Bullshido Artist Ralph Severe

**Gezere** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 11:57am

Ralph is cooky and rubs guys in the Buj (which he did train and receive rank in) the wrong way but I wouldn't call him Bullshido. AFAIK, this coming from students of his who I do trust, he actually did all that he claims.

Sidenote I don't know if that is actually his myspace page or not. I remember someone acting like him on myspace but it wasn't him.

**Gezere** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 12:00pm

Originally Posted by Bildungsroman

While I haven't read any of the threads dealing with him on Bullshido, he's been discussed quite a bit, particularly on Kutaki. He used to be a member there, but I don't know if he's still participating. He tends to draw a lot of heat from Bujinkan members, and rightly so, but I don't see Severe as being all that different from most people in the Bujinkan. At least he admits that the sakki test is bullshit.

Ralph gets alot of greif because he wants his guys to actually be able to fight. So for that he will bring in pple and actually fight. He also doesn't always follow the hero worship of Hatsumi and others.

**Bildungsroman** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 12:32pm

Oh, I don't think that's the only reason, but I'm not going to argue about it. You make a good point, but I still think the man's just plain crazy.

**1bad65** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 1:51pm

I've seen vids of him and his students sparring MMA vs another school. While I put no stock in Ninja crap, it shows he trains alive.

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 4:36pm

Ralph Severe differs tremendously from Bujinkan folks in that he openly crosstrains in other arts such as ...

Originally Posted by ARTOFCOMBAT.com

The main ones are... Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, Catch as catch can wrestling, Dumog, Panantukan, and Kali.

These compose his AOC, or Art of Combat, system. Most of what you see in the vids can be could be those arts. With this in mind, and from what I've seen of him in other forums, he seems to feel the need to fill "the holes" in Hatsumi's BBT. I'm not sure what Hatsumi thinks of this, considering that Ralph supposedly respects him tremendously. This is curious, since he (Ralph) doesn't feel the need to see or train with his teacher Hatsumi for over a decade, while Hatsumi has expressed the requirement for all students to see him and train with him at least once a year.

Originally Posted by ARTOFCOMBAT.com

Here at this Academy I train students in proven self defense warrior combat methods to better their lives. Art of Combat and Ninjutsu are complete arts that offer the student a life long path of happiness, self-protection skills, and a better understanding of nature.

He claims here that both of the arts that he is "a master" of are both complete arts.
Interesting that Ralph talks down on the Sakki test. He does it himself. Here's a URL to a vid
http://www.artofcombat.com/albums/Videos/Godantest.wmv

That being said... as a past student of BBT, I would say that Ralph trains much more "real" than 95% of BBT practitioners out there. With that in mind, is he representing Hatsumi, regardless of his [Hatsumi's] "Real Ninjutsu" legitimacy? I would say that it's necessary to disregard the BBT lineage that he claims to maintain, and look exclusively at his AOC practice. He may train in BBT or whatever small bit of Takamatsuden arts, Togakure/Kukishin JJ/ Whatever, and train with much more intensity, but that is beside the point. I don't believe ( and trust me, I'm not the only one) that Ralph Severe doesn't know nearly enough of Hatsumi's art to quantify any "Mastery" in the general acceptance of the word. Now, Hatsumi himself has said that Ralph is one of the best fighters in the Bujinkan, but is he using BBT or something else?

**Bildungsroman** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 5:27pm

Interesting that Ralph talks down on the Sakki test. He does it himself. Here's a URL to a vid
http://www.artofcombat.com/albums/Videos/Godantest.wmv

From what I remember of his posts on kutaki, he sees it as a ritual and nothing more, but maybe he's changed his mind about it.

It's hard for me to take him seriously as a fighter based on the videos I've seen. He may be attempting to fill the gaps, so to speak, but he doesn't seem to be very proficient. He may very well be one of the best fighters in the Bujinkan, but that really isn't saying much.

**Dsimon3387** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 5:44pm

Ralph is a character for sure,but IMO in a good way. The Buj orthodoxy couldn't deal with him... their loss. Ralph does not claim to be in the Buj anymore and a lot of knuckleheads say because of that he should erase the past and not claim affiliation, which to me is BS.

Ralph tries to better himself and his art and has every right to claim proficiency....He can do Tai Jutsu the way it is done in the Booj and then variate it the way he sees fit. This shows skill. I may not agree with all his conclusions but he has a right to them and he can fight with the stuff. One of my favorite demos is Ralph doing Ren yo on U-Tube... it shows both his knowledge of the Booj forms and how one fights with the techniques.

He is definitely not Bullshido and frankly besides the natural proclivity of texans to talk tall I doubt he would exxagerate his training background... he does not need to.

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 5:49pm

Originally Posted by Bildungsroman

From what I remember of his posts on kutaki, he sees it as a ritual and nothing more, but maybe he's changed his mind about it.

It's hard for me to take him seriously as a fighter based on the videos I've seen. He may be attempting to fill the gaps, so to speak, but he doesn't seem to be very proficient. He may very well be one of the best fighters in the Bujinkan, but that really isn't saying much.

HA!!! There you go.
I would hate to take Hatsumi-sensei out of context because I don't truly believe that he intended that as a good thing. Now, there are very good fighters in the Booj, such as Nagato-sensei, who has offered to train folks for NHB events if they want to, but I've never heard of anyone taking him up on it. Sean Askew is the high-ranked BBT instructor that I know of that ever did any NHB.

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 4/24/2007 5:53pm

Originally Posted by PointyShinyBurn

Who cares?

It would be similar to someone going and training with the Gracies and then they run out and teach some Matt Furey crappling while claiming that it is BJJ.
But if you don't care, that's okay. Keep heckling. It's terribly entertaining.