Bujinkan dôjô des Terres-Froides

Les cours reprennent dès le 2 Septembre pour les adultes à Beaucroissant ! Venez nombreux!

Accueil - Taikai Nagato Paris Accueil Taikai Nagato Paris. Pour la première fois à Paris, pour donner cours lors d'un Taikai extraordinaire. Tout pour le meilleur accueil.

Encore un super stage !!!

The essence of Taijutsu is to re-learn how to structure ones body,mind and spirit to move naturally again. Kamae,Taihenjutsu,Sanshin no Kata, Kihon Happô with Junan Taisou and Kenko Teki na Shokuji could be called the Roppô ( six treasures ) to achieve naturalness.
Hatsumi Sensei has stated that humans are the only animals that need training in how to move naturally. Through our lifestyles, we generate unhealthy habits and patterns that draw us further away from naturalness. Many of our advances are actually making us weaker as they remove us from being more conscious and active within our minds and bodies.

Budô Taijutsu is a path that can help restore human health and well-being and return to a more connected world with Mother Nature.
To advance, we need to address and respect the past, where our ancestors lived closer and in acceptance of the lessons learned from the natural world.

One of the secret attributes of the Shinden Fudō Ryū is the utilisation of the “Principles of Nature".
This is not through academic study but actual life experience. It is said that the Shinden Fudō Ryū was an art for persons who had already a deep experience within the martial arts. Hence for these people, the internalisation of ‘natural principles’ was well ingrained through years of persevering between heaven,earth and man ( Ten Chi Jin 天地人 ).

“To master a technique, first perfect your kamae."
- Nagato 先生

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."
- William Arthur Ward

Bufû Ikkan 武風一貫
‘To be one with the martial winds.’

Les cours reprennent dès le 3 Septembre pour les adultes et à partir du 5 septembre pour les enfants à Beaucroissant ! Venez nombreux!

CAN YOU PASS THE FIRST TEST TO BE ACCEPTED INTO THE DOJO?

AND DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO KEEP GOING?

I know this text is long for SOME and most will not pass the test of reading it. In fact, many people today are so fille up with mental clutter that even relaxing and enjoying a book, which was normal in the old days, is impossible for many people today.

This is a text about the tests you have to undergo as a martial artist practitioner of REAL martial arts like the art of Bujinkan. Many when thinking about tests will automatically think about the examen that one takes upon testing for a new belt or rank in the system. But this is just a very modern and superficial way of testing the practitioner. These kind of tests are to entertain the students ego and challenge the dynamics of the dojo when some students gets grades and others don’t. In some cases, it's even for the boost of Sensei's ego in form of money for his Rolex. Nothing else.
Actually, the real test is about the student’s character and heart.

Real budo is really a wonderful thing. The real teacher (I call him REAL, cause this kind of teacher from a real living tradition is so rare, and not like any normal teacher you would find in other areas of life except for a religious/spiritual teacher of a true ancient unbroken lineage. There you actually can find a similar caliber of teacher although it's extremely rare.

To be a student, practitioner and a disciple of a real martial art and to have a real martial art teacher is very precious. It’s not like anything else you normally experience. Your teacher will really be there for you and genuinely wish you to improve your life, but maybe not in the way you wish him to be there for you. He will not spoon feed you or pamper you and at times you might wonder if he is you friend at all. But fact is that he IS. He is the Sun that shines, helps your mind to light up, and melts away all the impurities from your body, technique and spirit. He does so out of great compassion for you and others, because of gratefulness from what he received from his teacher and because it's RIGHT.

The tools the teacher use is different. It’s not a normal linear learning environment. It’s extremely tough and you might not be able to go all the way. In fact, you might not even be able to meet the required needs to even show up in the dojo. You might be too weak and confused in your mind, so you do not even know when things are real, and you forgot how to listen to your gut feeling. That inner voice that used to guide you as a child and protect you. You started to live life in your head. STAY IN YOUR HEAD AND YOU ARE DEAD. Yes, “juji” is lethal. What really drives people is not brain, but HEART. If you are too stressed, you have NO WAY of knowing your heart and be in contact with yourself. You would never survive in uncivilized times and in fact you will have difficulty surviving even now. For the martial art journey, you really need to be motivated. And fact is that most students who really want to be taught by a true martial art teacher, of the real-deal-kind, do not have what it takes.

In the old days, students were tested in different ways. They would often get “a no go” many times before the teacher would accept them. This was a test to see if they really wanted it. Then when accepted into the dojo the student would spend up to 3 years not learning any techniques, but cleaning the dojo and doing service for the dojo in other ways. When let into the actual training the student would not be allowed to do techniques the first year, but only be used as a punching bag, so he learned to receive punches, kicks, strangulations, throws etc. The student would often go home with bruises or even injuries. This taught the student to survive through challenging times and never to give up. This forged his spirit.

