This is a collection of quotations made by Masaaki Hatsumi-sensei during practice sessions at Ayase, as recorded in my training diary. As for the content, I try to remember the general flow of the training sessions when I record my thoughts, because, as Hatsumi-sensei once said, “I teach from what I see around me.” I have tried keep these quotes in essentially the same order as they were made during the training session, but naturally memory does play its tricks. These are my interpretations as to what Hatsumi-sensei was saying, based upon my feelings at the time. They should not be viewed as verbatim nor as “official.” Words in parentheses are my comments, most of which are for clarification.

I left the first day of practice thinking one thing, and one thing only — pain! This year shouldn't be dubbed Shinden Fudo-ryu Dakken Taijutsu. It should be called Pain-ryu. I felt like I had just been pounded on for two hours (I just had). My knees hurt, my thighs hurt, I could feel bruises pulsating on my shin and on both arms, and the muscles in my back hurt. My, my... Wasn't this going to be a fun year?!?

It has been. Soke has taken us all for a ride in uncharted waters. Nowhere else in the world but here can you see what Soke is trying to do. Do everything you can to find time and money to get over here. (You, too, Liz) We'll be waiting for you.

Welcome back Ura & Omote. We missed you, Liz.

May all your choices be good ones.

— ben

January 6 (Tuesday)

(It’s the first practice of the year. A handful of people mill about. Only one visitor is in the room; he sits alone, stretching out. In time, the weapon bearers arrive [the three guys who always lug around all of Soke’s toys for him. We all carry manageable weapon bags with our toys; Soke has three GOLF bags full o’ stuff!] so everyone knows that Soke will be coming in the door any minute. When he finally arrives, the conventional New Year greetings go up from around the room. Soke goes to his little cubbyhole to take off his jacket and relaxes. People go back to stretching and talking. After a few minutes, Soke comes back bearing a HUGE sword. He explains that it is a Shinden Fudo-ryu style sword, and that it is made to hack through armor and limbs, rather than for fancy sword work. He looks on like a proud father as he passes the weapon around.) “This year... we’re doing sword.” (He says as he draws the meter-long blade, smiling.)

(Soke spent several minutes before practice taking about how the sword is used.) “You don’t have to cut with this blade. Just let it fall. It would cut right through armor or a helmet. Splat! (his onomatopoeias most descriptive).”

(After bowing in, Soke pulls out a pamphlet-like photocopy, opens it to the first page, and throws it to the floor.) “Noguchi! Seino! Show us some Shinden Fudo-ryu!” (The two Shihan waddle over and get down on their knees to read the book. One of them says under his breath, “Nichigeki no kata” to which Soke pipes, his back to them as he pans the room, “Yes! From Nichigeki!” (And so class begins.)

“Practice this fundamental technique five times apiece.”

(Soke calls his uke to throw him. Within seconds, the uke falls to the ground screaming in pain. “But Soke didn't do anything?” you question, but you know there was something...) “Only the person who had it done to himself understands. There is so much that you cannot see. You must experience it yourself. You must practice and find out how these things work.” (After a few minutes, Soke begins showing us some of the sneakier finger grabs he had utilized on his poor uke. Another layer of the onion revealed.)

(Concerning a finger grab to the nerves) “You must practice this until you can get it every time without fail.”

“It is like I said about my time in Holland. They were all so big, that if I didn't use techniques that ‘can’t be grasped’, I could never have taken any of them down. You must discover how to do techniques that cannot be grasped.”

“This movement is very natural. So you must, in a sense, create your own nature.”

“You are all already Shihan level. Don't worry about techniques. Just win.”

“You are all focusing too much on applying techniques. There is no need.” (Turns and walks away as his uke falls to the ground, a victim of common-sense physics.)

“It is not strength. Taijutsu requires you to use no strength.”

“It is the same with a bo, or a yari, or a naginata. You just lower it down to set up and then stab in. And still again from there, it is the same.” (Moves as he throws his uke to the ground).

“This is why we have spent these last five years going through bo, naginata, yari, sword, and jo. It is only now that you could possibly understand their connection to one another, and how you could understand Shinden Fudo-ryu.”

“Break their arm over the bo.”

“It’s just like Takamatsu-sensei used to say, a gun should not be held when aiming, it must be ‘thrown’ at the target when aiming.”

