Weapons and the feeling of armour/defensive equipment

In the first post of this series, I had given an introduction to this series and defined some basic concepts that will be revisited during subsequent posts. In the second post, I had looked in greater detail at the “Ten Chi and Jin”, which is considered the “basics” of the Bujinkan. In the third post, I discussed in brief the 5 styles of fighting and the 9 schools that make up the Bujinkan system of martial arts. In this post I will discuss the use of weapons as a part of training in the Bujinkan, which in my opinion is the most important aspect of the martial arts. This is one of the 4 aspects I had referred to as the “physical aspects” of the Bujinkan. These are seen in the screenshot below. The topic highlighted is the focus of this article.

A bit of a disclaimer before we start. A better title for this post would perhaps be “Martial Art, as I see it”. This post is a brief look at weapons as considered in martial arts as a whole, and is not specific to just the weapons used in the Bujinkan system alone. I might write an article about the weapons specific to the Bujinkan (there are a lot!) at a future date.

There is another serendipitous connection for this post. Three days from today is the 76^th Republic Day of India. Traditionally, the parade during Republic Day of India on Kartavya Path (previously Raj Path) is when a lot of India’s modern weapons systems are on display. They are accompanied by the marching contingents of various units of the Indian Defence Tri-services and various law enforcement organizations. So, a post about weapons so close to the annual display of India’s weapons, seems apt! :-)

Weapons have always formed a vital part of both self-protection and evasion. All martial arts teach the use of weapons, except perhaps if they have evolved exclusively into sports. Even in this case, if there is a sport version and a traditional version of the same martial art, the traditional version tends to retain training with weapons. Of course, the weapon based fighting itself can evolve into a sport as well.

Once a practitioner has a fair knowledge of oneself and how to affect the opponent (from the Ten Chi and Jin in the case of the Bujinkan), she or he can start training with various weapons. The weapons used can generally be classified based on the range offered by the same. These are,

• Short range weapons like the knife, kunai, wakizashi and other short swords, batons, yawara sticks, bagh nakh, katar, ankusha, war hammer and the like.
• Medium range weapons like the walking stick, hanbo, jo, longer swords, tachi and katana, dand pata, gada and the like.
• Long range weapons like the bo, quarter staff, spear, naginata, halberd, glaive, great sword, vita, dane axe and all the other pole arms.
• Projectile weapons like dart, throwing axe, bow and arrow, throwing knife, shuriken, javelin, chakra and other similar weapons that are discharged.

Projectile weapons – Chakra (on the outside) and Shuriken (on the inside)

There are a few additional categories that could be considered. One category is flexible weapons. The weapons that fit into this category can be fit into one of the “ranges” based on how they are used. These include weapons like the urumi, nawa (rope), rope dart, manriki guzari, ball and chain, flails, large flails (almost pole arms), kusari gama (sickle and chain) and others that I might not even know of.

Left – Manriki Guzari, Right – Rassi Gola (Rope with Ball)

One other categorization of weapons that is very important is that between offensive and defensive weapons. The examples mentioned previously and categorizations consist entirely of offensive weapons. Defensive weapons include shields of various types, body armour and helmets of various kinds and protective clothing of any kind. This includes all protective equipment irrespective of which part of the body it protects from harm.

Defensive weapons are perhaps more important that offensive weapons as they are less likely to be illegal to either wear or carry around. Of course, they are also more important as they simply allow all practitioners to train with fewer injuries and more obviously, they are vital because they allow self-preservation with lesser experience in fighting. By this definition, bodyguards would be defensive equipment with offensive capabilities 😊 (this becomes more important I suppose for the near future, when drones take over these roles).

Dhal or Shield – this example is made of metal

Obviously, practitioners train with replica or training weapons without sharp edges and blunt or rounded points. This remains true almost always, irrespective of how experienced the people sparring or training with each other are, as the risk if injury is always to be mitigated when injuries are potentially fatal. Additionally, practitioners might wear protective equipment while training weapons (more so than with unarmed training). In cases where training happens without protective equipment, even with training weapons, practitioners learn to pull blows at the last instant or go slower with the attacks to mitigate injury and enable learning.

A student learns to first move with the weapon and then to use the weapon. Learning to move with a weapon correlates with the “Ten” aspect of unarmed combat and the “taihenjutsu” aspect of the styles of fighting mentioned in my previous article. Similarly, learning to use the weapon correlates with the “Chi” aspect of unarmed combat and the “daken taijutsu” or “jutaijutsu” aspect of the styles of fighting mentioned in my previous post.

Learning to move with the weapon is to learn of oneself with the weapon as an extension. This is very important as self-harm with a weapon is a real risk and to mitigate this, one needs to learn to be aware of or mindful of the weapon. This allows control of the weapon. In the initial stages, this awareness has to be practiced and can be tiring. Obviously, with experience, this becomes easier.

The use of the weapon is equivalent to learning how the weapon can affect an opponent. This is a reason why beginners start with shorter and lighter weapons, which are closer approximations of an extension of the human body. A knife or a kunai or a baton increases range beyond that of a fist, while still not being unwieldy for a student, in terms of momentum and weight.

