Mu Te Shin Do
Mu = Nothingness Te = Hand Shin = Heart-mind, or Spirit of Intent Do = Path to Mastery
Training the spirit to hold onto nothing; freedom from judgement, freedom from comparison, freedom from fear.
Mu Te Shin Do Martial Arts is the collective name for programs Samurai Kindy, Samurai School, Shinobi Teens and Mu Te Ryu (Ninpo Goshinjutsu training founded by Soke Bo Munthe). It was originally created to simplify the management of training within the UK.
Mu Te Shin Do is a way of training as opposed to a style of training. It is a Martial Art with Self Defence Application but should not be confused as Self Defence. Martial Arts training is long and at times difficult, providing the practitioner with additional skills, necessary for life, but not necessarily required in Self Defence. Self Defence should be quick to learn, easy to remember and extremely effective (as can be).
Mu Te Shin Do (with regards to syllabus and class planning) primarily serves as an introduction to many different martial arts,especially to Mu Te Ryu. Mr Armstrong’s hope for Mu Te Shin Do members is to experience a happy fulfilling existence, and should it arise, deal with conflict in the most efficient and positive resulting way. Mr Armstrong believes that to practise only violence, results often in violent choices, and so to practise only self defence could limit choices in times of heightened emotional state. In fact the aim of the first stage of practise (white to green belt) is an attempt to remove violent response (as a first choice) from the practitioner whilst maintaining safe boundaries through either distance or arresting type technique.
Mu Te Shin Do isMu Te Ryu in that it covers the same curricullum offered by Mu Te Ryu. It is different however in that some technique is taught via new kata developed by Mr Armstrong for his own Mu Te Ryu study. In addition, Mu Te Shin Do borrows ideas and concepts from Ninjutsu, Jujutsu, Judo, Aikido, Wing Chun, Bok Fu, and more recently To-Shin Do. Mu Te Shin Do is designed to continually evolve with the curricullum requiring students to create their own kata in order to progress to higher black belt degrees.
As Mu Te Shin Do is not a style as such it is important to point out that the traditional titles and references used throughout this website and organisation are borrowed from other organisations in order to teach an appreciation of their influence. At the time of its retirement in January 2009, Mu Te Shin Do founder Robert Armstrong was a Senior Instructor of the (acting) Mu Te Ryu Hombu Dojo and was awarded 6 Degree Black Belt in Mu Te Ryu Ninpo Goshinjutsu using title of Sensei. The title of Shidoshi in Mu Te Shin Do has been borrowed from ninjutsu in order to teach students about their etiquette. Please also note that Mu Te Ryu was revived early 2011 and now uses the Menkyo system of grading.
Mr Armstrong remains grateful to his teacher and friend Soke Bo Munthe, in addition to the guidance from teachers like To-Shin Do An-shu Stephen Hayes, Bujinkan Shidoshi Paul Rice, Shidoshi Mats Brickman (Stockholm) and the independent voice of Mr Peter Brown of the Shinobi-kai.
Students should note that another possible translation for Mu Te Shin Do is “In the spirit of Munthe”.
In other words Mu Te Shin Do is essentially Mu Te Ryu.
The Mu Te Shin Do Symbol consists of a ninja encompassed by a red circle and a gold ring. In addition to the usual translation of Nin as Shinobi, one other translation of the symbol Nin means ‘to persevere’ or to ‘put up with’. The red circle symbolizes our evolving heart whilst the gold ring and gold edging identify our search for excellence.
At the heart of our training is ninpo as interpreted by the founder; which remains ongoing and ever changing. We train to strengthen our body and mind in order to overcome both internal and external obstacles.
Let the way in which we live and train, be a great example to all those we may come in contact with.
Grading and Assessment
We use a ‘Mon’ or Junior grading system for our Junior Students in Samurai Kindy and the Samurai School and Junior Black Belt is the highest grade available to students under the age of 16yrs. The full adult syllabus of Mu Te Shin Do is made up of kyu and dan level awards.
All students are assessed on a regular basis and progress is indicated in the form of coloured belt awards. Junior students also have the Merit Badge System which provides additional methods for measuring progress between gradings.
The best way to know if Mu Te Shin Do is for you is to take advantage of a free trial lesson.
FAQ.
Q. If Mu Te Shin Do is so strongly influenced by ninjutsu, then why not just study ninjutsu?
A. This is a very fair question and not easy to answer in a few lines. Mu Te Shin Do is (for the founder) a continuation of Mu Te Ryu. Mu Te Ryu was the creation of Mr Bo Munthe, a highly graded master instructor in Bujinkan Ninjutsu, who was also highly respected instructor of JiuJitsu and held black belt grades in Karate, Judo and Taekwondo. At the time of writing, in addition to his continued study of MuTeRyu principles and practises, founder Robert Armstrong is actively revising and refining his own studies in ninjutsu and To-Shin Do (Stephen Hayes’ ninjutsu self defence program). If you call the study of Ninjutsu techniques Ninjutsu, then we do practise Ninjutsu. If you call the study of Ninjutsu an official afilliation or direct student teacher relationship with Japan, then we do not study Ninjutsu. You will have to answer this question for yourself.
Q. Do you have any affiliation to the sources you mention in your literature?
A. The founder remains a personal student and close friend to Mr Munthe and remains associated to Mr Munthe’s Mu Te Ryu Koryu Bujutsu organisation. We have no direct affiliation with Quest To-Shin Do, Shinobi-kai, or the Bujinkan, but we feel it is very important to acknowledge all sources of information and to give credit to them for their great work,great knowledge and incredible abilities.
Q. If Mu Te Shin Do is not strictly a traditional martial art style, then why continue to use traditional martial arts terms and titles?
A. We are greatly influenced by traditional styles and it is important that students remain aware of this fact. Also whenever we visit other schools as guests, it is important that we show an understanding of (and willingness to) conform to their customs. The ability to adhere to traditions and customs is in itself a discipline and as such benefits us in ways not always obvious at first. We also hope that by remaining as close to traditional styles our students will always have the option of complimenting their training with, or transferring to, one of these traditional styles.
Q. Your training is quite modern at times, so why wear a traditional training uniform?
A. Firstly martial arts uniforms are purpose built for training and thus stronger than normal clothes; I wouldn’t wear a suit to to the beach or board shorts to the office for example. Secondly the uniform is instrumental in getting the mind (whole class mind) ready for training and takes them out of their normal daily environment; everyone becomes the same, everyone becomes neutral. Thirdly it is an act of respect for the traditional training that influences our training.
Q. Why should I care about traditional and moral training; I just want to learn how to defend myself?
A. Most people learn martial arts to improve their life situation in some way; to get fit, to defend them self, to move like Jackie Chan, to play with weapons etc. If all you practise day in day out is how to punch someone in the head, then your life situation will probably not improve at all, as your choices when conflict comes calling will probably be limited to, yes you guessed it, punching someone in the head.
