Author: dovezenski

The YumiYa seminar has taken place

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In the yard of the Hombu Dojo of Bujinkan Macedonia, yesterday was held another seminar dedicated to the techniques of shooting with a bow and arrow.

The event known by the name YumiYa Jutsu is one of the longest lasting meaning it has taken place even before the establishment of the dojo in the year 1995.
During the seminar, the teacher Igor Dovezesnki taught his students how to shoot with a simple homemade bow, similar to those which were used by the Shinobi warriors and was know under the name Maruki Yumi, similar to Hankyu – a short bow made from bamboo.

Studied were different techniques of shooting from different stances and positions, and some of the participants already started to show promising results.

The next seminar in nature will be on the topic of: “Bujutsu – wandering between myth and reality”. See you!

The Strength of the Yari – the jubilee

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The tenth in a row episode of the traditional seminar dedicated to combat with a spear (SoJutsu), was held this Sunday on the fields near the forest of Mlaka in the valley under the mountain Lipac.

As every year, no amount of word would be appropriate to describe the event that the dedicated members of Bujinkan Macedonia impatiently await every year.

Besides the regular and proven ones, we also would like to showcase the participation of our youngest member Petar Dovesenski, although he only has eight years, he managed to power through the entire seminar stopping not event one time under the attacks of the spears of the older Warriors of the Dojo.

In the end I would like to congratulate sempai Taki Gakovski, who from the teacher Igor Dovezenski was awarded a Densho in which are written all the techniques with the Yari.

Another ShurikenJutsu seminar in the Hombu

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Two weeks after the last Togakure ry, this Saturday was held another seminar dedicated to the skill of throwing Shurikens.

This time, the participants had the opportunity to practice from another Ninjutsu school, and the throwing was done with Senban and Iga Hira Shurikens.

The wonderfully filed day, ended with the permission and the free time dedicated to practicing throws with the different types of Shurikens that are found on the wall of the Hombu Dojo, as a introduction to the next Shuriken seminar.

Togakure ryu ShurikenJutsu

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This Sundays Togakure ryu ShurikenJutsu seminar refreshed us in every way and brought about new hope that before us stands lies another year filled with incredible training and spiritual martial journeys.

Instead of a regular report, we will show you some of the feelings brought forth by shidoshi-ho Marko Opacik on our internet Forum.

“We somehow managed to wait for four months for March to come and to feel again the magic that is training inside the Hombu Dojo. This month we started off “ninja like” from the very beginning, and we shall continue like samurai next weekend.

It was a beautiful sunny calm village day, when Sensei lined us up and opened the training for ShurikenJutsu from the school of Togakure ryu. Almost no one was previously familiar with the forms of throwing from this school, and Sensei simply showed us that it takes many years of training to master these exotic skills. In his hands, the Bo-shurikens looked like they were a part of his body and utterly effortlessly embedded themselves in the target, like they were being fired from a machine, and not a human hand. We were amazed while watching him, so we also tried, to no avail, at least not in the very beginning.  But as the hours went by, some Monjins managed to show some promising results (considering it was their first time). After four hours of training with the Bo-shurikens , we started training with Senban.  Very fast, precise and elegant ‘ninja movements’ complimented by the oral wisdom that Sensei graced us with.

There were some wonderful participants in this seminar who tirelessly tried to learn, and special respect I must show towards Eleonora, who,  all though she is in the eight month of her pregnancy, managed to endure through the entire training, together with the other more experienced Warriors of Bujinkan Macedonia.
In the end, Sensei added the new plagues with the names of Sase and Ksenija to the ‘NafudaKake’ in the Hombu. We bowed to their plagues, we shared our happiness and joy between each other and mentioned the names of the next Monjins that are in line to find themselves on the ‘board of honor’. A precious day spent in a wonderful atmosphere, instead of some coffee parlor in Skopje or in front of our telephones.  Taiyou e no Michi, A School for Warriors, both men and women.

