Serendipity: Soke's Wave

August 30, 2011

Every December at the Daikomyosai seminar, Hatsumi Sensei announces an annual training theme for the following year. Topics include the traditional schools that comprise the Bujinkan, specific weapons, or conceptual ideas. Students worldwide are encouraged to spend time focusing on the year's theme, although each instructor does so in their own preferred method.

Without imposing some rule or decree, Hatsumi thus keeps dojos across the globe united, by having everyone all tuned-in, to some degree, on a common wavelength. This is a very interesting phenomenon! Although it's still fairly early in my development, I feel as if I've been carried along on that wave, although I only recently took notice, and I feel that I ought to write about it before it fades from memory!

Before I elaborate, allow me to list the relevant years and their themes:

• 2009: Mu → "no theme" or "nothingness"
• 2010: Rokkon Shoujou → "purification of the spirit through laughter"
• 2011: Kihon Happo →The 8 basic kata, except new kanji. "the essential miracle for the beginning of growth" (one translation)

In November 2008, I finally went to Japan to train for the first time, after having been training for about 6 years. While there, I met many of the "names" in the Bujinkan, was promoted to Nidan, and very much enjoyed the training and cultural experience. Subsequently, I decided to seriously pursue teaching out of my home as a means to further my own development (what can I say, I'm selfish).

Soon after, the yearly theme for 2009 was announced as "Mu", or "no theme".This might sound like a cop-out, but the word "mu" actually translates roughly to nothingness - a concept common to Eastern philosophy. Those familiar will understand that in this sense, nothingness doesn't always mean "nothing"; rather it can mean the possibility for something. The common Eastern metaphor is that only an empty glass can be filled. It makes me think of a physics analogy - potential energy, as opposed to kinetic energy!

In accordance, through most of 2009, my dojo was "nothing"! While beginning with a few initial people, they quickly dropped off for valid reasons, and I was left student-less. You could say I was left with "mu" - an empty glass waiting to be filled. However, the year was spent "sowing seeds". With the help of some friends who are fluent in Japanese, I was able to finalize the Japanese name of my dojo ( ?? ) pronounced "Shou In" meaning "hidden laughter" or "concealed by laughter". I also finalized a website and put out flyers around town for promotion. Meanwhile, I helped teach at my friend's new martial arts school, gaining some valuable experience.

2010 rolled around, and after some fluctuation, the theme settled in as "Rokkon Shoujou", or "purification of the spirit through laughter". Admittedly, I didn't pay much attention to the year's theme. That April I went to Japan again, learned even more than the first trip, and was promoted to Sandan (which I wasn't overly comfortable with at the time). However, soon after, the dojo started taking off! By July I had 1 dedicated dojo member, with occasional drop-ins to check things out. By year's end, I had 4 regulars (my max is 6 due to space). Things had gotten going in earnest! It wasn't until the following year that I noticed the connection between the year's theme and the name of my school - Laughter!

Come 2011 and the theme is "Kihon Happo". As everyone knows, the Kihon Happo is the 8 fundamental techniques we learn. However, this year Hatsumi used different kanji, which are pronounced the same, yet with different meaning. One translation might be: "the essential miracle for the beginning of growth". I can't help but think of "the spark of life". It is a year to go back to basics, or to go back to the root of things. Appropriately, as my students are all new to Taijutsu, most of the year was spent on the Kihon Happo, which aligned with their first seminar which was on that subject. More so, it was a year that the dojo set its foundation, its roots, and has begun to grow.

In all honesty, I'm not particularly sentimental, nor superstitious. However, some serendipitous coincidences are hard to ignore, and I couldn't help writing about them! At the very least, perhaps it's a sign that starting a group was the correct path afterall. Going forward, I'll have to be more mindful of the tide I'm unknowingly surfing, and with any luck, there will be more of these curious coincidences for me to share!

With luck, buffu ikkan!

Blogs-away!

February 14, 2011

I made the decision to start teaching martial arts a while ago, and the Sho-In Dojo website has been up on the web since late Dec 2008. However, it's really only been 6 months since it's taken off in earnest. As of now there are 3 students, and I can already tell that it's going to be quite the learning experience for me, which is partly why I was interested in starting my own little branch of the Bujinkan in the first place.

Recently, I've started to feel like it might be beneficial to write down some of my sentiments regarding the progress of the dojo and of my own training. This wold be to either help myself work out some issues in my own head or to have a diary to look back on nostalgically some years down the road. And, since I'm that sort, a blog on my rarely-visited website seems like a good outlet - god knows it wouldn't get done at all if I wrote things down by hand!

I considered setting up a stock blog, like through Wordpress or a similar service, but I've ulitimately decided just to keep this home-grown on my own personal site and very low tech - for now anyway. I'm not even sure if there are any benefits to the stock services. Comments is one advantage I can think of. However, I'm not even sure if I want that. I think I'd prefer things under the radar anyway. So, we'll see how it goes.