While opinions differ as to when ninja actually first appeared in Japan, Tanemura's own research has left him in little doubt, he says. 

Although in China similar espionage agents known as saisaku were around as early as 480 B.C., in Japan, shinobi, a term interchangeable with ninja, were first introduced during the Asuka Era (592-710), Tanemura explained. 

Shinobi, which means an "expert in the field of information gathering" or "masters of stealth and disguise" penetrated enemy territory to observe movements and obtain secret information without being detected. 

Their practice was particularly prevalent during the expansion of warfare in the mid-12th to 16th centuries, but the relative peace of the Edo Period (1600-1868) threatened to wipe out the ninja's existence. 

By the late 19th century ninja entered the realm of popular culture, becoming superheroes that, after World War II, took center stage in a number of movies and comics. 

During the Edo Period, ninpo was systemized and its techniques and weapons recorded in written texts for the first time, Tanemura said. One such text, "The Secret Teachings of Ninja," serves as Tanemura's bible. 

The diminutive, mustachioed grand master shares the same ninja lineage as its author, Hattori Hanzo, who penned the text in 1653 and remains one of Japan's most celebrated ninja. Tanemura points out a table at the back of the book dealing with fortune telling, which, he says, has been avidly followed by exponents of the art since antiquity. 

"Ninja would study this closely to find out auspicious days to work on, or which direction they should face if they came into conflict, and so on," he says, adding that even today ninja consult the tables on important occasions, such as the opening of a new dojo. 

Yet the ninja's art is certainly not all crystal balls and tarot cards. 

Wright said the oriental spies must gain proficiency in 18 basic martial art categories, such as taijutsu (unarmed defense), shuriken-jutsu (blade-throwing) and seishinteki kyoyo (spiritual refinement.) They must also master a further 18 techniques unique to ninja, such as the use of the etsu (giant battle ax). 

"It's a very complete martial art, physically and spiritually. It's also very practical, very real," Wright says. 

Intelligence officer Wideman agrees, saying he has found the martial art indispensable to his work."I've learned techniques that have enabled me to capture violent criminals that other officers couldn't, [such as learning] to hold them without causing injury." 

Tanemura's expertise has put him in high demand overseas, especially in the U.S. where he has instructed security staff at the White House and SWAT officials. He has also introduced methods in a number of countries to combat hijackers.

"My philosophy is not 'give and take' but 'give and return.' That ensures growth," says Tanemura. Tanemura's art certainly seems to be growing. He estimates that there are around 5,000 people practicing ninpo at 120 Genbukan-affiliated centers located in 25 countries, including the U.S., Britain, Canada and Greece. 

Some, like Angelos Evlampioy from Athens, prefer to go to the source for instruction. Evlampioy explains that he first saw ninpo at a seminar given by Tanemura in Italy. "My interest in everything else stopped," says Evlampioy, who has taken two-month courses at Genbukan annually for several years. "I think this was my destiny." 

It's likely that Tanemura has stirred such feelings in many of his followers. During a recent training session at Genbukan, a small wooden dojo whose walls are lined with a variety of ninja weapons, the instructor made light work of Wideman, a man almost 8 inches taller, 44 pounds heavier and 20 years his junior, throwing him over his shoulder with ease. 

Tanemura offers this advice: "You can tell a karate expert a mile off. They look strong; they ooze with an impression of strength. Ninja must appear weak, so much so that even they think they are weak. If they can do this, there's no way an opponent can know his true strength." 

Humility and anonymity were crucial to the ninja's existence during their heyday, when they often walked the streets of Japan in peasant outfits to give the impression they had just sauntered out of a rice paddy. 

But anonymity is not something that comes easy to some modern-day exponents, like the broad, 6-foot-tall blond butcher Wright who believes he still has a long way to go to master the art of ninpo. 

"But I have learned one thing," says the Scot. "James Bond got it all wrong."



One of the great honors of my life was to be asked, by Contemporary Books, to edit Hatsumi Sensei's book in English, "ESSENCE OF NINJUTSU." As I worked I realized that it must have been a difficult job for the original translator, because Hatsumi Sensei's writing style is very unique: Each sentence, each kanji has many interpretations. 

This is Ninja writing. 

I was afraid to over-interpret what was written, so I merely helped with grammar and spelling. I left many mysterious passages for the readers to puzzle out for themselves by "reading between the lines." Yet for me, there seemed to be an essence to Hatsumi Sensei's teaching. That is that "life" is the most important value for the Ninja. I think it is significant to note that Sensei does not qualify that value. In this context, he does not say, "a life of happiness," or "a life of success," or "a life of wealth." These secondary values are all relative. He speaks of life in its most elemental and universal sense. 

To support this essential viewpoint, he says several other things that we have all heard, such as "I am no country," meaning perhaps, that cultural values obscure the essence of budo; and "I have no style," which may be an admonition that style obscures the essence of taijutsu. 

This issue is literally a matter of life or death, and has always been so. Even recently, in the former Yugoslavia, we see this concept of the life value being forsaken. They are obsessed, there, with notions of "country," and "culture" or "style." "Culture" has come to be considered the definitive criterion of human worth. When this occurs, it almost always follows that those not of your culture somehow have less human worth. 

Then comes the "ethnic cleansing." When "culture" is treated with more importance than life, the killing begins, guaranteed. In a more general sense, this means that anyone that puts something above life: culture, money, honor, fame, prestige, etc., will kill too easily. It also means that they can be easily killed by people of other, "lesser" cultures that they treat with disrespect. 

Cultural values are relative: They can be different for different people, depending on the environment. Even people who are ostensibly of the same culture can easily disagree on their values. Are all Americans the same? Are all Japanese the same? Do they think alike? Have the same experiences? No, of course not. Even the cultural or behavioral values of the same person can change. In this way, the importance of culture can be thought of as a myth; a creation of the human mind. 

Robert L. Humphrey, in the book "Values For A New Millenium," states, in essence, that the only thing that may be the same about people is that they value their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. We are all equal in this regard (and no other of relative importance), regardless of culture. When this fact of human nature collides with the cultural or behavioral caprice of we imperfect human beings, conflict and violence result. This is why I believe that it is important to live as if "I am no country." 

This issue is particularly pertinent for the budoka. We train as Ninja; yet as human beings we are susceptible to cultural biases like everyone else. Remember, the goal of our training is to live. Many of us train in the martial arts up to a certain level of proficiency. We become comfortable there. We "fall in love" with a martial arts style of our own creation. Even though we may train for many years after that point, we never really progress. Style, like culture, is not of importance in matters of life and death. We will not progress unless we abandon our style for mu (formlessness). 

One might rationalize that it is foolish and dangerous to give up a "tried and true" method, our "style," for formlessness. But the fact is that the thing that kills you is anything except the thing that you have trained for. This is why style is useless. Again, the purpose of Ninpo is to live. There are no modifiers, no qualifiers. Live, just live. But, as Humphrey also says, this life value is a dual one: our lives and the lives of others. Protecting one's own life, of course, is self-defense. Protecting others is warriorship. 

It sounds romantic or heroic to imagine ourselves, as warriors, running around the world protecting the weak and defenseless. But, this is not realistic. To live truly as a warrior, and help make peace, we must set an example of treating all persons, even those poorer and richer, dumber and smarter, better or worse, with basic respect. This is difficult and may take great courage; people who seem different can frighten or disgust us. Yet, if we don't respect the lives of others, even if we don't like or understand their behavior, conflict or violence will naturally result. Aren't there richer, smarter, better people than you in the world? Does that make their life worth more than yours? Not to you! All people are the same in this way. Our martial arts skills can give us the courage and confidence to see the life value in all persons, and support and defend that value. 

Life, not culture, color, creed, or behavior, is the most important and universal value. Life is worth defending. This is the goal of our training: to protect life.

As a former Marine Officer with many years in the martial arts, I recently recognized that there had been something missing in the instruction at least for me. The training I had received has never quite spoken to the reason why I jumped on the warrior path to begin with. Let me explain: Before joining the Marines, I had fantasized about being the Warrior Knight who would save the mothers, sisters, and daughters of America from the godless communists. I evolved, however, from wanting to be that Warrior/Protector into fancying myself as the Killer/Commando who would "kill them all, and let God sort 'em out." Granted, it was my own fault, letting myself get sucked into that, but it had a lot to do with the training and the warrior wannabes who influenced me during my time in the Corps. Now that I look back, of course, I realize that there were a bunch of warriors in the Corps. But they weren't the loud ones the "tough guys" that impress and intimidate a young Marine. And those "tough guys" I came to understand, were a lot tougher "talkin'" than they were "walkin'." 

So I got out of the Marines and decided to follow the warrior path on my own terms, holding down a "day job." I have met some great and not-so-great martial arts teachers. Some of them spoke like the "tough guys" I had met in the Marines with even less to back it up. And some have talked like warriors, and were probably real warriors, yet I felt a disconnect between their words and actions. You see, they talked about being protectors and defenders, but their training was all about how to take the other guy out, or at best, it was about self defense. Now there is nothing wrong, under the right circumstances, with taking out a bad guy. And I believe self defense to be more than a right it is a responsibility and obligation. But what happened to my dream about being the Warrior defender of the innocent, the weak, the mothers, sisters and daughters? I began to feel that I needed to think of my training in new and expanded terms. Part of the process required me to clarify my personal warrior philosophy so that I could make sure that my physical training was aligned with and supported my value system. 

Last year I wrote an article entitled "The Ninja Life Value." Hatsumi Sensei's admonition that the purpose of Ninpo is to "live," inspired me to write that article. This "Life Value" was the first of the values that I clarified, particularly after studying the Life Value Theory of my University professor and long-time mentor, Robert L. Humphrey. In order for human beings to live a happy life, according to both Hatsumi and Humphrey, they must live according to their nature. For me, therefore, the philosophy of Ninpo seems to have two basic tenets: (1) Hold Life as the most important, superseding value; and (2) Strive to live according to the laws of Nature. On the surface, this seems simple enough. However, in reality, in order to truly understand, and live in confluence with, that philosophy may take a lifetime of study and training. For example, the first tenet: Life is man's most important and superseding value, might seem self-evident. It is not. We humans are killing people all the time. We also kill ourselves with poor diets, alcohol, drugs, tobacco and stress. So the Life Value needs to be activated somehow, or we can make a mistake and start the fighting and killing and self-abusing. One way to activate it is by practicing the art of defending others and noticing the spiritual benefits that accompany the increases in technical skill. More about that in a minute.

The next piece of the "life puzzle," was supplied to me by Professor Humphrey. Humphrey was a Marine Officer on Iwo Jima, a semi-professional boxer, and is warrior/philosopher extraordinaire. He helped me to understand that the Life Value is a dual value self and others. "Others" has a slight edge over "self." Now this, too, seems self-evident. Mothers will protect their children with their lives, a Marine will smother a grenade with his body to protect his buddies, etc. You can probably think of someone for whom you would risk, and if necessary, give your life. Yet, we also say, "self-preservation is the first law of nature." Obviously, that can't be right. But its close. Therein lies the confusion. On the outside we seem like self preservers, but when it becomes a matter of life and death, we humans value the ethic: "women and children first," over the ethic: "every man for himself." Think about this for a second. Both courses of actions can be right, depending on the circumstances. But what do we call the guy who saves himself? We call him a survivor. What do we call the guy who makes sure all the women and children are in the lifeboat before thinking to save himself. We call him a hero, don't we? 

The next tenet: Live according to the laws of Nature, also requires deep consideration. What "nature" is referred to? "Mother" Nature or "Human" Nature? Are these the same, or somehow different? If they are not the same, are they contradictory or complimentary? Mother Nature seems to favor "the survival of the fittest." We humans seem to honor, most, those of us who "protect the weak," like the Mother Theresas of the world. We place great value on "protecting the weak." But the Life Value is a dual value self and others. Again, others has a slight edge over self. Actually, it can be argued, therefore, that the Life Value is both man's superseding value and part of his "human nature." The point, as Humphrey makes clear in his book "Values For A New Millennium," is that, we humans seem to place slightly more value on "species-preservation" than on "self-preservation." It is our nature as human beings, particularly the best of us humans, to do so. 

As part of a balanced martial arts curriculum, therefore, we martial arts teachers should consider teaching the students how to protect others. In order to be true to our nature, this training may even be slightly more important than teaching self-defense. Some of us have done some bodyguard work, etc., yet, martial arts training typically concentrates mostly on defending oneself. I have found, however, that training to protect others can make a tremendous difference in the psychological and spiritual attitudes of the students. Most prefer viewing themselves as a warrior/protector than as some kind of "tough guy" or martial arts "bad-ass." After all, martial arts is for the purpose of preserving and protecting life. 

