I am an intelligent and rational-thinking person, who is amazed by how many suckers Masaaki Hatsumi has managed to rope-in to his global money-making scheme. I used to do Bujinkan, but then I woke up. The Bujinkan is said to be made-up of nine schools (three ninja, two super-deadly Chinese-derived systems and four battle-tested Samurai Ryu-ha). YET, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF FOR MOST OF THESE SCHOOLS EXISTING BEFORE TAKAMATSU. So, why the hell do Bujinkan practitioners believe Hatsumi's stories? He won't even allow his scrolls to be independently authenticated!!!

Because I have been asked why I did Bujinkan for ten years about fifty times, below is reply I recently gave; everyone who's interested can read it and hopefully see where I'm coming from.

I'M NOT PROUD OF MY BUJINKAN PAST. I WAS DELUDED, AND SO IS ANYONE ELSE WHO TRAINS IN HATSUMI'S SCAM OF A SO-CALLED MARTIAL ART.

When I started training in the Bujinkan, I was young and impressionable. I was ignorant about real self defence. All the THEORIES of Bujinkan Ninpo (as it was called at the time) Taijutsu seemed to make sense: distance, timing, not relying on strength, not getting stuck in kata, moving through kamae, etc, etc.

However, as the years rolled-on, nothing happened to make me feel confident at self defence.

I was graded faster than anyone else at my first dojo in the UK, and so ego was a part of my reason for training. It felt good to be the top student, and I was constantly being asked to demonstrate and write articles about our training.

*** That isn't to say I was only training to look good to others. My chief reason for training was to learn effective self defence. But, just like so many other cults, the Bujinkan massages the egos of its students just enough to keep them coming back. Also, its teachers invent techniques on the spot so that no matter haw advanced a particular student may be, they are always playing 'catch-up' in an effort to learn the latest 'secrets' ***

Anyway, I went to Europe and visited S.Bogsater and A.Cousergue, and traveled to the USA and trained with J.Hoban, B.Atkins and others.

They were all LARPers.

By this time (about five years into my training), I had spent thousands on travel, and I was frustrated by the glaring differences between dojos. Things I had been praised for back home in England were seen as being 'weaknesses' by Jack Hoban or 'incorrect' by Bill Atkins. Things I'd been shown by Arnaud (such as dropping to one knee when bringing someone to the ground), were outrightly criticised by others.

Not that I didn't want criticism. But, when one fifteenth dan told me one thing, and then another contradicted that, I concluded that Hatsumi wasn't being reliably represented outside Japan.

In short, there was no 'truth', just play acting.

So, I came back home, and decided to travel to Japan.

By now, I was simply going through the motions. I had been training for long enough to be able to see the advantages and disadvantages of the Bujinkan. The advantages were few, and could be learned in a few months at judo or a traditional jujutsu dojo.

The disadvantages were many, and the ones that annoyed me the most were the lack of resistance training, and the LARPing that EVERYONE did, regardless of rank.

Japan was my last hope.

The first time I want to Japan, was a huge let-down. I went to a Daikomyousai, and the room was filled with eccentric Westerners wearing customised gis.

For the entire three days of training, there wasn't a single instance of demonstration of 'advanced' techniques against resistance; not even by Hatsumi or any of the Japanese Shihan; it was simply LARPing for Hatsumi's birthday.

Afterward, at Honbu, I was graded to godan. I heard Hatsumi move. I flew home disgusted.

On returning home, I was a godan, and my status in the dojo was even more of an ego-massaging affair. Not that I was boastful. That's not me at all. But, I was only human and it felt good to be asked questions by people wanting to be as 'good' as me. Still, though, it was a hollow feeling because I knew how weak I really was, and I'd lost all respect for the abilities of my teacher (not to mention Hatsumi as well).

Then, my work saw me flying-off to Australia to live. Despite my by now stark realisation that the Bujinkan was a fake, training was such a habit that I sought-out Ed Lomax. I'd heard he was the 'real deal' and a no-nonsense kind of guy. He was funny, he hit quite hard, and he talked about fairly practical things. But, he still LARPed. It was still purely THEORETICAL and no-one ever realistically resisted him.I trained with him in Sydney, and met Tim Bathurst.

I went to Japan another couple of times, and things just went from bad to horrible. Hatsumi was talking about all kinds of ridiculous things such as water and wind and all manner of imagined and unproven bollocks.

The techniques got more and more ludicrous and ineffective, and kamae and kata weren't even discussed anymore.

I was graded to rokudan by Hatsumi at Honbu. He walked up to me and, through a New Zealand guy who was translating, told me I was now rokudan. I paid up and went home.

The last year and a bit was spent mainly training with a couple of guys from my Australian dojo. We would go twice a week to the dojo, but experiment on the weekends and after work. We tried to make the techniques and principles work against resistance. We gradually broke ties with the dojo, and took-up judo.

Now, things became clear: we knew fuck-all about balance-breaking and effective throws, locks, etc AGAINST RESISTANCE.

Finally, I'll make this very clear:

*** I AM NOT CLAIMING TO BE AN EXPERT FIGHTER. ALL I AM DOING IS TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BUJINKAN, WHICH IS THAT IT'S A COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION THAT CLAIMS TO TEACH EFFECTIVE SELF DEFENCE, AND YET THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF ANY TRAINING AGAINST FULL RESISTANCE.

IT ALSO CLAIMS TO BE BASED ON NINE ANCIENT SCHOOLS, WHICH ARE NOT PROVEN TO BE IN HATSUMI'S POSSESSION, NOR, IN SOME CASES, TO HAVE EXISTED AT ALL BEFORE TAKAMATSU ***

Regardless of my experience with the Bujinkan, the things I am saying about it are factual and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong.