Too deadly for competition...the Last Samurai?

**blankslate** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 5:47am

http://www.indystar.com/articles/7/108746-9447-047.html

'Last Samurai'? Don't bet on it

Barnby Kirshner, a first-degree black belt, practices his samurai martial-arts maneuvers. -- Sherri Barber / Gannett News Service

By Kelli Lackett
The (Fort Collins) Coloradoan
January 6, 2004

Step into the Akumu-ryu Bujutsu Remmei training center, or "dojo," and you get the sense that you are stepping back in history.

The students, dressed in black, fight each other with weapons that range from the somewhat outdated (knives) to the downright archaic (bamboo swords). Students generally use the bamboo swords to safely practice swordsmanship. But just ask the advanced students, and they'll show you their exquisite live-blade swords.

If there is something anachronistic about this place in Fort Collins, Colo., it is by design. The dojo, with a name that translates as "Nightmare Art Warrior Tradition," is a training center for samurai warrior arts. Samurais were a warrior class in power in Japan from approximately 1185 to 1868.

Samurais were trained in anywhere from 18 to 34 disciplines including "kenjutsu" (swordsmanship) "jujutsu" (grappling with a minimum use of weapons), "ninjutsu" (camouflage and deception), "tantojutsu" (knife-fighting), "wajutsu" (the art of harmony) and "bojutsu" (staff art). Collectively these warrior arts are known as "bujutsu."

The disciplines rely on similar principles, says Randall Brown, "soke" or headmaster of the center, which is recognized by masters in Japan and Okinawa.

"Empty-handed techniques are basically the same as those with weapons," Brown, 48, says. "In the bujutsu system, you learn a whole system of body movement and body knowledge."

"Pure physical fighting has not changed much over the years," adds John Hertlein, 39, who is second in the hierarchy succession to Brown and does much of the teaching of lower-level students. "The artistic expression has changed. (The arts) all have the same roots, just different flowers. You have to understand the roots, and that's what we do here."

The integrated nature of bujutsu is a selling point for many of the students at Akumu-kai, the short name for the dojo.

Brown, who had participated in a number of martial arts over the years -- including tae kwon do, kenpo, and hwa rang do -- began samurai training when he traveled to Japan to study ninjutsu, the study of camouflage and deception.

"That tied me into the samurai arts. I realized they were 10 times the warriors that the ninja was. Ninjutsu was just a small part of what they do," Brown says. "I wanted a system I knew would work. . . . People lived and died creating this system."

One key difference between bujutsu and more modern martial arts is that students of bujutsu generally do not compete.

"It's a combination of traditional and practical warrior arts as opposed to sport. Instead of being about winning, it's about surviving," says Robin Scoville, 35, a second-degree black belt at the dojo. "They've passed down the art of survival. It wouldn't be here if they didn't survive."

When he started training 28 years ago, Brown felt as if modern martial arts had softened through the emphasis on sporting.

"They've lost the point of why people train," Brown says. "The black belt has lost its meaning."

Bujutsu can be scary, Brown says, because it is a martial-arts system Westerners are not used to seeing.

But the skills are taught slowly in a systematic manner, he says.

Bujutsu and the samurai code of honor are featured in the film "The Last Samurai," starring Tom Cruise.

**Ronin** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 7:37am

[

The students, dressed in black, fight each other with weapons that range from the somewhat outdated (knives) to the downright archaic (bamboo swords). Students generally use the bamboo swords to safely practice swordsmanship. But just ask the advanced students, and they'll show you their exquisite live-blade swords.

Bujutsu and the samurai code of honor are featured in the film "The Last Samurai," starring Tom Cruise. [/B][/QUOTE]

Bamboo swords ( shinai) are NOT archaic !!!!!

I will say this, after training with Bokuto ( bokken if you prefer), the hardwood swords that are SUPPOSE to be used in kenjutsu training, when I spar with someone who is "unarmed"... well lets just say that I am less concerned when I spar.

**blankslate** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 9:00am

These guys sound serious. I am very interested.

**Ronin** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 9:07am

Traditional bujutsu training is a serious thing and when you get to the point of handling a "live Blade", that is where the fun begins.

**Justme** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 10:23am

Ronin... not flaming or being silly, but have you ever come close to cutting yourself or actually got cut training with a live blade?

**DANINJA** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 10:32am

there is an old quote for knife fighting:

"When two men fight with knives prepare two graves but if there is a winner you may find him in hospital"

**Ronin** · Posted On: 1/08/2004 10:34am

Originally posted by Justme
Ronin... not flaming or being silly, but have you ever come close to cutting yourself or actually got cut training with a live blade?

I sliced my finger one time return the sword to its scabbard because I was distracted.
I was cut a few times in "live blade" knife training.
I was nicked in the military once, because some dick wanted to make a stupid point about knife fighting.

**blankslate** · Posted On: 1/09/2004 10:55am

I guess these guys are a menace when armed....how would they do unarmed against a typical streetfighter? Is that a trick question?

How is the knife "somewhat outdated" by the way?