To-Shin Do takes the timeless principles of ninpo taijutsu and brings them into the 21st Century.
Have you ever seen a proud YouTube video of a poorly trained Bujinkan practitioner attacking slowly with a non-accelerating lunge right foot and right arm, and leaving the right hand out there so that the defender can make his defense? Absolutely makes me shudder. That’s still going on in the 21st Century?
Here’s a possibility for advancing To-Shin Do in terms of what we are building for the future.
The Happo Biken collection presents nine principles for how to win with the sword when you are up against a skilled swordsman. The Happo Biken are deliberately not complex advanced techniques. Rather they are short blunt enactments of principles in action.
Let’s expand by taking the current 4th Degree Black Belt curriculum of Happo Biken advanced sword principles and converting them to modern unarmed exercises: nine ways to win against an experienced puncher, kicker, or grappler. There will be several examples for each principle. We will still teach the sword version of each principle, but only after a student learns the principle as applied to a realistic modern attacker.
This coming weekend Black Belt Retreat will give us a chance to try this out. We will further explore the idea before we make a commitment.
Maybe it’s time for To-Shin Do to take the lead in providing realistic, doable, practical, useful self-defense for the 21st Century. Does it sound good to you? Are you on board for the future?
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