When studying the techniques of Ninjutsu, it is important to recognize the fact that the philosophy of Ninpo is the source of the movement system and must be considered inseparable from it. For me, that means being true to the two tenets, above. If you begin practicing to defend others, however, you may have some difficulties in the beginning, particularly technical ones. The problem lies in the fact that your training, to this point, may have been mostly focused on defending yourself. When defending another, you will find that, even though the techniques may be familiar, the angles and distancing are all unfamiliar. On reflection, of course, that makes sense. You are used to being the one attacked. You are used to having the energy directed at you. All that becomes changed when the attacker is focused on another person, as you will see quickly, even if practicing basic techniques from the kihon happo against an assailant who is attacking another person. There are legal and moral ramifications to becoming involved in defending others, as well. If you were to happen onto the scene of an altercation, you may not truly be able to differentiate the "good guys from the "bad guys." You might find yourself involved in a domestic dispute where both people end up turning on you, the good samaritan. In any case, when a martial artist becomes involved in a physical confrontation of any kind, he or she always runs the risk of being seen as being in the wrong. Such is the current nature of our society and legal system, at least in America. Part of being an aware Ninja is taking the political situation into account. Therefore, one should be very circumspect about revealing martial arts skills unless it is a matter of life and death or grievous bodily harm. There is a guideline that may help one remain true to the human proclivity to protect life, yet, protect oneself from being seen as breaking the law. Remember: The object is not to fight the bad guy; the focus is on defending the victim. It is a subtle difference but an important one. As a defender of Life, the warrior has a moral obligation, commensurate with his skill level, to protect everyone he can. He defends the good guys; but anyone would do that if they could. The warrior protects the bad guys too, if possible and if he is skilled enough. He may only protect them long enough for the police to get there, for the jury to try them, and for the judge to sentence them. Maybe even just long enough for the hangman to hang them. But the warrior has an obligation to try to protect all life. And this sensibility may serve to keep him from incurring legal problems. Remember, warriors are not vigilantes. 

When studying techniques to defend others, one should practice with the feeling of defending life rather than "beating up a bad guy." This more enlightened psychological state of mind will help the you artist create a more effective "life protecting" technique in a spontaneous situation. It also "feels" better. The best thing about being a "protector/defender" is that feeling. Consider adopting this warrior's motto: "Wherever I go, everyone is a little safer because I am there; anyone in need has a friend." Living according to this creed can lead one to a higher physical skill level and a higher spiritual level as well. This warrior thing becomes heady stuff. I remember when I was first involved in the martial arts and still in the Marines. I would walk into a dangerous place, say a bar in a tough port overseas, and my first reaction would be to look around and try to figure out how I would fight every person in that bar. I would tick them off, one by one: "I'll knock this guy out with a punch; then I'll kick that other guy over there; then I'll grab that beer bottle and knock out that weasly looking sailor," etc. etc. I'll bet many people who are reading this have done the same thing. Be truthful you have, haven't you? Professor Humphrey, however, suggested that this kind of attitude, while natural, was really not warrior-like. He thought I should try experimenting with a different approach. He suggested that wherever I go, especially in dangerous situations, I should adopt this motto: "Everybody in this place is a little safer because I am here; anyone in need has a friend." I call it the warrior's motto. And I have to tell you, it feels a whole lot better inside. Try it if you don't believe me. 

The best thing about being a warrior for me is the feeling I get. Wherever I am: in the park, on the subway, in a store, wherever I am, everyone is just a little bit safer because I'm there. They may not know it, although I believe that at some subconscious level they might. But I know it. And it makes me feel great. I want you to have that feeling; I think its the best feeling there is. So, keep going, keep training. Train in accordance with your nature.


The premise of the Living Values philosophy is that the Life Value is man's singularly most important value. Are all lives equal? Perhaps we should ask: All men (and women), are they really created equal? Perhaps the best way to answer a question about the equality concept is to relate this true story. I remember first hearing this story as a graduate student in a class taught by Professor Robert L. Humphrey. Professor Humphrey, a former member of the US State Department, was charged with stopping "Anti-Americanism" overseas in a poor allied country during the Cold War. The implications of this story are of clear importance to this day; we call it:

The "Hunting Story"

After the war America was the undisputed leader of the world. For a while everyone loved us, even our former enemies. But soon people began to resent us due to our superior attitudes. We Americans thought that was unjustified and ungrateful. In one particular country, the unrest was beginning to have strategic implications during that delicate time of detente. Dr. Humphrey's job was to find a solution. 

The basic problem was that the Americans working in that poor ally country thought that the local people were smelly, ignorant, violent, dishonest and lazy and let them know it. No matter what he did, Dr. Humphrey couldn't stop the negative talk; partially because some of it was true! As a result the local people wanted the Americans to go home. 

One day, as a diversion, Humphrey decided to go hunting for wild boar with some people from the American embassy. They took a truck from the motor pool and headed out to the boondocks, stopping at a village to hire some local men to beat the brush and act as guides. 

This village was very poor. The huts were made of mud and there was no electricity or running water. The streets were unpaved dirt and the whole village smelled. Flies abounded. The men looked surly and wore dirty clothes. The women covered their faces, and the children had runny noses and were dressed in rags. 

It wasn't long before one American in the truck said, "This place stinks." Another said, "These people live just like animals." Finally, a young air force man said, "Yeah, they got nothin' to live for; they may as well be dead." 

What could you say? It seemed true enough.

But just then, an old sergeant in the truck spoke up. He was the quiet type who never said much. In fact, except for his uniform, he kind of reminded you of one of the tough men in the village. He looked at the young airman and said, "You think they got nothin' to live for, do you? Well, if you are so sure, why don't you just take my knife, jump down off the back of this truck, and go try to kill one of them?"

There was dead silence in the truck. Humphrey was amazed. It was the first time that anyone had said anything that had actually silenced the negative talk about these local people. The sergeant went on to say, "I don't know either why they value their lives so much. Maybe it's those snotty nosed kids, or the women in the pantaloons. But whatever it is, they care about their lives and the lives of their loved ones, same as we Americans do. And if we don't stop talking bad about them, they will kick us out of this country!"

Humphrey asked him what we Americans, with all our wealth, could do to prove our belief in the peasants' equality despite their destitution? The Tennessee sergeant answered easily, "You got to be brave enough to jump off the back of this truck, knee deep in the mud and sheep dung. You got to be brave enough to walk through this village with a smile on your face. And when you see the smelliest, scariest looking peasant, you got to be able to look him in the face and let him know, just with your eyes, that you know he is a man who hurts like you do, and hopes like you do, and wants for his kids just like we all do. It is that way or we lose." 

This story effects most of us Americans. We sympathize with those poor villagers. Maybe it is because we are natural "under-dog" lovers. Remember, our own revolutionary war against the British started because they looked down on us. Recall this popular motto from that time: "Don't tread on me." It was on our flag.

But the point of the story, according to Humphrey, is this: Beneath our culture, beneath the fine clothes or the dirty rags, beneath the color of our skin, we all love life, and we all hurt sometimes, and we all want for our children. My life, and the life of my loved ones, is as important to me as yours are to you. This is the Life Value, and this universal value defines our Human Equality. If you can accept the fact of Human Equality, not just others', but your own, you have taken the first step toward accepting the Life Value, which is really just choosing to live life according to your deepest human nature. And human nature is deeper than economics, behaviors, and cultures.

Understanding human nature gives us the insight that cultural values--what we do to live, or how we live--can be relative, but that the Life Value itself is not. And, since we are all equal, we would pretty much act the same way as those "different" people if we had to live in their environment.

Notice, also, exactly what that old Sergeant said. He said: "I don't know either why they value their lives so much. Maybe it's those snotty nosed kids, or the women in the pantaloons." The Life Value is a dual one: self and others.

One last thing about warriorship. The purpose of the training, especially the physical training, is to help develop in the practitioner physical/moral courage. Could you do as that Sergeant said? Could you jump down off the "back of the truck?" Today, when you walk through the mall, or sit in the subway, or even pass through the scary part of town, are you confident and secure enough in your values and skills, to project your acknowledgment of human equality into the eyes of everyone you meet? Is everyone in your presence safer, does everyone in need have a friend, because you are there?



J HOBAN

LIVING VALUES ARCHIVES

New Year's Message

January 1, 2004  

Dear Buyu:  

I wish for you all a Happy New Year filled with good health and love. Thank you for helping me to "keep going" for yet another wonderful year!  

The years pass quickly, don't they? I clearly remember sitting here, last year about this time, and it seems like just a moment ago. Hatsumi Sensei says to me often: "Life is just a series of moments." 

There were many beautiful "moments" in 2003 as we studied the concept of juppo-sessho and buyu (courageous warrior).  

Indeed, the concept of juppo-sessho spawned many ideas for our training.  We began to look at the physical encounter from many new perspectives.  We enhanced our ability to use the space around the opponent.  "Ju," as we learned, means "ten" and "ho" means "direction," so "Juppo" means "the ten directions."  The ten directions are east, west, south, north, northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest, and upward and downward.  These represent all directions, the whole of space (kukan), or the whole world. Sensei talked often, this year, about using three dimensions in our training. Very enlightening! 

The root of "Sessho" is Setsu (or koro su) which refers to the act of killing.  Sho means living thing.  This term sessho is often used in Buddhism in the context of an admonition to avoid killing (including animals), particularly in a thoughtless or cruel way.  For me, this is a very powerful concept.  It speaks to the "awareness of life" that we all must maintain in our training, and what martial arts are really all about.  It is a warning to never forget that the vocation of the warrior deals necessarily with the concept of life and death.  Our skills are for protecting life, but may, on occasion, need to be used to take life. I am reminded of the story that my mentor, Robert Humphrey, told me about an incident that happened to him as a Marine on Iwo Jima.  

As many of you know, Iwo Jima was the first native Japanese soil invaded by Americans in WWII. Approximately 60,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese participated in the battle.  Iwo Jima was approximately 2 miles wide, 4 miles long; that's 8 square miles.  In that tiny area, death--horrible, mutilating death--became a commonplace occurrence.  Almost 7,000 Americans were killed in action on Iwo Jima; there were more than 20,000 American casualties.  Approximately one-third of all Marines killed in action in World War II were killed on Iwo Jima, making Iwo Jima the battle with the highest number of casualties in Marine Corps history.  Virtually ALL of the Japanese soldiers on Iwo were killed. 

The incident to which I am referring took place while Humphrey and his platoon were clearing a cave.  It was usual for the Japanese soldiers to fight to the death, so clearing caves--often by burning the soldiers alive with flamethrowers--was a dangerous and soul-withering job.  In this one instance, however, a solitary Japanese soldier emerged from the cave to surrender.  By this time in the battle both sides had adopted a "take no prisoners" attitude.  The Japanese were killing any American who tried to surrender, even if they were too wounded to fight back; so we began to kill their soldiers, too.  It seemed normal, therefore, when one of Humphrey's men lifted a rifle to shoot the surrendering Japanese.  Like I said, according to Humphrey, shooting the boy would not have been unusual.  Actually, it would have been unusual under the circumstances NOT to shoot him.  After all, he might have booby-trapped himself [which was common] and was just trying to get close enough to take a couple of Marines with him when he went. 

For some reason, however, Humphrey felt that he should stop his Marine from killing this Japanese boy. When Humphrey ordered the Marine to lower his weapon, there was a real moment of tension between them.  The Marine couldn't understand why Humphrey was protecting the enemy.  No one would see it; no one ever would know.  Both sides were doing it.  It would be just one more death among thousands.  

At the time, Humphrey didn't really know why he didn't want to kill the boy, either.  He just had a feeling about it.  Due to Humphrey's forceful insistence, the Marine reluctantly put his weapon down.  The Japanese soldier did surrender and was taken prisoner without a problem.  Humphrey recalls that the Japanese may have even provided some worthwhile intelligence.  But it took Humphrey many years before he understood the REAL reason why he had protected that enemy soldier. 

Humphrey told me that there was so much UNAVOIDABLE killing on Iwo Jima that when he had that one chance to NOT kill, he felt that he must take it.  For the sake of his own humanity.  To the day he died, the act of saving his enemy was Humphrey's proudest life moment.  

