Reverend Greg

The Juppo Sesho of the Devlan sector

In the final episode of Star Trek Next Generation, Picard finds himself traveling through three different time periods in his own life with the help of Q. He comes to understand that he is responsible for the end of the existence of all human life. In the Devlan system there is an “anomaly” which he comes to understand has actually grown larger in the past. It’s connected with anti-time. The anomaly grows larger as time moves backwards, or visa/versa.

Q challenges Picard to discover his error by sending him back to pre-historical France to view the actual primordial amino-acid soup that will form the first proteins and basis for life on Earth, a phenomenon that will now fail to occur due to the appearance of the anomaly. Picard finally figures out that it is the use of the takion (sic) ray probe in all three time periods that creates the anomaly in the first place.

In the end he finds himself once again in the cosmic court of Q facing his final judgement, having passed the ultimate test of the Continuum, a test he learns is ongoing and will never end. Q informs Picard that this is the true adventure of human evolution, not the exploration of nebula and other space phenomena rather the journey and evolution of the human imagination and , well, basically the evolving willingness to think outside the box.

The true human adventure, the process of considering new and unimaginable possibilities.

Letting go. Moving on.

These last few years Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, the last living Ninja on Earth, began to teach the principle of Juppo Sesho. Frankly this had us all quite confused and sent us off inventing imaginative and fanciful ideas of moving throughout the 8 direction and back and forth in time. It was great fun.

In Japan someone I trust told me, “Dude, Juppo Sesho is just about moving into a safe place.”.

Oh…

When Soke taught Juppo Sesho a couple of years ago he employed the forms associated with the Jutte, a feudal era weapon which was a trungeon with a hook for catching an attacker‘s sword. The katas were relatively simple, but really just a vehicle for exploring the concept of Juppo Sesho. Hatsumi Soke could have used anything, sword, 6 foot staff, light saber but he simply chose the Jutte.

Well, actually he only used the Jutte forms. He replaced the actual Jutte with a kunai, a Ninja digging tool. Typical of Hatsumi Soke. He does what he wants. But I digress…

Needless to say many in the Bujinkan confused the forms and the kunai with Juppo Sesho itself. Teachers throughout the world began to refer to the “kunai kata of Juppo Sesho”, confusing the vehicle with the journey.

An anomaly in Devlan sector, Juppo Sesho, Nichiren Buddhsim. Q and Soke Hatsumi. The journey vs. the vehicle. The metaphors are endless.

You make the connections.

Rev. Greg, Shidoshi

Posted by revgreg at December 14, 2005 05:36 PM