The Bujinkan is an international martial arts organisation established by Dr Masaaki Hatsumi to preserve and transmit the teachings of nine traditional Japanese martial arts lineages (ryū-ha) that he inherited from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu.
The word Bujinkan can be translated as “The Divine Warrior Hall.” The art is not based on competition or sporting rules, but on the study of traditional martial principles including movement, distance, timing, balance, adaptability, and awareness.
The Bujinkan headquarters (Hombu Dōjō) is located in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and the art is practised by students throughout the world.
It is the Bujinkan’s training philosophy of moving away from the form of techniques and developing one’s response in accordance with the situation that brings forth a heightened awareness and a dynamic martial art.
The Nine Ryūha
The Bujinkan curriculum is based upon the teachings of nine traditional Japanese martial schools:
• 神伝不動流打拳体術 Shinden Fudō Ryū Daken Taijutsu
• 九鬼神伝流八法秘剣術 Kuki Shinden Ryū Happō Biken-Jutsu
• 高木揚心流柔体術 Takagi Yōshin Ryū Jūtai-Jutsu
• 玉虎流骨指術 Gyokko Ryū Kosshi-Jutsu
• 虎倒流骨法術 Kotō Ryū Koppō-Jutsu
• 義鑑流骨法術 Gikan Ryū Koppō-Jutsu
• 玉心流骨法術 Gyokushin Ryū Koppō-Jutsu
• 戸隠流忍法体術 Togakure Ryū Ninpō Taijutsu
• 雲隠流忍法体術 Kumogakure Ryū Ninpō Taijutsu
Together these traditions contain a vast range of martial knowledge, including unarmed techniques, weapons training, strategy, and philosophy
初見良昭 Masaaki Hatsumi Sensei
Masaaki Hatsumi sensei was born in Noda City, Japan, in 1931. From a young age he studied a variety of martial arts, including Jūdō, Karate, Kendō, Aikidō, and Western boxing.
After the Second World War, Hatsumi Sensei taught Jūdō at an American military base near Tokyo. It was here that he realised that, since the Japanese martial arts had modernised into competitive sports, the larger and more athletic Americans could achieve in a very short time what would take the smaller Japanese years of study. It was then that Hatsumi-sensei set himself to search for the true Japanese martial arts of ancient Japan.
His search led him to Toshitsugu Takamatsu, a renowned martial artist and inheritor of several classical Japanese martial traditions.
Beginning in his late twenties, Hatsumi Sensei travelled regularly to study with Takamatsu Sensei, making the journey each week for many years. Under Takamatsu’s guidance, he received instruction in the nine traditions that would later form the foundation of the Bujinkan.
Following Takamatsu Sensei’s passing in 1972, Hatsumi Sensei established the Bujinkan Dōjō and dedicated his life to teaching and sharing these traditions internationally.
Hatsumi-sensei retired from active training in 2020 at the age of 88.
Bujinkan Brisbane 