What is Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutsu / Ninjutsu:
Bujinkan is a worldwide association of japanese martial arts, of which founder is Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, student of Takamatsu Toshitsugu, the last real combat ninja of Japan. Bujinkan includes 9 traditional family arts (ryu), which are stated below. In short, Bujinkan teaches strikings, lockings, throws, bone breaking, chokes, in combination with unarmed / armed combat.
Takamatsu Toshitsugu - moko no tora
Takamatsu Hisatsugu was born on the 23rd year of Meiji (10 March 1887) in Akashi of the Hyogo province. Later on, he changed his name to Toshitsugu by using the same kanji characters with Hisatsugu. Starting martial arts from very young with his grandfather Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu, in Shindenfudo Ryu Dakentaijutsu, soon he gained great knowledge from various other teachers in Ninjutsu and Bujutsu ryu. He travelled in China where he worked for several warlords, and for that period he had over 1000 students.
Takamatsu's diary states 12 fights to death and 7 fights - tournaments. Those were his recorded duels. Fighting in Mongolia alone after the Japanese government's forbidance, he got the nickname moko no tora - Mongolian Tiger. Takamatsu Toshitsugu is considered as one of the greatest fighters / teachers of Japan. He died in the age of 85.
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Masaaki Hatsumi
Hatsumi Yoshiaki was born on 12th December 1931 in Noda, Tokyo. At the age of 7 he studied martial arts through Kendo, and in the meantime he studied Judo and Karate. Dissapointed at how easily someone can be defeated in Judo by a bigger and stronger opponent, he decided to find a true marial tradition. After his training in kobujutsu Juuhappan, he came in contact with Takamatsu, trained with him for 15 years and proposed to him to change his name to Masaaki. At the end of his life, Takamatsu had decided that all the 9 ryu to go directly to Hatsumi, thus, Hatsumi became the new Soke of those ryu. Since then, Hatsumi has trained military and police academies around the world, CIA, FBI as well he has been honoured by many other organisations. Today, at his 76 years, he continues to teach in Hombu Dojo, in the region of Noda, Tokyo.
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The 9 schools (ryu-ha) of the Bujinkan:
