Black Snow

Like a tree our growth depends on root and leaf, and that which is above ground depends on that which is below. In martial arts we begin by learning the basic externals. We form a generalised understanding of the art, its movement, forms and feeling. As we progress we begin to internalise some of the fundamental elements and we get a clearer picture of what we are studying.

We continue to grow through external and internal development and as we progress we have to become more and more self-reliant as a great deal of our improvement is dependent on self-refinement.

To turn rough, coarse abilities into fine skills, we need to commit ourselves to the process of refinement. We should make it part of our standard practice to continually refine our movement, attitude and understanding. This is the mind, body and spirit of our art.

Coarse movement lacks the control of technique, distance, position and timing. A coarse attitude is limited by ego, unawareness and its conflict with nature, and a coarse understanding is limited by a handful of tactics and pre-conditioned patterns. Refinement requires subtle awareness, precise, careful training and a clear and focused mind. With practice we can fulfil our potential, and with an upright spirit we can realise that our potential is limited only by our own preconceptions.

For the rough and ready or those who have pre-conceived ideas perhaps a few coarse techniques will suffice, but this isn’t the pinnacle of martial arts skill. The further we travel along the path, the more we realise the interconnection of mind, body and spirit, and those with a coarse unrefined spirit will not develop into refined martial artists.

Are we training to live out a fantasy or do we want to get to the bottom of life and death? Training is a mirror in which we discover ourselves. We may or may not like what we see, but if we can realise that we are always facing ourselves, we have the chance to recognise our true spirit and cut through the bonds of the ego and its delusions.

We should forge and refine our self-control, mentally, physically and spiritually so that we can respond in measure to circumstance and adapt to small changes, fitting to each situation like a key to a lock.

As with any journey we can follow directions, but progress ultimately relies on us. It is our responsibility to refine our own mind, body and spirit. We should not excuse ourselves for having coarse, unrefined skills, we should not use strength to compensate for poor technique, and we should not rely on anything to improve us but the measure of our own effort!

Black Snow Taijutsu Class Notes – 4th May 2010
This was a practical and theory class exploring some interesting ideas on the topic of connection in ninpo taijutsu.

Preamble
We should refine the way we understand and use connection.

Connection is a two way conduit. Through it we can know what?s incoming and respond appropriately, exerting control by return.

Connection transmits intention, so we should receive ukes intention without giving away our own.

Connection depends on joining uke via the senses. Connection begins the moment a situation is born and it evolves without stopping.

Receptivity requires open awareness, a relaxed body and a fluid mind.
With a correct spirit, we should not transmit intention or resistance.

A broad connection means a wide bandwidth – the more points of contact and the more senses that can be brought to bear on uke, the more information we are likely to receive.

Connection to uke may be passive (receptive) or active (controlling).
Dragon & Tiger alternate as we change our mode of connection.
As dragon we can accompany ukes intention, redirect it or refuse it.
As tiger we control uke and take or occupy the space that uke needs.

Ukes commitment to attack becomes his weakness as his intent, balance and structure become fixed. We can take advantage of this if we have a good quality connection.

There is also our connection to space, time and the environment.

Class Practical
Tsuki kata
Various defences using connection to ukes double tsukis.
Eyes open/eyes closed/eyes to second uke.

Wrist Grab & Tsuki
Feel ukes focus shift and balance change on tsuki. Various waza.
Eyes open/eyes closed.

Lapel Grab & Tsuki
Feel ukes focus shift and balance change on tsuki. Various waza.
Eyes open/eyes closed.

Lapel Grab & Tsuki
Block without transmitting intention, then move to a dominant position.

Tsuki – Dragon
(i) Accompany ukes tsuki (ii) Refuse ukes tsuki (iii) Redirect ukes tsuki

Lapel Grab & Tsuki – Tiger
Use connection to open uke up. Create & occupy space via connection.
Practice making multiple connection points. Change controlling limbs without transmitting.

Shinobi Kai Seminar Workshop Notes – 26th April 2010
This was a 45 minute workshop for students to practice some of the basic principles of balance in taijutsu.

