[quote=Law;1936685]I’m now an official 100% convert from the Bujinkan and have since moved on to BJJ and Boxing full time. I can’t get over how refreshing it is to be training in an environment which promotes raw consistent progress, without the bullshit facade and the promise of “one day you’ll get it” which the BJK was all about. I’ll come clean and admit that I was all about the BJK at one point and was guilty of being a total nut-rider, believing it to be the be-all-end-all MA.
It wasn’t until I came back from Japan though that I realized that I was stagnating and that I was spending more time trying to decipher Hatsumi’s rhetoric and mysticism, than actually learning how to fight. I kept asking myself the same question and the common answer amongst the BJK Elite was always “perhaps you don’t get it?”.
It wasn’t just that though there was a plethora of different reasons as well, such as the bullshit elitist cult like attitude of the nose-bleed ranks who wouldn’t allow you to ask specific questions about techniques on forums (you know the one I’m talking about) and then immediately try to shut you down with their blind faith logic if you even contemplated questioning the history or the training methods. In my humble opinion for what it’s worth the BJK is the Scientology of the MA world, Tom Cruise might as well be the next Soke of the BJK, because he’s got all the right credentials!
My biggest gripe though was the Japanese training, depending on the Sensei there was always a mob in that tiny Hombu dojo. It was that fucking packed, people were training on the rafters! He’s pulling in some serious Kwan during those lessons and I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t expand the Dojo, if I remember correctly there is ample space behind the venue to accomodate an extention. I remember during one of Hatsumi’s Sunday classes thinking “this is total bullshit, the 3500 Yen I just paid might as well have been a donation, because I’m not learning anything here”.
There must have been at least 80 people in that cramped space and he was supposedly teaching “classical techniques” which was nothing more than un-realistic fantasy, with no practical application in the real world. Even some of the higher ranks would refer to it as the “Hatsumi Show”, since that practically all it was. It was ok though because I was told that he was teaching at a “15th Dan level”, that’s why I probably didn’t get it.
I’m sure it’s been pointed out many times before, he arrives late, you then all proceed to scuffle around in the human traffic for awhile and then proceed to mingle and drink Green fucking Tea, whilst he paints you pretty pictures. What finally did it for me though was when people were taking the 5th Dan (Godan) test every day until they passed. Most of these people were actually failing! Yet still passing! They’d get slightly clipped (hence failing) but then passing on a “technicality”. It was becoming more and more abundantly clear that everything was becoming watered down and the red flag was up for me. It was all about the $$$$.
I could go on, but I’m sure I’m just re-hashing what’s been said hundreds of times before.
With that being said, it’s almost time for BJJ so I’ve got to jet![/quote]
Love the post man, I agree with most of it; I’ve read the bansen shukai (Book on ninjutsu written my Iga shinobi so their art wouldn’t die.) and it says nothing like the shit Massaki teaches BUT… Sigh BJJ is very similar GASP While yes it is an effective martial art, the Gracie rip-off fringe (Not all of GJJ, just some.) system is just another scam… I mean Royce Gracie or whatever brother (They all look the same…) tested positive for steroids after an MMA fight so y’know they’re all the same really; the bujinkan also teaches some decent stuff and participates in MMA, the result is the same…
To conclude: Every martial art has a rip-off element to it, but most INCLUDING THE BUJINKAN do tell at least some truth.