Mr Chris Parker,I have read some of your posts and find it obvious that you love your art,take it seriously and that you're not just a hobbyist.In that regard,you must have found my post naive,childish and offensive. Nevertheless,you took the time to reply and you took the effort to reply politely,for that I can only feel great respect for you.
I didn't actually find it "offensive", really. Your responce to Steve, on the other hand...
I'm 95%interested in the ninjutsu forum so I'll do my meet&greet here:I'm 25 and Greek.
Cool. As there is no indication of your location in your profile, this is exactly what Steve was asking about. Don't really see why you had to fob him off the way you did.
I trained in TKD ,THai box and GrekoRoman Wrestling for some years(well I trained in wrestling since I was 12).Although my knowledge in TMA was extremely limited I eventually became interested in arts like aikido,BBT,judo etc.The reason:being an ultranaive,ultrapeaceful gyu and ultra ignorant about MA,I thought that by utilizing locks I could end a fight without having to hit the other gyu(I hate hitting people as much as I hate people hitting me).Not only that but I thought I could submit the other gyu in a way that he won't feel he lost face and he won't feel a need to prove anything to his bodies and/or to take revenge.It's semi-arbitrary the fact that I begun BBT classes instead of some other art like aikido,jujutsu,etc.But this is not arbitrary at all:2 years ago(after attending BBT classes for 3 years) I decided that I'll dedicate all my time and energy only to ninjutsu(ie I realised I was hooked).Why was I hooked?I'm sure all you hooked gyus know why!!!
Okay, so to sum up here, you spent some time when you were younger training in primarily modern sporting systems, and through your perception of some older, or Traditional, Japanese systems, found your way to the Bujinkan. You then cross-trained for three years, and stopped the other arts two years ago to only study Bujinkan. Is this correct?
If it is, who do you train with in Greece? Are you associated with Harry's guys, or someone else?
Lets get busy:
Why do I use words like supaninjas,musha shygyo,kamaes,ninpo?The reason why I am so careless is because frankly I couldn't care less(pun intended).It's reactive:I hate these anal nerds that take words TOO seriously and get stuck in meaningless debates about words.Guess I'm in the opposite extreme of the spectrum:they're too carefull,I'm too careless.From now on I'll try to make better use of words and articulate my thoughts in a more comprehensible manner ,because I respect and enjoy talking with all you cool people!!!
Using terms like "supaninjas" comes across as fanboy language, and will lead to you not being taken seriously (in your comments or questions... you may notice that there are scant replies here, and you're posting style has a fair bit to do with that I feel. I've seen a number of very knowledgable people reading this thread, but didn't add to it... if you want them to reply seriously, treat the subject seriously). Using terms such as "musha shugyo, kamae, ninpo" themselves aren't a problem, but using them innaccurately will again lead to people who know what they are talking about not taking you seriously. If you use them properly, great. If you don't know how to, then don't. Find other words to get your point across.
Oh, and you've been here all of a day, you don't know if you enjoy talking with us yet... and if this method of posting continues, you probably won't! False flattery isn't needed.
I won't argue about my misuse of "sutemi".I used it meaning"in order to throw them I also throw myself" though I understand that "sutemi" has a much deeper meaning.It implies a spirit of self-sacrifice,like a mother trying to save her children not minding what happens to her.
Well, sutemi is made up of two characters, "suteru", meaning to abandon, and "mi", refering to the body. So sutemi refers to sacrifice, abandoning your body, and is used to refer to a grouping of throws (sutemi nage). It can imply the type of self sacrifice you are talking about here, but not that often when it comes to Ninjutsu arts. With us it is far more about the willingness to "throw your life away" in order to win, and is best exemplified through the Bujinkan's Godan test, the Genbukan's Shihan tests, each taken from kata from Togakure Ryu (and also found in Gyokko Ryu). When you were talking about "leaping up and wrapping your legs around the opponent", that is a different methodology, not sutemi nage.
I don't understand whats the problem with "ultralow postures" but again,it's difficult to describe in words my thoughts.In taichi form there's a movement where you change(transist?) from a very low ichimonji to a very low ihen very quickly without lifting your feet from the ground.With a little practice you can keep low postures and still be very agile and fast.I think this is very cool!
Uh, the main problem is that it really isn't what the art teaches, excepting in very rare specialised cases. Gichin Funakoshi once said "low stances are for beginners", and the idea of low, deep stances is that they build up the legs. Hatsumi doesn't use low stances, for very good reasons, and if you are using them, well, don't know where you got that from, because it's not Ninjutsu.
Of course, the question here is where you are getting a Taiji form from? I didn't see it listed in your arts there... and, more importantly, what does it have to do with Ninjutsu?
chris parker said
Thanks for the interesting insight.It was the greeks(hehe) who said "sound mind in a sound body" but of course few people understand the true meaning of this(who am I to claim genuine understanding of the concept"mind and body are one"? Its not somehing to consider intellectually)
Fairly simply, remove the idea that they are seperate. Each affect the other, your mind affects your body, your body affects your mind, and so on.
IMHO the reason why Hatsumi is in this shape at this age has little to do with physical training and lots t do with spiritual training(I'm aware that I'm approaching lalaland here!).Us,mere mortals can never expect to be like him ,but that doesn't stop us from getting inspired and trying to live healthily,right?
Hatsumi is a "mere mortal". And his flexibility and physical ability at his age has quite a lot to do with his physical training, however if you think that the physical is removed from the mental/spiritual training, you have missed the point of the above quote (mind and body as one). But really, Hatsumi Sensei has trained (in martial arts) for, what now, 6 or 7 decades? And a lot of that early training was very hard, physical training. If you think that his flexibility and his present shape and ability isn't to do with his physical training, then you may need to reconsider your take on what the training is. Martial arts are physical things with a spiritual growth capability, but they are physical things.
What do you gyus think about the quote in my first post,the one from the Hayes/Hatsumi book?
Okay, the quote you gave was "In Togakure training, strength is gained through flexibility". Well, whenever there is a quote, context is important.
This quote comes from page 26 of History and Traditions, ghost written by Hayes early on in the "ninja boom", at a time when the Bujinkan teachings were refered to under the umbrella title of Togakure Ryu (as Togakure Ryu has the longest list of previous heads, it is seen to be the most respected, or "most senior" of the traditions, so everything else got lumped in under that name, regardless of the actual Ryu it came from. This is like when you study Shinto Muso Ryu you will also learn Uchida Ryu, Kasumi Shinto Ryu, Isshin Ryu, Ikkatsu Ryu, and Ittatsu Ryu. Each are their own seperate traditions, but they are taught under the banner of Shinto Muso Ryu). So any reference to "Togakure Ryu, Togakure training" and such should really be read more as "Bujinkan training, or Bujinkan teachings".
The page in question is talking about junan taiso, so really I just think it is a way of emphasising that within Ninjutsu we don't look to muscular physical strength for power, as that fades with time. Instead, we seek to cutivate a physical flexibility, which can be maintained into older age, has an effect on the flexibility of the mind as well (mind and body are one), for reasons including physical performance of the techniques of the art, as well as general allround health. Honestly, it's fairly self explainatory, and the rest of the page really goes on to say all of this.
cheers