Bujinkan Junan Taiso

Junan taiso.

Martial arts stretching.

The importance of warming up before each class and cooling down after each class, an important aspect of the martial arts.

Certainly in our taijutsu movement we understand the importance of taijutsu and warming up/cooling down before each class, but in that regard Hatsumi- sensei has given us a rather unique life treasure in junan taiso.

When you begin training in our dojo, the stretching and breathing exercise of junan taiso are show and given to you to start practicing. A little bit in the morning, and a little bit in the evening as a health routine. Once you have them down and understand the sequence they can be done in about 15 minutes with good flow.

Once you have them, they are yours, what are you going to do with them.

One of the challenges that I have observed with them over the years of practice is that they are easy to forget and put aside for other training items. We learn them in the beginning of our training in the dojo, and they are beginner stuff, once we advance in the kyu ranks and are no longer beginners, once we are a t black belt we can move to move advanced stuff.

Yes, in a way, we move to more *advanced* stuff, but the foundation stuff is still required and expected.

Don’t let this happen to your junan taiso practice.

Make it a natural habit.

On the one hand the exercises are designed to increase your physical capacity as a martial artist, specifically to increase your capacity to do the taijutsu body movements of our art. While on the other hand it promotes correct movement and flexibility which will carry you over through the years of training.

It usually takes a good 10-20 years of practice to realize just how valuable and specially curated these junan taiso movements are.

The sooner we make them a part of our daily routine the better.

See you in the dojo!