CONTEMPORARY TESTING
Today of cause our culture and society is different, but your sensei is still testing you in many ways. The tests just need to be different to protect you, sensei and the art. But still we need the right students to pass on the tradition, so tests are needed. Remember you are not really here for your ego, but for the cause of the tradition really. In the beginning you might be here for your ego, but with time you will be a protector of the lineage in one way or the other. Your patience, your concepts, your pride, your fears, your need to be acknowledged and feel significant are all tested. But do you pass the test is totally up to one question: “Are you able to keep going no matter what?”

FAILING TO PASS YOUR FIRST LESSON
In fact, many students are failing even before coming to the dojo or even after their first lesson.
Maybe you did not get an answer to your questions on the mail you sent. Maybe the answer came later than your brain thought was professional and automatically you jumped to the conclusion that then the teacher’s martial art skills are not good. You got caught by a trick. The illusion that your stiff brain created. Actually, what happened was that you were never in contact with your deepest strong motivation, cause then nothing would have stopped you. If you really needed to protect the world, your country, your family or yourself, nothing would stop you. Do you really want this, and why? What is your motivation?

FAILING TO PASS THE FIRST 2 MONTH’S
Then some come for a few lessons. Of those, most also fail to pass. In our dojo the first 2 month’s is a BASIC COURSE. It’s like basic training in the military. The idea is to get a few basic drills into the system and a very small test to see if the aspirant has what it takes to endure many years of practice in a real martial arts dojo. Some students fail here because of pride. They want things to be perfect and gets injuired. They want to show the teacher, others or maybe them self that they are better and fail to understand that the injury itself is a good way to test if you have what it takes to keep going and adapt to all circumstances. Remember life is never perfect and always changing. An injury never stopped my teachers or myself from practice. Sensei might tell you to practice differently in injured times but to quit is simply stupid and is related to world of sport not martial art and military training. Would you be able to say to your attacker in real life: “Hey I’m injured, please do not attack, cause, I am not 100% ready to fight and defend myself”. F**k…..the attacker would go directly after your weakest point. In fact, this is how soke and my teacher Sveneric taught us in the past. I never showed my injuries cause, they would go for them. I did all I could to hide my weakness. This is how I learned real life survival.
Some students think it’s too tough physical or gets afraid of the pain they experience and quit the first 2 months. In fact, most student’s get very surprised about the intense pain they can feel from some of the techniques. We learn that pain and injury not always go hand in hand. You can actually have way more pain without injury than with some injuries. Some see too much competition martial sports and think this is the real deal and get impatient and therefore quit not realizing that they were standing next to a person who could help them be a way better warrior than most sports martial artist ever could.

Some students last longer, but gets tested in other ways. Some gets ignored by sensei. This hurt their egos need to be seen and feel significant, but this might be exactly what they need, and the test might go on for years sometimes. Just hold on. When time is ready you will get opportunity. Sensei knows you and sees you. He just waits for the right time. You cannot force this. Sensei wants the best for you. That’s why he allowed you into his dojo. Just keep going in your practice and when you come to a certain level you will get opportunity. Don’t strive too much to come to a position you are not ready for. In fact, don’t strive. Just let thinks come, develop and change slowly and naturally. Don’t rush to build that house. Rushing always fails in the end.

Some students get a lot of acknowledgement and awareness from sensei. Many other students are way better in the art, but they get next to no of sensei’s attention. All of this is a test for all students and part of the training. Suddenly sensei surprises you with an opportunity or some very direct teachings that is timed so you actually are open to receive them and realize them. If he did this earlier, you would not have realized it cause your heart would not have been open. Some students progress fast be lots of attention, some faster by no attention. Some students who got much attention got burned by being too close to the Sun or might freeze when the Sun is suddenly not there because they never learned how to keep warm on their own.

At times we are tested more physically, at other times more spiritually. Even without a sensei, you will be tested constantly through life’s changing challenges.

The martial art practice is like the rest of life. Filled with struggles and possibilities for us to learn and realize the immovable heart (fudoshin) and how to keep going with a natural, relaxed, joyful mind in changing and challenging times. The strong students find ways to always keep going no matter what. To have a good teacher is needed for fast development. It’s simply way more fast to develop if we can see and experience the example. The actual martial art is not enough. The teacher is more important than most students realize.

Then how to find a good teacher is a subject for itself and it’s not easy. I have written other texts about this, but one thing (not the only) is to seek for at teacher who him self had a master example of a teacher. This is very rare today since not many teachers have the right heart. And without the right heart the right skills will not be able to develop.

If you think you have what it takes to be a student of Bujinkan, then we run our 2 months BASIC COURSE at Frederiksberg, Mondays 17-19 and Tuesdays 17-18 starting 26Th August 2024.

Gambatte – Bujinkan Denmark Kuki Taisho Dojo