Preamble
Refine principles, movement and awareness through self-control
Balance is an important principle in strategy, operations and tactics
Taking balance is of great advantage
There are many kinds of balance
Taking balance is often a primary part of technique
Taking balance can allow us to strike without being struck
We should learn to control our balance and break ukes (kazushi)

Workshop Practical
Shizen – feet together, eyes closed, feel oscillation
Shizen – lean with straight back – 8 directions of losing balance
Hoko – feet apart, eyes closed, feel oscillation
Hoko – strong line (side to side) vs weak line (front to back)
Hoko – push test from side with feet narrow distance
Hoko – push test from side with feet wide apart
For and against wide kamae (stability, power from ground etc)

Ichimonji no Kamae
Strong line to uke, relaxed muscles, upright axis, straight back, neck and head. Engage hips and tanden.

Tanden – your centre of balance and gravity
Like walking – always move from tanden, then move feet
Do not lose control of feet or over-reach
Shisei – taijutsu should always use agile, smooth body movement

Ichimonji to Ichimonji
Use tanden and gravity to sink naturally into kamae and use tanden to travel between kamae. Do not bob.

Ichimonji to Tsuki
Same as above with fist. Transfer power from floor. Ken tai ichi jo (body and weapon as one). This should be used as our basic punch!

Kihon Happo – Ichimonji
From ichimonji, draw opponent by offering opening, angle right, break ukes balance with jodan uke without over extending own arm, use koto ryu style footwork (front foot comes back, rear foot steps forward) to throw the whole body weight forward (use being out of balance), attacking ukes broken line/weak line of balance with shuto, end in ichimonji.

Kihon Happo – Hicho into Muso Dori
Don’t overtravel on gedan uke and remember to drop the hips as part of your motion, throw balance forward while kicking zempo, natural footwork after kick, ura shuto while stepping (ken tai ichi jo), slide in to capture balance taken after shuto (don’t give uke balance back), grab ukes shoulder and use gravity to sink to bend uke (lift your leg a little to drop your weight), apply muso dori and takedown along ukes weak line (remember the three legged table!)

Kihon Happo – Omote Gyaku / Ura Gyaku
From shizen step back into hira as uke attemps to lapel grab, extend ukes balance by grabbing his wrist, tori and ukes centre should become connected here, step back to hira on other side with a smooth transition, don’t give balance back, ken tai ichi jo.

Black Snow Taijutsu Class Notes – 9th April 2010
This was a practical taijutsu class with loads of theory to give students an overview of balance and kazushi. There is a great deal more than one lessons worth of practice here!

Balance – Body, Mind and Spirit
Body – upright, relies on correct position, distance and timing
Mind – responsive, not stopping, not grasping, fluid
Spirit – bright, open, aware, self-illuminating, without ego

Center of Balance
Physical center – hara/tanden (one point)
Find center and focus breath to store energy – deep in, long out
Recall awareness of hara during movement, walking, sitting etc
All movement should be directed from the hara

General Movement
Like walking – relaxed, without thought and move as one
Shisei – agile, smooth, balanced – not sporadic or stiff
Body should be relaxed above knees, solid below knees
Walk naturally and keep feet constantly moving
Dont lose control of feet and over reach

Importance of Balance
Taking balance is often a pre-requisite to technique
Taking balance alone can often achieve our objective
Taking balance can redirect ukes harmful intent
It is important to keep our own balance
It is important to take ukes balance

Mechanics of Balance
Center of gravity
The effect of height
Balance distribution
Stable upright central axis
Being a biped and the use of our muscles
8 Corners of balance
Balance in continual motion
Moving within the limits of balance
Body weight carried over center
The weightless state
How we use being out of balance
Reclaiming lost balance

Taijutsu Practice – Keeping & Taking Balance
The reality of balance in combat
How blocking can be bad for our balance
Evasion – the importance of getting out of the way
Taisabaki – moving out of the way of punches, kicks & cuts
Balanced kamae – relaxed & upright, connection through hara to legs
Balanced striking – fists, kicks, on knees etc
Balance in movement – walking, running, jumping, rocking, shuffling
Losing balance – using gravity, rolls and breakfalls
Sphere of balance – maintain balance, center and edge
Sphere of distance – unbalance uke with the control of distance
Sphere of position – unbalance uke with the control of space
From wrist grab take ukes balance in the 10 directions
Ways to use ukes being out of balance
Capture ukes overbalance
Extend ukes balance
Lure uke into committing his balance
Take balance throughout the application of taijutsu
Attacking towards ukes weakest line of balance
Take uke down (extend him) through his weakest line of balance
Do not give back balance taken
Maintaining balance when pushed and pulled