“With Shinden Fudo-ryu you are in armor. Real armor is very heavy so if you relaxed your muscles, the weight of the armor would crumple down on you. Remember this. So they go to grab you to throw you to the ground, all you need to do is open up and grab the ‘skirt’ here behind them. So long as you do that, they cannot throw you. And from here, you can reach up and grab the back of their helmet to tip their head back. This will allow you to punch, otherwise you would hurt your hand on their mask. (Makes his hand into a bear paw, and brings it to his uke’s face) Or you could place your hand on their mask here, and slam it into their face. Just keep a hold, and keep slamming it to bloody them up. Then you could rip the mask off, or just force their head back, exposing their neck. This is how you must train.”

(Soke takes out his sword.) “Now we will begin with tying the sword. In Shinden Fudo-ryu you fold the tassels over in half like this, and then tie it loosely like this so if you grab either end and pull, it comes undone. (Does so) Don't tie it too tightly. It must be able to fully extend with one tug. Then from there, you put the sword into your belt as normal. The tassle? It can go either over the top, or under the bottom. Then you tuck it here in front to keep it out of the way.”

“When you draw your sword in Shinden Fudo-ryu, you do so as if moving into Ichinokamae (Does so empty-handed). Practice this for a few minutes... Try not to twist your body too much. Remember Ichinokamae.”

“There are three ways to draw your sword. (Pulls his sword close so it is standing straight up) (Something)age. (Returns his sword to the center so it is parallel with the ground) Chu, which is what I just showed you. (Tilts his weapon forward so the hilt points to the ground a few feet in front of him) And Sageage. (Draws his weapon. He then resheaths it and asks Noguchi-sensei to stand before him with a sword. Soke draws his sword to Noguchi-sensei’s leg using Sageage). When you draw, you are not drawing to ‘cut’. You are drawing to ‘plunge’ (the sword into them). Splat! (Soke makes one onomatopoeia after another, ‘plunging’ his sword into an invisible opponent, then ‘grinding’ the sword around inside their body, then removing the weapon, raising it high against his head, and coming down in a gigantic chop — finishing the job.)

(Soke walks over to Noguchi-sensei and asks him to grab him and try to throw him. Noguchi-sensei tries to oblige, but is stopped in mid-throw by Soke dropping his weight and repositioning himself. As he does this he brings his furthest hand up and touches the back side of his neck. This helps him keep his spine straight, and then acts as windup to a haymaker punch from hell to Noguchi-sensei’s face. Soke shows the technique again. The third time, however, he brings his other hand behind his head to show that it can be done either way. This was not anything mind-blowing at the time. What followed, however, left everyone in the room speechless. Rather than punching Noguchi-sensei in the face as expected, Soke’s hand returned from behind his head carry a KNIFE! He slashed across Noguchi-sensei’s neck with the rubber weapon and walked away; no one saw what happened until Soke stopped moving and people could focus on the object in his hand. The fact that he could hide the weapon for so long without detection was shocking. It came from nowhere like a magician’s sleight of hand, and was quite a lesson. He panned the room confidently and said, “ This is what you must learn.”(This, my friends, was truly spooky.)

January 13 (Tuesday) “There will be practice this Sunday at Hombu dojo, but none on the following Sunday due to filming (the Dan rank videos). Okay, someone teach something from Sunday’s practice... Ed!”

“Who here can do a judo-like roll? Here. Watch how it’s done.” (Shows us)

“Okay, that’s enough of that.”

“When your opponent grabs you and tries to throw you, first of all, drop your weight. Keep your right elbow tight here, but don't punch. Place your fist here in front of theirs. Then from there, push to throw them to their back.”

“Use only your elbow to control them.”

“The reason why the tsuka (for Shinden Fudo Ryu) is so long is so you can do things like this. (Chokes his uke).”

“Please be aware of where you are striking.” (Hits Ed Lomax in the back of the neck with the middle knuckle of his left hand, followed with a punch to the same place, then did a hooked dragon tooth to the other side of his neck from the front with his r.h.)

“Everyone only teaches one-on-one techniques nowadays. All of them — kendo, kempo, iai, everything. They don't take into account another opponent. It is sometimes easier for you with multiple opponents. No one teaches this way anymore... I am not saying for vanity reasons. It’s just that no one teaches this way anymore. It’s as if those iai teachers don't even know this stuff ever existed.”

