| Teaching Ninjutsu in the Dallas metroplex since 1985! |
Some of the traditional aspects of Japanese Warrior Arts and Japanese Ninjutsu taught by Ralph Severe are:
Some "mature" skills are not taught to the student until they have reached a certain level of understanding and maturity in the arts. Ralph Severe has special classes that are scheduled periodically on subjects of special interest; please try to attend these important classes. The wonderful feeling a student gets when training in ninjutsu is different from most other martial arts. The ninjutsu training by Ralph Severe is pragmatic and effective. The concept of "technique" is not the ninja way! Ralph Severe has made his Dojo training very different from the old out-dated ninjutsu methods of the past. He gives sufficient preparation to each student's mental, physical and spiritual training to deal with today's crazy world. The KAMIYAMA DOJO ninjutsu training is a very healthy way to correct the bad habits one has learned from everyday living in this world of hurry and go. The training is designed to embed neuromuscular memory and imprint psychophysiology into every student to avoid and deal with danger. Come and visit a class and see why Ralph Severe is one of a kind when it comes to helping a student gain their understanding of life.
Following will be a basic outline of my personal training methods for unarmed and weaponry. Many of these ideas have come from vehicles such as students and solo training. Which is autodidact or self learned through just doing rather than being taught. But on the other hand I’ve had some really great guides as well. My focus in bujutsu has been on combative application only over these long years. But students’ use or train in the martial arts for many different reasons. This can be from environmental, cultural, physical, educational or spiritual reasons. These different mental attitudes can affect the learning process and understanding of bujutsu in many ways. Some train for cultural formalized exercise preserving the system as if they were the last remaining link to the system. Few train for competitive sporting events or for physical fitness. But really very few used the methods of bujutsu for combative research. Each one of these can really have an affect on the emotional state when dealing with this person on the subject of bujutsu. It affects the manner of how he trains, when he trains, who and how the information is transmitted to him and the methods of his study. With this information on the learning process we can better relate to each other in the vast methods of the martial arts as brothers.
The methods of weaponry training are the most important factors in a warrior’s proficiency with any tool and can be
broken down into two main parts. First self-perfection training, which is the training of skills, attitudes, and
techniques to better understand our biomechanics with the staff. This will be the main focus in this weaponry outline
is to become harmonious with the tool, mind and body together as one. And second self-preservation training, which is the methods of sparring for a better understanding on how the skills, attitudes, and techniques work in "real time".
The attitudes of a warrior, toughness, power, speed, flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, endurance, footwork, timing, etc. are of the utmost importance. These wonderful qualities of the human being are essential and a priority over any technique training of warriorship. It is imperative to understand this point in your search for truth. Conditioning the whole body is a must to fully reach the higher stages of warriorship.
With all of your training sparring should be a priority. But don’t rely on it totally for self-discovery. Really it only should be 5 to 10 percent of your development with the staff or any other weapon for that matter. Sparring with the tools of a warrior in time will create the neurological connectors to work at a much higher level of proficiency. This will in turn stop the confusion of what is the truth in combat and what is mere technique or kata training. Always protective equipment should be used during sparring. Safety comes first in all variations of training.
The staff's quality is important as well. The material that you chose can be natural wood or synthetic. If wood, you have to treat it with care. Never leaning it on a wall or letting it stay yet after use. You should know its natural flexibility, strength, weight and grain of the wood. A good wood to make your staff out of can be red oak, white oak, loquat or biwa, sunuke or ebony (very hard to work with and rare), ash, iron wood, and persimmon. The very heart of the tree is best to make staffs out of. Even if you view it as an ordinary pole you should pick a good straight one that will not crack, splinter or warp very easy when training with it. A simple rub down of tung or linseed oil can create a beautiful looking and feeling staff with years of great use in it. Some like the straight heavy staff and other like the tapered one. Others like the 6-foot staff and some like over 6 feet, up to 8 feet in length. Being an American, I’m taller than the Japanese warriors, so I like longer ones. And with my size, the heavy staff fits me better. This way I get a better workout and feel of the staff. Be very careful breaking bricks, boards and hitting targets with the staff. The striking training against targets can cause major damage to your beautiful staff. So pick a good one.
The grip of the staff should be light and not constricting. More or less like a relationship with a partner that you love. Like that the staff needs to be an extension of your body rather than just a tool in the hands called shinshin ichijo, oneness of body and mind. You basically have two methods of holding a tool, one hand or two hands. This in turn will be with one palm upward and one downward or both in the same direction. Most of the control with the hands comes from the last three fingers. With all tools you can snap, whip, thrust or smash your target. Your hands should guide the tool to its target with the mind, body and heart as one. This will bring together the tremendous projection of force, dexterity and accuracy needed to wield the staff with complete mastery. The essential sensitivity needed to polish these movements and techniques will come with training. Pondering these concepts the most important thing is to be comfortable with the tool; it’s weight, texture, length, and use.