And that, to me, is the essence of Juppo Sessho.  Protect life when you can, kill only when you must.  

Training with Hatsumi Sensei in Juppo Sessho was very special.  Sensei came to New Jersey in 2003 for the last TaiKai outside of Japan.  It was a beautiful TaiKai at an oceanside resort in New Jersey.  With the sound of the waves outside, I had the privilege of just relaxing with Sensei and talking with him for hours a day for the better part of a week.  I don't remember even a fraction of what we talked about.  It was all just a "beautiful moment."  Maybe some of the things that he said are now seeds in my subconscious that will bloom again at the right time.  I do remember him speaking of his sense that the Bujinkan was strong enough to "keep going."  He said that we have many good people who understand the important lessons of Takamatsu Sensei and all the past GrandMasters of our art.  Sensei wasn't sad about the changes that are coming inevitably; rather, he was happy and was facing the future with optimism. He is a very wise man. And an inspiration. 

As usual, there was plenty of travel for me. I went to California, Florida, and Chicagoland--actually, several times each.  I also went to Atlanta to train with Bud Malmstrom.  I am wondering about my resolution to travel less.... 

Actually, it is flattering, and a privilege, to be invited to share our art with BuYu everywhere.  I thank all of you who participated. 

I also was in Japan with many of you for the Daikomyosai and Hatsumi Sensei's annual training / birthday party.  It is clear, now, that if you want to train with Sensei, you will have to go to Japan. Fortunately, it looks like there will be an additional three day seminar in April, so there may be two significant training opportunities in Japan in 2004.  Get there!  No excuse!!  

This past summer also saw the sixth "Buyu Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  As in past years, many martial artists from around the country and the world met as Buyu.  The Buyu Camp has really become a fun and international event.  See you there in 2004!  It is also gratifying to see that other "Buyu Camps" are springing up around the country and the world.  Buyu Camps are a great way to connect with old friends and get that "continuing education" and inspiration that will help you "keep going" when you get back to your own, local training group. 

Another seminar that has become an annual event is the "Life Values Workshop."  This is a seminar where we practice our Budo in the context of Robert L. Humphrey's Life Values teachings.  Many people have expressed interest in the STRIKE training that Humphrey devised to help Marines overcome the stress of real combat.  If you want to experience it, we'll see you next July in New Jersey. 

I also had a lot of fun teaching a Warrior Values seminar with Joe Lau at Tom Brown's Tracker School here in New Jersey. Thank you, Joe, for inviting me; and thanks, Tom, for making the "Farm" available.  I think there will be another in 2004.  Keep an eye on Joe Lau's website for details.  

And, of course, check the WIN seminar page periodically for details for all of our workshops. 

Now let's talk about the training for 2004.  As most of you know, Hatsumi Sensei has been giving us a theme to work with these past several years.  In 2004 it is DaiSho Jutaijutsu.  I assume that this means that we will delve deeper into ways of using and moving with the sword.  I am really looking forward to it. 

[Note: After this essay was originally published, Hatsumi Sensei clarified the theme and now uses the term Roppou-Kuji-no Biken (???????) to characterize the focus of the 2004 training.]  

I have to say, it is uncanny how Sensei selects his themes.  Those of you who train with us regularly in New Jersey know that, back in the Fall of 2003, we began to get the feeling that we should start re-examining the concept of proper distancing.  The best way to do that, we felt, was to break out the swords.  So that's what we did--we started working on our swordwork.  Then, BINGO!  Two months later we go to Japan and Hatsumi Sensei announces that his theme for 2004 is...swordwork!  Weird!!  How does he do it? 

We also have traditionally selected our own, Buyu Dojo, theme every year, and this year is no different.  The theme is inspired by reflection on the reason that many of us came to this martial art in the first place.  Let's face it: We wanted to be Ninja.  At the time, aside from some obscure references in an old James Bond book, we didn't really even know what a Ninja was.  But something about the mystique of the Ninja drew us in.  I remember encountering Stephen Hayes, first in a magazine and later in person, and his stories of this real Ninja in Noda, Japan. I was hooked! 

Well, most of us have been through the Ninja craze, and the Ninja boom, and a lot of silliness in that regard.  And we mostly use the term "Bujinkan" when we talk about our training these days.  But, I recall when I first met Hatsumi Sensei.  There WAS no Bujinkan!  We were training in Togakure Ryu Ninpo.  And in my heart, I still am.  But, what I realize now, after more than 20 years, is that this art--by whatever name you choose to call it--adapts to the age: the age we are in, the age in years that we are, the age of man.  

It could be said that, now, we are in an age of terror--a mindless, inadvertent stumble on the way to clearer human vision.  So, again, our art must change.  You can be killed anytime, anywhere, by a person who does not know you nor care who you are.  You can be killed with common weapons, or with weapons that are new and different.  You can be killed by invisible weapons.  Those that would kill you don't want your money or your possessions.  They want your death.  Their reasons are hard to understand, so protecting yourself from them (as opposed, say, to protecting yourself from a thief) is not easy.  It takes awareness and patience. In other words: shinobu. 
	

Shinobu is patience with a purpose.  Shinobu is positive.  It is not meant here in a defensive or paranoid way. There is a cosmic purpose for your patience: Life. Yours and anyone else's life that you can protect with your skills.  

The religious philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) spoke of an Omega Point to which life is destined to evolve. The Omega Point is supreme enlightenment (or self awareness).  I like that concept because it suggests an encompassing "reason for it all."  The journey to the Omega Point is not really a "progression," but rather, a "becoming."  It is true understanding and total consciousness, a manifestation of a perfection that already exists.  But we must change and adapt until we attain it (or it attains us).  The Omega Point is ahead, but it is also here.  Most importantly, for us to realize this Omega Point, for us to become our full potential, we must live.  We must "keep going." 

This is a subtle point that I have struggled with: How do you become something that you already are? Perhaps, you must "keep going" until your perspective changes.  Hatsumi Sensei said to me once that "progress is an illusion, but change is necessary."   I guess it is his way of saying that there is really nothing new under the sun.  But a Ninja, necessarily, must change with the times.  Consider Takamatsu Sensei's words in this regard: "The vast universe, beautiful in its coldly impersonal totality, contains all that we call good or bad, all the answers for all the paradoxes we see around us. By opening his eyes and his mind, the Ninja can responsively follow the subtle seasons and reasons of heaven, changing just as change is necessary, adapting always...." 

It is so difficult to be patient in this fast moving world. It is easy to get the feeling we will be left behind, somehow, if we wait.  But how can we be left behind when we are already there?  

So let's call this the year of Shinobu.  Be patient, be aware, be persistent.  Look beyond the technical, and even tactical, aspects of your training.  Imbue your training with a special awareness.  Seek to understand the un-understandable.   Be vigilant against threats that you can't see and can't understand.  Open your heart to the way of the benevolent warrior--protecting when we can, hiding when we must, using our skills as a last resort.   Reaching for our full potential. 

Keep going! 

Jack Hoban 

New Year's Message

January 1, 2003 

Dear Buyu: 

Thank you all for helping me to "keep going" for another great year!  

I sit here on New Years Eve, as I have done for quite a few years now, and reflect on the year that has gone past.  I have that "good-tired" feeling that you get after a nice, long day of training.  It's a special feeling, and I bet you know just what I mean.  But, the REALLY special times are when we have just had that tough day at work, and we think we'll just skip training for the night.  Yet we change our mind at the last minute and drag ourselves to the dojo.  And like magic, an hour or two later we are re-energized.  I call those the "keep going" nights.  It's amazing the kinds of insights you get on those exceptional nights.  Don't you think? 

The year 2002 has been another year of great training (I think I say that every year!).  We studied Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu and Dai Sho Sabaki.  We continued our study of  the concepts of "space," "perspective," "kukan," and fighting in "three dimensions."   We started to look at the conflict in terms of terrain and tactics, rather than just from the perspective of the technique.  We spent a lot of time on our knees, and we became "Men In Black...Dresses" (women, too, of course) as we trained in hakama. 

Training with Hatsumi Sensei in 2002 was also very special.  He seems to have grown more joyous, more spiritually powerful, and his energy is unflagging.  What an inspiration! 

As usual, there was plenty of travel for me.  I went to California three times.  Florida twice.  I made another trip to Chicagoland to train with Mark Hodel and Buyu there.  I went to Atlanta to train with Bud Malmstrom. I went to the Norway TaiKai and the St. Louis TaiKai, as well.

I also was in Japan with many of you for the Daikomyosai and Hatsumi Sensei's birthday.  Great training, great party.  You really have to hear Noguchi Shihan sing his annual version of "Ginza Monogatari" (Tokyo Love Story).  Plan to go to Japan this year if at all possible!     

This summer also saw the fifth "Buyu Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  Again this year, many highly regarded Bujinkan martial artists from around the country and the world were in attendance to share their insights and gather the views of their fellow Buyu.   The Buyu Camp has really become a fun and international event.  See you there in 2003!  

Last year I had a chance to teach with several friends and Buyu who came to New Jersey.  There was Steffen Frhlich from Germany, Bud Malmstrom from Georgia, and Dick Severence from Florida.  These Shidoshi seminars are really fun and a great chance to meet people from around the nation and world who share our love of Bujinkan training!  Look for visits from Bud again this year.  Also, maybe a surprise guest or two.   

Another seminar that has become an annual event, is the "Life Values Workshop."  This is a seminar where we practice our Budo in the context of Robert L. Humphrey's Life Values teachings.  We even do the STRIKE training, which Humphrey devised to help Marines overcome the stress of real combat.  

And we added a seminar that will be our annual remembrance for the September 11th attack.  My friend Joe Tenaglia (retired Navy Commander, EOD commando, and Anti-Terrorist expert) gave a brief on the terrorist threat.  We followed up the "classroom" portion with a session that covered what you could do if you were ever involved in a terrorist incident.  The training included a section on "weapons of opportunity."  It's amazing the damage you can do with a chapstick!

Check the WIN seminar page periodically for details and join us for these interesting workshops.

Now let's talk about the training for 2003.  As most of you know, Hatsumi Sensei has been giving us a theme to work with these past several years.  This year it is juppo-sessho (possibly from the perspective of Shinden Fudo Ryu).  There has not been talk of studying the waza of any specific ryuha (at least thus far).  We'll be working with some classic Japanese weapons, as well, including Kunai, Tessen, Kyoketsushoge, etc.  Great!  We can work on any waza we want. 

The kanji for juppo-sessho is probably ?? ?? (although you can never tell what kanji Hatsumi Sensei will use to illustrate different iterations of the sound).   Ju means "ten" and "ho" means "direction," so Juppo means "the ten directions."  We all know the word happo (eight directions or ways).  The ten directions are east, west, south, north, northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest, and upward and downward.  These represent all directions, the whole of space, or the whole world. (Three dimensions?  Where have we heard that before?)  In Buddhist philosophy the meaning of space is frequently discussed.  In these discussions, the word juppo is often used to describe space (kukan?).  Very interesting, neh?

Setsu (koro su) means killing.  Sho means living thing.  This term is often used in Buddhism in the context of an admonition to avoid killing (including animals), particularly in a thoughtless or cruel way.  I can only speculate on where we will go with this concept--but I have already started!

One of the most exciting things that is happening this year is that the TaiKai will be in New Jersey!  What a privilege for us to be able to host it in 2003.  Who knows how many more Sensei will be able to do.  Don't miss it!  Info is here. 

Hatsumi Sensei drew three kanji for me this year that I thought were very interesting.  I have put them below for your study.







I am sure you recognize the one on the left.  It is "Buyu - warrior friend."  This has a different feel than the one we usually use for our Buyu Dojo, but it is wonderful, don't you think?  The one in the middle is "Buyu - courageous warrior."  I like that one so much you may see it on the TaiKai T-shirt.  The third "Buyu?"  It just means "male."  But it looks cool, doesn't it?   

And that brings us to our Buyu theme of the year.  It is...Buyu.  We will study the art of war (bu) this year, and explore the courage (yu) it requires to act in times of crisis.  And maybe even what it means to be a real man and wo-man.  And what it means to have and be a warrior friend (buyu).  This is a good time to have Buyu.  I believe the world has been at war since September 11, 2001.  For many, war is an obscure concept, especially a war like this.  It doesn't really touch them.  And for the most part, that is a good thing.  Most people are too lucky to have the capacity to live consciously with war on a day to day basis.  It has touched me, though, and I know it has touched many of you.  Our warrior art is really about how to deal with and survive war.   And preserve life if possible.  It is not about techniques, or ranks, or politics.  Or organizations. 