“This is the same with any weapon. You should understand this because of what we studied over the past few years.” (Does the same technique, mimicking use of a naginata.)

“The difference between judo and what we do is that in judo, you have the intention of throwing someone. So you tend to utilize strength and speed to try to win. But this means, of course, that as you age, you lose your ability. But with our throws, you are not intending to throw them. You are merely trying to take advantage of your opponent’s weaknesses — to fill up their holes, in a sense. And since you do not rely on strength, your abilities will not deteriorate over time. You will actually be better because you cannot use strength to apply your techniques.”

January 16 (Friday) “There will be practice at Hombu dojo this Sunday.”

“Okay, Ed. Start from Nichigeki.”(Ed starts out fine, then does a henka at the end). “No, no! Do the standard nichigeki with no henka.” (Ed obliges. Class begins.)

“When your opponent tries to do the throw, you must roll faster (in the same direction they are going to throw you), striking them with your elbow as you do so. Then as you follow through, crush their chest cavity with your elbow (once they end up on their back)... Don't really DO this now!!! It’s too dangerous. I am merely showing you.”

“You must practice trying to make yourself into a ball.”

(After showing a particularly difficult maneuver, Soke quipped) “Old farts can’t do this.” (The truth is most young whippersnappers couldn’t do it either. ;-)

“You must grab their hand with both hands so you will not lose your grip when you go to throw them.”

“Okay. Noguchi, teach.”

(Noguchi-sensei) “If you don’t keep your back straight when you do a technique such as this, it appears that you have distanced yourself properly from them, when in fact you haven’t. This, in fact, puts you in a very dangerous position.”

(At one point, Soke started calling people out to demonstrate. When he saw that people didn’t get the principle, he started cracking down hard. Let me assure you that at intense times such as these, there is no translation going on. Only the Japanese speakers can understand every nuance of his anger, but believe me everyone knows something is up.) “No! Do it again! Lead with your shoulder. Don’t stop midway... Do it again. No! You’re stopping... I am correcting you for the benefit of everyone... (I’m sure they didn’t feel that way at the time) Do it again!”

(After working on techniques that put undo strain on the neck) “Okay. Let’s set those techniques aside. Too dangerous. Let’s move on then.”

“This is not a choke. (It broke the seventh vertebra... backwards! Bringing it to the point of no return hurt like the dickens, by the way.)”

“You can press only on the chin, or let your arm slide up and take the nose. (Laughs as his uke screams in pain at this seemingly innocuous “choke”).”

“Cover them completely with your entire body... (Jumps on his uke like a panther. All fours spread out wide.) He’s big, so I can’ use arm strength. (Begins applying a choke, using all his body weight.) Use your entire body.” (His uke, who just happened to be six foot six, hopped off the ground; he had been laying on his back, folks.)

“Watch carefully and learn from others.”

January 30 (Friday)

“The aim of this year is the use of sword, bo and Shinden Fudo-ryu... Well, let’s leave it at that and get started.” “Try to move so you are not getting caught up in them. Remain separate and freee. Don’t get caught up... Someone translate this point, please.”

“Doing this with a sword should be no different (Puts his sword in his obi and then shows us).”

“Once you have practiced taking out one person, practice defending against multiple opponents. (Rather than drawing his sword against the man he just threw, he turned in a random direction to face off with invisible opponents.)”

“If they don’t go down, keep changing the angle at which you are applying pressure to feel them out so you can eventually break their balance.”

“Don’t be trying to utilize ukemi in this roll. It is not yoko nagare. Just twist yourself as you fall to the ground; they'll have to come with you.”

“You must learn how to roll straight onto your own bo for this technique. You must make sure to position it so you can very naturally roll onto it and thus your opponent. This would be devastatingly effective if you had armor on.”

“Switch your grip on your sword here, using only your fingers, like this.”

“When this doesn’t work, just start pounding on them with the Dakken way of finishing them off. This stuff works without a doubt.” (Smiles)

(Concerning close in punching) “It’s the same, but different. (Punches his opponent several times in succession with his right hand) It’s the same, but different. You can’t see the difference (in the punches) with your eyes, but he (the uke) can feel the difference. (The uke nods as he nurses his bruised rib area)”

February 3 (Tuesday)

“Don’t forget to practice both sides (left and right).”

“You don’t always have to grab with your hand down (as I showed you).”

