone obvious defensive lines to open up the weaker lines. 

Since this subject is  extremely difficult to talk about effectively, I’ll end it here until I can create illustrations to put up.

If one masters one thing, that one thing can lead to mastery of several other things. I've one suggestion for every martial artist, focus on mastering proper practice. If one masters this, one will master ten thousand things through their efforts.

Practice for the sake of practicing, the act itself is important with or without future mastery. There is a zen master that has said the act of zazen is enlightenment itself. For the martial artist, the act of practicing is mastery itself. The time spent sitting in zen, or practicing in the martial arts never go to waste. It builds and the inertia carries the budoka forward even on days when practice is difficult or in times when one is sick.

The act of practicing is Budo. The spirit of Budo lives in the act of practicing, be it practicing baseball or studying for a test, the act of practicing shows determination and a will to overcome weaknesses. One practices to become better than one was yesterday. If one masters this one thing, one becomes the master of their own life.

Budo is often difficult to define. The term budo is made up of two characters “武” and “道”. The character “武” has many meanings. It can mean “bravery” or “valor”; it can also mean “warrior” or “military arms”. The character “道” also has many meanings. It can mean “road”,” path” or “course” and “moral teachings” or “journey”. When combined we can arrive at several possible translations. However, it is unnecessary to disambiguate the two characters into precise English terms. Instead, it would be better to allow the concepts of the characters to swirl about. Nonetheless, let’s focus on the process of studying and practicing budo.

Budo is a practice. It requires continual self-refinement and self-directed diligence combined with daily practice. One doesn’t practice budo without these three aspects. Unlike religion budo doesn’t require you to believe in anything. One merely maintains a daily practice for self-refinement as an act of polishing a mirror until the mirror reveals a true reflection. Even if one polishes the mirror over and over, they might be polishing it incorrectly or unevenly. The polishing of one’s mirror requires certain systematic and pragmatic approaches, without it one might polish their mirror with sandpaper or use caustic cleaners to quicken the process, but in doing so one will destroy their mirror so that it never reflects a true image instead it reflects a distorted image. The act of polishing our mirrors takes time and diligence with an even amount of pressure and control – this is what is known as “proper practice”.

Most martial art schools have a natural progression and transmission method of teaching. In the old days, masters often didn’t teach the secrets or the principles of the movement; instead they taught the movement and instructed the student to repeat it over and over again, without ever speaking about the principles. When the student showed promise and their movements became crisp the master would initiate the student into the principles. Only after many hours of practice and diligence on the side of the student would the master speak of the deep principles of the movements.

Today, teachers may begin by teaching the principles, which in effect is akin to spoon feeding the student. This act of spoon feeding kills the progress of the student, if student doesn’t have to rely on his own abilities he may not pursue what is just out of his reach. More often than not even the teachers only have a superficial understanding of the principles and merely parrot what they have heard without really understanding it. The principles won’t be understood without proper practice, to the effect that a principle without practice is a song without a single note. To avoid superficial understanding of the principles proper practice is a must.

The Hidden Aspects of Kata Training:

Most martial arts training is begun using kata as the starting point before moving on to henka. Henka is often seen as the goal, or rather they see the goal as the ability to easily and freely change given the situation. Kata training is the bridge to henka and the ability to freely change in any given situation. However, kata training is often neglected not because it is unimportant, but rather it is not well understood. Most seem to merely use the kata as a general guide for a technique. In addition, the kata is often practiced with the wrong mind-set, which undermines its purpose. To neglect the kata is to miss its hidden importance. To see the hidden we should first explore the easily seen aspects of kata training.

The Seen

On the surface kata training is a practice to help the practitioner to gain insight on how to perform technique. The apparent aspects of all partnered kata are the following: proper distance, timing, posture, position, targets, rhythm and execution of technique. Every kata has a starting distance. The starting distance is primarily based on the target the aite is going for. The starting distance is also affected by the type of attacks the aite is making and the weapons he is using. So, the starting distance of a sword or a bo attack is different than the starting distance of a punch or kick. One's posture in a kata also dictates the aite's available targets, it also controls the starting distance. The timing of the kata is also based on the type of attack in relation to one's position with in it relative to the technique. Rhythm is a product of timing, distancing and positioning of strikes and the targets.

With these basic aspects there are benefits. Kata practice allows the practitioner to grasp the basics of timing and distancing, kamae, positioning and the execution of the technique. This practice helps create muscle memory. With increased muscle memory the movements can become second nature. This also allows for one to appear “softer” with the application of the technique. Proper body dynamics are taught via the execution of the technique along with the movements leading up to it. These benefits are probably nothing new for most people, however the proper practice of kata training is probably unknown.

In every partner based kata, one has a target and a strategy for executing technique. Whether one is an aite or tori one ought to figure out what movement is best, given one's target and/or technique. This can be clearly understood by a quick analysis of one of the basic techniques. For example, one of the targets an aite has is the throat or the face. He must figure his distance to the target and how to execute the strike. He also must choose how deep he wants the strike to enter the target. Also, the aite must choose where he wants to be next, in case he can't land the strike. In other words, the aite doesn't blindly attack, but rather he is attacking with intention and without compromising his position. The aite's role is first and foremost to look for a way to attack effectively without compromising his balance and posture. The role of the tori is similar. The tori in a kata is defending against an attack. The tori must choose how to present the target, the direction of deflecting or blocking the strike and how he will enter to execute the technique. The tori must adjust and set up the initial distance based on how he presents the targets to the aite. Using any kata these points are probably easily seen and understood. However, there is a deeper dimension to kata practice that is neglected or misunderstood.

