By Yossi Sheriff

The AKBAN way of doing martial art is intricately connected with training outside. Martial arts training, whether it is Ninjutsu or other Koryu from other parts of the world, took place outside. This background was so clear and obvious that it was not spoken of, just as we do not speak about going and opening a tap to take a shower. But there was a time, not long ago in the lifespan of our species that the Dojo was the outside, not a mattress in a training hall.

By Yossi Sheriff

I grew up in my teacher's Dojo. I was only thirteen.

We started training in Doron Navon's old house, he used to live in Afeka. After a year we moved to an old henhouse, cleaned the rubbish, painted and Doron planted a bamboo, dark green and lovely. Everything taking place in such a fitting address: Number 3, Flowers St. between vast empty fields and Kiryat Shaul, the cemetery of Tel Aviv.

By Yossi Sheriff

In Japan, a stay in the field went without saying in ancient times. A warrior would pass through the field on his way to battle or his teacher. A warrior would sleep in the field during this stay. There were people who mastered the art of being in the Japanese terrain: the mountains, the valleys and forests, which changed them. These were the Yamabushi, those who “sleep outside”.

A martial art can exist very nicely without spending any time outdoors. But some of us think of such an art as a weak new creation and synthetic. In the martial art we practice the old paths play an important role. This connection to old ways is an option, not a necessity, much like the practice of the sword is a very old path, one which not all veterans choose to take.