To reiterate, learning to use a weapon is to realize how it can affect an opponent. A sword is not a staff with an edge, not is it as axe or a hammer where energy is concentrated. It is a device which is to be used with relative motion to cause damage. Similarly, an axe or a hammer requires momentum to cause damage. A staff on the other hand can be used as hammer if the tips of the same are deployed for the attack or it can be used to manipulate the balance of the opponent if it is used to manipulate the spinal structure or to apply joint locks on the opponent. The two can be used together in various ways. This is where one realizes that a weapon can be used with either daken taijutsu or jutaijutsu or a combination of the two (koppo justsu and kosshi jutsu).

An assortment of some weapons used in the Bujinkan system of martial arts

Just as a staff of different lengths can be used in different ways, a sword can be used as something other than a cutting implement as well. A sword could be a shield, an axe, a hammer, or a knife based on the scenario. Consider an opponent who is armoured. There is no way one can cut through the armour. Stabs into gaps in the armour are possible and causing blunt force injuries through the armour are possible, but not cuts. When the tachi was taught initially, this fact was always emphasized. The tachi was an earlier iteration of the nihonto (Japanese sword) compared to the katana. The tachi had its heyday during the Muromachi** period when fighting in armour was prevalent. So, the strike with the back or the blunt edge was also used.

This brings us to the next aspect of weapons training. Armour is the key. There are several aspects of traditional fighting that evolved from the use of armour and shields. Even if one is not wearing armour, it is important to learn its influence and fight like one is wearing the same, at least sometimes. This idea is something that we were reminded of from time to time in training.

To emphasize again, even if one is using a sword or a spear, the same will be used as a shield first, especially in the absence of or the presence of light armour. Protection is always of paramount importance, especially against weapons, even if one has access to one’s own offensive weapons. So, learning the ability to receive an attack from weapons with one’s own, in a defensive manner comes before using the weapon to cause damage to the opponent (the Ten and the Chi with the weapon). This is the “uke nagashi” (ways of receiving an attack) that we described in post regarding the “Ten Chi and Jin”, with weapons of course.

Yoroi – Japanese armour

A last point to note regarding armour and weapons is this. If an opponent is unarmoured, or at best lightly armoured, daken taitutsu would be feasible. If an opponent is well armoured, only jutaijutsu and its allied styles (kosshi jutsu) are feasible. In this context daken taijutsu refers to cutting and stabbing with a sword, stabbing with a spear or any other weapon, and of course striking with blunt force with any weapon is always feasible. If an opponent is well armoured, cuts are ineffective, stabs are only possible in openings which are not easy to access. Blunt force is viable, but is less effective than in the case of light or unarmoured opponents. Grappling is vital, even if one is using a sword or a spear against armoured opponents, as getting them on the ground or exposing openings in the armour has to be achieved only with manoeuvring the opponent’s protected frame.

The following table is a reasonable summary of the above observations.

There is one final point to consider regarding weapons; weapons that are not explicitly weapons. In my opinion, the most important of these are the laws of the land. These are weapons too, that are a protection if they are a deterrent to physical violence, or offensive weapons if they can cause trouble through punishment or the cumbersome legal process itself, which one has no training in. These are similar to the “generic competition” in the Porter’s Five Forces Model if that model is applied to weapons. :-P

From what I have heard, there are laws in places where a martial artist can be considered to have assaulted someone with deadly weapons, even if one did not use a real weapon. The knowledge and experience of the martial arts itself is considered a weapon! Similarly, in the case of bouncers, they are supposedly not allowed to initiate a physical encounter in some countries. There are also places, from the little that I know, where bouncers are not allowed to strike anyone, they are only allowed to use restraining and subduing techniques. In other words, they can only use kosshi jutsu or more specifically jutaijutsu even if the attack is daken taijutsu. So, awareness of laws and other such “non-weapons” might also be a part of mindfulness (or even Sakkijutsu*!) and martial artists, especially experienced ones cannot be oblivious of these aspects!

This non-weapon concept can also be expanded to using the weather and the terrain to one’s advantage, making knowledge and the ability to be mindful of the terrain and the atmosphere weapons as well. This is, in some ways, not unlike using the reflection from a sword to blind an opponent or using water gathered in the fuller of a sword to gain a moment by distracting the opponent. This then leads to using a cloak or a lantern or pocket sand/blinding powder as an accessory to weapons, which might lead to significant changes in the physical exchange.

I am ending the post with something I posted at the beginning of the first post in this series. Seen below is the reason I am posting this series of articles. This segment will be present at the end of each of the posts in this series, just as a reiteration.

The purpose of this series of posts is multi-fold. Firstly, it is a resource I can share with people who are not practitioners of the martial arts. For most of us, a majority of the people we interact with do not practice any form of martial art. Sharing ideas and practices about martial arts might require some “first principles” like definitions, overarching themes and ideas and objectives of the art form. Hopefully this series will be that resource.

Secondly, it is an opportunity for me to look back at my own thoughts about the Bujinkan. The thoughts are a document I can refer in the future to see if I my thinking has changed or evolved.

Lastly, practitioners of the Bujinkan who are relatively new to the system and long-time practitioners who might need a look back at aspects from earlier years could use this as a starting point for further discovery. There are several practitioners and Sensei of the Bujinkan with a lot more experience compared to me, who share content about the art form and the system. I strongly recommend that everyone consume the content from those sources. This series is possibly an index to search further in those sources.