“Not every punch is going to be at Jodan (face) level. You always practice that way so you forget that punches could come to Chudan (midlevel) or Gedan (below the belt) levels as well. Please practice all three.”

(At one point, when showing us a variation of Gekkan, his uke ends up flipping onto his back, rather than onto his stomach as the technique demanded. Soke laughed, and turned to us, saying) “Don’t let them flip over like that. (They started again, and this time, Soke made sure his uke couldn’t squirm his way out of the impending pain. ;-)” “To throw them to their stomach, pull them a little forward, and then down.”

“Okay. Let’s show the Dakken way of doing this technique.”

“When you move to take the hand here, use your (right) elbow to strike into their chest.”

“Strike them, and keep striking them, to put them down!”

“Don’t let them go! (He calls to a visitor) Come here. Punch. (The visitor complies. Soke elbows, shutos, then punches the poor guy. Soke doesn’t let him go until he’s pummeled him to the ground, literally.) Don’t let them go. Do you understand? (The dude looks stunned, and nods his head. No words necessary for that one, folks.)”

“To break the elbow here with your knee, you must make sure to line up perfectly perpendicular. If you don’t have this angle, you won’t be able to do it.”

“There are many, many ways you can punch. I am showing you that they all work, and all can be used.”

“Be careful. If you slip or lose your balance, you will severely injure your partner. Please be careful.”

“Even if they have a fist, if you place it against your body when trying to apply Hongyaku, it will work.”

“When they bring the sword up into kamae (after drawing to strike you and missing), attack them by either striking them or chucking your bo at them (spearlike).”

“When you wear your sword, you want to make sure it is pointing out in front of you like this. Don’t let it droop. This is wrong. Pull it out of your obi a little so it stays in balance. Then when you want to draw it, make sure to push your scabbard back with your left hand as you draw... Then when resheathing, pull your scabbard forward again till it snaps into place. This looks really cool. (Laughs)”

“Make sure to perfect your angling. In this way, you will be able to lead people astray.”

“Use everything you’ve learned until now. Use your Taijutsu.”

“This technique is almost identical to this well-known Jujutsu technique. (Soke then shows us) Please practice this until you can get it.”

February 6 (Friday)

“You don’t actually have to grab them to get this technique to work. It’s like when electricity flows between two objects that are separated. It is this space that you must learn to utilize.”

“For every technique you learn, you must understand the ten thousand henka that are possible for it.”

“Now, I'd like to show you an interesting way of punching.”

“It doesn’t matter if you hit them with the shuto or not, because from here (his right hand pointing directly at his uke’s face), you can punch (does so).”

“This hand is not really coming up to grab and pull. Everyone is moving as if it is. This hand is covering you the entire time. Keeping this in mind, it is very easy for you to take the gyaku here (does so).”

(Soke puts his uke flat on his face on the floor and turns his uke’s hand completely over, palm flat) “This is a gyaku. You cannot see it from there (Lifts his foot to reveal the hand) But if you experience this firsthand, you'll understand.”

“If you only focus on one technique, it is the same as being dead. You must understand the life of every technique.”

“Okay, it’s time to do a little sword.”

(Soke puts a sword in his obi and Noguchi-sensei prepares to punch) “Anyone who would punch at someone wearing a sword has to be weird... (Laughs) Get a bo, Noguchi.”

“Just come straight to that shoulder. (Soke places his sword on the body of his uke) You don’t even have to cut because when you step away from them (does so), the blade will (drag and) cut them.”

“It doesn’t matter if you punch them int he shoulder, the muscle, or the nerve. Just so long as you hurt them. (Laughs)”

“When doing Segan no Kamae with a Shinden Fudo-ryu sword, please keep your elbow in tight against your body. This will help keep you from tiring out from its weight.”

“If you keep them standing, and merely rest your sword on them, it does not matter how many other opponents come.”

“If I rest my sword right here (on his opponents chest, only inches from the neck), that’s the end (i.e. his uke would have to be an idiot to try to do anything).”

“There will be training Sunday and Tuesday from 1:00 at Hombu. There will be no practice here on Tuesday.”

“I have just finished the ken, tachi and katana video.”

“After breaking their arm here, give it a crank once around for good measure. (I winced at this one)”

February 20 (Friday)

“Okay, Shiraishi. Show us the basic Fubi technique.”

“It’s important to utilize the freedom of movement in the human body. Everyone should become like octopi to be able to engulf everything.”

