Last weekend Jack Hoban taught a seminar at my teacher's dojo in Chicago. An Aikidoka, and a Marine himself, attended and wrote a nice little article about Jack and his message: From killer to protector: Redefining the Marine warrior ethic through martial arts I think it's inspiring to know that Hatsumi Sensei's budo is playing a role in shaping something larger with real consequences in the world. I would normally post this in the Ninjutsu section, but I thought it might also be interesting for a wider audience. You can read more about Jack here: http://www.livingvalues.com/
Yes, good to see this getting out there. It's been a cornerstone of training in my dojo for many years. Some additional recent "Ethical Warriorship" articles: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...ow-the-Marine-Corps-has-embraced-martial-arts Law Enforcement: http://www.policeone.com/patrol-iss...ethical-warrior-A-Marine-Corps-model-for-cops (part 1) http://www.policeone.com/patrol-issues/articles/2070214-The-ethical-warrior-The-hunting-story/ (part 2) And for a bit more depth, in the June issue of the Marine Corps Gazette: http://www.marinecorpsgazette-digital.com/marinecorpsgazette-share/201006?pg=3#pg22 This is totally consistent with Bujinkan Budo; in fact the late Prof. Robert Humphrey (cited in the articles) was awarded a posthumous honorary 10th dan by Hatsumi sensei for his groundbreaking work in this area, and his picture hangs above and to the right of the kamidana in the Bujinkan Hombu Dojo in Noda. I remember a Daikomyosai training one year, where we were working on some knife-defense stuff. At one point Hatsumi sensei changed the waza to a scenario where we were protecting a third party instead of ourselves. I happened to be training a few feet away from Moti Nativ from Israel, and at one point Hatsumi sensei made his way over to us and said to Moti, very intently, "This feeling. . .SO important for peace!!". And I'm reminded that the kanji for the "bu" in budo, bugeisha, etc. represents stopping a spear. . .In other words, the proper function of the warrior is to stop violence and create the conditions whereby wa or harmony can be restored. And then of course there's also the martial concept of the "life-giving" versus "death-giving" sword (or, today, firearm). This picture hangs in the Marines' MACE (Martial Arts Center of Excellence) building at Quantico, the headquarters of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) training center -- sums it up pretty well:
Not directly actually; but Hatsumi sensei and Prof. Humphrey have both been important figures in Jack's life for many years, and they also knew each other. Jack is an instructor for the MCMAP teachers and is one of the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who developed the program; but it should be clarified that he teaches in the Warrior Ethics area rather than going there as a Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu instructor.
True, and that's the context I was trying to convey by "playing a role"; but I agree that I should have been more explicit. It's certainly the case that sometimes things like this can be misunderstood. That misunderstanding only tends to spiral out of control, and then the interesting part of the message gets lost in a pile of intra-web flame flinging....Thanks for the clarification!
Not quite. What you are citing is a 'folk etymology' commonly propounded by both Chinese and Japanese speakers ("stop the invaders' lances"). The apparent radical that would seem to mean "stop" is actually a simplification of the radical for "foot" or "leg". The character in question meant "to advance on foot with a spear/axe/halberd", and it thereby was used as a reference to warriors or military matters. It is not necessarily a reference to specifically defensive combat. Carry on, though; just was making a specific point. I don't want to disrupt the original purpose or direction of the thread.
This article reminds me of one of my most memorable times when I was in training in the bujinkan. However it brought me to seeing the bujinkan and even what Hoban as teaching in a negative light. To be a warrior one must have the means to credibly fight and the intent. Protecting your children family does not make you a warrior, its biologic instinct Warriors are about protecting others outside their immediate circle whether it be tribe, nation, religion etc. So first of all is intent. If you are or were or in the military and or police then you most likely have showed the intent. If you havent if you want to call yourself a warrior. You need to ask yourself why not. Is it a medical condition severe enough to preclude the physical but mild enough to allow you to fight then that is ok. If its because you dont like the military, have other plans, etc etch then you neglect the primary condition of sacrifice. Second is means. So what if you have a black belt in crystal warrior new age crap. Can you really take on a an enraged meth addicted person with a good chance of success. (this also does not include just sneaking up behind and wacking on the head with tennis racked- there are times for ambushs in combat but you wont always get that) Thats what frankly ****ed me off about Jacks program. It ended up being on of the last times I formally trained with the bujinkan. Most of the people never served and probably would never serve. Their skills were so low they would have more a liability than asset in a street or battlefield scenario. Yet Jack told them and they all beamed when he told them, that now they can just tell themselves that they make everyplace go safer for others because of their presence. Jack should not have been putting such hogwash in their minds but they just ate it up. Before one can discuss what a warrior should or shouldnt do, they should first have been and/or been one
Knowing Jack as well as I do, which is fairly well after 26 years, I expect that what he was trying to get across was more along the lines of "Now you have something that will help serve as a 'moral compass' in the way you train and the way you use your training if it's ever necessary." Indeed, Jack constantly emphasizes that if you're going to take this "protector/defender" approach, including protecting even an attacker's life where it is feasible to do so. . .then you have to be REALLY GOOD at what you do.
At the two day seminar with him he never once said you had to be good at what you do. He just demonstrated a lot fancy low prabability techniques that looked cool. If had taught something practical or emphasized the need to be really able to fight I would have had a different opinion. My wife who was training with me at that was at that seminar. Afterwords I was struggling to understand while this seminar was really such a negative when I had expected it to be a positive. Here response was simple and to the point. She said regarding the attendees. "They are pretty much boys playing at being men"
Seems to be two parts to this thread: As to Jack's involvement with the USMC...my deepest respects, he is out there DOING something. As to the "everybody is/can be a WARRIOR" meme: It's my opinion that being a Warrior comes with a cost...and that cost is far more than practicing a martial art or having someone at a seminar tell you that you are one.