So, this series in not a deep dive, more like a primer of my thoughts with scope for expansion in each aspect. Most importantly, whatever knowledge can be gleaned from this series is a conversation starter or direction pointer at best; it does not in any way replace actual training in a dojo with fellow budoka and a teacher who can help one progress.

Notes:

* Sakkijutsu – intuitive ability, awareness, mindfulness

** The Muromachi period is contemporaneous with the Vijayanagar kingdom in India

The Schools and the Styles of fighting

Wish you all a happy new year and a wonderful 2025! :-D

On to the post now. :-)

In the first post of this series, I had given an introduction to this series and defined some basic concepts that will be revisited time and again during subsequent posts. In the second post, I had looked in greater detail at the “Ten Chi and Jin”.  In this post, the third in the series, I will look at the different schools that make up the Bujinkan system of martial arts. This is the second among the 4 aspects I had referred to as the “physical aspects” of the Bujinkan. These are seen in the screenshot below. The topic highlighted is the focus of this article.

The Bujinkan system of martial arts teaches five styles of unarmed fighting. These styles are fairly universal when it comes to humans fighting humans without firearms and projectile weapons. The Bujinkan system comprises of 9 schools of combat of which six are taught routinely. Of the remaining three, no regular teaching takes place. As I understand it, the schools are less important than the styles of fighting they encompass, as multiple schools can teach similar or related concepts. So, I will focus on the fighting styles and share a few words regarding the schools later in this article.

The five styles of fighting can more realistically be considered to be two styles of fighting, one layer of fundamentals and two other styles which are a combination of the other three, to achieve interesting objectives. The five styles are mentioned below.

• Taihenjutsu
• Daken taijutsu
• Jutaijutsu
• Koppo jutsu
• Kosshi jutsu

Tainhenjutsu – This is the base layer and involves learning the ability to move the body as desired to achieve favourable outcomes in a fight. It could be said that this is comprised of the Ten Ryaku no Maki and quite a bit of the Chi Ryaku no Maki which I explored in the previous article in this series.

In the martial arts, without the correct positioning of the body, nothing can be achieved in a fight. And positioning can only be achieved with the ability to move the body as required in a given situation. Since Taihenjutsu is all about body movement, this is perhaps the most important layer in the Bujinkan. I would suspect that the equivalent of Taihenjutsu is the most important layer in all martial arts around the world.

A representation of Taihenjutsu, showing movement and body positioning. Sketch by Keane Amaral

Daken taijutsu – Daken taijutsu refers to the style of fighting that involves striking. By that definition, martial arts like boxing, kick boxing, mushti yuddha, sanda, taekwondo and the like are also expressions of daken taijutsu. Striking an opponent with any part of the body would qualify as daken taijutsu. This is not to preclude locks and throws. It is just that striking takes primacy in this style of fighting.

Striking effectively of course, requires one to be in the right position to execute the strike. Also, one needs to move out of range of any strike the opponent may carry out. This part of daken taijutsu is of course, still taihenjutsu. So, daken taijutsu is an additional layer over taihenjutsu.

A representation of Daken Taijutsu, showing potential strikes. Sketch by Keane Amaral.

Jutaijutsu – Jutaijustsu refers to the style of fighting that involves grappling, throws and joint locks. Based on this definition, Olympic wrestling, judo, Brazilian Jiujitsu, malla yuddha, kushti, aikido, sumo wrestling and the like, are expressions of jutaijutsu. The opponent here might be grappling or striking or using a combination of both. But the defence has a primacy towards immobilising the opponent using grappling, locking and throwing the opponent. Like with daken taijutsu, jutaijutsu does not preclude striking, but the focus in not towards striking is all.

Again, taihenjutsu is the base layer with jutaijutsu, even more so than with daken taijutsu. Getting an opponent to the ground to mitigate an attack, requires far more efficient body movement and positioning than striking, as physics and leverage play a very important role in the same. So, jutaijutsu is an additional option available to a practitioner of Budo apart from daken taijutsu, after taihenjutsu has been understood and executed.

An exaggerated representation of Jutaijutsu, representing taking down an opponent . An image I commissioned in a past Comic Con in Bangalore.

The next two fighting styles are expressions of the combination of the above three layers.

Koppo jutsu – Koppo jutsu is generally explained to be a fighting style that uses striking in a specialized manner. One strikes an opponent to affect the skeletal structure of the opponent. In other words, the strike is applied to displace an opponent from the position she or he was in. Alternatively, the strike could be to take the balance of the opponent. Once the opponent has been displaced or has lost balance, a follow through happens where additional strikes are applied, or a throw or lock can be applied as well. All of this could take the opponent down to the ground or the process could continue until the opponent ceases the attack and retreats.

In my opinion, koppo jutsu is a case of referring to taihenjutsu and daken taijutsu together. So, as a simple definition I would state the following.

Koppo jutsu = Taihenjutsu + Daken taijutsu

But in practice, koppo jutsu is as follows,

Koppo jutsu = Taihenjutsu + Daken taijutsu + Jutaijutsu

The above formulation can be explained as follows. Taihenjutsu is the basis of the movement. A strike is applied (daken taijutsu) while moving (taihenjutsu) to affect the opponent’s balance or position. This is followed with jutaijutsu to mitigate the attack effectively. This is the reason I have put jutaijutsu AFTER daken taijutsu in the above formulation.