The mastery of body dynamics in striking comes with the use of target hitting. This feeling of reverberation and ricochets you'll have in your hands can surprise you. Once the tool has found the target or if another tool comes in contact with yours is not what many theory masters teach. The intention that one can put into their strike, snappy, whipping, thrusting or smashing can be a ‘truth observation’ once the student experiences this. A student should begin his research with simple footwork, hand movement and dexterity drills before striking any targets. His understanding of kinesthetic perception is so important. The tools true use must be the students familiarizing study, to reduce tension, feel the action of each muscle, and following through a movement with ease with confidence and control. Knowledge of striking in all angles and all positions are the essence of weaponry. So the dance of the staff is important to a warrior's path.
The different methods of striking can be broken down and their movement. First the snappy strike should be researched before going on. The respiration should be short and light as in the strike. The snappy strike should be a light popping action. Creating a short shocking feeling to its target. Much like a crack of a whip. You can say like a rap on a door or fly swatter type of hit. It travels to its target fast, snapping to contact, retracting as fast as it went in. This strike is wonderful for rapid-fire, continuous techniques or strikes. You can cause a barrage of strikes to your foe without his defense coming into play. This of course can overwhelm him. Most of the power of snappy strikes are generated by the snap of the rear or lead hand. Any part of the staff can be used with this snappy type of strike. The staff should be placed in the meat of the palms where the thumb is for strongest hold during this strike.
Second the striking motion is the whipping type. This is the second most basic strike that should be studied before smashing and thrusting. This is a longer-range strike. The staff will reach out the maximum length in a circular, spinning or figure eight type motion to hit its target. Much like letting a whip run its course before its return to the handler. Most of the power of whipping strikes is generated by the spinning motion or energy caused by the action of the reaching and whipping of the staff. The whole body is used to move the staff but it is the dexterity of how the staff is used with the hands that create the art of the strike. You can say the fingers dance on the staff during the hit. The respiration/exhalation should be sudden and at once on impact in the moment of the strike almost in a blowing action. I’ve found that I can use one or two hands in this striking motion. The energy of the staff is at its strongest at the end of this motion. Understanding recovery is very important using this motion because of your body placement during the strike. The tip or last few inches of the staff is the part mainly used for this type of strike. So accuracy is a must. This striking motion is my favorite.
Third the smashing strike should be explored. This is a strike that is best used in close at short range. Both hands are fixed and a feeling of heaviness and very powerful placement is the key. The power comes from body raising and falling by use of torque with the knees, hips, spine, with the weight of the body and the use of the shoulders. The respiration/exhalation should be in tightening the lower abdomen as in a shout. The full length can be used during smashing with the staff. This strike is mainly used in throwing or knocking an opponent down. The damage this strike can cause is tremendous. Of course the movement of the body forward increases the speed and the non-telegraph nature of all strikes with the staff. So don’t over power the staff, let it work for you in smashing the target.
Fourth strike I will cover is the thrusting motion. It’s simple but the most dangerous to use because it puts you totally off balance and deep into the opponents range of contact. The feeling of holding the staff is light and free. You can twist the staff or run it through the target. But most important you must grip it strong on impact. The margin for error or missing the target can easily be done. It can glance off bone, clothing or be trapped by hanging arms or legs. The action is to punch holes into the target by flicking or follow through ramming it into him to knock him down and back, in a pumping, thrusting, retracting action. This thrusting strike can be used at short range but is best used at longer ranges so you can remain on guard. You can also use one or two hands on the staff. Really depends on your attitudes. I like this strike for my art of interception or stop hitting. The respiration/exhalation should be forceful and as if driving through with the breath into the target with the staff.
The quality of the teacher's experience, teaching, training drills and sparring methods make no difference if the warrior wielding the staff does not seek his or her own path. As Hatsumi sensei has said many times, a teachers responsibility is not the giver of truth, he is a guide on your path to the truth, you as a student must find your own truth. From my experience with weaponry I’ve explored many different types of weaponry. And they can be broken down into 5 areas of interest. Here are a few examples.
Weaponry can also be broken down into 6 ranges. These are very important to understand and to be able to apply your skills, attitudes, and techniques into each range. Many teachers have a misconception about ranges and how to teach them. They should never assume you could attack or defend yourself in a range. It must be explored time and time again to find your own personal limitations in each. Above all the attribute of footwork is the most important to all ranges.
