 The Bujinkan is a style of martial art that is often associated with ninjutsu. It was founded in 1970 by Masaaki Hatsumi and it is a collective of nine ancestor schools. I recently received an invitation to take part in an opening of a brand new Bujinkan dojo that was setting up in West Palm Beach. Now having no previous experience or contact with the art and in addition to receiving many requests from viewers to cover Bujinkan and other ninjutsu arts, I figured it was worth checking out. I first want to thank Daishihan Chris Carbonaro for reaching out to me and inviting me to spend a day training with them. He teaches Bujinkan ninjutsu in New Jersey and his student, Sensei Philip Angel Smith, was opening up his own dojo here in West Palm Beach. To celebrate, they were getting together a small group of students to break in the new dojo and have like a little seminar. Now the whole purpose of this YouTube channel is to explore, learn, and then share the martial arts with everyone. We've talked about this before but many arts are plagued with politics and Bujinkan is no exception. In my research I found a very large stigma against the art and there have been unfortunately many who have taken advantage of the commercialization of it and only hurt the integrity of the name. But I also found that there were a lot of pockets of dojos that stood out as being reputable and passionate about what they do and offered a valuable school of thought. So when I first arrived at Sensei Angel's school, I immediately recognized that this dojo was part of the latter group and that they took their art very seriously. They hold a very deep respect for those who trained before them and they worked very hard to preserve the traditions of the art. They welcomed me into their home and they gave me a taste of their craft. My name is Christopher Carbonaro. I've been studying the martial arts for about 25 years. I started when I was 12 years old with Taekwondo, did some Wing Chun Kung Fu at one point as well as Aikido. When I joined the military, I was stationed in England. During that time I studied at Parker's Kempo Karate for a few years and then I got stationed to Japan. I went to Dakota Air Base Japan and at that time I started studying the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu martial arts under Masa Kiyatsumi in the Honbu Dojo and Noda City, Japan. My name is Philip Angel Smith. I've been studying martial arts since I was three. I studied all styles, Taekwondo, karate, Kung Fu, mainly Jikun Do, Muay Thai and boxing and a little bit of Kalian as a screamer, but that was when I was younger. I started training with a gentleman by the name of Paul Fisher when I was a teenager and then after a couple years he introduced me to a gentleman by the name of Dick Severance. He's a very well-to-do Bujinkan instructor and Navy Seal. I trained with him until he passed and then when I moved to New York, I eventually found Chris Sensei and I've been training with him for the last five years. To explain what the art of Ninjutsu is is actually a very difficult question. Everyone thinks Ninjutsu is Hollywood Ninja and it is not, right? It is a very deep study. The techniques themselves come from various different schools that we study, which there's basically nine different schools of martial arts that we study and we try to reach that goal or obtain that goal with everything that we practice. The whole idea of Bujinkan, Bu is warrior, Jin is kami or god and kan is hall. So really Bujinkan is a place where the martial gods study. The whole idea of the Bujinkan comes from paying respects to Takamatsu Sensei. It's this idea of how Tsumi Sensei looks at Takamatsu Sensei and that's what the name Bujin is actually attributed to. Every school basically has its own makeup of different techniques such as throwing techniques, striking techniques, weapons. Some schools concentrate more on one weapon than another, but more or less they all have everything, right? So you have all these techniques that we practice are found in each of the nine schools, including the weapons, but it's done slightly differently. There's what's called Tokcho, or characteristic from each school which makes it slightly different. So Hatsumi Sensei learned the nine schools that we practice from his teacher, Takamatsu Sensei. He basically studied with him for roughly 15 years, traveling back and forth from his home to Takamatsu Sensei's home. And during that time was able to learn the nine schools that we currently study today along with the weapons and everything encompassed in that. Hatsumi Sensei basically took what was originally called Togakureiru Limpo Taijutsu and at one point called it Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. I actually asked him this question personally one time and I said, why did you combine everything together? And his answer at that time was because if you take all the schools and you put them together you have more tools to pull from out of, you know, like your toolbox. Instead of just having one specific movement from one school, right, you're able to then learn all these different schools and you have different techniques that you can utilize at one point in time. I have a lot of experience with private security and with the other styles. It was very engaging and aggressive. With Bujinkan I found that you had options. You could interact with people in a different way and it was