Bujinkan Training I

Last week I tried to go to a Bujinkan session. However, there was some miscommunication from them to me about the time and place to go. I ended up going to a place that had no class in session!

Anyway, this week I went to the right place at the right time (not as nice of a time, but that is ok). I arrived very early. Siew checked with a guard at the complex and he pointed us to the right place. We were not sure that we were in the right place. So I called the instructor to find out.

He said that we were in the right place, but class was not to start until 16:30. We waited for a long time and still no one had shown up. I was starting to worry that we were in the wrong place, and about to call him again when some other people showed up. They were waiting for the class to begin as well.

It turns out that it is the practice that class begins at 17:00, but that students should arrive around 16:30 to warm-up. Today everyone was late.

So, when the instructor finally showed up, he asked me a few questions about what I have studied before. I told him what I had studied, well the main martial art that I studied anyway.

Then the lesson began. He started us off with an exercise that you run and then change direction. When you change direction you drop low and pull an arm over your head to protect your body. We ran back and forth doing this for a time before he showed us how to use that as a dodge to evade strikes and help block potential strikes that would hit your body.

Then, we practiced evasion using what we had just learned. He used a padded stick, more so with us beginners, and would swing it at us at an angle so we would have to use the correct dodge or be struck.

We continued this, but he changed to a bokken (wooden sword) and had different people swinging at each. He also encouraged using more than just diagonal slashes. We ended up having to dodge a variety of things.

After that, he talked to us about getting in closer to the armed person. He said that we should try to move before the assailant moves. This way we have a better chance to stop the blade, move out of the way of the blade or to control the blade. Then we practiced this in the same fashion as above.

Next, we did some rolls. We started with side rolls. The idea being to roll your shoulder down first, roll onto your back and then over to the other side, coming up on your feet ready to fight or run. We then followed this up with drills rolling to each side under a stick, trying to tuck ourselves under the stick as tightly as possible.

Then, we did some backwards rolls. This started with the instructor asking if I know how to roll backwards. I said that I do. He asked me to show him. I did. He then teased that I do not need to study Bujinkan. He was implying that my rolls were quite good already. After some demonstration from him regarding backwards rolls, we followed up with more drills.

After the class, I talked with the instructor a little. He has classes in other locations. He said that I can attend as many of the classes as I want. The cost of the class per month went up 10 Ringgit, but considering that I can attend Saturday and Sunday classes, in different locations, I think the small increase per month is acceptable.

I had a lot of fun.

Ok, now for the rough stuff. I am bruised pretty badly. The place we were doing all of this was on a wooden floor. No padding at all to soft the falls. Only your own ability. More realistic and practical, yes. More jarring to the body, yes. My elbows, knees, and my right ankle are bruised and a little bit cut-up from the wooden tiles.

I do not really mind that. I will toughen up in time. Nonetheless, I think I will look into some inexpensive padding.

The class structure was much different than I expected. The instructor is not formal about things at all. He is very casual, but we still learn and have more fun that way I think. Normally, Japanese martial arts classes are very ritualized. I expected that this would be the case here. I think I like it better, for now, for NOT being ritualized. I am there to learn things and enjoy myself, not to be even more rigid, mentally, than I already am.

I am looking forward to attending next week!

For those of you who do not know what Bujinkan is, please click here.

If you are too lazy to read that, then I will say this:

Bujinkan is the culmination of several forms of Ninjutsu into what I call modern Ninjutsu. This is the closest thing to Ninjutsu in existence today. It is the art of the modern Ninja.