Koppo jutsu’s defining feature is to strike with effective movement to affect the physical structure of the opponent. In other words, koppo jutsu seems to me to be designed to defeat the taihenjutsu of the opponent, or, the BASIS/ORIGIN of the opponent’s movement/attack. Any aspect of the earlier fighting styles can be used after this is achieved. So, there is no need for this fighting style to be visually different from daken taijutsu, or even jutaijutsu based on the finishing method applied. The difference can only be experienced by the people involved in the martial exchange that occurs.

A representation of Koppo Jutsu, showing a strike putting the opponent off balance. Sketch by Vishnu Mohan.

Kosshi jutsu – In simple terms, Kosshi jutsu can be termed as “specialized jutaijutsu”, in my opinion of course. The focus of this style of fighting is to affect the balance of the opponent by attacking her or his vertical or horizontal axis or the intersection of the two axes. Yes, this sounds awesome and farfetched at the same time. In reality, the attack is mitigated by attacking the hips, shoulders, knees and face of the opponent. Of course, the uke nagashi or receiving the attack without injury is very important here.

Uke nagashi occurs simultaneously with attacking the opponent’s balance. One moves the opponent’s hips or shoulders, knees or face while surviving the attack. This breaks the opponent’s balance even as the attack is being completed. The attack to the opponent’s axes (plural of axis, not the tool) can be with a strike or a push, it often is something in-between, which translates as a soft strike. Once the opponent has lost balance, she or he can be taken down with further daken taijutsu or jutaijutsu. If this is not achieved in the first move, the process continues until the attack is mitigated.

I guess it is obvious that taihenjutsu is again the origin of this fighting style. For uke nagashi has to be achieved while attacking the axes of the opponent. So, good, safe movement is the key to get into a safe position to apply an effective attack against the opponent.

In my opinion, kosshi jutsu can be explained as seen below.

Kosshi Jutsu = Taihenjutsu + Jutaijutsu

Here I use jutaijutsu to refer to “the taking of the balance” and not necessarily with a strike. In reality, the formulation could be thus,

Kosshi Jutsu = Taihenjutsu + Jutaijutsu + Daken taijutsu

Here, I add daken taijutsu AFTER jutaijutsu, as the primary objective of breaking the opponent’s axes, & hence balance, is geared more towards jutaijutsu rather than daken taijutsu. But the finishing, after the opponent’s balance is taken, can be achieved by applying additional jutaijutsu or daken taijutsu, as the situation warrants. So, in the above formulation, jutaijutsu and daken taijutsu can be interchanged or added twice! It really does not matter. Here again, a bystander might not see a visual difference between kosshi jutsu, daken taijutsu, jutaijutsu and kosshi jutsu. It is purely something experienced by those physically involved in the martial exchange.

An exaggerated representation of Kosshi Jutsu, representing taking an opponent’s balance by misaligning the vertical axis (the spine). An image I commissioned in a past Comic Con in Bangalore.

I must add a qualifier here. These explanations are based on my learning from my teacher and mentors. It is not even necessarily the opinion of my teacher and mentors. There could be other interpretations of these fighting styles from other practitioners who have a lot more experience as compared with mine. Also, people studying the history, origins and evolution of these styles within the context of even just the Bujinkan could have a different interpretation of these fighting styles.

Now we return the schools mentioned earlier. The Bujinkan system comprises of 9 different schools. I will not expound too much on these, but share a few lines about each. One has to physically train and experience the schools for a deeper understanding. Also, since description of the sighting styles fairly encompasses what could be described in brief about the schools. Also, I will revisit the schools in a future article, when we look at some of the non-physical aspects of the Bujinkan, which involves how historical context shapes what we learn in the martial arts.

There are two schools of Daken taijutsu. These are the Shinden Fudo Ryu and the Kukishinden Ryu. The difference between the two is that the Kukishinden Ryu has a lineage of fighting while wearing armour, while the lineage of the Shinden Fudo Ryu is from fighting in wooded areas. Hence, one would expect to be lightly armoured, if at all, while having more obstacles than in the case of the Kukishinden Ryu.

Representative Japanese armour, an example we have at our dojo

Koppo jutsu is represented by the Koto Ryu and the Gikan Ryu. The Koto Ryu is the source of a lot of the basics in the Ten Chi and Jin described in the previous article in this series. The Gikan Ryu supposedly has no densho (scroll/manual) or defined forms/techniques and is not explicitly taught in the Bujinkan.

Kosshi jutsu is represented by the Gyokko Ryu, which is supposed to be the oldest of the schools taught in the Bujinkan. Its historicity is supposed to be from fighting in the small spaces in the interiors of royal buildings and applied by nobles for self-protection.

Jutaijutsu is represented by the Takagi Yoshin Ryu. This school was used by bodyguards of the nobles, and they had a need to immobilize and arrest attackers for later information gathering. Killing the attacker would result in the identity of the person ordering the hit being lost. Of course, this is the objective, it does not mean that assassins were always captured alive.

Lastly, there is the style of Ninpo taijutsu. This is not mentioned in the five styles of fighting as I understand the system. The Togakure Ryu is a ninpo taijutsu school and is taught routinely in the Bujinkan. Based on my experience of the same, it has elements of taihenjutsu (surprise!) daken taijutsu and jutaijutsu.