“Santo Tonko no Kata” from Togakure ryu Ninjutsu has been held

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This Saturday in the yard of the Homby Dojo of the Organization “Taiyou e no Michi”, the teacher Igor Dovezenski held a seminar on the topic of Santo Tonso no Kata. In the event took part five students of Bujinkan Macedonia who tried to explore the secrets of the school of Togakure ryu Ninjutsu.

Because we are talking about a complex art, Dovezenski tried to at least scratch the surface of the techniques, without at the same time diving into the finer details, as he usually does during his teachings about the seminars.

During the closing of the seminar, all present unanimously declared that this school should be more frequently taught in the Homby Dojo, because the only way that could be done is surrounded by nature meaning somewhere the setting allows us both time and space.

Myths, legends and fabricated stories inside the Bujinkan

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J wrote this text for the international on-line magazine Hanako who provide information to Bujinkan members in 67 different countries around the world. Text was publish in may 2010, volume 13, number 5.

Even though the word „Myth“ is regularly used to describe some sort of a „falsified truth“, when used in an academic approach, isn’t a terminological equal to determining truth or falsehood, which are two rather normal human categories.  There are a lot of definitions for the purpose of explaining the word „myth“. In ethnology, „myth“ is a form of explanation for the phenomenon of human genesis and the world in it’s present state. Still, through myth, one wishes to transmit a story by which tradition will be raised to gain the height of a religious significance.

Myths in the Bujinkan

During my meetings and conversations with many of the Bujinkan instructors, often I’ve had the chance to hear the story of the friendship between the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano and the last ninja Takamatsu Toshitsugu. The story always differed in some minor details, depending on who is telling it, and sometimes it went as far as Toshitsugu and Kano training together, because they lived in two neighboring cities and as a consequence of those training’s Toshitsugu Takamatsu influenced heavily the development of judo. To make the story even more convincing, some would say that something similar to this can be read on the world-famous on line encyclopedia – Wikipedia (in the part about Takamatsu). The best part of this myth comes at the end of this story. Namely, when Jigoro Kano decided to popularize judo as a new martial art, with the intention of proving it’s efficiency, he scheduled a contest between his own students and the traditional jujutsu schools which still existed at that time. Of course, Kano’s students won almost all of the duels, but one of the students fighting for his dojo were sent by Takamatsu himself, who using his Ninjutsu techniques, win his opponent with great ease. This way, Takamatsu was able to help his friend.

Listening to these stories, while zealously studying Japanese martial arts history, often I ask myself why to the instructors (and other members of our organization) have the need of creating and spreading these myths (read: lies), among the Bujinkan Dojo members?

First of all, it’s true that the birthplaces of Takamatsu Toshitsugu and Jigoro Kano, aren’t far away from one another. But the issue here is that Kano was born in 1860, while Takamatsu 1889. That is a difference of full 29 years. Besides that, when Kano was 9, his family moved to Tokyo, which is pretty far from Kobe (592km) and during the years he rarely came to his city of birth (Mikage). Regarding Takamatsu’s influence over the founding of Judo, it is enough to mention  that Judo (the Kodokan) itself was found in 1882 (1884 officially) – 7 full years before the birth of Takamatsu. It is correct however, that Kano organized duels with Jujutsu fighters, but these were usually members of the police Jujutsu teams. At this time, Takamatsu was still in his cradle, which renders false the claim that his students, who would be born much later, would be able to participate in these contests. Of course, these facts can be obtained by anyone. Every serious book on the subject of history and Japanese martial arts offer plenty of information regarding this issue.

But one could ask: Why are these lies spread among the Bujinkan membership and do they think by that our organization will become better or our art more efficient?

