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.