I was just wondering how much time and emphasise other schools put on the Kihon Happo? As far as I know about there history, they are the eight basic techniques that most techniques in ninjutsu can be traced back to. My instructor tells us to practice them as much as possible but what do others think?
I agree that the kihon (and the sanshin) are the basis for taijutsu. We practice them every class, in some variation or another. Each school has it's own version of the kihon and depending on which flavor we want to add, is which version we'll practice. Think of the kihon and sanshin as the foundation upon which you will build your house. Without a strong foundation, you will not have a strong house. Sure it might be livable, for awhile. But what happens in the first big storm? Your foundation erodes away, bit by bit. The kihon are you taijutsu foundation.
Thankyou very much Kurohana, that is exactly the answer I was looking for! I was just wondering if its as important in other schools...although every lesson mostly our instructor tells us the "house built on sand" story.
Everything is kihon happo, We went to a Sveneric seminar on saturday, for a large portion of the day he did kihon happo PRINCIPLES with unarmed, katana and knife and it was really amazing, a real eye opener on the kihon.
So true! Kihon happo and the sanshin, ah, the bread and butter of training--oh, and the water, too! You can survive on them--practice them endlessly, ceaselessly, and joyfully!--and then, to thrive, take what you learn and add to them, if that makes any sense. And, "look" at the sanshin, for instance, and all the ways you can do them. It's obvious, of course, but it took me a little while to realize that as you start doing sanshin and letting your, um, this sounds weird, um, "visions" you have (I know I sound really nutty here) of what might (key word: "Might") work take over, you'll start to open up your creative "flow" and then...you'll feel you've gone astray, and get back to kihon happo, which will open up your creative flow, which will make you invent new things that have already been invented, which will make you want to....you get the picture! The kihon happo is like an artist's palette--in order to create a beautiful painting, you keep dipping your brush into the same colors, again and again and again. The colors mix, blend, and melt together, but the initial colors your brush touches remain the same, and, no matter what color you eventually want to make, you keep dipping into the same original colors... So: keep practicing the sanshin and kihon happo. Do it blindfolded. In a dark room with your eyes open. Around your furniture. In a pool. On wet grass. On a beach on the sand or volcanic rock.... Right now I'm going to go kihon happo me some lunch... --Sssssssssssss....
LMAO nice one I came on here to attempt to make a serious contribution, for once, to this thread then saw this and fell off my chair!!! I think only the brits will get it though
I'll second that it was amazing. From a beginners point of view the way he delivered the seminar and built it around the Kihon principles allowed me to "latch on to" the feeling that was needed for what he was showing and not get too focused on the "technique" which he said he wasn't doing anyway It also made me glad that I've been making the time to do my Kihon and Sanshin each day. :Angel:
At least someone can appreciate the double entendres in my post!!! Now, let me get back to doing it blindfolded, on the beach, on the couch, and, sometimes, when nobody else is looking, in my car.... --Hissy fit
yeah, sometimes my attention span is like one of those sight-seeing telescopes that you have to keep popping coins into to make it work. When the view is as expansive as some of Snake's posts, I think I can be forgiven for not wanting to drop in any more quarters after a while . . . But then again, I am quite guilty myself of some seriously loquacious bombast. I think I've been getting better at brevity lately. . . . must be losing my patience somehow.
oh that's right - kihon . . . as you can see from my tag-line, I'm a big fan of Monty Python, and the scene at Swamp Castle is a great one - "But you killed the best man!" "Oh, sorry." "You kicked the bride in the chest." "Oh, yes, terribly sorry." And so on . . . Anyway, before the carnage-a-du-Lancelot, there was a wisdom-filled speech given by the lord of the castle to his son - "no, not the curtains! All that you see before you." I recommend looking up a copy of the script and reading about building castles upon castles that sank into the swamp, and then again sank into the swamp, and building another castle upon that one, that burns to the ground and then sinks into the swamp. Practicing the basics often is like building and rebuilding your castle: Sometimes it seems strong, and then you get a sinking feeling about it, so you practice some more, and it gets better, . . . and then it crumbles, so you practice some more, then it crumbles, burns down, then sinks, so you practice some more, . . . eventually your foundation will be as strong as 5 castles, and you can build quite a mighty structure on top of that. Please. Please, good people . . .
Glad to be of service to ya'll--and especially to Greg's eyesight and sshh's sanity! :love: --Sna-na-na-na-na-na-na-NAKE! And, you didn't have to stop quoting Monty Python...I was just starting to chuckle! [cue salmon mousse]
Good thought, just to expand on it though, i would see Kihon Happo and Sanshin as the buttresses on the castle, as the castle crumbles and you rebuild it the buttresses and the foundations stand firm while you build and build!!
In the class I attend the Kihon Happo No Kata is practiced. I think everyone is correct in their assertions that the KHK provides a solid foundation to build on (colour metaphors aside!). I would say that, for me, the KHK should be viewed as a training tool to teach beginners movement. When I started training (and I think this applies to most people) I was totally tranfixed with performing technique. The terms 'movement' and 'taijitsu' were alien, completely misunderstood (no matter how well they were explained) and my movement considered poor [as I look back on myself]. The KHK allows beginners to practice movement and to develop a starting point for their taijitsu in a set / perdictable kata. Variables are taken away that may make what is being taught or developed harder to grasp. In saying that new students would most likely focus on the techniques and not be aware that what they are actually developing in body movement. I beleive their are two ends of the training spectrum. On one side there is pure rigid technique and on the other pure fluid movement and a complete absence of technique. Our goal to too start on one side and travel to the other (the direction being obvious). The ultimate goal being the loss of all technique due to a high development of Taijitsu. For me, practising the KHK enables new students to develop a starting point for the journey to having fantastic movement. Instructors can use it as a starting point or a point of reference in order to teach and convey movement. I am correct in saying Hatsumi created the Kihon Happo No Kata?
So are you saying that after a certain point i.e. when you are no longer a beginner you don't need to do Kihon Happo??
I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets asked that Oh and Greg do you Butter that Buttress you are on about
No, I don't believe I've implied that either. I am saying the Kihon Happo No Kata is a training tool for practising movement and holds great value for allowing new students to practice movement in a contolled fashion.
