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Stephen K. Hayes

Build the skills & strength of will that made the ninja legendary.

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Mountain Quest 2025

Rainy Mountain Quest 2025 on North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain is now a grand memory… As promised, I will list notes from the kata taught over the August 2025 weekend. These are from the Kuki Shinden Ryu bojutsu collection Sabaki Kata GEKICHU KERI AGE TSUKE IRI GORIN KUDAKI (“Crushing the abdomen”) I did not include the description of what the adversary is doing with his sword in these descriptions. I don’t expect anyone to learn and apply this technique without having been there. It is listed as a reminder for those coached through the kata at Mountain Quest 2025.

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August 3, 2025 No Comments

Dealing With Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Violence

The purpose and methodology preserved in our To-Shin Do kata were not created to address mutually consented fighting, where we agree to fight another martial artist until one of us quits. Our practice methods address handling non-consensual violence. That means self-protection, or stoping harm when attacked with criminal violence. The purpose determines the strategies used to achieve the goal. The strategies dictate the tactics. The tactics determine the choice of techniques. “Winning a fight I agreed to take part in” is not the same as “eliminating harm from invasive criminal violence”. You can’t take the strategies, tactics, and techniques used to achieve one goal and put them into action to achieve a different goal. This is not a value judgement

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July 27, 2023 1 Comment

ALL POSTS

Boundary Setting

Winning a fighting contest is such a different result than returning home healthy and happy each day. And yet many martial artists confuse this reality,

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May 13, 2015 No Comments

Brain Involved in Fear

A common mistake regarding the purpose of studying the five elements is to believe that we somehow “choose” a particular element in the middle of

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April 13, 2015 1 Comment

A or F?

What does it take to honorably pass a test and earn a new belt in the martial arts? My view is that there are: Things

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March 13, 2015 2 Comments

Kofuku no Shiori

“The way to experience happiness is to let go of all worries and regrets. Being happy is the most satisfying of life’s feelings. Reflect back

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February 14, 2015 No Comments

Do You Guys Spar?

A difficult question to answer. Difficult because I know the answer will be misused by people not sympathetic to our training methods. Fast answer is

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January 12, 2015 No Comments

The Art of Winning

I remember a conversation I had with my ninja martial arts teacher way back in the 1970s. I was in my twenties and had just

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December 13, 2014 No Comments

Fortunate Fellow

Some friends at my dojo began a “challenge” of writing notes about what they are grateful for. I like that kind of thinking in this

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August 29, 2014 4 Comments