I was asked this question in an interview this year: How should we behave and train in the Bujinkan?  My answer was this:  We should behave like human beings, like warriors.  We should follow the example that has been set for us.  Listen to our teachers.  Trust them.  That doesnt mean that we are robots, or members of a cult, or that we must change our personalities, it only means that we should follow the principles as they have been shown to us.  What are they?  Look at Sensei, he is following them, too.  He is following them, as we all must.  The principles certainly have the flavor of his personality, but they are the principles passed down from the previous Sokes of the arts that make up the Bujinkan.  They are principles that are immutable, although the manifestations may change.      

  

Many people worry about the future of the Bujinkan.  Dont even think about it.  The future will come in its time.  We should face it using the principles we have been taught or discovered on our own through training.  Why think about the future?  Why even ask about it?  It is like asking, What is the future of tides?  Well, as long as there is a moon, there will be tides.  What is there to think about?  On more human terms, consider the concept of motherhood.  Is it a technique?  An organization?  A cult of someones personality?  No.  It is a fundamental of human existence.  And so is warriorship.  The principles that are represented by the art we call Bujinkan are fundamental to the human experience and have a life of their own.  They are the laws of the warrior.  They will endure as long as there is one true warrior in the world.  Let's explore THAT important line of thinking.  With courage, as true men and women.  With our friends.

Of course there will be plenty of fun in the dojo, too!  Train hard.  Get in shape.  Pay attention to the environment.  

Keep going!

Jack Hoban

New Year's Message

January 1, 2002 

Dear Buyu: 

Thank you all for another great year of training.  It has been an amazing one!   

Think back, if you will, on all that has happened.  Give thanks for what we haveour family, friends and fellow buyu.  Pray for those who have been touched by terrorism.   

We live, truly, in challenging times.  Warrior times.  The events of this past year have given our shared vocation more relevance than ever. 

The year was full of training.  We studied Gyokko Ryu Kosshitjutsu and DaiSho.  We explored the concepts of "space," "perspective," "kukan," "ura" and "omote," "in" and "yo," and especially "kyojitsu."  It was very exciting.   We learned that the word kosshi has some very interesting connotations in the Japanese language.  Kosshi, it seems, can refer to certain bones of the spine.  And since the spine is the center or "core" of the body, kosshi can be used  when speaking of the essence of somethingthe heart of the matter, if you will.  Of course that kosshi, although sounding the same, uses a different kanji.  Layers within layers.... 

And do you recall how vital and happy Hatsumi Sensei was this year in the training?  He remains such an inspiration.  Keep going, Sensei! 

As usual, there was a lot of travel for me.  I went to California three times.  Florida twice.  I made another trip to Chicagoland to train with Mark Hodel and Buyu there.  I went to Atlanta to train with Bud Malmstrom.  I even got to visit my roots by going to Dublin to train with my friend Steve Byrne and many Irish buyu.  As I do whenever possible, I told the Warrior Creed story and the Hunting Story, getting the usual, very positive, emotional reactions. The stuff still worksall over the world!

I went to the Madrid TaiKai (gracias to Jesus Equia for treating me so graciously) and the Washington DC TaiKai, as well. 

I also was in Japan for the Daikomyosai and Hatsumi Sensei's 70th birthday.  The training was wonderful, as was the party.  People from all over the world turned out to share this great occasion.  

This summer also saw the fourth "Buyu Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  Once again, many highly regarded Bujinkan martial artists from around the country and the world were in attendance to share their insights and gather the views of their Buyu warrior friends included my friend Steffen Frhlich from Germany.  Newly promoted 10th dan, Sheila Toribio taught her first workshop and it was very well received.  We plan to make women part of the instructor cadre from now on!   The Buyu Camp is really turning into a fun and international event.  See you there in 2002!  

Last year I had a chance to teach with several friends and Buyu who came to New Jersey.  There was Andr Trudel from Montreal, Bud Malmstrom from Georgia, and Ed Martin from Pennsylvania.  These Shidoshi seminars are really fun and a great chance to meet people from around the nation and world who share our love of Bujinkan training!  Look for visits from Bud again this year.  Also, Dick Severence in December.   Steve Byrne is coming over from Ireland in February, and Steffen Frhlich will be visiting from Germany in June.  

Another seminar that has become an annual event, is the "Life Values Workshop."  This is a seminar where we practice our Budo in the context of Robert L. Humphrey's Life Values teachings.  We even do the STRIKE training, which Humphrey devised to help Marines overcome the stress of real combat.  Last year Bob's sons, Jess and Rob, both former active duty Marine Officers, shared the teaching.  Don't miss it! 

Check the WIN seminar page periodically for details and join us for these interesting workshops.

Now let's talk about the training for 2002.  As most of you know, Hatsumi Sensei has been giving us a theme to work with these past several years.  This year it looks like we will be studying budo from the perspective of Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu.  We are even being told that we should prepare a pair of hakama and a set of soft training Daisho!  Sensei is full of surprises, isn't he?  I am always so curious to see what he will do next.  In that way, Sensei helps me to "keep going."

At the Madrid TaiKai I spoke with Hatsumi Sensei about the events of September 11, 2001.  In light of what had just happened, the Marines had asked me to step up my participation in their new Martial Arts program.  I was soon headed back to Quantico, Virginia to help as best as I could.  During the course of our conversation, Sensei said: "We have now passed the era of 'in.'  It is now the era of 'yo.'  Goodness will prevail, but to win, we will have to be more terrible than the terrorists.  Gambatte!" 

Our talk made me think of what a luxury we have had these last yearsstudying, "playing" with this martial art in the relative safety of our dojos.  Had we been lulled into a sense of complacency?  Seeing our budo as a "hobby?"  Were any of us ready to use our Martial Art for real? 

Sensei made me think that there comes a time when the true Martial Artist must leave the comfort of the dojo and use his skills in the outside world.  But how? 

That is for us to discover this year.  I often say that a Martial Artist's job is not necessarily to lurk around a gas station waiting for it to be robbed so that he can save the day.  We are not vigilantes.  We are warriors. 

Yet most of us (thank God) will never be in a real war.  So what do we do? 

Perhaps you, the reader, are a warrior in your heart.  Perhaps, like me, you struggle with your understanding of what being a warrior truly meansand the commitment it takes to be one.
What is a warrior?  To me a warrior is a protector of lifehis own and others.  For a Warrior, there is no difference between the physical and the moral.  They are the same.  The moral is that which sustains life.  Warriorship is a life of moral action.

I believe that the primary responsibility of a warrior is to understand this unique perspective: the perspective of the physical-moral. 

I often hear or read things like: "people are not as moral as they used to be."  Or that there is a "crisis of morality in our society."  I disagree.  I think people are as moral as they ever were.  After all, how can you change human nature in a generation or two?  No.  There is no crisis in morality.  Rather, I believe that there may be a crisis in physicality.  People still know the difference between that which is good, that which sustains life, and that which does not.  They just don't speak up the way they used to when they see something that they know is wrong.  They are afraid. 

There is an old saying that goes something like this: The only thing it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.  It is time to stop doing nothing. 

But what form does this "doing something" take?  Again, it isn't  running around in the middle of the night dressed in black looking for bad guys.   In reality, it is a very  simple thing.  When we see or hear something that we know is wrong, speak up.  Say something, do something.  Ninety-nine percent of the time this does not mean getting in a fight, or even putting yourself at risk of physical harm.  But the truth is, that it is still sometimes damn hard to be moral if you don't have the skills to back it upjust in case.  The moral requires the physical.  I think that they are inseparable for most people.  After all, are you really moral if you don't speak up when you see something wrong? 

For we martial artists it means taking the morality that we practice in the dojo and using it in the real world.  The physical skills are merely a back upseldom if ever to be used.  The skills are only for courageas in moral courage.  Are we up to it?  As Robert L. Humphrey used to say: "It is a better life." 

When I returned home from Japan this year, I received a package in the mail from Hatsumi Sensei.  One of the items in the packet really surprised me.  Like so many times in our relationship over the years I had to ask myself: "Can this man read minds!?"  Here is a copy of the painting Hatsumi Sensei sent me. 

 

The kanji says: "Man Ben Fu Kyo" (Countless changes, no surprise). 

To me this is an admonition to observe and know the real worldthe world "outside."  Know that there is good and evil.  Do not become complacent about this dynamic.  It is as natural as night and day, cold and hot, "in" and "yo."  It is such relevant advice for the warrior who lives in the real world. 

Of course, there will still be plenty of training in the dojo.  In keeping with the spirit of "yo" in 2002 I would also like to continue exploring the concepts of "space" and "perspective."  My work with the Marines has re-awoken my feel for battlefield strategy.  Unlike the sterile environment of the dojo, the real battlefield is a place where things like weather and terrain play a critical factor.  He who best understands these factors has an advantage.  Have you ever thought about the space as terrain?  With safe spots and danger zones?  Defilades and natural cover, camouflage and places of concealment?  And understanding this, can it lead to a broader awareness of strategy?  Can the lessons learned in defeating one enemy be used to defeat ten thousand?  Takamatsu Sensei said something to that effect.  So did Sun Tzu.  What does this mean for us?  Let's try and find out.

So, the "Year of Yo" it is.  Let us try to live our lives with moral courage.  Live our lives so that each small warrior moment has the potential of changing the world somehow.  And let us live with Takamatsu Sensei's admonition in our heart:  "For a Ninja, there are no surprises."  Buyu, let's have another great year!

Keep going!

Jack Hoban

  

The Warriors

They have stood for all ages
Side by side
The same as all others
Neither better nor worse
But possessed of a burning love
For truth and life above all else.

They have stood side by side
In darkness
In fear
In ignorance
In war
Knowing no certainty
But the shoulder of the man next to them
And it was enough.

They have stood side by side
Facing death
For their children
Who would live 
In peace and happiness and light
For all ages.

- Jack E. Hoban
  January 25, 1998
  Dietzenbach, Germany

New Year's Message

January 1, 2001 

Dear Buyu: 

I want to thank you all, once again, for a great year of training!   As time goes by I realize, more and more, how important our relationship is.  You truly help me keep going.  This concept of an informal, yet very real, Buyu community really has become a powerful force throughout the world.  I think back to when I was younger.  I had the romantic (and adolescent) view that my life would be best as that of the lone warrior.  I sure am glad I grew out of that!  This is a much better life. 

It has been another wonderful year of travel.  I went to California three times.  Florida twice.  I made another trip to Chicagoland to train with Mark Hodel and Buyu there.  I went to Atlanta, Quebec, and Germany.  Here's an interesting one: I was invited to be a guest instructor at the American Judo & Jujitsu Federation Convention held, this year, in Boise, Idaho.  What a great group of folks!  And very competent, too.  This presented somewhat of a challenge.  What was I going to present to these dedicated martial artists that would be valuable to them?  A couple of wrist-twist techniques just wasn't going to do it.  So, rather than going over the usual one-on-one fight scenario stuff, I decided to try something different.  We broke up into groups of threes and practiced protecting the person next to us.  It was great fun and I got a lot of positive feedback.  My mentor, the late Dr. Robert L. Humphrey used to say that self preservation was a human being's strongest inclination, except, for the inclination to protect loved ones.  This is such a universal sentiment, but it is often overlooked in our day to day training.  Even though they wore white and I wore black, I think that the Buyu feeling and the "protecting others" training helped to bring us all together. When I told the Warrior Creed story and the Hunting Story, I got the usual, very positive, emotional reactions. The stuff still works!

I went to Taikais in Holland and Atlanta.  Atlanta was great; as always, Bud and Bonnie Malmstrom did a wonderful job.  I also had quite a time in Holland.  When I arrived at the convention center near Amsterdam where everyone was staying and where the training was to be held I was surprised to discover that there was no room for me!  I was to stay at another hotel about 5 kilometers away.  I wondered how I could get back and forth several times a day from my hotel to the training hall.  "Oh well," I thought, "just make the best of it."  I took a taxi to the other hotel and decided to have a nap.  I woke up several hours later, hungry, and decided to go down to the restaurant for something to eat.  As I entered the dining room I heard a familiar voice calling: "Jack, Jack, come here!"  It was Hatsumi Sensei.  It turned out that he, too, was staying at this other hotel.  Needless to say I was able to get back and forth quite easily by tagging along with Sensei.  I also had many priceless hours of eating (and drinking) and wonderful conversation.  I must have gotten a little carried away with myself, too.  For those of us who trained together last year, you are aware of our theme for 2000--relationships--and my obsession with the concept of kukan, or "space."  I was anxious to tell Sensei all I had learned over the year about "space."   I launched into something ridiculous like this:  "Before I understood the importance of kukan, I was like a blind man entering a forest with an ax.  Every time I came to an obstruction, I would have to chop it down before I could proceed.  But, now it's like I can see a secret pathway through the woods.  All I have to do is follow the invisible path to my goal of victory."  You can imagine what Sensei must have thought of that preposterous proclamation.  He blinked, sighed, and said:  "Yes, but what you must be able to do is move effortlessly to the middle of the woods, unerringly find the largest tree, and climb to the top.  Only then will you be able to look down and see the kukan.  He finished by saying, softly and kindly: "Jack, there is always more, always more."

