Just Another Bokken...

Learning a new technique is like having 100 bokkens and going out and buying another one. While each new bokken is nice to look at and fun to brag to all of your friends about, purchasing one more is pointless. What purpose is really served by having yet another bokken?

One could argue that comparing a technique to a bokken is not valid due to the fact that techniques are not all the same and are in fact very different.  However, I beg to differ. Techniques, while on the surface may look different, are actually based upon similar principles; timing, position, angle, leverage, etc. These underlying principles are the essence of the technique that come together to make them work. The techniques themselves are dead; they are only windows into the minds and lives of the martial artists of the past. Technique is our history book, a history that can only be brought to life by the movement and principles of taijutsu.

Now, back to the bokken. If you have been training in the Bujinkan for any length of time, you know that Soke says we must use our weapons as other weapons. As Soke says, it is all the same. So again, if you use a bokken like a hanbo, or a rope, or sword it makes no difference because only the taijutsu behind it will matter. This is why Soke says to throw away the technique. While we may think that it is the accumulation of technique that will save our lives in an attack, the truth is it will be that very thing that gets you killed. The technique cannot save you, only YOU can save yourself!

Now, this is not directed to the beginners. This is for the people who have been around long enough and have learned enough techniques to finally be able to forget them. Do you have to go out and practice the technique of driving your car? No! It is automatic; it is ingrained in you. You don’t even have to think about it. You can drive while illegally texting, eating a hamburger, and checking out the hottie in the rear view mirror; all while switching lanes and controlling the wheel with your knee so you don’t drop the burger on the floor and interrupt your texting. This is just like taijutsu, once you understand how and why and when an omote gyaku will work, you do not need to spend countless hours re-learning it again and again and again. You can simply apply the principles that make it work, especially the distance and timing necessary to even put you in the right position to do it, and let the magic happen.

If you want to be a bokken collector, that’s fine. They are fun to own. But if you want to know how to really use them against a skilled opponent, then stop collecting them and start learning the principles that make them work; juppo sessho, biken ishin, ikkan hasso, distance, timing, angling, and by far the most important of all, kokoro no kamae.

By the way, I have some really cool bokken for sale if you’re interested….