Two other schools of ninpo taijutsu are a part of the Bujinkan system. One is the Gyokushin Ryu, which does not have a densho, but Soke taught the essence (key points) of this school to a few Daishihan who have shared the same with the rest of the practitioners. The last school of ninpo taijutsu is the Kumogakure Ryu, which also has no densho. I have heard it said that this school had teachings related to disguises, hiding and such. But I have no real knowledge about this school to comment further. This again, is not taught in the Bujinkan despite being a part of the system.

Ninpo taijutsu includes training weapons, espionage, meteorology and use of firearms and explosives, from a historical perspective. These are not commonly taught in most dojos. However, Ninpo Taijutsu is also a source of several concepts that are not just for application in a physical fight. These are aspects I will likely look at in a future article.

So, of the nine schools, six are taught and practiced routinely, while three are not. Of these, practitioners have access to the essence/key points of one, while of the last two, nothing is really known, at least by me.

I am ending the post with something I posted at the beginning of the first post in this series. Seen below is the reason I am posting this series of articles. This segment will be present at the end of each of the posts in this series, just as a reiteration.

The purpose of this series of posts is multi-fold. Firstly, it is a resource I can share with people who are not practitioners of the martial arts. For most of us, a majority of the people we interact with do not practice any form of martial art. Sharing ideas and practices about martial arts might require some “first principles” like definitions, overarching themes and ideas and objectives of the art form. Hopefully this series will be that resource.

Secondly, it is an opportunity for me to look back at my own thoughts about the Bujinkan. The thoughts are a document I can refer in the future to see if I my thinking has changed or evolved.

Lastly, practitioners of the Bujinkan who are relatively new to the system and long-time practitioners who might need a look back at aspects from earlier years could use this as a starting point for further discovery. There are several practitioners and Sensei of the Bujinkan with a lot more experience compared to me, who share content about the art form and the system. I strongly recommend that everyone consume the content from those sources. This series is possibly an index to search further in those sources.

So, this series in not a deep dive, more like a primer of my thoughts with scope for expansion in each. Most importantly, whatever knowledge can be gleaned from this series is a conversation starter or direction pointer at best; it does not in any way replace actual training in a dojo with fellow budoka and a teacher who can help one progress.

The Ten, the Chi and the Jin (TCJ)

In my previous post, I had given an introduction to this series and defined some basic concepts that will be revisited time and again during this series. From this post onward, I will expand on the 4 aspects mentioned as the physical aspects of the Bujinkan. These are seen in the screenshot below from the previous post. The first of these is highlighted in the image below, and is the focus of this article.

The first thing anyone learns when they start training the Bujinkan is the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki. This is roughly translatable as “A scroll of the principles of Heaven, Earth and Man”. As the name suggests, this has three parts, the Ten, the Chi and the Jin. Each of these individually are as mentioned below.

• Ten Ryaku no Maki – The scroll of the principles of Heaven
• Chi Ryaku no Maki – The scroll of the principles of Earth
• Jin Ryaku no Maki – The scroll of the principles of Man (who is supposedly a conduit between Heaven and Earth)

The absolute basic learning from the Bujinkan and root of self-preservation is from the Ten Ryaku no Maki. This part is all about learning about oneself and one’s position in space in relation to the opponent.  The Chi Ryaku no Maki is about learning about the opponent and how to affect the body of the opponent in various ways. The Ten Ryaku no Maki is about putting the learning from the Ten and the Chi sections together in various combinations and potential attack combinations (without weapons).

Ten Ryaku no Maki

The key learnings from the Ten Ryaku no Maki are, in my opinion, the following.

Kamae – This section teaches one the various postures that the body might generally need to take to protect oneself and then initiate an attack, if necessary. It specifically focuses on the legs, their angles and weight distribution between the two. The hand positions are also taught, but these are less important compared to those of the legs. This is the case as the Bujinkan is all about movement and this is effected by the legs (even if not initiated by them). This movement aspect is emphasized in the Taihenjutsu aspect of the Bujinkan. We will look at this in a later post of this series.

Representative kamae. Sketches by Vishnu Mohan.

Ukemi – This section teaches one how to receive the ground when one falls or has to move with a low posture in an efficient manner. This means how to roll effectively, and fall, with minimal or no pain and injury. This becomes important when one realizes that she or he will fall and get thrown during training, and maybe even during a real situation involving a fight. Protecting oneself in such a situation, not just the opponent but from the ground, is important to learn and experience.

Representative ukemi flow. Sketches by Vishnu Mohan.

Uke Nagashi – This section is about receiving an attack from an opponent, a human being. One might be attacked in various ways by one or more attackers, with fists, elbows, shoulders, knees, feet, legs, fingers, head butts, grabs from all directions, chokes, joint locks, nails, teeth, throws and any other, or a combination of these. The ways to receive these attacks to nullify the objective of the attack and to do so with minimal physical harm is the objective of this section. It involves, getting out of the line of attack, and getting the right protective posture with the right angle and height to stay as safe as possible against the given attack. Of course, this is not a static or one time activity, but a dynamic aspect to be practiced all through the fight. The objective here is to stay safe, not win a fight. When we say receive, it includes, absorbing, blocking, deflecting, countering, and evading an attack (A, B, C, D, E as defined in the scroll 😊). So, this includes what is also sometimes called a “parry” to an attack.

