Category: Uncategorized

Nuclear Info


Fukushima nuclear plant

As for many of you I have been watching extensively the frenzy around the nuclear problem in Japan. Journalists are speaking without knowing and they are “honestly” transforming the news (I think it is hopeless) to get more viewers. At the same time our politicians see here a good way to cash easy votes. Do not believe everything on the news, make you own inquiry. I do not want to minimize the nuclear accident that happened but the attitude of the media is just not correct.

For those interested and concerning the nuclear problem, I received this link today and I thought that it would help many to understand what is a nucelar plant and what has happened in Japan after the earthquake and the Tsunami: http://theenergycollective.com/barrybrook/53461/fukushima-nuclear-accident-simple-and-accurate-explanation

As far as I know, the main problems that our Japanese friends are facing are the repeated earthquakes and the consequences of the Tsunami. Relatively (so far) the nuclear problem seems to me as not being so important. Thousands of people have died because of the tsunami and the country will have difficulties with food, gas, and elctricity.

I hope that all our friends there will get over these bad times and that Japan will recover fast from this nightmare.

Also I invite you to read Duncan’s last post with the possible interpretations of the theme of the year: kihon happô at http://tazziedevil.wordpress.com/ it is excellent!

I am still going to Noda mid April (unless our politicians forbide it and/or the situation evolves in an unexpected dramatic manner).

 

Earthquake in Japan


 

Dear friends,

March 11, 2011, major earthquake & tsunami in Japan

I hope that Hatsumi sensei, the Japanese Shihan, and all our friends training and/or living in Japan are in good health after this major earthquake (8.9 on the richter scale).

Stay tune with facebook as many of our friends in Japan communicate  through this network.

Arnaud

Num3ro1ogy


golden ratio

(version Française)

The last post on “3=5” generated a lot of comments towards the possible misinterpretation of numerology. Two friends added their comments, Jan from Belgium on this blog and Jean, one of my students committed a nice text on his dôjô blog (in French).

Their general idea is that: “you can say anything with numbers and find esoteric significations for everything”. The same idea is very well demonstrated by Umberto Eco in his book: “Foucault’s pendulum” where three friends play with numbers to prove that some Machiavellian plan to rule the world is going on.

But to illustrate that, read the following:

  • I am getting close to being 51 years old. To this day I lived exactly a total of 18,608 days,
  • My size is 175,5 cm,
  • I trained martial arts more than 40 years (exactly 40.309 years),
  • I discovered the bujinkan after turning 25,exactly at the age of 25.220.

When I add 40.309 + 25.220 I find: 65.529, I multiply this by my size in cm 65.529 x 175.5 the result is 11500.3395.

Now when I divide the number of days I have been living by this result i.e. 18608 / 11500.3395  the new result I find is the golden ratio of 1.61803 famous in geometry and esoterism!  After all maybe am I the reincarnation of the emperor Jimmu (神武天皇)? 🙂
(more on the golden ratio HERE).

My point when I wrote the “3=5” was simply to help the bujinkan practitioner to solve an apparent contradiction in the names of the techniques used daily in our classes. But remember that sensei is often playing with numerology.

As always with him this is not WYSIWYG but WYSIRWYG (what you see is rarely what you get).

Kyojitsu tenkan hô 虚実転換法

Flexibility?


no comment!

Too many bujinkan practitioners are not flexible enough and they should spend some time outside the dôjô to improve their body. The dôjô is where you learn the waza, everything else is your responsability and should be done on your free time. Bujinkan instructors are not body fitness teachers.

At 50, I still smoke*, I eat meat and drink alcohol reasonably* and if I am a little overweight* I still keep my body flexible because in life everything is about balance and flexibility. So, if you are young, if you don’t smoke, if you are a vegetarian and do not drink, and if you have the perfect BFR**, you have no excuse.

You train because you have chosen to do so and no one has been forcing you. So please train your flexibility as it will definitely change your taijutsu.

Be Happy!

* Don’t smoke and eat light meals 🙂
**BFR: Body Fat Rate

Yûro Shi Tennô by sensei


Here is the picture of the 4 calligraphies by sôke when he decided to change the name into Yûro Shi Tennô Taikai.

Each one bears the new name and the name of the beholder. Here from left to right: Arnaud, Pedro, Sven, Peter. Painted by Hatsumi sensei in August 2009.

I was surprised when he called me and did the four calligraphies in front of me. Good memory!

Tachi or tachi?


 Tachi has various meanings depending on the writing:

太刀 たちtachi (n) – long sword
立ち たちtachi (n) – stand
舘 たちtachi (loc) – Tachi
裁ち たちtachi (n) – cut
– cutting
質 たちtachi (n) – nature (of person)
– quality
達 たちtachi (n-suf) – plural suffix
館 たちtachi (loc) – Tachi
館 たちtachi (1) (n) – mansion
– small castle

Think about it when listening to sensei…

(www.kanjidict.stc.cx)

Honbu dôjô experience


Today Noguchi sensei did the first morning class and he taught us parts of the koto ryû. Then it was the regular class with sôke but as he had some obligations, I was honoured by Noguchi sensei to begin the teaching.

This is not the first time it happens to me on Sundays but I always find it strange when it happens.  When I remember my first classes here in Japan more than 20 years ago (no Honbu dôjô at that time) I  measure the long path I have been following since then. Back then, I would never have suspected that the young man I was then, would learn so much on how to become a true human being. What Hatsumi sensei is teaching in his budô is not a set of old fighting techniques but really a way of Life that transforms you more than you think. As he said yesterday night we have to behave as members of the samurai class, the upper layer of the Japanese feudal society.

Our actions should be guided by the code of chivalry. Today during the calligraphy session, I asked him to write “chivalry” and I got “shinobi” … I don’t think he made a mistake. He is teaching us through mysterious ways.

During the break, he told me that we (jûgodan) have to follow him and walk by his side as long as we can and do what he asks  instead of thinking too much by ourselves.

Being a sensei he is guiding us as far as possible, and the closer we are to him the further we can go. This is, he said, what he did with Takamatsu sensei.

%d bloggers like this: