Chapter 13: Training for Strength, Love, and War
Harry, in his Evan persona, also found a martial arts studio, Dojo Katori, and decided to enroll to give him some basics in hand-to-hand combat. The head instructor, Nicolas Linnear, was an Angelo-featured man in his 50s. He spoke English with a very light British accent, and moved very efficiently. After explaining to the instructor that he planned to join the Royal Marines, the instructor recommended Evan do a combination of Jeet Kune Do (developed by Bruce Lee), Bujinkan (also known as Ninjitsu or Ninpo), and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, given Evan's somewhat short and thin stature. He explained that Bruce Lee was also a short and (initially) thin person, and developed Jeet Kune Do from a form of Kung Fu known as Wing Chun.
Wing Chun was developed primarily for women – it was a form of close combat, taking into consideration their typically weaker musculature and smaller stature. Bruce Lee developed Jeet Kune Do to emphasize adaptability and fluid combat that could be used in a variety of situations responding to real world situations. He wanted his fighting method to be variable and adaptable, like water. Water "is" – it fills its container; it can be mirror calm or angry; it flows in a stream, ebbing and flowing, changing direction when needed, yet strong enough to cut through rock to make canyons – the perfect presentation of Yin and Yang.
Bujinkan (aka Ninjitsu) is both a traditional form of martial art and employs stealth and trickery, something necessary and helpful in combat situations. Ninjitsu teaches both fighting technique and the mind arts. Discipline of the mind harmonizing with the body makes for a formidable weapon. Ninjitsu employs the use of weapons – the body (unarmed), Kenjutsu (sword fighting), Bojutsu (stick and staff fighting), Shurikenjutsu (throwing stars, knives and darts), Sojutsu (spear fighting), Naginatjutsu (haliberd fighting – developed for women), and Kusarigamajutsu (fighting with a kusarigama – a Japanese short scythe attached to weighted ball and chain). Other skills include archery, climbing and infiltration techniques. Bujinkan also stressed the use of chi, the internal energy combined with the power of the mind and body.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a form of ground grappling. It is similar to Japanese Jujitsu in this, and both focus on the idea of defeating stronger opponents using a flexible fighting strategy. The difference is that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu focuses on ground fighting and submission grappling while Japanese Jujitsu focuses on throwing opponents and joint manipulation (which is also incorporated in Ninjitsu).
Mr. Linnear (Sensei) told Evan that reaching competent fighting level can take years of training, but if he was serious, he could benefit if he came every day over the next six weeks that Evan was planning to train for the PJFT. Evan set a schedule with the instructor to come every day for each class (1.5 hours each) and an extra 1.5 hours for meditation and "Ninjitsu mind arts". Because Evan was going into the military, and because Evan was really serious and putting in a lot of effort, the instructor introduced him to the concept of Haragei. Haragei is a mental discipline that develops situational awareness, as well as interpersonal communication (without the use of words).
At night, he would spend two hours reading magical theory and practicing wandless and parsel magic. For one hour, he would have Dobby throw tennis balls at him while he was blindfolded. (It was a good thing they were using tennis balls – Dobby kept apologizing for hitting "Evan". It was getting a bit annoying to hear "I am sorry master; I am sorry master…."!) Before going to sleep, he would write to Hermione, giving her an update, and just "discover" each other. He wrote that he was planning to enter "Her Majesty, the Queens Service" in four or five weeks and was training himself physically. He would also ask her one or two questions from a "couples game" he found one day walking to the YMCA - "101 uncommon questions to ask your significant other". By asking her these questions, and providing his own answers, he was hoping to get to know her better and to forge an even stronger relationship. Harry/Evan really missed Hermione. After completing each letter, Harry used a rune stone to absorb any magical residue on the letter so nobody would think it was written by a wizard (He found the rune stone idea in one of the books Dobby got him.) Harry then posted the letters through non-magical mail to her parent's address. He continued to work really hard on making the Fidelius work wandlessly – he was almost there. Now if he could only find that pebble! (Dobby was the secret keeper for that one and didn't want to tell him where the pebble was, the cheeky bugger!)