tactical. So you studied what you were engaging yourself into, not just one way to handle a situation. It gave me options to disengage, engage and survive really. Having Takamatsu Sensei teach Hatsumi Sensei directly and there are a number of individuals who are still alive that were trained with Hatsumi Sensei at the time that he was trained with Takamatsu Sensei is a very, very close moment in time to learn these techniques. Interestingly, if you train with someone who studies in sword, their teachers, teachers, teachers, teachers may have used a sword in battle. Takamatsu Sensei had lived in China for roughly 10 years or so and during that time he utilized most of the skills and most of the arts that he had practiced up until then. So you're getting a very direct transmission which is quite interesting from that point of view and then Hatsumi Sensei obviously who's 87 years old now still actively teaching, you know making DVDs, movies, videos and he's teaching that then directly to us. That close transmission I think is very special but unfortunately it's very difficult for people to grasp, right? Ninja 2 is something that's very difficult and takes a lot of dedication. It's not possible for everyone to grasp it. Now Bujinkan is not an art that you take casually or at least not if you want to become good at it. It is a commitment and even the simplest of basics can take years to master. Hatsumi Sensei is a true master. I was very fortunate that when I studied these other martial arts I did study with people who are higher level martial artists. As you study these other schools you tend to see that at the higher level you know these people tend to have a certain level or certain aura about them if you want to say and what Hatsumi Sensei is the same. He is basically inspiration, right? You go to see Hatsumi Sensei so that you can be in his presence, listen to what he says, watch and what he demonstrates so that you can be inspired. This is what I take away from it a long time ago and I was very mistaken trying to mimic the techniques that he was doing when I went to Japan. I later learned that it's not possible, right? Because you have a guy who at this point has over 60 years of martial arts experience, how can it be possible to mimic something that he does without having that background? It's not possible, right? You have to study deeply so I was on a certain path and then I ended up starting a new path and starting from the ground up because I realized that there's a lot more to this and I have no problem starting from the beginning. Hatsumi Sensei is obviously very strict on the basics, Kihon but within the basics everything is accessible so with my students try and teach a broad understanding of survivability. You engage your environment so you know all your options to engage, not engage, etc. I've been studying Bujinkan in Jitsu for about 13, 14 years now. The Bujinkan is very unique. I personally like it because there's so much history and background in it and it's a martial art that you can't learn overnight. It takes deep study and self-practice in order for you to get good so if someone cannot read a book and just learn it or just go to a class and learn it you have to really dive deep into it within yourself and you have to really want it. This is the official opening of my dojo. So Chris Sensei was kind enough to come down from New Jersey usually we all go up to him several times a year and he was kind enough to come down and do the opening for us and teach I didn't look to open up a dojo. You train, you train diligently and your sensei kind of advances you. He'll come up to you or she'll come up to you and say okay you're ready for this. After a while he said okay it's time for you to start being a teacher like officially. And then after a while he said okay it's time for you to open a dojo. So I never really saw it. The dojo kind of found me. This dojo here specifically is called the Bujinkan Okami Dojo and okami not meaning begat but meaning wolf. This is one of my students, Philip Smith Dojo and this is what we're calling dojo buraki. So this is the first official event here at his dojo. Usually in the beginning of every year we do a dojo buraki. We open up the new year and usually I hold that event at my dojo in New Jersey. Every January the guys come from all the different locations and we hold this event. But the significance of today that's what this is for. We bowed in the class and we went over the basics as an introduction to the art. We ran through several drills that included warm ups, rolls, light grappling and even basic weapons drills. Now a lot of these concepts were very very different from my experience but I knew the second that they put their hands on me that a lot of these techniques were very effective. I was particularly impressed with how tight and controlling the joint locks were and resisting against them was actually pretty painful. Additionally they're very good at concealing strikes and there were several instances when they were demonstrating techniques that they would suddenly insert two or three strikes that I never saw coming. So I had a blast on this day and it was a very positive experience learning something new and different. We start off with what's called bowing in, bowing out. Basically we get ourselves centered and we pay respects to those who have died before us. Obviously these techniques came from the battlefield. People