Bujinkan showed up in my city [YES HAHA]

**Syphilis** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 12:32am

well, yes leaving them alone should be good enough; I mean, it is obvious that we shouldn't be actually going there and fighting them; they're not combat sport athletes they're martial artists (lol) Especially after seeing the amount of ponytails in their group pictures.

However, they are claiming to teach realistic self defense, CQC etc that might give people a false sense of security. (We immediately say we train bjj and kickboxing and train MMA. We say its a sport (WV is shaky about MMA still) that is very effective on the street/mat/bedroom.

They also have this ridiculous only school in the area thats open all day claim, which is total BS, we've got people from 8am to 9pm every day. Can we make them retract that?

Again, I don't think Gong Sau is necessary, they serve a completely different aspect of the community, much like the actual LARPers in the park. I mostly just wanted to laugh that they finally showed up in my neck of the woods and see what I can expect from them.

Also Gong Sau seems unlikely due to this disclaimer:

Due to the type of martial arts that are taught at our dojo, a criminal background check is required. There is an additional $10.00 fee to complete the check. We hold true the teachings of our Soke, Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, so we are not allowed to instruct anyone with a criminally-aggressive nature.

background check because our martial art is too dangerous bitchez!! Too REAL!

**vaquero de las nalgas** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 12:33am

Originally Posted by Syphilis

Hey guys,

Just the other day as me and my fellow martial arts enthusiast were driving back from our introductory Tai Chi* class that was just set up at this new place in town, we notice another new place in town.

*Yang style Chen form taught by scholarly hippy, actually pretty good for weight/balance distribution and not advertised as self defense which is the main problem I see with these Bujinkaners

Uh huh.

Instructor Jason has a combined total of 24 years' experience in law enforcement (10 years) and the military (14 years).

Instructor John ....is a Shodan (1st Dan black belt) in Jukendo, the Japanese military art of the bayonet. He is a 21-year US Army combat veteran who has served from 1987 - 2007.

Sounds OK, maybe more than OK.

Instructor Joe has been studying with Shihan Richard Van Donk since 1988. All of his Dan-rank tests have been held face-to-face with Shihan Van Donk, who has personally tested our instructor. He owes most of his training experience and opportunities to Shihan Van Donk.

Oh dear, that is NOT good. Big big red flags.

Instructor Kayla has been studying mixed martial arts systems since 1999. She studied Wing Chun extensively, and has experience with Shaolin Five Animals.

Hmmmmmm.

However, they are claiming to teach realistic self defense, CQC etc that might give people a false sense of security.

And you care about this because.....?

Let's put it this way. Some people buy a Honda Prius. Most of them are insufferable douchebags. However, they get to work every day just like you do. Do you drive a Prius? No? You would rather be bro-tastic in a Jeep Wrangler. Either way you both get to work, and nobody really gives a **** about what you drive. Capiche?

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 1:34am

Originally Posted by Syphilis

well, yes leaving them alone should be good enough; I mean, it is obvious that we shouldn't be actually going there and fighting them; they're not combat sport athletes they're martial artists (lol) Especially after seeing the amount of ponytails in their group pictures.

yes, the Booj is littered with seagal-esque ponytails. I remember them fondly.

However, they are claiming to teach realistic self defense, CQC etc that might give people a false sense of security. (We immediately say we train bjj and kickboxing and train MMA. We say its a sport (WV is shaky about MMA still) that is very effective on the street/mat/bedroom.

Unless you're willing to do some kind of investigative expose for the local media, good luck getting that issue dealt with.

They also have this ridiculous only school in the area thats open all day claim, which is total BS, we've got people from 8am to 9pm every day. Can we make them retract that?

I've seen this before, in various styles. They'll simply say,"We're referring to BJK schools in the area." & then you'll say "You're the ONLY BJK school in the area" & they'll say "huh, fancy that." & they'll never reword it to something a little less ambiguous.

Again, I don't think Gong Sau is necessary, they serve a completely different aspect of the community, much like the actual LARPers in the park. I mostly just wanted to laugh that they finally showed up in my neck of the woods and see what I can expect from them.

Also Gong Sau seems unlikely due to this disclaimer:

background check because our martial art is too dangerous bitchez!! Too REAL!

that background check bit is 99% of the time bullshit, but hatsumi did say awhile back in the bujinkan rules that no criminals or those with criminal records should be training so you never know... I think that was part of the temporary banning of Mark OBrien as terrible as that was, tho I believe that decision had a lot to do with his very public critiquing of pantywaist training methods.

& RVD's not that bad, as Booj instructors go, at least compared to Kevin Millis, Kevin Schneider, & the mountain of other guys I trained with back in my ninjer days. & Richard does eskrima too which is fun.

**Lindz** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 1:48am

Originally Posted by Jim_Jude

& RVD's not that bad, as Booj instructors go, at least compared to Kevin Millis, Kevin Schneider, & the mountain of other guys I trained with back in my ninjer days. & Richard does eskrima too which is fun.

Isn't he the guy who would give a blackbelt to anyone who watched some of his videos? How bad are the buys you mentioned?

**WoodyCorpus** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 2:16am

Originally Posted by vaquero de las nalgas

Some people buy a Honda Prius.

Toyota ... Prius.

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 3:13am

Originally Posted by Lindz

Isn't he the guy who would give a blackbelt to anyone who watched some of his videos?

no, you had to do a bit more than simply watch the vids, you also had to do video demos showing that you knew the materials, & I don't think that was allowed for shodan, you had to do it in person. I may be wrong about that, I never did that program so I could very well be wrong about that. however, I'm not relating his business practices to his skills in booj matters. besides, the guys who do gracie combatives are quite skilled & yet so many people are up in arms about that whole mess, right?

**Ke?poFist** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 3:24am

Unless you want to be an open dick about it, there's nothing really to do but do your best to steer people away from that place, educate those around you in regards to proper training methods (not letting them cave to the PC mantra of "they serve an equal but different purpose of training"), and essentially lead by example training hard, competing, and building up your gyms reputation in the community.

I have an Aikido school less than a half a mile from my gym. I have no purpose to bother harassing them or their students unless I found something fraudulent about them to look into. Aside from that, I just give my opinion when it's asked of me, and go about my business.

**rigger** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 3:55am

does lolland=Holland?

**IMightBeWrong** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 4:08am

First of all, I really don't care about Bujinkan. If people want to play make believe ninja games, they can feel free to do so.

But I am bothered by their firearms course. "This course is taught by a retired US ARMY combat soldier."

In what way is a US ARMY "Combat Soldier" automatically certified to teach a firearms training class? I admit that I'm not nor have I ever been in the military, but I've been shooting for years and have gone through hours upon hours of training courses and aside from a few tips that have helped me over the years there's no way I would EVER call my current level of competence enough to start teaching a class. Where's a real certification?

I'd be much more comfortable knowing these idiots are teaching a firearms class if they had somebody with at least some sort of NRA certification to show they aren't just some guy off the street with a gun taking peoples' money to teach them how to jerk a trigger.

**slamdunc** · Posted On: 4/30/2012 6:55am

Originally Posted by Jim_Jude

I'll just assume that you didn't read much further than the first line of my post.

My lame attempt at comic-relief used only the part (out of context) necessary for that purpose. I did, indeed, read the entire post. If the new school had been anything except Ninjas, the friendly get together option (without cakes and pies) would have been best. I am against the flowers; Ninjas can use the flower stems and petals to formulate some real deadly poisons. I've seen this happen and it ain't pretty.