Taijutsu Practice – Taking Ukes Mind
Kiai, feints, kyojitsu, saminjutsu, diversion, division, distraction, offering openings to draw him out

Taijutsu Practice – Taking Ukes Spirit
Capture intent or will to fight, induce erratic behaviour, create and take advantage of flightiness, slothfulness, arrogance, pride, jealousy, aversion, attraction

Taijutsu Practice – Strategic Balance
Change the balance of the fight, control the conditions to draw uke into your sphere and out of his own

Applying the Sanmitsu to Balance
Kuden

We need to be clear about our training. We need to know how to train and how our training translates to real life situations, otherwise we can easily become confused and lose our way.

There is training in the ‘application’ of taijutsu, and there is the practice of taijutsu ‘exercises’ to focus on specific principles. These two should not be confused. Training in the application of taijutsu requires that we train realistically as we cannot afford to train for real. This means that we should constantly ask ourselves what a real attacker might do on the street, or what effect real circumstances might have on our ability.

We should consider our response to danger – mind, body and spirit (psychological, physical and emotional). We should train to keep calm through meditation or conditioning and we should consider how the overspill fits into our taijutsu.

We train in koryu bujutsu – the old martial arts of Japan. These were developed in the feudal era to work against a fully committed attack. We need to be clear about this, and not confuse what we do with sports based martial arts which are based on a different concept. Taijutsu was not designed for sparring which requires restraint by both parties and constriction by rules. Taijutsu requires the full expression of uke and tori’s mind, body and spirit by design, so it has limited application as a sport.

If we happen to fight a boxer on the street the last thing we would want to do is box! Use a different strategy! Find an advantage! Escape while they bob around(!), grab a weapon or use space to draw them out so they have to commit their intention and balance.

As uke, we should think about giving tori a realistic attack. This does not mean a real attack – unless we are happy to receive a real counter! Our job is to play the role of uke, not become uke! Training is not a competition and there is no place for ego in the dojo. We are here to help tori so we should consider what kind of uke is required at each moment of tori’s training.

As uke and tori we should bear in mind the object of each specific technique. Are we to focus on the form, the feeling, the distance or the flow? We should focus our training and work with uke to achieve this.

‘Keep it realistic – not real’ was a phrase I heard from Mark Lutman. Many thanks Mark!

We all possess amazing powers. We each have the ability to process information at speeds equivalent to 100 million million instructions per second, and we have a memory capacity equivalent to 100 million megabytes of data. It is important that we recognise these abilities and know that they operate on a subconscious level – without any conscious effort from us.

How amazing! – that we can feel the reach of the opponents sword, the trajectory of his kick and the timing of his punch before they arrive, all without conscious deliberation! With a calm heart and mind we can discover and harness our natural abilities, and so we should make sure that we allow them to work for us in our training.

It is very easy to allow our practice to become an intellectual exercise setting us further apart from the reality we strive to understand. We need to ‘learn how to be natural’ and make sure that training accords with reality and our natural responses to conflict.

We should keep in mind that in the heat of combat our emotions will affect us and we will have no time to think. Training in the dojo affords us the luxury of safety and time – so we must not be fooled but train beyond thinking and learn to use the subconscious mind. Furthermore, we should deepen our relationship with our nature through training and meditation. This will help us break the spell of our emotions and give us the potential to discover the secrets within ourselves.

As a martial artist, we train to face a combat situation that will require us to engage on both a conscious and subconscious level, and so we should focus our practice with this in mind.

The conscious mind is a great tool, providing us with our sensory input, the capacity to evaluate, the intelligence to plan and the wisdom to change. These qualities are inherent in everyone, and their skilful use is essential to the martial artist. We have the ability to perceive a situation as it develops, weigh it up, devise a strategy and take action. However, when action turns to combat there will be little or no time for us to think. This is when we need to rely on the subconscious.

