And the secret of Ninjutsu is ...

Had great training last night with Soke at Ayase. He started off explaining the use of the fingers to distract and create distance for further movement. He tossed several people around just to gain better positioning on them. One fellow got popped hard enough to drop. Soke had him explain the feeling, "The timing caused the hit to be at my worst possible moment. There was nothing I could do to defend it."

Soke went on to explain the idea of not finishing or following through with techniques, instead letting them "cook" together, to blend. It was unclear if this "cooking" was like the flavors of the ingredients in a stew. Soke also emphasized moving as if there is always more than one opponent, having everyone apply the single partner movements to multiple opponents.

Several folks also took the 5th dan test. All, but one, passed. Many of them were jumpy beforehand. Soke spoke up, "You need to forget yourself." After one couldn't, he continued, "You still have some part of you left ... let it roll away from you."

I received a good question about yesterday's post:
I guess my question for you is: What does it mean to say that training is 'hard' or 'soft'? What does 'hard' or 'soft' training look like? What are the defining features?

And then, I guess the next natural question is: How do we find this balance that Nagato sensei speaks of?

Part of training, in fact a large part of training, is the acceptance of responsibility for ourselves. It is up to us, has always been up to us, and will always be, to discover our training in ways that allow us to teach ourselves. We have to figure out which training benefits us and how to apply it. We have to be able to ultimately answer the question above ourself.

With that said, as long as we are maintaining the principles of Taijutsu, hard and soft training can come and go. Should we be able to punch strongly? Sure. But in the absence of strength, we should also be able to take advantage of our opponent's weak points at a time of our choosing. The balance between those two points is more effective than either on their own.

And finally ... In a conversation with a senior member, he commented he had been contacted by someone writing a book on Ninjutsu and had been asked, "What is the secret of Ninjutsu?" He replied, "Uh, I think you're going to be disappointed ..." I laughed and said, "If you think there's a secret ... that's it."