Bujinkan
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The Bujinkan, or more properly the Bujinkan Dôjô (武神館道場) is a martial arts organization. It is headed and operated by sôke Masaaki Hatsumi (初見良昭 Hatsumi Masaaki), who learned from Toshitsugu Takamatsu (高松寿嗣 Takamatsu Toshitsugu). The Bujinkan honbu dôjô is in Noda just outside Tokyo. Bujinkan dôjô can be found all over the world. Bujinkan plus a few off-shoots are collectively known as the X-kan.
The Bujinkan Dôjô method is named Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu (武神館武道体術), and is a collection of nine martial arts family lineages, called ryûha. The art was previously called Bujinkan Ninpô Taijutsu and before that it was known under the more generic name ninjutsu - a name that many serious practitioners of the art today avoid as it has gotten a somewhat bad name. One thing associated with ninjutsu is the throwing of shuriken and although it is part of the curriculum of some ryûha, it is a very tiny facet of a much larger system.
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Training
The training is generally referred to as taijutsu, and is composed of both armed and unarmed methods of fighting. Unarmed methods are broken down into three primary categories, dakentaijutsu (striking forms), jûtaijutsu (grappling forms), and taihenjutsu (body movement skills). Much of the basic taijutsu taught to beginners comes from three or four primary lineages in the Bujinkan compendium, usually Kotô-ryû, Gyokko-ryû, Kuki Shinden-ryû, and Togakure-ryû.
Many weapons are taught: sword (shinai made of bamboo, wooden bokken, dull metal sword iaitô or swords made by soft modern materials), staffs of various lengths (bô, jô, hanbô), rope, spear, fan tessen, Japanese halberd (naginata) and more. Weapons are categorized into four primary classes - sticks, blades, flexibles, and projectiles.
Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu practitioners as a rule do not engage in competitions or contests, as the art is ill-suited to sporting-style competitions.
Other notes
The practitioners wear black keikogi, where most other budo arts wear white. Tabi, traditional socks with split toes, are worn on the feet at many schools including most dojos in Japan.
Ranks
The Bujinkan Dôjô establishes a series of ten kyû grades below the rank of black belt. Kyu ranks usually wear green or red belts: green for men and red for women, although there is some variety between teachers and dojos. There are 10 dan grades of black belt, but there are different levels of 10th dan and so it is often said that there is 15 dan grades.
At fifth degree black belt, godan, practitioners submit to a test before the sôke to establish that they are able to sense the presence of danger and evade it, considered to be a fundamental survival skill. This is called the sakki test. A teacher who has a rank of at least godan is often referred to as a shidoshi, teacher. A shidoshi is entitled to open his own dojo, and is entitled to hand out ranks up to fourth dan at the premises he wishes. A shidoshi-ho (generally third or fourth dan) might run a dojo or a training group under the supervision of a shidoshi. A person who has been given 10th dan in the Bujinkan is often referred to as a shihan.
In addition to the kyû/dan ranking system, a few select senior master practitioners have earned older menkyo kaiden certificates of mastery in individual school lineages. These menkyo kaiden certificates essentially establish that the master practitioner has learned all that there is to learn about the particular lineage. Whereas the kyû/dan ranks are often made public, those select practitioners who have earned menkyo kaiden rarely divulge their status.
In most other budo arts the steps and time between the grades increase the further you come in the system - but not so in the Bujinkan. Kyu ranks and lower dan ranks are handed out in any way that the teacher (shidoshi) likes, and the variation is big what requirements and pace is concerned. Once you have reached godan, advancement can be quick. A new dan rank every year (if travelling to Japan and training for the head of the style, Masaaki Hatsumi, is not unusual - but unheard of in most other arts, where ranks such as 8th dan often is reserved for senior practitioners who have been training for most of their adult life.
Nine ryûha lineages of Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu
- Gyokko-ryû Kosshijutsu (玉虎流骨指術)
- Kotô-ryû Koppôjutsu (虎倒流骨法術)
- Shinden Fudô-ryû Dakentaijutsu (神伝不動流打拳体術)
- Takagi Yôshin-ryû Jûtaijutsu (高木揚心流柔体術)
- Kuki Shinden-ryû Happô Bikenjutsu (九鬼神伝流八法秘剣術)
- Gikan-ryû Koppôjutsu (義鑑流骨法術)
- Togakure-ryû Ninpô (戸隠流忍法)
- Gyokushin-ryû Ninpô (玉心流忍法)
- Kumogakure-ryû Ninpô (雲隠流忍法)
External links
- http://tv.motionmanage.com/net_hp/navi/navi.aspx?site_id=nodasi&channel=0&movie_no=339&link=ok (a demonstration video by the headmaster, only works in IE)
- http://www.bujinkan.com/
- http://www.bujinkan.nu/
- http://www.bujinkan.org/
- http://www.bujinkan.fi/
- http://www.kabuto.nu/
- http://www.kutaki.org/
- http://www.ninjutsu.com/
- http://www.winjutsu.com/
- http://www.kihon.com/
- http://www.bujinkanbritain.org/
- http://www.budo.org/
- Ura & Omote Archives (http://www.oniko.de/archiv/uraomote/uraindex.html)
- http://www.bujinkanquebec.com/
Correspondence
To write the International Bujinkan Dôjô, write:
Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi 636 Noda, Noda-shi, Chiba-ken, 278-8691 Japan
All correspondence must be in Japanese.
Links dojo directories
- Winjutsu dojo directory (http://www.winjutsu.com/winlinks.html)
- American Bujinkan Dojos (http://www.ninjutsu.com/dojos-links.shtml)sv:Bujinkan