died for these techniques so we have to have that respect. Then we start with stretching exercises then breathing exercises then we do rolling, leaping, break fall exercises then we practice stances, kicks, punches, kicks the basic ideas of movements then usually we choose what the theme is for the class and then we usually end the last part of class with some type of weapons training. The one thing that's interesting is you have sports martial arts which is very good. I mean it's very useful, it's very effective. We can't, no one should discredit any martial art. There is credit or merit due to all martial arts. If you do not pay attention to the fact that people in the street do carry weapons whether it's a chair, a knife, a broken ball or something like this the way that you move will determine whether or not you can get out of the way safely and you can counter attack if it's necessary. So the movement is foreign and it actually takes a deep study or dedication to try to learn the movement but the thing is that if you study with a sports mentality and you're fighting someone that has a weapon it could be very dangerous. It's not about my technique is better than your technique type thing it's this awareness that you build while studying and of course the same if you come across someone who does Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or boxing or something like that and you don't respect them there's nothing to say they're not going to lay you out or choke you out and it's very important to have respect for all martial arts. It's just the goal is a little bit different. We also try to build the body and move our body in such a way that we are able to preserve our body for old age. For me it's very fascinating to see Hatsumi since the 87 years old still very flexible can sit up can sit on the floor and stand up very easily without any problems. The way you practice now is an investment for your future. One of the biggest things is a lot of martial arts today have become this type of dance. I think a lot of the time that happens because they don't have an instructor that necessarily knows how to maybe teach correctly didn't receive the information correctly in order to receive correct teachings you must have a relationship with a teacher and it doesn't mean any teacher it means a teacher who actually knows what they're doing especially in America most martial arts are all about making money now so it's all about fitness it's all about jumping around and maybe those teachers do know the real way but they have prostituted the art or maybe what they do is they have a generic class but then on the side they do have personal students a teacher who actually knows and then you need to build a relationship with them I never give up on being a student I think a lot of teachers nowadays are teachers that's it I know everything and I can teach it for me it's not like that I'm constantly trying to learn I think the difference is our school is dedicated to the preservation of the art we study very diligently and it's not for everyone and my school is not commercial but if people want to learn I will accept them of course you know but they have to put in the time and dedication for that now it's important to keep in mind how far back some of these methods go Bujinkan has some deep roots and some of the ancestor schools go back several hundred years there were times where I was struggling with the concept or didn't quite understand certain body stances or hand placement until it was demonstrated within the context of a weapon and then everything made sense some of these techniques date back to the time of sword fighting on the battlefield and it was really fascinating to have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of this history even after 26 years of martial arts experience this felt like day one to me I think the weapons training is an equalizer and if you don't practice properly in the basics when you move into the weapon it's non-functional traditionally Japanese martial arts would start off with long range weapons and you would work your way down to intermediate range and then close range and then you usually would end with so when you practice with these long range weapons specifically it really helps to reinforce your kamai or your stance your distance your timing and then while working through the different ranges of weapons you learn different distances you learn different timings you learn the difference between a weapon without a blade a weapon with a blade a weapon with a three foot blade versus a two inch blade or something like this a projectile so it gives you experience deeply studied all these different weapons all these different ranges and now it's the point where you're able to move freely without a weapon because you understand those distances so it's all study, there's no magic if you talk about shuriken projectile weapons maybe on the surface is for distraction right? I throw something at your face you then get distracted by it so I can stab you with something there are also things like putting poison on the end of a shuriken there's all types of ways to stand with it there's all different methods of throwing all different directions, angles, holding other weapons while throwing it using in the middle of a technique how to deploy it it's not so simple in the Bujinkan you have a black uniform usually we wear patches those are what