January 4, 2024

What Is The Role Of A Martial Arts Teacher?

What is the role of a martial arts teacher?

In the Japanese martial arts, the sensei?

In popular martial arts, the sensei is often seen as a teacher at best, or authority figure at worst. Certainly the sensei has to have a command of the subject matter, and a certain amount of skill- depending on the martial art, one can be authorized to teach based on different ranking levels.

Yet, with all this the primary role of the sensei is to lead.

To be able to transmit the feeling of the art in a way so students can pick up on it, while at the same time, correcting the mistakes of the student.

The sensei does not determine how far the individual will go in the martial arts, they are not a gate-keeper. The student determines how far they will go based on skill, desire, commitment, and warrior heart (mushashin).

The sensei guides the process.

Many people want to be a sensei, but if they realized the gravity of the situation and the responsibility to the student and tradition, perhaps they would think otherwise.

Consider these two points.

A person trained in the martial arts for twenty years before becoming a sensei, either by choice, or obligation. Based on where they are in movement for twenty years, what took them twenty years to achieve, they *should* be able to get any students training under them to move in a similar way in half the time.

The mistakes the sensei made along the way in training, the corrections, and adjustments, they should be aware of them, and not pass them on to the student, likewise being able to correct and eliminate these mistakes.

A second, more sobering point.

In instructing a student, and passing the transmission of the martial arts- regarding mistakes a student makes in movement.

The sensei has an obligation to point out and correct *every* mistake a student makes.

For those watching outside the dojo, for those who don’t understand budo, this can seem harsh, but rather it is a complete action of compassion.

What happens outside the dojo, the safety of the dojo, if a student makes a mistake and something happens?

If the sensei did not point it out, that responsibility falls on the sensei.

It is in matters like these that the sensei has full responsibility, so they must be perfectly-clear in all instruction.

The aim of the Bujinkan Shinmyoken dojo (war god hall school of the life giving sword) is to understand nature and the movement of being zero through taijutsu- martial ways of using the body. The school exists to create and transmit this feeling and method through the experience of isshi soden- one to one transmission.

Located in Westchester New York, the Bujinkan Shinmyoken dojo is a martial arts training group founded in 2005 with the aim of coming together as martial arts friends to study the Japanese martial arts of Masaaki Hatsumi through the movement lessons of the Bujinkan dojo and the expression of budo taijutsu.

Classes are held on Saturday Mornings from 9-11 AM at a local park in Yonkers New York easily accessible by car, train, and bus. Additional training times are held for workshops and seminars each quarter.

Training is supervised by Fred Feddeck (shidoshi) who has been studying Bujinkan budo taijutsu since 1993.

The transformative effects of the Bujinkan come from the purity of its warrior movement, the movement-philosophy found in taijutsu (body art). This art offers the tools of movement to assimilate the skills needed to meet the challenges of life and prevail against those changes, a movement guide to take control of one’s destiny.

Questions, feedback, and inquiries may be directed to the group here: bujinkanshinmyoken@gmail.com.

The Bujinkan Shinmyoken Dojo practices the Japanese martial art of budo taijutsu as passed to us through Masaaki Hatsumi sensei. It is through the movement-philosophy of taijutsu, as passed down through eight hundred years of warrior movement that we explore these lessons for the here and now of today.

But what is taijutsu?

The easiest and most natural explanation would be to come and participate in a class so one can experience the transmission directly (isshi soden).

With that framework what can be understood intellectually is expressed through s system of movement, used as a vehicle to understand self through martial movement.

Training begins with junan taiso, martial arts stretching, and the re-alignment of the body to a natural state. Methods of undoing the defects of time that one has “learned” and accumulated incorrectly along the way through life. Increasing body capacity and taking stock of where one is currently in order to build and improve on the body’s natural movement capabilities.

The next level of movement development transmits how to generate and use correct body alignment and mechanics in a martial way- it teaches one how to move the body correctly using our unique movement of taijutsu. Methods to illustrate this include ukemi taihenjutsu, kyu kamae, kihon happo, and san shin no kata, illustrating the path of heaven (sky).

Once one has a firm grasp of how to use the movement-philosophy of taijutsu correctly the study of the path of earth begin, how to prevent correct movement through the use of distance, timing, rhythm, and balance. Methods use to show this anti-movement include the gyaku gi, nage waza, hajutsu, and shime-waza.

Those two path lead to the path of man (human), the blending and interplay of the dragon (ten) and the tiger (chi), the interaction between people in a martial arts situation. This jin ryaku no maki section of training offers us glimpses with what is possible, making the impossible possible, as expressed through koku, renyo, seion, gekkan, musan, etc.

The integration of these three aspects of training (tenchijin ryaku no maki) leads to the complete human begin (tatsujin) and the ability to navigate situations in a natural manner.

Yet again, these are just words trying to capture the movement-philosophy of taijutsu, the best way to feel and experience this expression is to take up the training and commit to the warrior path.    






 email contact: bujinkanshinmyoken@gmail.com