The 6 ranges of weaponry are,
A good teacher and system will have a complete program for their selves and students in each range of training. I encourage you do so if you do not have a progressive program to work towards. This means he should have each of these areas researched so he enhanced and expand his knowledge by unarmed tools, and supplemental weapons. Also both of these areas can be enhanced by drills that involve fighting tactics from different body positions such as, standing, squatting, kneeling on both knees, on one knee, sitting, on his back, sitting in a chair, etc. Environmental training drills such as, low-level roof, balancing on a beam, small spaces, in the water, injured limbs, muddy - slippery areas, in the brush, high to low areas, low to high areas, rocky ground, uneven ground, etc. Battlefield conditions such as, one on one, one against two, one against many, group against a group, etc. This type of mind set will in turn create self-explanatory paths for the warrior. Finding our own ignorance is a part of warriorship.
Many martial arts systems train a weapon as a tool for ranking or demonstration. This training is still being done today in almost all systems. Many teachers are very weak with their weaponry skills and speak about weaponry without really having true experience using them or sadly never exploring the different ranges or sparring. This ignorance of not really trying to study the weaponry arts allows the teacher the wonderful opportunity to make money but can get others killed. But the teachers ranking around their waist can leave the student with the impression that their teacher has the skills and knowledge to train them in these ranges and methods weaponry. The important view into weaponry has to be the student needs to explore each of these areas with the weapon in hand. Not just in concept, theorizing, kata, or demonstration but also in training such as soft and hard drills and of course sparring. That’s important for example because the rifle is a weapon normally used in propelled range, but should be trained in all the other ranges of combat. This is true because of the nature of this type of weapon. So all weapons should be explored in this manner. Pondering this then the rifle should be a weapon that can propel a projectile as well as becoming a long, short staff or a spear in a conflict up close and personal rather it being standing or ground combat drilling. So the question is, have you fenced or grappled with your 6-foot staff in many different postures and ranges?
#1, You can feed the weapon from different angles to you partner, maneuvering your body position by moving in and out, circling him. The partner is confined to no footwork as he receives with defensive principles. This method of drilling creates line familiarization for the defender because it sets many limitations on his defense without the use of footwork. While using his defense the defender can make observations on how his tool works against the lines of attack. You always start out very slow with the feeding of the tool into different lines of attack. Honing his skills of defense. When he’s ready you can ultimately execute attacks up to full speed. You can use zones that are non-prearranged or set prearranged attacks. Never the less the drill should flow continuously with a variety of attacks and rhythm.
#2, As above, you can feed the weapon from different angles to you partner, maneuvering your body position by moving in and out, circling him. But your partner now gets to use footwork to create distance and zoning into zero pressure area against or away from your attacks. This drill creates maneuverability as well as the above attributes. As above, you can use zones that are non-prearranged or set prearranged attacks flowing continuously with a variety of attacks and rhythm.
#3, This drill takes these three areas of training to the next level. Here you and your training partner both attack and defend. More or less in the same manner as above in the two other rudimentary drills but as you feed he will defend and counter strike causing a rhythm of giving and taking from both of you. The relationship between the two of you becomes fluid and harmonious as you bang away at each other. This is not sparring nor should you try to trick or fake your attacks during the drill. It is a drill of line, footwork, body feel and tool familiarization against a moving target that now strikes back at you once you have made a hit. Once you have mastered this drill you can change it to different rhythms by going to a two, three or four beat striking outline. Or even change or add a change of beat within the striking motion. This is called broken rhythm.
Each of these three weaponry-training outlines can and should be used with these complementary unarmed tools. This drill should influence your blend of weaponry and unarmed skills as one.
When training with the tool for combat you must create a system of drills and the zones they are used with. I use the system of ‘9 zones’. This creates a line familiarization, which is awareness of angles of attack and defense with the tool. A warrior uses visualization on these lines of attack and not the visualization of the weapon being used against him. This ‘9 zone’ system can be used in training drills both offensive and defensive. This helps the student of bujutsu weaponry or unarmed in progressing faster and at a higher level of self-explanatory. Working through these lines of familiarization can lead to accumulation of techniques so the process of elimination of techniques can accrue. This is the true path towards mastery of the staff.
The areas of the body or anatomy must be studied to insure our focus on weak points, known as kyusho in the Bujinkan dojo, to bring about the survival mindset in a conflict. These kyusho must be studied so that they are imbedded into our mind, body and heart so they will be in harmony with our flow of movement. This way our subconscious mind will come to use them in that critical moment of truth when needed. Each target or kyusho has so many variations of strikes you can use against it. You have nerves, bone, muscles, flesh, and structure to strike against on the opponent’s anatomy. The main kyusho I use for teaching the staff movement is the hands, top of foot, shins, knees, elbows, color bone, shoulder joint on top, and the head. But there are so many more you can explore. But these are the ones I’ve found to have reliable stopping power against an opponent who wishes me harm. How the affects of each strike have on your kyusho is really based on who or what the target is. The strikes could be extremely lethal or just a shocking neutralizing feeling to the foe. So the study of how to strike and the kyusho is important or the staff is just another stick and not a warrior’s tool of self-perfection and self-preservation.
Ralph Severe, kamiyama
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