I'll leave you to puzzle over that one, as I have.  But it was a great lesson and a great year with Sensei.  I thank my friends Sveneric Bogster and  Mariette van der Vliet for their hospitality and the opportunity to share their beautiful TaiKai.   

I also was in Japan for the Daikomyosai (no talk of forests and trees, thank heavens, just good training) where I had the opportunity to sing "Happy Birthday" to Hatsumi Sensei with Buyu from all over the world.   Check out a picture of the birthday party by clicking here.

This summer also saw the third "Buyu Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  Once again, many highly regarded Bujinkan martial artists from around the country and the world were in attendance to share their insights and gather the views of their Buyu warrior friends.  Highlights were workshops taught by Steffen Frhlich from Germany and Paco Bellmonte from Spain.  The Buyu Camp is really turning into an important international event.  See you there in 2001!  

Last year I had a chance to teach with these friends and Buyu who came to New Jersey: Sveneric Bogster from Holland, Pedro Fleitas from the Canary Islands, as well as Jeff Prather, Dale Seago and Bud Malmstrom from the USA.  These Shidoshi seminars are really fun and a great chance to meet people from around the nation and world who share our love of Bujinkan training!  Look for visits from Bud again this year.  Also, Ed Martin in December.  My friend Andr Trudel is scheduled for June.  He is quite a character.  Remember the situation under Carter's presidency when the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun and the embassy employees were held hostage?  Well, not all of them were trapped.  You may also recall the story of the Canadian Special Forces Officer that spirited some Americans out of the area during the confusion and hid them in the Canadian Embassy.  That was Andr!  He went on to become head of the Canadian Secret Service detail that guarded Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.  He is also a fine martial artist who is especially known for his pressure point techniques.  Check the WIN seminar page periodically for details and join us for this interesting workshop with a truly cool guy.

Another seminar we had last year, and one that we want to make an annual event, is the "Life Values Workshop."  This is a seminar where we practice our Budo in the context of Robert L. Humphrey's Life Values teachings.  We even do the STRIKE training, which Humphrey devised to help Marines overcome the stress of real combat.  Last year Bob's son Jess, himself a former active duty Marine Infantry Officer, and his widow, Mrs. Peggy Humphrey, joined us for the weekend.  This year we are trying to get even more Humphreys to come.  Don't miss this one. 

Now let's talk about the training for 2001.  As most of you know, Hatsumi Sensei has been giving us a theme to work with these past several years.  In 2000 we worked on  the  Koppojutsu of Gyokushin Ryu Ninjutsu, Gikkan ryu, and Koto Ryu.  This concept of Koppo was an interesting one.  I think we all started out the year thinking koppo referred to the bone-attacking methods of the Koto Ryu.  Ha!  Sensei taught us a deeper meaning.  The higher level of koppo, he said, refers to a "complete facility" with the martial arts.  It is the ability to immediately adapt to any situation (and use any weapon) without thinking and with complete ease.  It is like getting "the knack" of martial arts in a fundamental sense--far beyond the mere performance of techniques.  It is becoming, personifying, the martial arts.

I am not sure that we are quite ready to move beyond that concept yet, but Sensei loves to keep moving us forward.  This year it looks like Gyokko Ryu Kosshitjutsu and DaiSho are on the agenda.  I am excited, as I know you must be, to take that next step down the warrior path.

And, as always, I also like to pick a Buyu theme for the year.  Last year was the Year of Relationships.  This led us to a greater (but not final--I heard you, Sensei) understanding of kukan.  So what is the next step?  I have been thinking about this a lot.  Are you ready?  OK, take a deep breathe and let's go! 

I'd like to re-explore the concept of kyojitsu, or the juxtaposition of truth and falsehood, in light of what we learned last year. 

It will take some consideration to move from where we are to where I think we can go.  The first step requires a discussion of the concepts of in and yo.  In and yo are like metaphysical polarities.  Yo is usually thought of as the open, in, the closed.  Yo the light, in the dark.  Yo the positive, in the negative.  Yo, the full, in the empty.  Etc.  Well, how about, yo as the opponent and in as the kukan?  

I think most martial artists would consider the opponent, the physical opponent, to be the yo manifestation, wouldn't you?  The place where the opponent is not, therefore, might be called the in.  It is our first inclination to deal with the physical opponent.  But what if we juxtaposed that?  What if we considered the space the yo and the opponent the in?   

This is not really such a bizarre concept in Japanese culture.  For example, if you consider the art of Sho-D (calligraphy), the yo element, the actual drawn character itself, is not light, but dark--the black ink.  The white rice paper on which the character is drawn is seen as subordinate.  But a true appreciation of Sho-D requires that one sees the painting as a whole.  Therefore, the white space--where the ink is not--is just as important a place as where the ink is.  This is really a type of kyojitsu, isn't it? 

There is a discussion about in and yo that applies directly to warfare.  In warfare, one might ask, which is the predominant element?  In or Yo?  Is it control of  the in (space or, more precisely, the key terrain)?  Or is it control (or killing) of the enemy that is the yo?  One could argue that you need control of both.  But what is the best approach?  Is it the "body count," or is it "control of the most territory with the least amount of killing?"  Don't be too quick to answer.  Generals have argued about this for centuries.   

Closer to the subject of our own training, it is clear (to me at least) that you must control both.  Yet, our amateurish  application of martial arts "techniques" seems to be designed to deal mostly with the yo, or the physical element, which is the physical opponent.  What if we made it our goal, however, to control the space as opposed to the person?  Well, we began to deal with that last year.  But let's go a step further.  Let's consider the space to be the yo and the opponent to be the in.  Let's use the concept of kyojitsu to juxtapose our very perception of a "fight" to be one of treating space as solid and solid as space.  What would this "switcheroo" do to our opponent who, obviously, would expect us to deal with him?  (Or her--sorry about that!). 

One last thing about this "Year of Kyojitsu."  Kyojitsu is not just some kind of trick.  It is as natural as night is to day, as cold is to hot.  It is necessary.  We just have not been seeing it for what it can be.  Rather than being a negative concept, it is just an indispensable part of the whole.  And I believe it is a part that we must understand and accept before we can progress as martial artists--and human beings! 

In a letter Hatsumi Sensei wrote to me in 1995 he said: 

Although many people consider kyojitsu as tricks, there are many examples of kyojitsu in our life.  Starting from the body: there are two kinds of blood carriers, artery and vein.  Breathe has two kinds, inhale and exhale, and when you inhale you consume oxygen, and when you exhale you expel carbon dioxide.

The nervous system also has two types: the autonomic nerves and the sympathetic and subsympathetic nerves.  These nerves contol the balance of the body condition.

Bright and dark, day and night are also kyojitsu.

Kyojitsu makes the life form alive without us knowing it.  Since kyojitsu is the power of natural life, it is not necessary to study it deeply.  Essentially, we should understand kyojitsu in this way. 

After years of thinking about it, I am just beginning to understand. 

There are lessons here for our lives outside of the dojo, as well.  We are confronted with challenges there too, of course.  It is so difficult not to be bothered by those everyday things (or people) that would upset us, or even attack us.  We want to deal with problems in such a way that we crush them.  Or avoid the problems altogether in hopes that they will just go away.  Rarely do either of these methods work satisfactorily.  This year, let's challenge ourselves to accept the fact that there is really so much more space in which to move than we allow ourselves to see.  There are places from which we can gain a better perspective on life's trials and tribulations: places at the top of the forest where we can look down and see the natural path toward happiness and serenity. 

So, the "Year of Kyojitsu" it is.  Let's live it resolutely, with joy, and as complete human beings.  Buyu, let's have another great year!

Keep going!

Jack Hoban

New Year's Message

January 1, 2000 

Dear Buyu: 

Happy New Year everyone.  I sit here tonight sighing in relief that the Y2K bug didn't really bite the planet Earth too badly.  As for me and my house in particular...we have lots of food on hand.  Anyone hungry?  Anybody need a water purifier?  Anybody...disappointed?

But its been a great year.  I think I broke my travel record.  Let's see.  I went to California three times.  Florida twice.  I made my first (probably not last) trip to Chicagoland to help kick off Mark Hodel's new training group in that area.  I was in St. Louis.  I went to Washington DC.  And Germany...twice.  Holland and Spain.  I was also teaching a seminar in Slovenia the day the bombs started to drop on Yugoslavia.   There were participants from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Austria. There were, therefore, strong undercurrents of feelings, as you can imagine. Perfectly understandable due to the circumstances, but I think that the Buyu feeling helped to bring people together. When I told the Warrior Creed story and the Hunting Story, I got very positive, emotional reactions. The stuff works, folks!

I went to Taikais in Germany and Tucson and the Daikomyosai in Japan with about 30 Buyu; 23 of us actually traveled together up to Togakushi (Togakure Mountain--home of Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu) on a bus.  Whew!  I'm very close to being  persona non grata at my day job.

I even had the opportunity to teach at the Hombu Dojo in Noda.  You better believe that that was a highlight of my martial arts "career."

This summer also saw the second "Bujinkan Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  Once again, many highly regarded Bujinkan martial artists from around the country and the world were in attendance to share their insights and gather the insights of their Buyu warrior friends.  It is really turning into an important event.  What is the purpose of the Bujinkan Camp?  The reality is that when Hatsumi Sensei comes to America to do a TaiKai, 600 or 700 people will participate.  But without Sensei here, it is very hard to bring people together.  Its the same in Europe and everywhere.  So what about the future?  Should we resign ourselves to the possibility that all the Bujinkan members will split up and go their own way someday?   

The TaiKai is always a fun time and a time to learn and share many things.  We are looking for ways to continue the true feeling of the Bujinkan that we get when we are all together.  It is a matter of forgetting the ego a little bit and daring to cooperate together with some natural leaders showing the way, but without a Boss.  We have nick-named the Bujinkan Camp "The Hoop" after its similarity to the great tribal hoops of the American Indian tradition.   In the summer many small Indian tribes would come together to hunt and tell stories and share experiences.  They would set up in a big circle called the hoop.  There was no requirement to come, but most all the tribes would come because it was fun and you could learn many things.  The important thing was that no one was really "Boss, and at the end of the gathering, all the small tribes would go back to their separate territories for the winter.  Each summer, most would return again to join the hoop.  Hopefully next year there will be more people who will join the hoop; and more good people will help teach, too.  We will see.  Its not the only way, but it may be one way that could work. 

This year I had a chance to teach with these other friends and Buyu, as well: Mariette van der Vliet from Holland, Steffen Frhlich from Germany, Pedro Flietas from Spain, Peter King from England, and Bud Malmstrom from Georgia, USA.  Next year Pedro and I will teach together in New Jersey, as well as Jeff Prather and Bud Malmstrom.  Mariette and Sveneric Bogsater will visit us, too, for some training.  Everyone is invited.   These Shidoshi seminars are really great!

And finally, I am really grateful to Hatsumi Sensei for all that he has given me over the years, because, as bad as a student as I am, I think the training is finally starting to pay off for me.  I had some insights this year that have truly allowed the budo to become even more inspiring and useful (and fun).  And I am very happy that Hatsumi Sensei has cared enough to bear with me for so long.  I have been thinking a lot about how he has been teaching us and realize that I havent been listening very well.  Now I know what he means about a dojo being a place for penance.  It is not only to ask forgiveness for the bad things we have done in general, but to ask for forgiveness, specifically, of our teacher to whom we never listen to well enough.