Kihon Happo and San Shin no Kata – These two segments teach a practitioner how to move in relation to the opponent after the Uke Nagashi is executed. This initiates a practitioner in the basic ways in which one counterattack an opponent. They also expand on the application of the Uke Nagashi in different angles and directions. The ways to move in relation to an opponent include, forward, backward, right, left and from the same spot, but with a lower stance or height. These also include how to rotate around a specific joint of the opponent, like the wrist or the elbow and affect her or him with that movement. Further, the ways to attack while moving forward, backward and twisting on the same spot are also explored.

Thus, the learning from the Ten Ryaku no Maki is about receiving the ground in the best manner possible (Ukemi), using the correct posture (Kamae) to receive an attack from an opponent (Uke Nagashi) and efficient ways to move in relation to the opponent to mitigate the attack (Kihon Happo and San Shin no Kata).

Representative detail of a movement from the San Shin no Kata. Sketches by Vishnu Mohan.

There are additional segments in the Ten Ryaku no Maki which teach practitioners about the various parts of their own body they can use to strike the opponent and the points of the body which when struck cause pain (pressure points or weak points). Conversely, this also means learning which part of the body an opponent can use to attack and which parts of oneself, when struck, cause more pain, and thus need to be protected. This is the origin of the thought process related to “self-protection” and a realization of the need for the other segments in the Ten Ryaku no Maki. It also initiates a practitioner into the idea of how to begin evasion from an attack and therefore start the process of escape.

Chi Ryaku no Maki

This second part of the Ten Chi Jin is about the various ways to cause trouble to the opponent. In the Ten Ryaku no Maki the focus was all about moving the feet and legs, and consequently the lower half of the body. But now, the focus is on the entire body as one unit. Practitioners learn to move the upper body in conjunction and in unison with the lower body to pull off various moves to inconvenience opponents. This is where key features like keeping the hips and shoulders parallel, the back straight and not bending, to keep one’s balance even while sinking low with the legs, are focused on and drilled into students.

Representative form for one of the kicking options. Sketches by Keane Amaral.

The principles learnt relating to Ukemi, Uke Nagashi, Kamae, the Kihon Happo and San Shin no Kata are added to and the movements which cause opponents to lose balance, feel pain, fall over and get injured, if not worse, are learnt.

Due to this objective of the Chi Ryaku no Maki, the segments in this part of the Ten Chi Jin include, throwing opponents, joint locks, choking techniques and ways to kick opponents in the most effective manner to break their balance. Also included here are the ways to break an opponent’s hold on the arms or the upper body (bear hugs, choke attempts, nelson holds) and the ability to keep an opponent pinned (or locked) by applying pressure and causing pain at specific pressure points. Of course, this is after an opponent has been thrown or dropped to the ground due to a combination of joint locks, throws, hits and kicks.

Representative form for one of the throwing options. Sketches by Keane Amaral.

Jin Ryaku no Maki

Simply put, the following is roughly true.

Jin Ryaku no Maki = Ten Ryaku no Maki + Chi Ryaku no Maki

Or more colloquially put, Jin = Ten + Chi (J = T + C)

Ten Ryaku no Maki is about learning about oneself and ways to protect the same. Chi Ryaku no Maki is about learning about the opponent and ways to cause trouble to the same. The two, when put together, form a complete fight (attack & counter) scenario and so, with set forms, practitioners can explore the various ways to apply what has been learnt in the Ten and Chi parts of their study.

Representative kata. Sketches by Keane Amaral.

Students can move as taught in the Ten and apply the principles of the Chi to defeat or mitigate the attack by an opponent. To allow a basic structure that practitioners can use to expand their knowledge and experience of the Bujinkan, set forms or Kata are described. These are recommendations and not set in stone. The basic attacks that are defined are fairly comprehensive though, and include defence against fist attacks, kicks, throws, arm and upper body grabs. These also include combination attacks, which include any or many of those mentioned previously. There is also a set of forms that allows for the exploration defence when attacked while sitting down.

The defence against the set attack forms are taught to students and it is explained how variations and other ways of these defences can be applied as required by the situation. This aspect of permitted variations is the beginning of the practitioners exploring their own strengths and weaknesses based on their physical abilities and lack of the same. It is also where students hopefully begin to realize they are learning an art form and not a precise science. This realization hopefully brings on the epiphany that in a real fight, they can and need to apply their experience however needed and there is no “defined” defence due to the many variables that are involved in life.

Representative kata. Sketches by Keane Amaral.

The Ten, Chi and Jin Ryaku no Maki are not necessarily learnt exclusively or linearly. They are learnt at the same time to show that the three parts are dependent on each other, though in the grading system that might be used in different Dojos, students might be expected to know the difference. This is to enable the development of an intellectual structure apart from a physical one, which enables students to add to their physical vocabulary ably aided by an intellectual one. Also, the Ten Chi Jin is something that practitioners of the Bujinkan revisit all through their life, or at least as long as they train this martial art. Each revision is likely to have fresh revelations and add nuances to their martial repertoire. This key feature of the TCJ is why its knowledge and experience are key to the awarding of a Black Belt to a student. Also, the achievement of a Black Belt is when a practitioner is accepted as a serious student.

In the next article, I will expand on the 9 schools that make up the Bujinkan system of martial arts.

