Ninjutsu Melbourne
What is Bujinkan Ninjutsu?
Bujinkan Ninjutsu is the martial art taught by the Bujinkan Dojo, the international organisation founded by Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi in Noda, Japan. Its formal name is Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. It brings together nine traditional Japanese martial arts schools (ryū) under one system of training.
Three of those schools are ninja traditions and six are samurai traditions. That mix is why Bujinkan training covers so much ground: unarmed self defence, joint locks, throws and strikes, movement and balance, and a full range of traditional weapons.
Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi
Masaaki Hatsumi was born on 2 December 1931 in Noda, Chiba Prefecture. As a young man he studied a range of martial arts before becoming the student of Toshitsugu Takamatsu, one of the last of the old ninja masters. He trained under Takamatsu for around 15 years.
Before Takamatsu died in 1972, he passed on the grandmastership (sōke) of nine schools to Hatsumi, including Togakure-ryū Ninpō, of which Hatsumi became the 34th grandmaster. Hatsumi went on to found the Bujinkan Dojo and to teach Bujinkan Ninjutsu to students from all over the world. He has also written many books on ninjutsu, stick fighting and samurai jujutsu.
The nine schools of the Bujinkan
The nine ryū that make up Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu are:
- Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu
- Gyokushin-ryū Ninpō
- Kumogakure-ryū Ninpō
- Gyokko-ryū Kosshijutsu
- Kotō-ryū Koppōjutsu
- Shindenfudō-ryū Dakentaijutsu
- Takagi Yōshin-ryū Jūtaijutsu
- Kukishinden-ryū Happō Bikenjutsu
- Gikan-ryū Koppōjutsu
The first three are ninja schools. The other six are samurai schools, and each brings its own approach to striking, grappling, controlling an attacker and using weapons.
Ninjutsu, the art of the ninja, in Melbourne
Ninjutsu Melbourne has been sharing Masaaki Hatsumi's training with students since 1998, and is Melbourne's first and only full-time Bujinkan dojo. Our chief instructor, Craig Guest, started studying Bujinkan Ninjutsu in 1990 and has made 20 trips to Japan to train in the Bujinkan.
In class you will learn the same Bujinkan techniques taught in Japan: how to move, how to take an attacker's balance, joint locks and strikes, and the traditional ninja weapons such as the bo staff, jo staff, hanbo, rope and sword. Techniques are then tested through sparring and pressure testing, so you know they work when someone resists.
There are separate classes for every age: adults classes for 16 years and over, Junior Adults for teenagers aged 11 to 15, Samurai Warriors for 8 to 10 year olds and Ninja Stars for children aged 4½ to 7. Every new student starts with a $19.95 trial of 4 classes, with a new uniform to keep, at our dojo in Thornbury.