The bottom line is that this year I have had to change my entire view about taijutsu from one of technique to one of distance and interval.  But of course this secret was before my eyes all the time.  Hatsumi Sensei even named the Quest video series The Art of Distance.  But I didnt listen.  But I am starting to.  Truly, technique, the thing many of us worry the most about in martial arts, is really not supremely important.  At least in this sense:  you can have perfect distance, but if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you still might fail.  Yet, even with less than perfect technique, a person with good distance can succeed.  

And doesn't this principle seem to apply in other aspects of life, as well?  Aren't there people who you should be closer to than you are?  And, isn't it possible to be too close to someone?  Actually there is such a thing, depending on the person and situation, as the "right" distance--not too close, not to far.  But it's hard to measure, it's not a "technique;" it's a "feeling."  

I think it can be a "three-dimensional" thing as well.  It isn't right to act too far "above" somebody, or be treated too far "below" someone else.  We talk about the fellow who is "too good to be true."  He says and does the right thing, dresses right, has the right job, car and everything.  Yet he doesn't seem "authentic" somehow.  We all have encountered that kind of person, haven't we?  And then there is the guy who might not do everything quite right, but people like and respect him.  Why?  Because his "heart is in the right place."  Could that be the secret of martial arts?  Having your heart in the right place.  Think about it.

And proper distancing is also a process--a very DYNAMIC process (always changing).  Actually, I have started to use the word "relationship." (Even though people who have known me a long time are starting to giggle and point at me). But relationships, marriages, for example, are VERY dynamic. They are always changing and adjusting.  Rarely is it smooth going for very long without the need for realignment--or maybe even catastrophic change!  Can anybody think of a better word than "relationship" to describe this?  People are thinking that I'm turning into a marriage counselor.

Last year was the year of "commitment."  This year, let's make a commitment to work on our "relationships" so that the "distances" between us are "just right."  Let's call this year, the Year of Relationships.  Let's concentrate, particularly, on the relationships between us, those ones that we are put on Earth to defend, and those who would do harm.  But, let's also reconsider all of our relationships.  Boy, we're going to get some weird looks.  Oh, well.  People will just have to get over it. 

One last thing about the training.  Last year we worked on Kukishinden Ryu.  This year it looks like we will be studying the  Koppojutsu of Gyokushin Ryu Ninjutsu, Gikkan ryu, and Koto Ryu.  But let's not forget the relationship between these ryu and the Bujinkan.  They are merely ingredients of the martial art that is now Bujinkan.  It is important to realize that in this era, the whole is quite more than the sum of the parts.  We are all enrolled in a "doctorate program" in martial arts under a true Master.  Now is the time for us to start thinking like true professionals.  We must live the art, evolve with it.  This is our destiny; and it is our good fortune to be born at this time and have the privilege to train under this teacher--Hatsumi. 

By the way, many of you know that my mentor, Dr.  Humphrey received a posthumous 10th dan in the Bujinkan.  His name and grade are written on a little plaque of wood that hangs on the rank board in the Hombu Dojo in Noda.  Humphrey's Life Values Theory and "Warrior Creed" are also officially authorized for inclusion in Bujinkan instruction.  When I was at the Hombu Dojo in December, I noticed that somehow my little plaque of wood got moved so that it hangs directly beneath Dr. Humphrey's.  I am very comfortable with that relationship.  If you are not familiar with Dr. Humphrey, you might want to check out the Life Values Institute Home Page and the Warrior Creed. 

Well, Buyu, let's have another great year, or should I say, century!

Keep going!

Jack Hoban

New Year's Message 

January 1, 1999 

Dear Buyu: 

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope 1998 was a wonderful year full of friendship and plenty of training for all of you.  I must say,  it was for me!

In addition to the TaiKai in Tennessee, I was able to attend the TaiKai in Italy, as well as, the Daikomyosai in Japan.  Hatsumi Sensei was in great spirits for his birthday training/celebration and the final party at the Hombu dojo after the training was truly unforgettable.

I also had the opportunity to teach in Germany for the first time.  It was absolutely fantastic; I learned so much and want to thank all of the people who attended.   I may have indulged in a bit too much "apple wine" one night, however.   The result was a warrior poem I was "inspired" to write.  You can check it out here if you dare!

This summer saw the first "Buyu Camp" in San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean.  Many highly regarded Bujinkan martial artists from around the country (around the world, actually!)  were in attendance to share their insights and gather the insights of their Buyu warrior friends.  We also shot three videos for Black Belt Magazine that weekend.  Great fun and, again, we all learned so much.  We plan to do it again this year! 

Finally, we have started a tradition that I hope continues.  We in the Buyu invited many of the world's top practitioners to come and train with us.  This year I had a chance to teach with these friends and Buyu: Sveneric Bogster from Sweden, Steffen Frhlich from Germany, Arnaud Cousergue from France, Moti Nativ from Israel, and Bud Malmstrom from the exotic state of Georgia.  Next year Peter King from England and I will teach together in New Jersey.  Everyone is invited to join us.   These Shidoshi seminars are really great!

I am confident that 1999 will be a great year, because I am committed to making it one.  In fact,  I am so committed that I would like to christen this year, 1999, the "Year of Commitment."

I am inspired to do that for a number of reasons.  Most of the reasons, it turns out, are simple but very deep.  It started out with my realization that making a commitment, rather than being difficult (which seems to be the prevailing attitude toward commitments), can actually make life easier.  When you are committed, many of the doubts that you have are put into perspective.  Commitments mean priorities, so life becomes more manageable.  Let's take, for example, a commitment to another person.   When problems arise in the relationship (as they almost always do) and you are committed, its not a matter of  "if" you will stay together, but "how" you will work it out.  There's no confusion, there's no procrastination, there's no questions, no ifs, ands, or buts.  It has to be done--so work it out!  I suppose not every relationship is destined to last.  But, in most cases, its better to work out problems than to live with the pain of losing a relationship with a friend, lover, or spouse or  relative.  

Of course the same can be said about commitment in the training.  "How do I get to training on Monday night?" is almost always a more manageable question than "Should  I go to training on Monday night?"   Think about it...

One of the big commitments in the Bujinkan is the commitment to go to the Daikomyosai in Japan.  I know so many people who tell me that they want to go.   Unfortunately, something always seems to come up and they never quite make it.   I have made the trip to Japan every year since I started training except maybe one.   That is at least 17 times.  Maybe more.  The reason I go is simple.  The training is always great, Hatsumi Sensei is usually very relaxed and available.  And let's face it,  Sensei will not be able to teach forever, so ever year we have him is very precious.

I must confess, however, that there were many years that were very difficult.  But I was committed; so I went.   I started every year with a promise to myself that I was going to Japan--no matter what!  With that commitment made, it was no longer "if" I was going to Japan, but, "how" was I going to get there.  And here's a little secret:   I believe that it was that commitment that sort of rearranged my fate so that I was able to go each year.  What if I had approached it this way:  "Well, I want to go; but let's see what happens as we get closer to the fall.  Let me make sure I have the money (or the vacation time, or nothing better to do, etc, etc.) and make sure nothing else comes up."   I guarantee you that I would never have gone.   That's because I never really had enough money or time off, and something else was always coming up.  That's life--with or without commitments.

I remember, also, when I really committed myself to following Hatsumi Sensei's guidance.  I decided that I wasn't going to try and read into everything he said, or attempt to reconcile contradictions that I thought I had detected in his statements over the years.  I would just listen and take things at face value.  That's when things became much clearer and easier for me.  I could ignore the politics, the doubts about what I should or should not be doing, who I should or should not be listening to or training with.  All I had to do was listen to what my teacher said and do my best.  Now, that kind of thing sounds dangerous: putting your faith in another person.  But, rather than feeling like a cult member or a robot, I felt freer.   It wasn't confining to make the commitment; it was liberating.  Of course I have a great teacher--that's a definite requirement.

Last year was the year of the Buyu.  I also wrote a bit about sustainability and the Japanese concept of "Gambatte," or persistence.  We all need the ability to "keep going."  Perhaps the foundation of that concept is commitment.  When you make a commitment and have your priorities in place, all the other confusing and distracting things in life become, as my late friend and mentor, Robert L. Humphrey used to say, "just details." 

As you may know, Hatsumi Sensei has awarded Professor Humphrey a posthumous honorary 10th degree black belt with gold medal for his positive impact on the Bujinkan.  Dr.   Humphrey's name now hangs at the Hombu Dojo in Noda.  Humphrey's Life Values Theory and "Warrior Creed" are also officially authorized for inclusion in Bujinkan instruction.  Check out the Life Values Institute Home Page and the Warrior Creed if you have not done so already.

Well, Buyu, I'm committed to another great year of training, friendship and discovery.   I hope you are too.  See you in Japan at the Daikomyosai, if not before.

Keep going!

Jack Hoban

New Year's Message 

January 1, 1998 

Dear BuYu: 

I know I say this kind of thing every year, but this year has been unbelievable!   A BuYu sponsored TaiKai in New Jersey was only one of the highlights (at least for many of us!).  The opening of Hatsumi Sensei's Hombu Dojo in Noda was also a significant event.

In addition to our New Jersey TaiKai, I was able to attend TaiKais in Paris and Barcelona, as well as the DaiKoMyoSai in Japan.  We in the BuYu have strengthened and extended our network of "warrior friends" in our own country and all over the world.  In acknowledgement of our growing ties with the others that walk this warrior path, I have decided to call 1998 the year of BuYu.
The BuYu Dojo was conceived almost 15 years ago by Mark Hodel and myself as a way to put a name, however inadequate, to our feelings about what a martial arts community should be.  For those of you who have been involved, you know it is not an organization, really.  True, we perform certain administrative tasks, such as processing ranks and organizing seminars, etc.  But the BuYu's longevity has revolved around the principle that "training is the thing."  Show up for training and you're in.  Train with a nice spirit and you're in.  Ignore the politics and seek friendship, skills and truth and you're in.  This kind of attitude has been hard for most of us at times--hard on the ego,  hard on our feelings, a challenge to our personal initiative.  But for those of us who still show up for training, I think that we can look back and see that this has been a good way of approaching the path--not the only way, not necessarily the best way, but a way that has endured.  So we will keep going.		

This year we will study Shinden Fudo Ryu Happo Biken Jutsu, but concentrate on the sword.  So get your training weapons together, watch some Hatsumi Sensei videos and get to it!  Additionally this year, I will be making an extra attempt to team teach with some of my long-time BuYu.  Look for seminars with Sveneric Bogster of Sweden, Bud Malmstrom, and who knows who else.   Please make an attempt to train with other Bujinkan members on a local level if you can.  I know that this can be difficult.  I know how easy it is to look at other people, even other people who are doing Bujinkan Taijutsu, and say to yourself: "What's with that guy?  That's not the real way to do this."  Well, when you feel that kind of (natural) reaction, remember something.   There are many right ways to do this.  Success and longevity are the signs that the way works, even if it is not your way.  And remember, these people are not going anywhere, so you better get used to them!   They may have a different spin on it than we do in the BuYu (and remember, all of us in the BuYu don't have the same spin), but if they've kept going for 10 years or so, their way works--for them, as ours has done for us.  So respect them and treat them as BuYu.  And you'll feel better, I think.

This Bujinkan is really sort of unique because of Hatsumi Sensei's inclusiveness.   Anybody who shows up, trains with a nice heart, and "keeps going," is in.  We are certainly not little cult member clones of each other like one sees in many other types of organizations.  I sometimes refer to us jokingly as a "bouillabaisse of humanity."  As in any good stew, there is a delicate blending of many flavors and spices.  Now you and I may both know (or be!) the "cayenne pepper" of the Bujinkan.  Cayenne pepper straight out of the bottle in large quantities might not taste too good, but when you blend it in correctly with the other ingredients in the stew, it adds something, doesn't it?  Most importantly,  think of how the stew (or chili!) would taste without it!  Pretty bland, huh?  Everybody in the Bujinkan makes up the stew; we need everyone.   Please try to see all these different people as important in the context of the whole.  Its a better way, I think.

Last year was the year of the Immovable Spirit Part II.  I was very optimistic, but cautiously so.  As we have come to see, life seems to swing like a pendulum: up and down.  When things are going well, tough times seem to always be around the corner.  When things look the worst, good news is right down the street.  This is natural, so it makes sense to "cultivate an immovable spirit."  And of course, this was proved out once again.  A great friend and mentor, Robert L. Humphrey, passed away in 1997.  The timing of it was particularly significant for me.   I knew that he was sick and had spent some time with him at his bedside in Tennessee.  Things didn't look too good, but with a guy like Bob Humphrey, you best never give up, because he sure isn't going to.  Finally, however, I had to get back to New Jersey for the TaiKai.  It was at the disembarkation area at Kennedy airport, as I was literally watching Hatsumi Sensei come through the gate, that the cell phone in my pocket rang.  It was Humphrey's daughter telling me that he had died.  You can imagine the rush of conflicting emotions in my mind at that moment.  The "immovable spirit" was an elusive ideal, let me say that.

