I have seen people enroll in a martial arts course for the purpose of learning things that they want and need and do not yet know, and then display displeasure when they are given guidance as to how to learn what it is they want to learn. “Flex those knees deeply and see what that […]
My friend Luca Paniconi, head of our Ancona, Italy, To-Shin Do training group, got his first article published in the Italian media. Luca’s essay so impressed Kevin Keitoshi Casey, co-owner of our SKH Quest Center in Boulder, Colorado, that he worked to translate it into English for all to read. Here are Luca’s thoughts condensed […]
Secret scrolls of the warrior sage are what I set out to find when I left for Japan in 1975 in search of the ninja. As a young man, I longed for contact with the wisdom of the ages. What if there really were special secrets guarded by generations of warriors sworn to the highest […]
I was a die-hard fan of the early 1970s TV series Kung-Fu, starring David Carradine. Back then I was a low ranked karate black belt in an America that barely recognized – let alone understood – the Asian martial arts. Shaolin Temple monk Kwai Chang Caine, wandering in exile from China in the rough American […]
Many years ago, I used to tell students of an interesting comment once made by ninjutsu teacher on one of our walks late at night after training. I was continuously probing with questions about what a ninja really was. I wanted to move on from my Western stereotype ideas, and closer to the authentic truth […]
At the Boulder Quest Center seminar recently, I asked head instructor Mary Aitoshi Casey and a few other skilled female practitioners how they related to my constant emphasis on the realities of street self-defense. Other martial arts are prettier than our To-Shin Do. Maybe such things would appeal more to women? I am always talking […]
“Do you guys spar in your martial art? I read on the internet you only practice techniques against a cooperating training partner.” A visitor was checking out our dojo, and wanted to clear up something that was getting in the way of his enrolling with us. There is a lot of outright ignorance on the […]
Two young men in Texas – Patrick Tow and Rayford Outland – decided to do a History Fair high school project about ninjutsu training and my work. If you might be interested in some minor points about my life and how I ended up where I did, check previous questions 1-4 and questions 5-8 and […]
I just got home from a meditation retreat hosted by a senior Tibetan teacher. While there, we participants spent hours each day tucked in side by side on Asian style meditation cushion seats on the floor. At one point I looked around at my fellow American participants and noticed an odd unstated discomfort. People did […]
I’ve written 19 books so far. I have 4 more in the works in various stages of completion. My books in English and several other languages have sold way over a million copies. I must be pretty good, huh? Yes, but… I want to be better. I sent one manuscript in progress to my friend […]