signifies the ranks it's called Wappen and there's different color patches as well with stars and as you go up the ranks usually a white belt before you get any rank and then as you go through 9th Q to 1st Q you're wearing a green belt and then as you get showed on and up you're in a black belt also for females sometimes you see them wear a red belt during the Q ranks and sometimes they have a red gi or a purple gi there's a company out there that we use it's called Yari no Hanzo it's out of Italy he makes really good quality weapons and uniforms he studies the same style he buys things and makes things that made more sense for what we practice for so basically what we have is we have the Kamidana area and the Kamidana area is the center focus of our practice the Japanese people put a lot of emphasis on paying respects to the ancestors so one of the things and there's a lot of history for the Kamidana but for us specifically one of the things that's important is it's up there to remember those who died in battle before us so we use that as a focal point so usually when you walk into a dojo you bow and most martial arts you find this but in America you don't have Kamidanas so you lose that tradition and now it becomes something where okay I just bow to pay respects for the space that's what it turns into but it really comes from having Kamidanas and things like this and there's other martial arts that have shrines whether you're Chinese martial art or Korean martial art or Indian martial art so this is where all these things are coming from and that's the main focus and it gives us a different respect when we're in the dojo this is not a place where we horse play or curse or mess around with each other the idea is to be respectful and always be mindful of those things so that reminds us of that the main thing for me I'm very big into the culture and the traditions there are some people that have way more knowledge than me but they don't get into the cultural stuff that's not for them because they have their own ways of thinking or their own religion or their own culture but for me when you study with us we preserve everything because that's how I was taught I started in Japan it doesn't make me any better I'm just saying I started in Japan with the Bujinkan so I speak Japanese and I was brought up with my first teacher which is Kamil Kasan and I live with him and everything and I was taught a certain way so I can only do for my students it's important to understand because sometimes people don't know why someone's doing something and you have to understand that you can only do what you were taught to do so if you don't have that experience it's impossible for you to teach that and you shouldn't try to teach something you don't know always be humble to know that there's still more to learn I'm always in a disbelief that this stuff actually exists that this stuff actually made it through a thousand years in schools that have done the same I always am excited when it's time to practice and I think that it's very important to have this type of feeling when you do martial arts once you lose that and it becomes too rigid or it becomes too it's not fun anymore or I think it's not good so I think that it's important to maintain that if you're training martial arts today you have to have a certain mindset you have to have a certain dedication to the practice that you see today and this interview I hope you guys get a sense of that that it's not just kicking and punching or it's not just fluff mystical silliness there's actually something behind it there's a foundation there's something actually there and this is what we're trying to do but most people don't dedicate themselves when I say most people I say probably 99.9% of people it's a very few people who actually dedicate themselves for the practice itself for personal gain or something because it turns to something else and that's what happens in most martial arts not just the Bujinkan or whatever it's the same all over I think it makes things very real it allows you to look at things differently and when there's a weapon pointed at you you have to really control your emotion so it becomes very real when weapons are added this is hard work and it's a tradition it's not just what you want to do you have to follow those before you to be effective in it you can't pick and choose what you want to learn you have to learn the right way and there is definitely a right way to learn and a structure to learn through and if you follow that you'll go very far and be very successful in this art and successfully be a part of a tradition not what you want but an actual tradition that's been alive for a very long time I would like to extend a great big thank you to Daishi Han, Christopher Carbonaro and Angel Smith for including me in this experience it was a true privilege and only reinforces our goal this is why we do this channel to learn different ways even if it's something that you aren't personally interested in as a lifestyle but to observe, learn, understand and appreciate others ideas and share them with everyone else thank you so much for watching I hope that you've enjoyed this episode as we're trying to bring different flavors of arts into the mix so please subscribe click on that bell icon to be notified of the next art videos that we come out with I would love to hear your feedback so please share your comments below thank you