“You bring your hands up the middle of theirs and up onto their neck. Either are okay; either to the inside or the outside.”

“You can also apply nerve pinches to their neck here, before spreading their arms.”

“You must drop your weight to get the headbutt. Doing it from here will not be effective. If you drop here and strike to this point, you will crack their skull.”

(At one point, Soke laid down on the floor and said) “Go ahead. Put me in any lock you wish. (Inviting people to try some Judo and Jujutsu locks on him)”

“When they apply such a choke, it is important to use your shoulder to free yourself. Use your entire body.”

“The feet are just like the hands.”

(Concerning groundfighting against the mount) “You must bring your leg to the inside here to be able to utilize it.”

(After about 20 minutes of groundfighting, Soke decided to change techniques) “Okay. That’s enough groundfighting for today.”

“I taught Wangetsu no Kamae last week, so working from there... This is Wangetsu, but you must also practice the stance in Gedan.”

“Be careful of those around you.”

“Imagine this is a bisento. It is very heavy. That is why the left hand against the body is so important. Then from there, let the weapon fall. There is no need to cut. The weight of the weapon will do that for you. Then from there, cut up diagonally, extending fully with your body.”

“If you understand this movement, then you can understand bojutsu. (Grabs his bo and makes for the center of the circle)”

“Here, everyone, watch. Doing this technique in bojutsu requires you to be in ihen no kamae. (Nods for the attack to come, whacks it aside, then whacks the sword out of the way.)”

“Now, let’s look at the other side, and understand how the ken is to be used (When his thrust is blocked with the technique he just taught, Soke quickly flips his weapon, using the nagare the block provided, and whacks his opponent.)”

“Okay, let’s do this with a sword. They come to grab you, and you draw your sword here-sideways. (the sword held at waist level pointing at 11:00, the tip about two feet in front of his navel.)”

“Okay. Someone manages to grab your hand when you go to draw. Use your body to draw here and it will not matter.

“If two people grab you like this, always move closer to one of them like this.”

“You should also learn to draw as you turn around.”

“As you can see, Someya’s sword is very long. You must practice drawing and utilizing your weapon in very confined spaces-when you have no space in front of your, no space above you, and none to your side as well.”

“If you can understand this, then you will begin to understand true iai.”

“The trick to using your sword effectively is to minimize the extent to which your move the blade. Don’t go swinging it around more than necessary or you will open yourself to an attack.”

“Okay, Pedro. Teach anything you want. Pedro-style. All good.”

“You must learn to observe the punching arms coming at you. If they come in with a tatezuki like this, then you must shuto in this way. This will break their bone here. If they come in with a seiken, you must strike the arm at a different angle, so you do not hurt yourself and can inflict proper damage on them. If you catch this angle here, you can break this other bone here.”

“If you get the shuto correctly, you should be able to punch directly into the same place with the same hand.”

“The walking on this technique is very important.”

“When you kick, you are not just kicking without purpose. You must find the angle you need to attack specific targets on that attacking leg. If you kick their muscle here, it will tighten up for example and make subsequent kicks more difficult. Please train with these things in mind.”

February 24 (Tuesday)

“When you are wearing your sword, have it sticking forward a little. Then to draw, push your scabbard back and draw with your body.”

“I taught Wangetsu before, didn’t I? Okay, well, then, let’s move on to Ryusei. That’s the kanji for ‘flow’ and ‘star’.”

“In Ryusei, you must rest your sword on your arm like this... Do not point your sword directly at them.”

“You should be able to hold it quite comfortably with either arm. This is helpful when your sword is heavy.”

“If you can hold it with only one arm like this, your other hand is free. You can draw your shoto here, for example, if another opponent were to come, throwing it at them like this.”

“Start with your sword in Segan, then move into Ryusei. Your tip can be pointing straight at them at first, but them move it to the side so as to entice them to attack you. Then .”

“They have their sword sheathed, then approach you. When they come to draw, drop back yourself to keep your distance and draw into Segan. From there, you can safely move into Ryusei.”

“Do not cut. Twist you body and let the weight of your weapon cut for you.”

“If you can do this, you can do this without weapons.”

“When I went to America, I did a similar type of technique on some very high level Karateka — fifth or sixth dans. They were astonished at how easily they ended up falling to the ground.”

