About the Bujikan Dojo...

The Bujinkan is a traditional Japanese kobudo organization in Noda City, Japan headed by Masaaki Hatsumi.  “Budo Taijutsu” (lit. Warrior Way Body Skills) is Hatsumi's blanket-term that encompasses  the curriculum of nine ryu (lineages) that he inherited from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu. 

 

Takamatsu Sensei was the son of samurai and ninja families, and was instructed in both traditional samurai bujutsu (warrior skills) from some of the last functioning samurai that survived the Edo period, as well as systems of ninpo (more commonly known as ninjutsu) from his own family members.

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About Takamatsu Sensei:

Takamatsu Sensei was born in 1889 and was the son of a castle retainer in the Kuki clan.  His maternal grandfather was Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu (also known in Japanese records as Toda Hisajiro). Toda Sensei was a personal falconer to the last shogun of Japan, a top member of the Oniwaban spy network (professional spies for the Tokugawa shogunate who descended from the famous Iga ninja families and typically only married and operated within their network).

 

He was also a relative to the famous Hattori ninja clan through the Oniwaban family relations, and operated as one of the top sword instructors from 1859 to the early 1860’s at the Edo Kobusho (a giant budo hall established by the last Tokugawa shogun government in 1859). 

 

Toda Sensei was the Soke (family head) of three lineages of ninpo (i.e. ninjutsu), as well as the combative ryuha of Taijutsu from the Iga region (historic home of the ninja). 

 

He was also the inheritor of a lineage known as Shinden Fudo Ryu. It is through Toda Sensei that Takamatsu Sensei became the 33rd generation heir to the famous Togakure Ryu Ninpo (ninjutsu), as well as heir to Gyokko Ryu Kosshijutsu, Koto Ryu Koppojutsu, Komougakure Ryu Ninpo, Gyokushin Ryu Ninpo, and Shinden Fudo Ryu.

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Toda passed all these arts to his grandson, Takamatsu Hisatsugu (who later changed his name to Toshitsugu).  Toda Sensei passed away in 1909.

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Takamatsu Sensei also inherited many ryu from former Kuki clan samurai, namely those traditions of the Kukishin Ryu and two lines of Takagi Ryu Jiujutsu (Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryu of Ishitani Sensei and Seito Fujita-ha Takagi Yoshin Ryu through Mizuta Sensei).  It is from these arts that most of our weapons training derives, as well as a large portion of our jiutaijutsu (jujutsu) training.

 

Both Ishitani and Mizuta were considered 14th and 15th generation heirs of Takagi Yoshin Ryu through the 13th Soke, Yagi Sensei (Mizuta was the heir of Fujita Sensei, 14th generation Soke and where the Fujita line derives its reference).

 

Ishitani was a head teacher as well for the Kukishin Ryu Bujutsu traditions, along with being 22nd generation inheritor of another line of Ninpo related to Togakure Ryu (i.e. Hakuun Ryu Ninpo or Hakuun Ryu Onshin No Jutsu; a very old scholl of Ninpo with historic ties to Gyokko Ryu and the Izumo Shugen Monks; historically  referred to as being "Tengu" in local lore). This is a core historic ties of the ninja to the tengu beings, as well as the Shugenja of vairous shrines in that region of Japan, including Togakure Shrine near Togakushi Village, Japan.

 

Ishitani Sensei was also the Soke of Gikan Ryu Koppojutsu (a sister art and descedant of Gyokko Ryu).  All of Kukishin Ryu, Takagi Ryu, Gikan Ryu, and further training in Ninpo was taught to Takamatsu Sensei.  Alongside these warrior lineages, several scrolls concerning old Shinto teaching, Shugendo, medicinal arts, and old Budo teachings were passed to Takamatsu Sensei and these are known as the Amatsu Tatara .

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This meant that he embodied an entire history of the warrior class of Japan, and it is from this wealth of knowledge that Takamatsu Sensei was considered a "Divine Warrior" (lit. "Bujin") and this is where the Bujinkan derives its name.

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Takamatsu's Sucessor:

Takamatsu met young Hatsumi in 1957 and began to teach him as a personal student for the next 15 years.  By the time of Takamastu Sensei’s passing in 1972, Hatsumi had become the Soke (Family Head) of the 9 ryu mentioned above, as well as receiving Menkyo Kaiden (full transmission) of several other ryu, as well as the Amatsu Tatara.

 

These various ryu comprise the whole of the Bujinkan training, ranging from empty-handed taijutsu training (both hard-striking systems and jiujutsu systems) to various bukijutsu (weapons), dating back as early as the Two-Courts period of Japan (13th-14th Century AD) and before.

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Below is a breakdown of the various ryu we study from Hatsumi Sensei:

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Martial Systems of Iga/Koga Regions (Taijutsu of the Ninja)

• Gyokko-ryu (玉虎流) 28th Soke  (Ishizukah Sensei 29th Soke)

• Koto Ryu (虎倒流) 18th Soke (Noguchi Sensei 19th Soke)

• Gikan-ryu Koppo jutsu (義鑑流骨法術) 15th Soke  (Sakasai Sensei 16th Soke)

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Systems of Ninpo (Survival Skills of the Ninja)

• Gyokushin-ryu Ninpo (玉心流忍法) 21st Soke (Kan Sensei 22nd Soke)

• Kumogakure-ryu Ninpo (雲隠流忍法) 14th Soke (Furuta Sensei 15th Soke)

• Togakure-ryu Ninpo (戸隠流) 34th Soke (Takumi Sensei 35th Soke)

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Martial Systems from mainstream Samurai Families

• Kukishinden Ryu Happo Biken jutsu (九鬼神伝流八法秘剣術) 28th Soke (Iwata Sensei 29th Soke)

• Takagi Yoshin-ryu Jutaijutsu (高木揚心流柔体術) 17th Soke (Sakasai 18th Soke)

• Shinden Fudo-ryu(神伝不動流) 26th Soke (Nagato Sensei 27th Soke)

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Students are encouraged in the dojo to learn the natural principles from these ancient arts that continue to preserve life in our modern, contemporary world.