Hatsumi Sensei and I talked about the timing of Humphrey's death and that phone call quite often during the TaiKai.  Sensei had met Humphrey and was very familiar with his work, both as a Marine Officer and as a conflict resolution specialist.  Hatsumi Sensei said that he felt as if a "torch had been passed" to him from Humphrey at that moment.  As a result, Hatsumi Sensei has awarded Professor Humphrey a posthumous honorary 10th degree black belt with gold medal for his positive impact on the Bujinkan.   Humphrey's Life Values Theory and "Warrior Creed" are also officially authorized for inclusion in Bujinkan instruction.  So the pendulum swings back up a little bit....Check out the Life Values Institute Home Page and the Warrior Creed if you have not done so already.

Folks, I have no idea how we are going to surpass last year in terms of excitement, ups and downs, and significant events.  We'll probably do it, though.  And with our BuYu, together, we can "keep going."  That, after all, is the most important thing.

Good luck, gambatte kudasai.

Jack Hoban

New Year's Message 1997

January 1, 1997 

Dear BuYu: 

Happy New Year everyone! I must say, this year has been a doozy. I don't know if I have truly developed an "immovable spirit," but it sure was called for: so many ups and downs this past year. Many of my friends have said the same thing.

The world seems to be moving so quickly, how to keep up?

I often think of Hatsumi Sensei's simple admonition: "Gambatte!" This means, roughly: "Do your best!" Or perhaps, "Keep Going!" 

It is a simple statement, but very powerful. The world, more than ever, is moving forward. We must move forward with it. 

Yet, the world offers many distractions. Overwhelming distractions. Perhaps you have found it difficult to concentrate on your training. Perhaps you have wondered: "How important is budo in the modern world?" The answer is, in my opinion, more important than ever! Now, more than ever, we must "Keep Going!" 

In this time of relative peace it is easy to relax into a lifestyle where our training seems like a hobby, a quaint adjunct to our "real" world. But, what we must reaffirm is that for us, the warriors, the training is our lifestyle. The reason is that warriorship is a manifestation, in action, of our deepest human value: what Professor Humphrey calls the "Life Value." 

What do I mean by "manifestation, in action?" I mean doing, being, training. Living as a warrior. Don't merely talk about it or think about it or write about it on the internet (oops, better wrap this up!). 

What does this mean? It means we must train more. We must train more consistently and with the awareness that warriorship is not a hobby, it is a lifestyle. If we do that, two things will happen: (1) We will have defined our life perspective, and all of the distractions will be easier to manage, and (2), we can earn the personal serenity that comes with living a life of purpose as a defender of life.

So I have decided to christen 1997 as: The Year of the Immovable Spirit Part II. Last year, I think, the tone was that we must have an immovable spirit when facing the bad times. But there is a flip side to that. We need an immovable spirit when facing the good times, the "easy" times, the distracting times. Perhaps even more so. 

This year we will practice taijutsu, especially footwork, as well as, naginata, ken, and jo. These are all important skills for the warrior. But, even more, we will strive to maintain our warrior's perspective in our daily lives: focused on our calling as protectors of life. It is a lofty calling. One that seems to be "out of style" in these distracting times. That only means we have to focus harder, train more, continue to cultivate an "immovable spirit" that, in bad times and good times helps us to "Keep Going!" Our goal: attainment of the highest levels of human nobility and serenity. They are, I believe, the rewards bestowed by nature on the warrior.

BuFu Ikkan,

Jack

P.S. I just spell-checked this document and it didn't recognize the word internet! That is how fast the world is moving!

New Years Message 1996

January 1, 1996 

Dear BuYu: 


Happy New Year! Get ready for some great training! 


Recently returned from Japan, I am struck with the sense that the next three years may be the most important yet for the Bujinkan around the World. Hatsumi Sensei feels that there is finally a sufficient level of basic understanding of his heart and movement to turn up the intensity in the training. Those of us who have not been training hard enough, or have not taken the opportunity to train more frequently with our seniors, run the risk of missing the significance of these times. 


In order to be ready to take advantage of this opportunity, we must deepen our commitment to the warrior lifestyle. This is not something that happens, necessarily, on the outside; it happens on the inside. It is a clarification of our own personal intentions. 


Like all of you, I find myself tempted, at times, to view this lifestyle as a glorified hobby. My commitment becomes a function of convenience. There is nothing wrong with martial arts as a hobby, by the way. But, I am talking about something more substantial than this. I am talking about pursuing a set of living values, warrior values, and gaining a lifetime, certainly not of ease, but of serenity and purpose. 


That is why we are calling this year, the "Spirit of The Warrior." 


A I write this on New Years Day, 1996, I am reminded of the word's of Shinryu Masamitsu Toda, 32nd Grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu. In his New Years message of 1891, he wrote: 


1. Know the wisdom of being patient during times of inactivity, 

2. Choose the course of justice as the path of your life. 

3. Do not allow your heart to be controlled by the demands of desire, pleasure, or dependence. 

4. Sorrow, pain, and resentment are natural qualities to be found in life; therefore, work to cultivate an immovable spirit. 

5. Hold in your heart the importance of respect for your seniors, and pursue the literary and martial arts with balanced determination. 


One hundred five years, and truly pertinent today. Akemashte Omedeto Gozaimus! Gambattemasho! 


 the mid-1980s I wrote book called "Ninpo: Living And Thinking As A Warrior."  Some of you have read it and have written some very nice things to me about the book.  I appreciate the gestures; but if you recall the introduction to that book, I made some pretty clear qualifications about what I had written.  I said, in essence, that my philosophy was "a process."  What I meant was that it was evolving and that I might change my mind about some things in the future.  

And this has, of course, turned out to be true.

Perhaps I should not say that I have changed my mind as much as that some of my emphases have changed.  I have different priorities now and I have done a heck of a lot more research on things that I believe are germane to the warrior lifestyle.   Therefore, I offer this essay as an "update" to my Philosophy of Warriorship, and, again, make the qualification that I reserve the right to change my mind (or emphasis) as I continue down the path.

A major "change" in the philosophy, I think, can best be summed up as an evolution from the sense of Warriorship as an ideal to the sense of Warriorship in practice.   This has been a difficult and careful transition in my life, because it is so easy to confuse pragmatism and practicality.  Perhaps I had better clarify those terms, because for me the distinction is very important.  Let's begin by saying that the idealized life of the Warriordefending the weak and innocent against the evil forces of darkness and anti-market forces is a bit over-romanticized (and over-simplified, for that matter).  It is also a bit impractical.  I mean, how do you make a living and feed your kids doing that?

So what do you do?  There certainly are warrior-type things out there to be done.  Many are very hard to do and some just cant be doneyet, anyway.  Almost none of them are financially lucrative.  One of the most common questions I get is from sincere young folks asking me about career paths that are consistent with the warrior path.  Being a warrior is not really a job, per se.  It is a lifestyle: a perspective on approaching your job, your relationships with others (most especially your family), and the rest of your life in general.  It is not an easy lifestyle in this pragmatic world.  There is a real danger, therefore, for the person who calls himself a warrior, to talk the good game, but live a very un-warrior-like existence when outside the dojo or seminar setting.  We all know them and have, at times, been them. 

This pragmatic approach, however, is a bit like the "Sunday Christian" who goes to church, sings in the choir and bows his head to pray with a pious smile on the Sabbathbut lies, cheats and steals all through the rest of the week.  I dont mean to pick on Christians, they certainly dont hold a monopoly on pragmatism or hypocrisy, but I use the analogy to make a point.  There is a huge disconnect, sometimes, between what we "feel" is the right way to live and what we "know" we need to do to get by in this society.  Phrases like "if I dont do it, someone else will," "screw them before they screw you," "thats the way of the world," "everyone else is doing it," "if you cant beat em, join em," etc. are all too common in this society.  No one can really blame you if you go along.  With the way things are you probably will get by if you "go along."  There is at least one huge problem with that, however, and that problem is inside you. You will probably end up with a bad feeling about your life.  You might suppress it, you might hide it, but you just wont feel goodinside.  Thats the problem with pragmatism. 

I heard a funny story.  A man is standing in front of his house in a bathrobe one night as his house is burning down furiously.  A neighbor runs up and yells, "How can you just stand there and let your house burn down?"  The man turns to his neighbor incredulously and says, "Im not letting it burn down; its burning down on its own."  A practical man realizes that there are just some bad things that you cant do anything about.  (A pragmatist, by the way, would probably just throw gas on the fireI mean, why not? Its gonna burn down anyway?).

I find myself becoming a practical man in a world that will never be the way I want it to be.  But I refuse to throw gas on the fire.  I (like many of you who are reading this, I bet) live a kind of dual-existence.  I do my best to live the life-affirming values of the warrior, but it seems that (paradoxically?) I fail miserably almost everyday because I have to make a "living."   And almost everything you can do to make a living these days seems to violate the warrior values.

Thats a pretty strong statement, I know, but I believe it to be true.  There are no good jobs out there for warriors.  Not even the Marines.  I know; I was one.  No, the best you can hope for is any job that feeds the family, but one that you can at least approach with the ethos of the warrior. And even that isn't easy.

It would be convenient if we could just blame it all on the fact that corporations are greedy, or that people are weak, or that our problems are due to some flaw of human nature. (By the way, if you dont think that we are having problems, read no further and continue throwing gas on that fire).  But that doesn't really solve the problem or make us happy.  But, it is absolutely not in our nature to be this miserable; and we are miserable, even when we are happy.  So what is the solution?

At the risk of throwing another buzzword into the communal dialogue, I have to say that it is not our nature that is flawed, but our behavior that is unsustainable.   I will talk a bit more about this buzzword "unsustainable" in a moment, but the basic meaning is that our lifestyle (our frenetic pace, our destruction of natural human connections like the extended family, our hoggish use of natural resources, our insatiable desire to reproduce ourselves, etc) cannot be maintained at the present pace.  In other words, we live as if there is no tomorrow. 

But there is a tomorrow.  And our kids have to live there.  And an "unsustainable" lifestyle is, ultimately, in conflict with our deepest life values.  Why?  Because an unsustainable lifestyle, by definition, has to end sometime.  The ramifications of that, if you think about it, are frightening.  And thats what is making us unhappy (and, finally) very, very nervous about things like, ecology, pollution, population, terrorist weapons of mass destruction, etc.  We are starting to see that the house really is burning and that we have very few choices: either sit there and watch it burn, or throw our share of the gas on it.  Actually, the choices are fewer than that.  We are all throwing some gas on the fire.   Its just that some of us are conscious of it and some are not.

I first heard the word "sustainable" in this context about 6 years ago when a friend gave me a book called Steady-State Economics, by Herman Daly.  It is a difficult book to read and has some flawed arguments in it, but it set me up to be conscious of the need for sustainability in all our affairs.  If you are unclear about what "sustainability" means in human affairs, let me bring it real close to home, here, with a pop quiz: What was the very first English phrase that Hatsumi Sensei learned when he came to America almost 20 years ago? Thats right: "Keep going."

Why, ask yourself, is that the most important thing in the martial arts, according to Sensei, at least.  Easy, because all of those people who have been involved in the Bujinkan martial arts over the years who did not follow a "sustainable" training regimen aregone!  They are just not around.  Where did they go?  The other day I was going through my file cabinet and I came across a huge folder.  I looked inside and I found hundreds of signed training releases.  I mean hundreds.   But if you go to training on a Monday or Wednesday night in my dojo, do you know how many people are there typically?  About 12, including me.  What happened?   I dont know in all cases, of course.  But there has been a consistent pattern over the years that I want to share with you.  I cannot count how many times a person or little gaggle of persons has come to training and gushed that this is what they wanted to do their whole life.  They would swear eternal allegiance to Hatsumi Sensei, Takamatsu Sensei, Splinter and me.  Then, depending on their energy, they would come religiously, fanatically, for a week, month, or year (usually not longer) and thenthey would just disappear.  At first it would hurt my feelings, I would wonder what I did wrong, etc.  But I have come to understand that it was not necessarily me.  However they had set up their life, their training regimen just was not sustainable.