The Hidden

Kata practice is not merely for learning a technique or understanding the mechanics of a movement. The kata are passed down for a reason, and the practice of the kata ought to make up the majority of one's practice. The kata is deeper in design than the mere passing on of the techniques, it is meant to develop the practitioner by pushing past the limits of mere movement. Kata practice is perception training.

The practice of kata allows the practitioner to develop certain senses and certain perceptions that are necessary for henka as well as entering the world of mushin. Through strict kata practice one learns and develops the ability to perceive what cannot be seen or rather the movement behind the movement. Also, it allows to make one's movement imperceptible. One shouldn't rush through the practice of kata training, but rather take everything in and carefully control one's mind and body throughout the kata. It is important to move slowly and precisely in the beginning. Later, the speed of the movements should vary as well as different types of tempo given the control of certain points. To do this type of thing effectively one needs to spend a lot of time working on both the mechanics and one's perceptions of the aite's movement, and a lot of time with the kata itself.

"Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Effort. - The three jewels of training." (a zen saying)


In order to get the most out of ones training I think it is important to embody these three characteristics. I am often told to have more confidence by my teachers. Having confidence allows one to move forward and continue despite what happens and despite the unknown future. "自信" has multiple meanings one of its meanings is faith and another is confidence the literal meaning is self-belief. You have to believe in yourself enough to keep going, and keep training, as well as the confidence in ones current abilities to meet the unknown.

Great doubt is also important, without it you won't have proper introspection to see what you are lacking in your training. To doubt yourself and your abilities is to look at the skills you are unsure of and the skills you need to test. With doubt comes the need to test oneself.

Great effort, in order to achieve ones goals or in order to become really skilled you must put forth effort. The amount of effort you put into training is the amount you will benefit from training. Wishing you were better will not to amount to much, making the effort will. Little things will add up but putting in too little effort won't amount to much.　The saying "焼け石に水" literally means putting a drop of water on a hot stone, which in turn means a little efforts don't do enough. The greater the effort the greater the outcome.

Having these three characteristics or aspects in training one will progress. This makes for a more perfect practice. The better the practice the better one can become, the better one can become the better the practice.

There is a zen saying about learning that states:
"When you go to a house you must go through the gate first; arriving at the gate is an indication that you have arrived at the house. Going through the gate, you enter the house and meet the host. Learning is the gate and not the house. Learning is the gate to attaining the way."

Learning is not the same as understanding or attainment. Just because one has a bit of new information doesn't mean one understands it. In the martial arts this seems to be very important as some can confuse the gate for the house. Or they confuse learning as knowing and take the bit of information as understanding.

Taking the gate to be training and the study of a martial art, and the house as understanding and being able to put into practice what one has learned, then meeting the host would be mastery of the art or the way. But in order to meet the host you must first walk through the gate and enter the house.

There are no short cuts to mastery, you must go through the gate, enter the house, and meet the host there is no other way.

One day a strong and famous samurai visited a Zen priest, but in the presence of the monk the samurai suddenly felt inferior. The monk's movements were crisp and precise, his movements were perfect.

The samurai asked the monk, "Why do I feel inferior? Before I arrived I was fine, but as I entered your court I suddenly felt inferior. I have never felt like this way before. I have risked my life and faced death many times on the battle field, and not once have I felt fear. Yet, now I am  frightened?"

"Wait.  When everyone else has gone, I will answer your question," said the monk.

Through out the day people came and went. The samurai grew tired from the wait. In the evening, the room emptied and the samurai asked "Can you answer me, now?"

"Let's take a walk," said the monk.

The moon was full and just beyond gate stood two trees with the moon shining through the pines.  

"Look at those two trees. This tree stands tall and reaches great heights, and this one is small standing beside it. I have gazed and carefully watched these two trees over the years, and not once has there been any trouble amongst them. The smaller tree has never said to the big tree, 'Why do I feel inferior before you?' Why haven't I heard a single whisper of it"?

The samurai said, "Because the two trees can't compare."

"Then you need not ask me. You know the answer,"replied the monk.

One day a monk was sitting on the side of the road when a samurai approached him.  The samurai asked rudely, "Teach me the secret of Heaven and Hell".

  The monk slowly opened his eyes and with a smile said, "You scum of the earth, you idiot, your sword is rusty and you smell funny, what a strange and ugly unkept face you have".

  With this the samurai's face turned red, his veins bulged.  He drew his sword and bellowed, "Die scum"!

As the samurai began his cut to sever the monks head, the monk spoke, "That is hell!"

  The samurai suddenly was dumbstruck and stopped cutting.  He was shocked to find a monk willing to risk his life to teach him such a lesson.  He lowered his sword and begged for forgiveness.  The monk turned to him and spoke, "And that is heaven".