Bujinkan

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. Although the throwing of shuriken is part of the curriculum of some ryûha, it is a very tiny facet of a much larger system.

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 two primary categories, dakentaijutsu (striking forms) and jûtaijutsu (grappling forms). 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 lenghts (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 some schools.

Ranks

The Bujinkan Dôjô establishes a series of ten kyû grades below the rank of black belt, and 17 dan grades of black belt. 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.

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.