We were lucky to catch up with Brian Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brian, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Well the only way to learn martial arts is to decide which martial arts best fits you and find a good instructor. Too many people think they can just go to the closest place to their house and become skilled. This isn’t true. You must find the art that is best for you not the art the art that is most convenient. Many people also think they can learn by watching the internet. I assure you that is a horrible mistake. Unless you train under a good instructor you will never know what a technique is supposed to feel like or where your flaws are. Would you be able to watch Gordon Ramsey cook a meal on t.v. and be able to describe what it taste like? Of course you can’t. The same principle applies to martial arts. Knowing what I know now I wish I had focused more on the sanshin no kata. This is five very short kata that are part of the foundation of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. Before beginning my training in the Bujinkan I trained in an art that was extremely heavy with kata. The Bujinkan is more hands on with throws and submission holds. This excited me more than the katas back then so I focused on that aspect more. Now I have trained for almost thirty years I can see aspects of the sanshin no kata in everything.
Essential skills in this art are footwork, hip movements, and knee movements.
When you begin training this seems irrelevant. We really used to beat each other back then. Brute force and full contact every class. Sensei would throw you in the air and quickly turn and kick you in the face or strike your groin while you flew helplessly through the air. The small things he was doing to us to get to that point didn’t dawn on us. Once I learned there was more to it than speed and power everything changed in my movement. Destroying someone’s balance and structure is important. It is much easier to knock your opponent over while he is off balance.
The greatest obstacle for me is distance. I have traveled all over the country and across the ocean several times to train.

Brian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began training in the martial arts in the early nineties. Tae Kwon do, kick boxing, and jujitsu but it didn’t feel right to me. I tried a free class at the new dojo in town called Ninjutsu Martial Arts. Sensei didn’t hold back. I was twice his size and he repeatedly threw me to the mat. I was hooked from that moment. So I threw down my old black belt, tied on a white belt and started over. This art was different. Sensei kept making references to Budo. He was teaching us the old ways of war. Everything from hand to hand to traditional weapons including sword work. This version of hand to hand was something I had never felt before. It blended the weapons with the hand to hand. You could attack him as ferocious as you wanted but it didn’t matter. You would quickly be in a painful joint lock, slammed to the ground, and then you would notice he was hold a small knife the whole time. A small knife that is on your throat. I had fought many tournaments in the other styles I had studied. I won quite a few and I lost a couple. but when sensei applied his Budo to me it was different. I didn’t lose a match instead I would have lost my life.
This is what I try to pass onto others The traditional Japanese art of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. I want people to be more confident in their abilities and to be able to protect themselves and others.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In life sometimes you have to admit when you are wrong. It is the same in the martial arts. To grow and become better you must realize there are other points of view or there are holes and flaws in you techniques and movements. There is an old proverb that states you must empty your cup before you can fill it again. Basically you must lose your ego and except corrections from your sensei. While training in hombu dojo in Japan I had to empty my cup. Sensei demonstrated a particularly painful technique. While training with my partner he came by to correct me. I was using too much muscle and not enough technique to achieve the goal. He corrected me again and again until I finally got it through my head. Empty your cup. That year I went back home and began to retrain my movements to what he wanted and I became much better than I ever thought.
Since then I have always been open to other viewpoints in the art and life.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Most people will never understand the brotherhood of the martial arts. People hear me tell stories of the training or see my injuries throughout the years and think I’m crazy for doing this to myself. What they don’t see is the other side of the training. These people are my friends. I am at times putting my life in their hands and they are doing the same. There is a level of trust that you won’t injure one another. That is hard to explain. Do accidents happen? Yes but it’s just an accident. Your putting your body in dangerous situations with throws and weapons but your doing it willingly with trust in your friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.westtennesseebujinkan.weebly.com
• Facebook: West Tennessee Bujinkan
• Other: wtbtengu@gmail.com