January 18th

If you are going to order both (1) certificates for 5th dan or higher and (2) other things from the Hombu Office, I suggest you send them separately. The process of (1) always takes a longer time than that of (2) because the Office staff has to ask Soke to write the recipients' names on (1). So if you order (1) and (2) at a time, (2) may stay in the Office until (1) is also finished. This is why I suggest the above. Please don't expect the Office staff to split your orders into the two groups. Staff members are too busy to do so.
Thank you for your understanding.


January 14th

If you are wondering how you can donate funds for the new Hombu Dojo, please scroll down and find my old post dated June 29th of 2003 (2nd from the bottom). It is still valid.


January 11th

There might be some who are not very happy with having „no theme“ for this year. But, wait. Having „no theme“ means that Soke is free from themes, doesn't it? Then he can teach anything he wants, and you may study something new that you haven't studied or seen in the past. Of course, how much you may learn from his teachings is completely up to you. That's why Soke emphasizes the importance of everyone's „Sainou“, „Tamashii“ and „Utsuwa“. We have to go beyond Waza now.


Soke said, „Please buy DVD's and watch them repeatedly. Same about my books. You can study Waza through them. Here at my class, please study something beyond Waza.“
(Yes, this is my summary.)


One more thing.
Soke also said, „I used Kokoro at first, but I decided to use Tamashii instead, because I think Tamashii is unchangeable (and therefore essential to the person) while Kokoro changes very often.“


January 7th

The Sunday morning class (starting at 9:00) will be taught by the Shitennou (Nagato/Noguchi/O­guri/Senou) in turn.
(Please don't ask me when each teaches. You are expected to attend the class whichever of the four Shihans teaches it. Read the „Jun. 19th“ post below for better understanding.) In addition, the administration of the 9:00 class (collecting training fees, taking care of candles, making tea etc.) has to be done by someone (other than me) under the supervision of the Shihan because I'm expected to be in charge of Soke's classes only. I'll attend only Soke's classes from this year on.

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Joji Ohashi, Shihan Bujinkan Dojo Japan. Webpages – http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/bujinkan/.