move your legs

8/14/2019 Move Your Legs

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Move your legs

by Arnaud Cousergue 2004translation of a previous article in French

Whatever situation you are in the first thing to take into account is your balance. Balanceis given by the way you move and it is thanks to your legs that you stand straight. Moveyour legs and then you will find the ideal fighting distance.

If we want to differentiate the Bujinkan Ninjutsu from other martial arts, we have to findsomething that makes our art different. The Ninjutsu particularity is found in the legmovements, however it is the least studied subject in Dj. If we look at Karate, we cansee kicks and punches. Aikid will be seen as an art based on circular movements andarm locks. Jd is the art of throws and immobilizations.

The Ninjutsu of the Bujinkan has a particular way of moving and aparticular foot and legwork. If we carefully study the Ten Chi JinRyaku no Maki -our foundation program- we realize that movementscover a large part of the first third of the Ten Ryaku no Maki.As a reminder, we can say that Ten Ryaku no Maki only meansTransmission (teaching/principle) Scroll (book/parchment) of theTechniques of Heaven.

In the first part, we learn to stand, to use the natural body arms, toknow the striking areas and to understand movements.Those movements are most of the work in the learning process of theTen Ryaku.

Kamae (Kamae= stand, attitude) serve the purpose of building the body posture and theattitude and musculature associated to those Kamae.Ukemi teach us how to break fall on the floor (Ukeru = receive).Kihon Happ teaches us to move in an appropriate way in an attack or a grab situation.Sanshin no Kata makes us move in the five following directions: middle, left, right, upand down.

Mut Dori teaches us the dynamic distance work.

Ten Ryaku does not care about the way techniques areperformed but it teaches us to find the correct distance and

angles in every situations.

Once we are in contact with the opponent, we step into the ChiRyaku world that is to say we can apply locks and twists (GyakuWaza), throws (Nage Waza, Ry Sui Iki), controls &immobilizations (Torite Waza) pressures or chokes (ShimeWaza).

Hajutsu Ky H only helps to counter Uke when the distancebecomes too dangerous for us or when he feels our intention.Ten Ryaku is about the way to arrive to Ukes contact in everyfighting situation. Chi Ryaku is therefore next to Ten Ryaku.

When I started Ninjutsu in 1984, Hatsumi Sensei was already talking about movement.Year after year I realized that we were listening to what he was saying but we did not

Moving thelegs

Stphane &FernandoThe legs are pushingin to take Ukesbalance.


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understand it.

To exemplify this I will take the example of the Uke Nagashi.For many students, the Uke Nagashi - and still today- is apowerful sharp strike/block done on the attacking arm or leg ofthe opponent. This is not wrong but it is far from being exact.

As it was previously said, Ukeru means to receive. Nagareru(=Nagashi) means: moving, the flow, which runs, to drain...We can clearly translate Uke Nagashi as: to receive an attackwith fluidity. The best way to absorb an impact with fluidity isto find the correct distance. If we are too close it generates asecond instinctive attack, if we are too far it sets Uke to attacka second time in this distance.

It clearly appears that only a movement mirroring Ukes attack will allow us not toreceive the strike. It is clear that leg movements give us the right solution.

However what do we see in Dj? We see instructors violently striking or blocking Ukes

attacks while telling with sincerity that the important part is the leg movement.The student often only looks at the arm movement thenhe/she will strike, block the attack thinking sincerely thathis/her leg movement is correct. Then, once the studentbecomes an instructor he will make the same explanationsand then as time passes, Uke Nagashi would become closer toKarate movements. It is what I unfortunately see when Iteach in many Dj.

To strongly block an attack is correct but it is important to teach beginners to take Ukesattack in a flowing motion. Once this movement is understood, the quality of movementcan be used to develop power in the Uke Nagashi.

The leg movement also indirectly appears in the subtitle of Hatsumi Senseis videos. I donot know if you noticed it but each tape has a subtitle: [Bujinkan] martial art ofdistance however this distance can only be acquired by a precise work of the legmovement.

If you are a beginner your only focus should be: to go down low on your legs, bend theknees and to concentrate your work on your bodys lower parts.The feet will give you the necessary angles to realize efficient Bujinkan techniques. Thisdifficult learning part is one of the major goals of the first section of the technicalprogram of Hatsumi Sensei.

When Ten Ryaku no Maki is well understood it makes the students technical progresseasier. The Western world is often too eager to learn superior techniques; therefore wedo not understand that deep and well understood foundations are the only guardians ofexcellence.

The path is long and learning can often be unpleasing but it iscompulsory to go through the leg work. You can think yourselfas a Ninja if you wish, but you have to understand that youshould focus your study primarily on the leg movements.Without its legs a Ninja is no more than a martial artistamongst others lost in his hopes and the illusion of his ownefficiency.

It is your own responsibility to become what you dreamed to

Feet are the key toreal Ninjutsu

Strong balance meansstrong legs

Stepping for victory


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become when you decided to join us. The instructor (Sensei= the one who was bornbefore [in the technique]) only shows the path, but you have to understand what is saidand above all it is you who have to walk this path, the instructor cannot do it for you.Anchor yourself in the reality of the physical world and quit the appearance of the virtualworld. The real Ninjutsu go through the body and one cannot avoid it.To finish I would like to remind that to walk a path you have firstly to move the legs.

Arnaud CousergueBujinkan Shihan

Translation by Frdric Legrand who trains under Marcus Dwyer in Ireland.To contact him: [email protected] Dwyer Dj website: http://www.dwyerdojo.com/To contact Marcus Dwyer: [email protected]

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