“Because it looks like nothing, and in fact is nothing, if you get good at this movement, you can have real fun with it in a real fight. (Laughs)”

“You could do this same technique with ice skates on... You all know that ninja used to train by walking on ice with geta. Well, that type of training would pay off in this way, too.”

“If you understand this, you can understand Fubi.”

“Do Fubi, utilizing this technique... Noguchi, teach!”

“Do Fubi, but this time do not drop all the way to the ground. You must be aware of things that may be on the ground that could hurt you if you landed on them. You must be in complete control of your body and not just blindly fall to your back on techniques like Fubi. This is a kind of ukimi practice. (The translator naturally misheard Soke and said ‘ukemi’, to which Soke repeated again for emphasis,) No, ukimi! (Literally translated, this is ‘floating practice’)”

“In this ukimi practice, you are not trying to put on a specific technique, but by clinging to them like this, you prevent them from doing anything. If you had shuko or soko on your hands or feet (respectively), you could easily use them to inflict damage of climb up them like a tree.”

(Via a practitioner) “When you jump, you must do it in such a way that your opponent cannot detect that you are preparing to jump. If they see you moving your arms, or other such movements, they will be prepared for you.”

“As you can see, everyone has so many good things to teach. That is why there is no number one. Everyone has something to share, and you have a responsibility to learn from anyone and everyone.”

“See! See how good everyone is! You are all better than me!” (Not quite, Soke)

“Once you can do this, you can do it with bo, bisento, sword, anything.”

(While teaching a throw) “If they don’t go down, simply sit on their leg here.”

“Use that technique, but with shuriken nage. (After the practitioner doesn’t quite get it right, Soke borrows the shuriken and shows us how it’s done) Once you get to this point, you should be able to turn in any direction to face any number of opponents.”

“If you can imagine this as a bisento, you can see how the weapon’s weight could be used. And if another person attacks you midway (Soke takes two attackers out with the same move), you can take them both out here.”

“Do you understand? (The person who he asks shakes his head) Well, then. We can’t very well move on if one of you doesn’t understand. Here, let me show you again.”

(During the time when everyone gets up to show a technique from the practice, Soke turned and smiled, saying) “It’s nice to just sit and watch others like this. You can learn a lot.”

“Okay. Who’s taking the fifth dan test today? Okay. Let’s go.”

February 27 (Friday)

“There will be practice at Hombu dojo this Sunday at 1:00.”

“This will be the last day for Fubi.”

“Let’s start with jumping.”

“This technique can be brutally effective with a knife (After showing us a disgusting technique wherein he carves away half the guy’s neck, Soke turns and adds,) This is how to use a knife.”

“This is why it is so important not to teach bad people these techniques. The Bujinkan needs not grow any larger than it already is; rather it needs those practicing already to understand these points.”

“The difference between a mere child and a budoka is that a child doesn’t recognize the full potential of an object in his hands. If you yourself can’t recognize the full potential of any weapon you pick up, you are merely a child.”

“If you can do this, you will understand how to kick with both legs at the same time.”

“Okay, Andrew. Do Fubi, but jump to his neck, instead of his waist. (Andrew obliges) Very good. Practice this with three people please. The extra person needs to stand behind the victim to keep them from being knocked down.”

“Be careful when practicing the jump in Fubi to the neck. You could severely damage their neck.”

“You must be able to jump onto someone in such a way that they cannot detect you in any form. This is very important... This is Shinobi. If you can understand this, then you can begin to understand Ninjustu.”

“Okay, jump on their back and draw their sword. (After a few minutes of practice, Soke calls on each pair to come out and show their variations)”

“Okay. Jump on their back and steal his shuriken and throw them from there... If you punch him once and you hear shuriken clink against each other, then you know they are there and can chose to use them. If you can maneuver behind him, you can jump on him and steal them from his pocket...”

“Okay, Shiraishi. Here are some (plastic) shuko. Attack him with this Fubi technique with these shuko. (He does).”

“You must understand how you could do Fubi with shuko or soko. This is just a natural extension of the technique. But to come to that reasoning you must first learn to do it with only your bare hands and feet.”

“If you had a gun, you could jump onto one of your opponents and cling to him as you take out the rest. He would also act as a shield for you at the same time.”

“Imagine a scene in which two lovers are embracing, perhaps kissing. The man could draw his gun, hold it behind his partner as if hugging here, and still cleanly shoot someone standing to his side. You must train with such potentialities in your head at all times. And you must continue to come here and train with me, regardless of your rank, to keep up this mindset.”