I am ending the post with something I posted at the beginning of the previous one. Seen below is the reason I am posting this series of articles. This segment will be present at the end of each of the posts in this series, just as a reiteration.

The purpose of this series of posts is multi fold. Firstly, it is a resource I can share with people who are not practitioners of the martial arts. Like most of us, a majority of the people we interact with do not practice any form of martial art. Sharing ideas and practices about martial arts might require some “first principles” like definitions, overarching themes and ideas and objectives of the art form. Hopefully this series will be that resource.

Secondly, it is an opportunity for me to look back at my own thoughts about the Bujinkan. The thoughts are a document I can refer in the future to see if I think differently.

Lastly, practitioners of the Bujinkan who are relatively new to the system and longtime practitioners who might need a look back at aspects from earlier years could use this as a starting point for further discovery. There are several practitioners and Sensei of the Bujinkan with a lot more experience compared to me, who share content about the art form and the system. I strongly recommend that everyone consume the content from those sources. This series is possibly an index to search further in those sources.

So, this series in not a deep dive, more like a primer of my thoughts with scope for expansion in each. Most importantly, whatever knowledge can be gleaned from this series is a conversation starter or direction pointer at best; it does not in any way replace actual training in a dojo with fellow budoka and a teacher who can help one progress.

Introduction and some concepts

The logo of the Bujinkan

The purpose of this series of posts is multi-fold. Firstly, it is a resource I can share with people who are not practitioners of the martial arts. Like most of us, a majority of the people we interact with do not practice any form of martial art. Sharing ideas and practices about martial arts might require some “first principles” like definitions, overarching themes and ideas and objectives of the art form. Hopefully this series will be that resource.

Secondly, it is an opportunity for me to look back at my own thoughts about the Bujinkan. The thoughts are a document I can refer in the future to see if I think differently.

Lastly, practitioners of the Bujinkan who are relatively new to the system and longtime practitioners who might need a look back at aspects from earlier years could use this as a starting point for further discovery. There are several practitioners and Sensei of the Bujinkan with a lot more experience compared to me, who share content about the art form and the system. I strongly recommend that everyone consume the content from those sources. This series is possibly an index to search further in those sources.

So, this series in not a deep dive, more like a primer of my thoughts with scope for expansion in each. Most importantly, whatever knowledge can be gleaned from this series is a conversation starter or direction pointer at best; it does not in any way replace actual training in a dojo with fellow budoka and a teacher who can help one progress.

The Bujinkan is a martial art system of Japanese origin. Martial arts, as I see it, are about two things. These are self-preservation and conflict management.

Of these two, self-preservation is the grittier, ancient, down to earth aspect of the martial arts. It is more relevant in situations of physical conflict where bodily harm is likely. Of course, bodily harm can lead to psychological and emotional harm as well. But the self-preservation aspect applies first to the physical aspect and to everything else next.

Conflict management is more relevant in all aspects other than physical conflict with potential bodily harm. Simply put, this is more relevant in day-to-day life in contemporary structured societies. This is because we humans cannot resort to physical violence to resolve, or deal with, most conflicts that we encounter in life. And due to this nature of modern living, the psychological and emotional aspects of martial arts are as important as the physical aspect. In fact, these take precedence in many situations. In my opinion, “Martial Arts” is a synonym for “Conflict Management”.

There are two points to clarify with respect to the above paragraphs. The first is that I use the term “conflict management” instead of “conflict resolution” because I feel a resolution is a special case of management or a potential outcome of the management. Even if it is the desired option, management focuses on what needs doing irrespective of whether it leads to a resolution or not.

The second point relates to the physical and emotional/psychological aspects. Many a time, we hear the terms, “mind over matter” and “matter over mind”. Neither of these is specific to either a physical consideration of the martial arts or the emotional/psychological aspects of the same. Both could apply in both interpretations/manifestations of the martial arts.

The physical aspects of the Bujinkan are the following.

1. Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki
2. The 6+1+2 schools = The 5 styles of fighting
3. The Kuden which includes the themes of the year and the other concepts taught while applying the TCJ & the schools (this is the largest part and also the hardest to document).
4. The various weapons and their use, and their use with the learning from the schools and the concepts mentioned in the previous point.

The psychological and emotional aspects include –

1. The TCJ and concepts stemming from the historicity of the schools
2. The weapons and their use (weapons here include all things in life – tools, tech, networks, people, societal behaviour, culture, customs and traditions, work culture).
3. The Kuden and their teachings (themes of the year and all other soke sayings in class, and their interpretations of the many senior practitioners the world over).
4. Eventually come the adding or layering of concepts and learnings from one’s own culture, like Hindu/Hinduism (in my case) or any other (philosophy, spirituality, traditional stories, historical personalities and other examples).
5. Lastly are the experiences from one’s own life, from work, relationships, hardships, pain, loss, conflicts, and the interaction of these points. These are opportunities to apply the learnings from all other points.

Each of the above 9 points will have posts of their own. I will elucidate further on each, as I understand it at this point in life. At various stages of this happening, we will be turning back to look at the self-preservation and conflict management aspects as well. Also, it is likely that other martial art systems have their own versions of the above 9 points.