The subconscious is a storehouse of imprinted information. The mind creates long-term memory by strengthening the synaptic pathways through the repetition of an act. This allows us to train through experience and increase our physical and mental abilities. Subconscious action is very efficient. It does not stop the conscious mind or get delayed by thought. However, subconscious responses are pre-programmed patterns that have not been adapted to meet the needs of our present situation. To adapt, we need to utilise our natural awareness and the creative freedom of the moment.

We practice taijutsu forms and principles so that we can deliver what works and understand why – then we need to know how to give our taijutsu life. This ‘what, why and how’ is the foundation – the body, mind and spirit of our training method.

Considering this, we should take time to study strategy, we should practice our taijutsu carefully with the correct movement and we should apply taijutsu principles mindfully. Forms and principles should be trained so that they become subconscious skills – then we will have the capacity to be without conscious form and respond freely.

The student’s commitment to training is very important. If the student works in harmony with the dojo, the student’s training will be effective and the dojo will thrive.

Every dojo is different, each offering their own unique program of training. Dojos are naturally geared towards students that are suitable for their specific training program.

On joining, the student should make sure that they meet the dojo’s requirements. This includes that the student agrees to meet the level of commitment required by the training.

As a vehicle, training requires momentum to get students from A to B. Momentum is created by consistent effort and focused by direction, so the student should get on board to meet the dojo’s momentum.

The key to training is consistency and dicipline. Days off due to rain, low energy, sniffles, cinema or otherwise will certainly not help to build required muscle memory or a strong spirit. Authentic martial arts training is a contradiction in terms if we take it as a hobby.

In a serious training dojo, the hobbyist will find improvement difficult as they will not be able to keep up with the program. They will fall behind and lack in performance, attendance, commitment or focus and this will not be beneficial to the dojo either.

I hope that all students find a dojo which inspires them to raise their game. Total commitment to training means that everybody wins.

There is more than one way to skin a rabbit and there is more than one way to defeat an opponent. In the matter of life and death, doing whatever works is what counts. On a good day, your opponent may fall onto his own sword, while on a bad day you may fall onto your own. With so many variables at play, chance always deals a hand and there is no prospect of a guarantee. However, we train to raise our odds by working with what we know and have control over. We study how to defeat uke’s body, mind and spirit, we learn how to protect our own, and we train to recognise and command the relationships between them to win the advantage.

If what works counts, then taking advantage of conditions to achieve ‘what works’ is the object of our training. Our methods need to be adaptable and repeatable, and so we should realise the great benefits of basing adaptable taijutsu on strong foundations.

Good training requires that we train both with and without form, and we begin to realise that one exists within the other. There is no form but function, and the expression of function is form. Sounds deep, but this unites the ideal and the real within our training so that we are free to run without falling over.

We practice set techniques (form) to develop movement, position, timing and tactics and as we progress we also discover the inner principles, feelings and subtleties. Consistent practice develops our capacity for formlessness, and through this we can realise our ability to respond appropriately and utilise conditions freely.

Training should begin with the practice of form to build a good foundation. With correct training, things will develop from here if the student takes ownership of their taijutsu. Improvement continually depends more and more on the student. It is easy to teach movement, but difficult to create a perceptive, creative and free martial artist.

One of my students asked me the other day ‘What can I do to become a better student?’ This is a most important question we should ask ourselves and our instructors. It is up to the student to take a personal interest in studying their art, both in theory and in practice. There is always something to research and always something to train, and yet many students sit back and just attend a class or two a week expecting to be given all of the skills, answers and grades.

As with most things, true understanding comes from direct experience, and this deepens with time and awareness. If we are commited to our training, we should make time to study the things we do not have time for in class. This includes theory, repetition of taijutsu drills, physical conditioning and extended meditation.

In class we should aim to become more focused on the subtleties of our taijutsu, and like a carpenter who gradually refines his work, we should constantly try to refine everything about our technique; timing, distance, balance, posture, rhythm, flow, feeling and spirit. We should try to realise the natural function of our taijutsu and look beyond the form to understand ‘why’ it works.

We should question ourselves to find and realise the answers, and ask those more experienced if we are unsure. In truth, we ourselves are the teacher while sensei just points the way. With all of this in mind, we should ask  ‘What can I do to become a better student?’.