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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.
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.
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.
diminished the quality of the event, quite the opposite – we put in even more effort into transferring knowledge and rewarding the commitment of those who decided to take part.
The first seminar in the year 2019 brought about a strong sense of excitement even before it was announced, because it was known that two of our older members and regular participants in the seminar, will have the skills that they have gathered tested. In that direction, the teacher Dovezenski to his students Mihail Drakalski and Taki Gakovski showed two isolated locations in which they during five hours needed to show all their skills of winter survival which they had learned during their participation in the previous events. At the end of the day, sempai Gakovski successfully passed the test for the basics of winter survival, and with that became the second member of Bujinkan Macedonia that had succeeded in that. After the end of the seminar, Gakovski, together with shidoshi ho Opacik, shared their feeling on the internal Forum of “Taiyou e no Michi”. “Knowing that I will be alone, left on one of the hills of Orljak, at first I had a sense of fear. That feeling that I will run into wild animal I get every time that I think to go alone In nature. I don’t know why that happens to me, and that is why I keep writing in my head the kanji for ’empty’ or Mu – 無.During the entire previous week I kept thinking about the test. I kept rereading the old Reports from the seminars and read all my notes from all the events of this type. Before the start of Orljak climb, Sensei shared a few advice, and then lead the rest of our comrades in a different direction. Together with sempai Miki we took off in a direction opposite of that of the others, and after we shook hands and in a brotherly fashion wished luck to one-another, splitting up. Just as I climbed the hill, I run into a suitable place. A bolder on one side and a bush on the other. I thought to myself “I will stay here” and immediately got to working. I left my backpack and went to search for some dry grass 
and twigs so I can get a fire going. Afterwards I hesitated a few times and thought of changing my location and climbing a bit higher, but I stayed put because I didn’t want to risk it. With the help of a small military shovel, I cleaned the area where I was supposed to stay and light a fire. I found it terribly hard and nearly impossible to light the branches. The moment a fire got going, it sputtered out because they were wet. Then I gave up on my plan and decided to leave the fire for latter, after which I decided to build a shelter. After I finished building, I started to gather some dry grass. I was lucky that above my location there was a lot of it. During those moments I was so motivated, I wasn’t even thinking about the thorns, or the pain from them. I used the advice of sempai Miki, and acted like I had to keep safe those closest to me – to make sure they survive. After i finished building, I got back to the fire. In the end after many attempts- I succeeded. Soon I noticed that in the hills it is very hard to keep the fire going, because everywhere there are small trees, and no big ones. That kept me going in all directions. The moment I would any dry branches I would run back to put them in the fire. That way I was always running until Sensei and my comrades came back. I was praying that they would come back sooner and I was kept going by my spirit of steel. Between me and sempai Miki there was not even a hint of rivalry, but of friendship and comradeship. Before it we constantly in contact, sharing ideas, notes and experiences, all with the goal of us both passing the test. In the end, I would like to thank Sensei and all the knowledge that he selflessly passes on to us.” – Taki Gakovski 
“We wrote the ninth in a row winter ninja training and again, as every year, we felt the marvelous atmosphere that is always present during this seminar. The day went by really fast, I believe that not even one monjin felt any difficulty, or any serious cold, although we were constantly out in the open. This time we created a huge sanctuary, big enough for 12 people, that was hermetically closed from all sides and very sturdily built. We got the fire going really fast, unlike previous years, and the same was kept going till the end of the training. Sensei this time again filed us with new knowledge, that are of crucial importance during this kind of events. His experience is huge and he always has something new to share with us. And about the testing of our sempais, I would like to congratulate both of them, although only one passed the exam. But we must not forget that every failure is an experience gained, but also a motivation for truing and working harder in the future. I don’t doubt that success will come on its own, but as always – sometimes sooner, sometimes latter.” – Marko Opacik