“This isn’t written in the scrolls. All this couldn’ be written. Think of what’s written in the scrolls as mere hints.”

“What sword technique did I teach you the other day? Wangetsu? ... Ryusei? ... Let’s just work from Wangetsu. Okay, here you are in Wangetsu. The blade can face either way; that’s not important. When they come to thrust (‘suki’), you don’t want to cut (‘kiru’), you want to thrust (‘sukomu’)your blade tip into their ‘do’ (side). Do not cut. By thrusting into their body here, you are easily able to defend here if they try to counter.”

“You can then just push your blade, using your body, into them. Then once behind them, attack their other ‘do’. This is the Fubi way of doing this technique.”

“If you can learn to thrust into the body in this way, it will not matter if there are object between your blade and them. This includes even armor. You will be able to cut right through armor.”

“Okay, here is Wangetsu. Please note the elbow here. You cannot learn this from a video screen. It is so important you learn this from someone who really knows.”

“The trouble with most students of sword is they try to form their kamae using only their wrists. You must start your kamae from your elbow, then your shoulder, then your body. In this way, you will learn to proper way of kamae.”

“For this, practice with your partner so as to mirror each other. That way you both can see how it works.”

“If your partner is making a mistake, such as leaning his or her head to one side, it is your job as a partner to correct them and help them to recognize that mistake.”

“For many years, many of the best sword teachers in Japan did not get along so they never shared their knowledge with each other. So the evolution of everyone practicing the sword was stifled. Things are okay now, and we can all come together like this and share what we know amongst ourselves. This is so important.”

“You must learn how to jump onto them and ’sit' on them (with your legs wrapped around them as in Fubi). If you can do this correctly, they will be trapped literally standing up.”

“What you do is have a small woman stand there, and then try to jump onto them and do this technique. If you can’t do it without them falling over, you are no good at Taijutsu. It could be very dangerous for you if they fall over with your legs like that.”

(At one point during practice, I became involved in a very interesting conversation with Soke and Yasue-sensei. After we finished, Soke wanted me to share part of our conversation with everyone else. Although I was unsure of all of the specifics of the story, Soke was more interested in the principle, than the specifics. He told everyone to sit down, and so I began.) “Soke wanted me to share a story with you. I don’t know who I originally heard it from, perhaps you, Tim (Bathurst), but that’s not that important. There is a man who frequents a dojo in England. He is name is Joe Vaughn and he is one of Soke’s friends. He was one of the first SAS in England and has seen many things in his lifetime. He is also extremely old now. He watches the training at this dojo with eagle-like eyes as he leans stoically against his cane. Every once in a while he pipes up with a comment like “Fix your stance!” or “You must be more focused!” Well, one day, the people in this dojo were practicing assassination techniques with the knife. Joe shook his head at what he saw and said something like, “That’s not how it’s done... You, you be a sentry and stand guard. When you hear or sense me, then turn and defend yourself.” The person who was chosen to be “guard” stood in the center of the dojo and the elderly man mixed in with the people standing around watching this unfold. After a while, this 80-year-old man comes crawling in on his hands and knees, the knife held tightly between his teeth. Slowly he made his way over to the guard, then without warning, jumped from his hands and knees and slashed the guard across his neck. This was the same man Soke once told us about. He went into a pub that was quite packed with people, pulled the pin out of a grenade, everyone scrambled for cover, he walked up, replaced the pin, and got himself a drink at the now open bar. Soke has given this man a tenth-dan...” (Andrew Young was then asked to translate the story into Japanese. When he finished, Soke added the following,) “I will translate for myself here. What was significant was this some 80-year-old man jumping from his hands and knees up to slice the man’s neck. To understand this true killing spirit, summoning the mind strength and timing at just the right point, is quite amazing and equally rare. And there is much to learn from such a man. There is no doubt how he could have earned a tenth dan from me at his age.”

“Translation is another form of training. There are several people I am teaching in this way (It’s more like torturing, Soke) Translation is not an easy task.”

“Okay, everyone practice jumping into Fubi from your hands and knees. If an 80-year-old can do it, then all of you should be able to do it. (Laughs)”

“Today was very good training. I will see you all next month.”

Ben is ecstatic U&O is back to bring us all back together again. He can be reached at 6551312.tmail.toyota.co.jp.