Certainly not, dear friends. The answer is rather simple. By spreading these lies, the gain is short-lived and will only achieve the admiration of the more light-minded students or beginners. But anyone who dives a little deeper into the world of traditional martial arts, sooner or later will discover every lie there is. By lying, we can only prove our uncertainty of knowledge about our art and technique, while reducing the respect for our organization, the Bujinkan Dojo. Therefore, if we want respect, we, as instructors who represent the Bujinkan in our countries, should sit down and get a healthy amount of knowledge about the history of Japanese martial arts. We should stop hiding our lack of knowledge behind the fantastic myths and legends, which can be told with no end visible – about the nine schools, Takamatsu, Iga, Seiko Fujita and so on.
Our knowledge alone, will assure the good reputation of our soke Masaaki Hatsumi and our organization, which to outsiders often looks as an ridiculous factory for megadan production and not as an organization with the task and dedication to keep the nine schools of the Great Master Moko-no-Tora from oblivion. Toshitsugu Takamatsu was a well respected master and warrior in his own time, and every fabrication of lies and myths will just destroy needlessly the outstanding picture of him. Myths should be based on facts, and facts are rather easy to prove, especially in Japan which is a country with a well kept history.  Do not hope that by connecting great names from the budo world we will make our art better or worth more. On the contrary, by that we just „wash away“ it’s rich historical meaning as Bujutsu.

Let us stop creating blind followers from our students by telling them pretty and „wise“ words. Those, which follow you today, will as easily follow someone with sweeter words and stories tomorrow. We do not need followers. We need leaders who think with their own head and believe in the truth, not the lies. This is the only way to raise and save the reputation of the Bujinkan.

                                                                  Igor Dovezenski

                                        Dojo-cho of Bujinkan Macedonia

The 10th "Workshop for Female Self-Defense" was held

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The tenth in a row “Workshop for Female Self-Defense” managed to gather 26 members of the fairer sex in one place and enabled them to take a two day voyage in the world of the Japanese classical martial arts. Eleven years in a row, the dojo Bujinkan Macedonia organized this event, and this year for the first time under the leadership of sempai Sanja Simonova, who together with the teacher Igor Dovezenski teaches techniques of self-defense from all kinds of situations. During the seminar, the participants had the opportunity to learn how to defend themselves from attacks with strikes, pinning to a wall, kicks, as well as situations when they find themselves on the ground. As support for Simonova and Dovezenski, always present were some of the older members of the dojo – Vladimir Antonovski, Mihail Drakalski and Filip Trajanovski. Besides the amazing companionship and incredible atmosphere, all the members of the fairer sex during the entire seminar kept the smiles on their faces, and for us that is the greatest sign of the success of the Workshop. Till next year.

Радио МОФ со прилог за претстојната „Работилница за Самоодбрана за Жени“

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Големото внимание предизвикано во јавноста поради претстојната „Работилница за Самоодбрана за Жени“, беше причина овие денови да бидеме „бомбардирани“ со покани за гостувања на многу македонски пишани и електронски медиуми.

Така, вчеравечер, бевме посетени од страна на Радио МОФ кои во текот на денов го објавија следниот прилог на нивниот веб-портал.

Да напомнеме само дека за време на вчерашниот тренинг, инструкторот Игор Довезенски предаваше техники од Аикиџуџутсу и од Нинџутсу, додека семпаи Сања Симонова демонстрираше техники на самоодбрана кои ќе се вежбат на Работилницата.

Бунинкан Македонија на ТВ24

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По повод „Работилницата за Самоодбрана за Жени“, што ќе се одржи викендов, а секако во организација на Буџинкан Македонија, нашите членови семпаи Сања Симонова, кохаи Косара Довезенска и Стефани Маневска беа гости во утринската програма „Македонија Денес“ што се емитува на ТВ24.

KyuSho – seminar for the study of the vital point of the body

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The seminar KyuSho Jutsu that took place this Saturday attracted a lot of attention from the members of Bujinkan Macedonia, and the energy that filled the dojo during the event was incredible. Around ten Warriors from Bujinkan Macedonia readily faced the pain that always is a companion when the topic is the study of the vital points of the body, and the smile on their faces never left. The Teacher Igor Dovezenski on the seminar had the time to teach about 18 vital points that when pressed or hit cause great pain in the attacker, which allows for a good defense during an undesirable situation. In the end, the participants in the event asked for it to again be held in the near future, but if possible for it to last two days, with the goal of accumulating greater knowledge about this Japanese art.