As I age further, gain more experience in life, my understanding on some or all of these points might change, or they might not. This document is a snapshot of this moment in my budo life, not a documentation of my entire experience. And oh yes! It is not human to be consistent, so do not expect it. :-P

Self-preservation has three components, as I currently understand it. These are –

• Intuition
• Self-protection
• Evasion (includes escaping a situation)

I use the word self-protection and not self-defence deliberately. Self-defence is a commonly used term with reference to the martial arts. It is fairly likely that every practitioner of the martial arts has been either asked about or assumed to be training the same for developing “self-defence skills”.

I personally do not know if self-defence is ever possible. All self-defence concepts and techniques are developed and have origins based on situations experienced by people over time. While it is probable that the these are likely to work in quite a few cases, it need not do so in all cases. This is because, no situation which has been considered to develop a defence against, needs to necessarily ever occur with anyone else, who has learnt the same. So, applying techniques or concepts learnt to survive a specific situation might not work in a different situation, as the same situation almost never occurs twice or with two different individuals.

Also, consider the words “defence” and “protection”. We never use the word “defence” with respect to the elements. We do not say “defend yourself against the wind”. We say, “protect yourself from the wind”. This holds true with the rain or the sun as well. This is because a defence is against something, while protection is from something. Defence is against an attack, and hence has to happen after or during the act. But protection is at all times (not a reaction to a situation); you are prepared for an adverse situation, not waiting for it to happen. A more mundane example would be wearing a helmet while driving a bike. We do not wear it against an accident, we wear it to protect ourselves if ever there is an accident.

A modern day helmet used with vehicles

This is the same with the martial arts (the Bujinkan in this case. One trains self-protection and not self-defence. One cannot expect a technique learnt to work in a situation, instead one trains concepts and techniques to be able to survive an adverse situation at best and get away with minimal physical injury at worst. Of course, there will be emotional, intellectual, and spiritual injuries as well, that surface after the survival, which need to be protected against as well. These injuries occur in daily life to many people routinely, without any physical attack being present.

A representative Samurai helmet

With the difference between defence and protection out of the way, let us look at how protection works. The first step to protection is to be ready. And readiness starts with awareness. “Awareness” as I use the term, is a synonym for “mindfulness”. This means you are able to be aware of your surroundings, the atmosphere of a space and the feeling it gives you. This might seem like a lot of work, and it is, until after a lot of training, when it hopefully becomes second nature.

This does not mean you are James Bond or Jason Bourne. It is not about over doing wariness or working hard to study one’s surroundings. It means one trains to develop one’s innate instincts to be able to perceive a threat (not determine it). If a threat is perceived, do anything needed to get out of the space without any need to second guess oneself. There is no need to look for or wait for evidence of the perceived threat.

With the above observation of awareness, I hope I have established that “Intuition” is key to self-protection. This ability to develop and trust one’s intuition is called “Sakkijutsu” in the Bujinkan system of martial arts. Sakkijutsu is not magic, it is a consequence of training the Bujinkan (or maybe other martial art systems as well), life experience and wisdom achieved as a combination of the two. Also, this is not specific to physical threats either, it can be an ability to perceive coming troubles at work, in a relationship, in traffic, in the wilderness or any other situation.

The entire notion of Sakkijutsu hinges on the notion that waiting for the physical attack or any other problem to commence is already too late to begin action to protect oneself. Protective measures must have already begun when the problem begins to manifest. Consider it as having worn a raincoat while driving a two-wheeler just as a downpour begins because you saw a cloudy sky, or a weather forecast app told you it would rain. This is better than finding shelter to park under before you get the raincoat out of your bag.

This might sound a little like the “Spidey sense” that Spiderman demonstrates. But “intuitive abilities” are not magic, just a normal human ability. In the comic, this ability is a “super-sense”, as a consequence of being a superhero. But in the real world, Sakkijutsu is a consequence of human evolution and individual training/experience.

A comic book page describing one of Spider-Man’s superhero abilities. This is NOT Sakkijutusu! Image credit – “Spider-Man: The Secret Story of Marvel’s World-Famous Wall Crawler” published by Marvel Comics

Sakkijutsu is a fundamental tenet of the Bujinkan system as I understand it. But it is not part of the basics that one trains or learns from the first few training sessions. It is something that is learnt over years of training; it cannot be taught in the conventional methods. So, it is part of the fundamentals, but an advanced concept (not a technique) nevertheless.

I am not writing this article, or the series, in a strictly linear manner as might have been observed. Intuition was the first point, but I started with a discussion on self-protection, and then moved on to an advanced concept which I mentioned as a fundamental tenet. I will be doing this back-and-forth multiple times as we go further in this series as well.

The third part of self-preservation trio is evasion. If there is an attack or a threat, evasion is the obvious thing to do, to prevent or at least mitigate any physical harm. Evasion simply means getting out of the line of the immediate attack or not being in the place where the attack is going to have maximum impact. This can happen due to, along with, or lead to self-protection. So, these two concepts are intricately linked. The learning of the basics of the Bujinkan which we will look at in greater detail further in this series will hopefully elucidate this symbiosis better.

A key point when I mention “self-preservation” is the word “self”. Your training may not necessarily help you protect those with you at the time of the attack, except if your intuition allows you to get them away from the place where the attack might happen, before it happens (yes, it does sound like “luck”).

With that introduction out of the way, let us look at the training of the physical aspects of the Bujinkan in greater detail, starting with the next post in this series.