OK, do you have what I mean by sustainable?  The point here, however, is that I think we need to extrapolate this important concept out to our society as a whole.   Is our use of natural resources and fossil fuels sustainable?  Is our population growth (doubling, now, every 36 years or so) sustainable?  Can we sustain an attack of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical, or biological?  We all ought to think about these things.

All right, let me back up.  What does this really have to do with our martial art?   Well, our particular art comes from a very unique group of people called Ninja.   According to my discussions with Hatsumi Sensei, Ninja lived a sustainable lifestyle.  That is, if you lived as close to nature as the Ninja did, you could probably live off the land literally forever.  I imagine it to be an existence not unlike our Native American culturesa lifestyle lived in accordance with (rather than in spite of) nature, although we will probably never know for sure.

There are few societies, anywhere in the world, that still live in accordance with nature. Most of us on the planet are involved in lifestyles that require exploitation of natural resources at a pace at which they simply cannot regenerate themselves.  As an interim step, we have turned more and more to technology to make our excessive use of resources more efficient.  We haven't tried to figure out how to live within natural limits; we've just tried to stretch the limits.  We have accelerated the emissions of "greenhouse gases" and other pollutants.  We have continued the destruction of our forests, lakes and oceans.  And we have continued the cultivation of and construction on land to the point that the limits must break soon, although no one can really say for sure when the breaking point will come.  My research leads me to believe that we are living  a "ponzi" scheme.  We are borrowing from future resources.  Eventually we are going to run outof land, of natural resources, of options if something goes wrong.  And most of all, we cant help it.  

But we better get aware of it.

I have made some subtle suggestions on reading material, check the Living Values Virtual Bookstore if you want to know more.   It will be obvious which books I mean.  And there are plenty of others.   I am not really an expert on "Armageddon" reading material, but I have read enough to know that some serious thinking is going on about this "sustainability issue," or, if you prefer, our need, as a human race to be able to "keep going." 

One of my observations is that if the Ninja (or aborigines or Native American peoples, etc.) lived a sustainable lifestyle, could there be a lesson in their life philosophies for us?  That is why I have stayed interested in this art for so long.  I mean the techniques are cool and all that, but what was it about the life ways of these Ninja that we can use today, to improve our lives, perhaps make our lifestyles more sustainable?

We cant (wont) go back to living totally as aborigines.  First of all, there are already too many of us in many places on the planet.  It probably just isn't possible, desirable, or even necessary.  But we have to recognize that we cant go forward as we have.  We live in a time unique in human history.   We have been going down this path for thousands of years with no limits in plain sight.  But suddenly the limits are obvious; the piper is finally going to have to get paid.  We can't put off thinking about this for much longer.  The changes have to start now.  Many people are frightened and depressed by or just oblivious to these facts.  And it does seem like a daunting task to change the direction of a whole civilization.

But we are smart, we humans.  We can probably figure out a new way to live: A way that draws upon the ethos of the sustainable cultures like the Ninja, but that incorporates the opportunities provided by modern technology.  The first step is to start thinking about it; be conscious of it.  That is the point of this provocative and imperfect introduction to this subject.

Some people at this point might say: "Hey, youre right, we gotta do something! But what?"   Well the next step, as I said, is to think.    There are probably a thousand ways to live life in accordance with both human nature and mother nature.  The warrior lifestyle may be one of them.  I also would like to quote Daniel Quinn (who wrote the book "Ishmael," also in the Living Values Virtual Bookstore).  He says: "The world will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all."   So theres your hint.  Keep going!  Or as my long-time mentor Dr. Bob Humphrey used to say: "Keep punching!"

4

ABOUT THE BUJINKAN BUYU DOJO TRAINING

 

The Bujinkan is a set of nine Japanese martial art schools (or styles): 

- Togakure Ryu Ninpo 

- Gyokko Ryu Koshijutsu 

- Kuki Shinden Ryu Happo Hiken 

- Koto Ryu Koppojutsu 

- Gikan Ryu Koppo 

- Shinden Fudo Ryu Dakentaijutsu 

- Gyokushin Ryu Ninpo 

- Kumogakure Ryu Ninjutsu 

- Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu 


Included are hitting, grappling, escaping, and weapons systems. These martial arts are not sport martial arts. Therefore there are no formal competitions or tournaments. Ranks are awarded when the student demonstrates competency and an appropriate level of commitment. 

Training is for: 

- Acquiring the capability of defending self and others 

- Maintaining a compassionate attitude toward others 

- Cultivating a natural lifestyle 

The current Grandmaster is Masaaki Hatsumi of Noda, Japan. 

Initially, the curriculum will consist of: 

- Junan Taiso conditioning and flexibility exercises 

- Ukemi injury prevention 

- San shin no kata exercises for developing a strong body and clear spirit 

- Kihon Happo fighting scenarios 

For adults, the training will evolve eventually into a wider curriculum including: 

- Kata advanced fighting scenarios from the different ryu-ha 

- Henka fight variations 

- Budogu martial art fighting tools: 

- bojutsu stick-fighting (including, hanbo, jo, rokushakubo, yari, and naginata/bisento)

- tantojutsu and kenjutsu blade-fighting 

- kusari-fundojutsu flexible weapons-fighting 

Dojo Etiquette: 

Black Japanese martial arts do-gis (training uniforms) and an appropriate colored belt are worn in our training. If you already have a white training uniform, there is no need to buy a new one until you wish to or the old one wears out. Belt ranks are as follows: 

Children: 
Rank	Color	Time in Grade (approx.)	
Shoshinsha 	White	1 month	
9th kyu	yellow (no stars) 	4 months	
8th kyu	yellow (1 star)	4 months	
7th kyu	yellow (2 stars)	4 months	
6th kyu	green (no stars)	4 months	
5th kyu	green (1 star)	4 months	
4th kyu	green (2 stars)	4 months	
3rd kyu	brown (no stars)	4 months	
2nd kyu	brown (1 star)	4 months	
1st kyu	brown (2 stars)	4 months	
Junior Dan 	blue	Transfer to adult class at approx. age15	

Adults: 
Rank	Color	Time in Grade (approx.)	
Shoshinsha	white	3-6 months 	
9th-1st kyu	green 	4 months per kyu 	
1st-4th dan	black	1 year per dan	
5th dan and above	Black	Receive from Japan only	

 

Although we take a relaxed approach to the training, certain formalities (bowing, etc.) are observed while actually involved in giving and receiving instruction. In the children's class, adults are addressed as Mr. or Ms.; the teacher can also be called Sensei. 

In the adults class, we do not use honorifics as a rule, but they are not inappropriate. Geniality and respect between all training members, student and teacher, is the rule and will be observed. Students should also be aware of certain politenesses that will make them more comfortable if there should be an opportunity to go to Japan and study or if a Japanese instructor visits us.

Treat your seniors with respect, your juniors with care. In Japan there is what is known as a sempai/kohai or senior/ junior system. This system is not part of American culture. However, due to the inherent danger in all real martial arts training, more experienced members must ensure that new members are safe and feel so. It is also their responsibility to make all new training members and guests feel welcome in the dojo. New members must be observant and are encouraged to ask questions of the more experienced. 

The classes are conducted in a supportive, non-competitive atmosphere with the emphasis on safety. The reason for this is because, as mentioned, the techniques are real and have not been adapted for use as a sport. They must be practiced in a certain way or injury will result. 

Realistic fight distancing is used at all times. Therefore the speed at which technique exchanges occur must be appropriate for the level and ability of the participants; training dynamics must be mutually agreed on in advance by "attacker" and "receiver."

All members train together when possible. There is no "caste" system. Rank and seniority bring more responsibility than privilege. 

Bowing: 

Training begins with all members kneeling in seiza facing the front wall of the dojo. The instructor intones the following motto: 

"SHI-KIN HARA-MITSU DAI-KO-MYO" 

[This phrase cannot be translated directly into English. One interpretation is: "A moment of true interaction between mind and spirit may lead to Enlightenment." There are many others.]

All clap twice, bow once, clap once, and bow again. The teacher turns to face the class, and the senior student calls: 


"SEN-SEI NI REI" 

[Bow to the teacher] 

Students and teacher bow to each other at the same time and say: 

"O-NE-GAI-SHI-MAS' "(before training) 

[Please assist me] 

"DO-MO A-RI-GA-TO GO-ZAI-MAS' "(after training) 

[Thank you very much] 

You will find that most of our training is done in pairs. There is very little "shadow- boxing." You can do that at home. When working with a training partner, it is customary to bow before and after a training segment. Exchange names if you don't know each other well.

Philosophy: 

Our philosophy is simple: Protect life. Live according to nature and the natural law. All people's lives are equal (even if their behavior isn't) and must be respected, and if possible, protected. 

Those that agree with this philosophy, will be instructed in the skills needed to support that philosophy, regardless of age, health, gender, or cultural distinction. On the other hand, we are not an "obedience school." If you cannot summon up the personal discipline to train with a friendly and courteous demeanor, you will probably feel out of place and quit the training. People who are looking for a competitive, aggressive atmosphere will probably be disappointed and quit as well. Make no mistake, however, the training is challenging. Once you acquire the skills, you will be capable of walking through life as a warrior knight.

Historical Note: 

There is always some tendency to compare one martial art with another. This is natural. The Bujinkan system of martial arts, however, is not only a different style, it has different historical roots than the martial arts generally represented in martial arts schools in the United States. That makes comparisons difficult. Remember also that the Bujinkan is made up of nine different traditions. Therefore the range of techniques and strategic philosophies is much wider than in most schools that represent one tradition. A further complication is that when one person practices or teaches all nine, those differences tend to blur.

But let us address the historical or root differences. Perhaps an analogy will help. Compare the background of these two great American generals: George Washington and Geronimo. The comparison is hard isn't it? They were such different people, from such different backgrounds and cultures, even though they both lived in the same "country." 

The analogy is a bit weak, but there were two different warrior cultures in Japan as well. For the sake of simplicity, let's refer to the "official" warrior cult as the samurai. That is the culture that spawned most of the karate styles being taught in America today, including Korean karate. 

The Bujinkan is the counter-culture martial tradition of Japan. In other words, if you studied Washington's strategies before, you are now studying Geronimo's. 

This issue will become clear with time if you like our training method and continue on. 

Gambatte Kudasai [Keep going, don't give up!]. 


MOVING THROUGH THE SHOSHINSHA STAGE

This introductory stage is designed to prepare an aspiring practitioner for full participation in the Bujinkan Buyu Dojo training system.

It consists of three parts: 

1. Dojo etiquette 

2. Basic ukemi 

3. Taijutsu fundamentals: Kamae and Sanshin no Kata 

Usually a white belt is worn during this time frame.   This alerts other training members to the fact that you do not yet possess a familiarity with the system.   They in turn will take care to encourage and assist you.  (A green belt indicates a person who is familiar with the system.  A Black belt indicates a person who has mastered the basics of the system and is in the process of internalizing them; or it could also mean that the wearer is an instructor or an aspiring instructor.) 

The time needed to move through this stage is usually 1 month for children and 3-6 months for adults.  This is because the children will be drilled in these fundamentals; adults are expected to absorb the fundamentals and internalize them on a deeper level. 

1. Dojo Etiquette: 

- Perform standing bow 

- Perform kneeling bow 

- Participate successfully in the ritual for beginning and ending a training session 

- Explain and correctly pronounce the following words and phrases: 

- "Bujinkan" 

- "Budo Taijutsu"

- "Togakure Ryu" 

- "Masaaki Hatsumi" 

- "Kamae" 

- "Sanshin no Kata" 

- "Ukemi" 

- "BuYu" 

- "Ninpo" 

- "Taijutsu" 

2. Basic Ukemi: 

- Perform front shoulder roll 

- Perform back roll 

- Perform left side roll 

- Perform right side roll 

- Perform front breakfall 

3. Taijutsu Fundamentals: 

- Demonstrate the following Kamae: 

- Shizen no kamae 

- Ichimonji no kamae 

- Hira no kamae 

- Jumonji no kamae 

- Hicho no Kamae 

- Demonstrate the Sanshin no Kata: 

- Chi no Kata 

- Sui no Kata 

- Hi (Ka) no Kata 

- Fu no Kata 

- Ku no Kata


THE WARRIOR CREED

Wherever I go,
everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.

Wherever I am,
anyone in need has a friend.

Whenever I return home,
everyone is happy I am there.

_Professor Robert.L.Humphrey_




