Although Ryan and I have practised ninjutsu concepts for many years, officially it has been under the guise of Mr Bo Munthe’s Mu Te Ryu program; Mr Munthe’s own training incorporating authentic ninjutsu as well as jujutsu, judo and modern self defence practises. 

Membership in the Bujinkan opens further chapters in our training, including the opportunity to train in Japan to learn directly from the grandmaster and Japanese Shihan.  It is my hope that all of our students will feel so inspired to branch out and learn from the much larger international community of ninjutsu practitioners.

Both Ryan and I will of course continue to study Mu Te Ryu and Edo Machi kata Taiho Jutsu under the guidance of our teacher Mr Bo Munthe and will also hope to progress our knowledge of authentic ninjutsu under guidance of the Bujinkan organisation.

Please note that the title “Shidoshi” we use to denote a “Senior Instructor” in Mu Te Shin Do, was originally borrowed from the Bujinkan in order to introduce ninjutsu customs to our students.  In the Bujinkan this title is reserved for those 5 Dan and above.  Now that Ryan and I are officially members of the Bujinkan, and not 5 Dan, we will stop using the title out of respect.

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During that time the Samurai School has enjoyed holding classes in Bradley Stoke and Winterbourne, afterschool classes at St Michaels and Shield Road primary schools, and physical education electives for Year 9, 10, & 11 students at Brimsham Green Highschool.

The club as a whole also served as the international headquarters for all Mu Te Ryu training.  This (quite rightly) has now returned to Stockholm where it belongs with its founder Soke Bo Munthe.

Wow, time really flies by when you’re having fun!

Happy Birthday Samurai School and Happy Birthday Mu Te Shin Dojo.

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Additional statement added 23rd January 2012.  Following the publishing of this post I received an annonymous email.

Please, if there really is something “you find hard to believe” then please leave your real email so I can respond to you.  Alternatively I can provide contact details for Mr Bo Munthe, so you contact him directly and verify this information for yourself.

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Normal class times continue as in 2011.

6 – 7pm.  Samurai Kindy (5 & 6 years), Samurai School (7-16yrs. white, yellow, & orange belts), and trial sessions.

7 – 8pm.  Samurai School (7-16yrs. Green, Blue, Purple, Brown).

7 – 8:30pm.  Samurai School Black Belts.

Looking forward to getting started!

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Please note classes on December 6th will be in Room 1 at the end of the corridor.

Its a bit early yet, but what the hey, Merry Xmas!

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The following are some sections from this interview, and invite you to visit the site and read the whole interview.

http://www.markhodel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=1

Please note that I have deliberately taken these sections as I believe these words are also the truth for Mr Bo Munthe and his Mu Te Ryu practise; and very much true of my own approach to training.
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It may seem strange that he (referring to Bujinkan Grandmaster Hatsumi) teaches “no technique” and then directs us to train within a defined structure, but I don’t think it is, even if it is frustrating to the student*. I think that Sensei is talking about an end – no technique – and a means to that end – the lesson in the waza.

I believe that all the lessons of Ninjutsu are coded in a three dimensional language called taijutsu, but that their meaning – the waza’s essence – is different, or changes, for the student as a he or she progresses in skill level.
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What aspects of training should budoka concentrate on? Their health, family life, personal economics, then balance training activities. Don’t think about it too much, just do it.
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If you could contribute one thing to the Bujinkan “Book of Knowledge” what would it be?
One thing? Well, I suppose it would be three admonitions.

The first is that simulating violence and talking about it in training is not the same as experiencing it. (It is easy to say “cut here” it is not easy to cut “here.”)

The second would be that the budoka treat his or her skills like a sacred trust, be careful when you apply them and to whom you teach them.

The third admonition is that the student must realize that when you apply your skills on a real enemy, your life will be changed.
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What is the best way I can improve my training? Keep going.
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http://www.markhodel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=1
Please visit this site and expand your vision.

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You cannot be taught ninjutsu; you must learn it!  For this, practise is a must.

Practise in ninjutsu is not just to build muscle memory, or to memorize technique and kata.  Practise is most important to develop the movement described perhaps best as the unification of body and mind.

In ninjutsu the movement is not a mechanical thing that is merely copied.  In the classroom techniques are demonstrated by your instructor to provide an idea of what movement could look like.  But you must always remember that this is someone else’s idea of movement that (in the beginning) only serves as a reference for you; a place for you to start.  If all you do is attend one or two classes a week, and rarely practise what you did in those classes, then your progress is likely to be slow and untrue.

I have been around the martial arts for over 30 years, yet I contribute most of my progress to the last 15 years.  Particularly since starting ninjutsu.  Since commencing ninjutsu the most improvement I experienced was during periods of full time study and teaching; and very much during periods of isolation.  By isolation I don’t mean without guidance, but instead I mean in those times when I truly explored what I was feeling and thinking during practise.  This time has really deepened my love of the martial arts and life and a greater appreciation for ninjutsu.  Providing me with an even greater loyalty and devotion to my school, organisation, and to the sources that influence it.

Although I always desire more ability (youthful agility and so forth), the real benefits I have experienced from ninjutsu have been the improvement in awareness, and the reduction in time between awareness and response.  This doesn’t mean that everything (referring to physical technique) that I have learned in ninjutsu works for me.  Instead I am more quickly able to accept when something isn’t working, and therefore adjust more readily.  This is a skill that I benefit from both in and out of the dojo.

There are set practises or techniques in ninjutsu, just like with any other martial art. And just like with any other martial art, there are plenty of opportunities to become stuck.  Going to class, mimicking your instructor, not practising, and then claiming knowledge of ninjutsu, is the quickest way to become stuck.  If you really want to explore the training, to truly understand yourself and how the training can benefit you, you must practise.  This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t focus on the basics first.  It means that in class you are shown the basics, and then it is up to you to practise and learn the basics.  Then when you understand the basics you can move on remembering that fancy stuff, without good basics, is just fancy stuff.

Lastly, I write this article to my students, as a student.  I am very much still learning, still improving, and still making mistakes from which to move on from.  But (according to my current level of knowledge) that is what ‘ninjutsu’ is all about, and why I love it so much.

So to borrow words of my teachers “don’t forget to practise, and don’t forget to breathe”.

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On October 1st 2011 I appointed Joakim Boström to the following:

• Shihan
• Hachidan (8 dan)
• Menkyo Kaiden

This means that I gave Joakim the responsibility and trust of walking the leading path in MuTeRyu Goshinjutsu.

I wish him the best of luck and I know he will carry this with the strength and the power that is needed.

More information will come…

My training in the future will be traditional training (Edo Machi-kata Taiho Jutsu) from the Edo period.

Bo Munthe sensei, Machi-Bugyo

bo.munthe@comhem.se

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So having a few drinks with lunch or dinner can easily add an extra 500 to a 1000 extra calories to your diet.  With the daily average intake at around 2000 calories per day that doesn’t leave much room for vital energy giving nutrition. Do that 3 or 4 times a week, and you could be adding 1,000’s of calories to your diet.

Alcohol acts as an appetite stimulant, and can lead you to eat or crave foods that are not within with your weight-loss plan.  It also creates sudden increases in blood sugar levels which can result in sluggishness or fatigue, greatly affecting our will to exercise.

Our bodies can convert alcohol to energy more easily and quickly than other foods and so it will metabolize alcohol before it will burn food; what you don’t metabolize goes onto your waist, or thighs, or tummy. 

If you are struggling to lose weight, or even lose that last bit of troublesome belly fat, then perhaps look to reducing or avoiding alcohol intake.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I now do and teach martial arts for personal development.  That being better than someone else doesn’t necessarily make me a better person.  In fact if I recall my fighting days, inside the arena I felt immensely confident and in control.  Yet outside the dojo I quite often felt lost an unable to deal with challenges because I wasn’t allowed to use my fists to solve them.  When I did use my fists I landed myself in trouble; with parents, with teachers, and with the law.

Some people argue that competition is necessary to test martial arts ability, in order to test its validity in self defence – but I disagree.  Someone who learns to fight will undoubtedly have more ability than they would have had, had they never learned.  But the best fight (with regards to self defence) is the fight that never took place.  Many champion martial artists have died in the streets, and many more have ended up in jail – losing through victory.

Having said that, just because we don’t do martial arts for sport, doesn’t make it wrong.  If you want to do a sports orientated martial art then of course you have to spar and you have to compete; that is its purpose.

The Cage Fighting for Kids articles and TV footage that I have seen today showed no real danger to the children.  Apart from societies ever increasing and disappointing lust for violence (ie. the spectators) this appeared as nothing more than a demonstration of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or European wrestling.  Something you could perhaps expect to encounter in any sports martial arts dojo every night of the week. 

It is true that children are still developing at this young age but all sport, all activity, puts some kind of strain on the body; we cannot grow strong without some resistance.  If we use another martial art to also illustrate my point, the art I started in and still love, the celebrated and ever popular Judo is a great example of this.  Judo is a great martial art for children, but Judo randori (sparring), and especially competitions, can be far more aggressive and strenuous than what I saw in this report.

The problem is that Mixed Martial Arts or Cage Fighting has received a great deal of hype in recent years and escalated into a multi-billion dollar industry.  It is the Rock and Roll Wrestling of Martial Arts.  Selling itself as no holds barred, no rules, ultimate fighting contests.  But there are rules to protect the fighters, otherwise only one man would leave the arena.

If you look at the media footage of the Cage Fighting Kids, they are only wrestling – no punches and no kicks.  This could have been nothing more than a demonstration.  Something often seen in intervals between boxing and kick boxing contests, something I took part in myself as a child.

If you look at this recent media hype for what it is – Show Business – then perhaps feelings towards Cage Fighting Kids might mellow.   I don’t like it myself, I don’t believe children should be exposed to such an environment, but if I am honest I didn’t see any real danger to the children competing.

My fear of course is the damage it could do to martial arts and where this could eventually progress if left unchecked.  A bunch of adults standing around, enjoying watching children beat on each other, is perhaps another debate.

For me though the martial arts are still a great activity for all those involved; young, and not so young anymore.

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Children are born with two remarkable qualities. The first is that they’re born largely unafraid. They come into the world with only two physical fears, the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. All other fears have to be taught to the child through repetition and reinforcement while the child is growing up.

Anyone who’s ever tried to raise a small child to the age of five or six knows that they’re not afraid of anything. They’ll climb up on ladders, run out into traffic, grab sharp instruments, and generally do things that appear suicidal to an adult.

The second remarkable quality of children is that they’re completely uninhibited. They laugh, they cry, they wet their pants. They say and do exactly what they feel like with no concern whatever for the opinions of others.

The way you come into the world is unafraid and uninhibited, completely fearless and able to express yourself freely and easily in all situations. You know this is true because, years later, whenever you’re in a safe situation, with people you trust, you often revert to this natural state of fearlessness and spontaneity.

These are some of the best moments of your life, your peak experiences, when you’re truly happy. And they’re your normal, natural condition.

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