Bujinkan insider; Funny story.

[Virus]

The kid is the one who wrote the letter. I wonder if Hatsumi would have known the reality of what the kid was saying if he would still say the bujinkan doesnt want him. The kid sounds really funny. I would never write a letter to any master about some school or waste my time. But he beat his instructor and that is so funny.

Darth Vader voice: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Kid = BJK student (more like young man)

Sensei = guy that teaches (grown man)

Kid = pwns teacher in randori

Sensei = in completely unrelated venture, writes letter to grandmaster asking him to kick out some guys who run other BJK dojos in the area, who he has has some sort of bitchy problem with.

Hatsumi = person who recived letter, holds up in the honbu class and says that we don't want this kind of person in the BJK, refering to SENSEI, the guy that wrote the letter.

Reason = he doesn't like people writing stupid letters to him asking him to kick people out becuase some douche has a personal beef with them.

It definalty is funny that sensei got tapped out by his student, then had to do some "neck break" shit. Next time you BJJ dudes are rolling with someome, rub your hands on the side of thier head and say "stop", tell them that on t3h str33t that would have been a neck break, therefore you win ;)

[Andrew WA]

No, you've got me mistaken. He wasn't writing the letter about the kid who beat him. It has nothing to do with him. Hatsumi thinks the person who wrote the letter is not the type of person we want. That's why he held it up in class.

As for the first point, you are correct. There is no quality control in instructors and that sucks becuase it means that it's a case a buyer beware when looking for an instructor. And you better beware alot.

The kid is the one who wrote the letter. I wonder if Hatsumi would have known the reality of what the kid was saying if he would still say the bujinkan doesnt want him. The kid sounds really funny. I would never write a letter to any master about some school or waste my time. But he beat his instructor and that is so funny.

[Lane]

Which is a huge problem. The ranking system is so broken and politicized you don't know what you get. It's better to avoid the Bujinkan altogether and train at a school that actively competes so you can see firsthand what you're getting and can ignore all the hyperbole.

*NODS*

[katana]

As for the first point, you are correct. There is no quality control in instructors and that sucks becuase it means that it's a case a buyer beware when looking for an instructor. And you better beware alot.

Which is a huge problem. The ranking system is so broken and politicized you don't know what you get. It's better to avoid the Bujinkan altogether and train at a school that actively competes so you can see firsthand what you're getting and can ignore all the hyperbole.

[Virus]

So hatsumi doesnt like to keep track of his schools and basically lets anyone represent bujinkahn no matter what?
So the kid who can beat his stupid instructor is not the kind of person bujinkan wants? Ok...

No, you've got me mistaken. He wasn't writing the letter about the kid who beat him. It has nothing to do with him. Hatsumi thinks the person who wrote the letter is not the type of person we want. That's why he held it up in class.

As for the first point, you are correct. There is no quality control in instructors and that sucks becuase it means that it's a case a buyer beware when looking for an instructor. And you better beware alot.

[Andrew WA]

So hatsumi doesnt like to keep track of his schools and basically lets anyone represent bujinkahn no matter what?
So the kid who can beat his stupid instructor is not the kind of person bujinkan wants? Ok...

[Spunky]

My instructor does this unlike most others I've trained with, but he was raised in a sect of Buddhism of which the kuji was already a part. I've inquired about it before, and he says that the symbolism has some personal significance, so he's made it part of his study. He always advises those who express interest in kuji that they should really only take it up as part of a more general (and earnest) spiritual practice (which should be sought outside the dojo).



I've had some people describe how flashing your middle finger at someone in America is sort of like a kuji that means something to us :smile: though I know its not quite the same thing. Sort of like Nagato's thing about modern kiai... how the sounds like "Ah!" and "Toh!" are old Japanese kiai, but our (westerner's) punches should feel like "Fuck you!" becaue that's American kiai ...I always liked that one.

[shinbushi]

Kuji Kiri is not magic and is in most Koryu systems. It comes from Tendai and Shingon Buddhism. I like to think of it as complex NLP with a spiritual element.

[Lane]

well the kuji kiri might be part of history... to perhaps cast magic...

I mean, if it didn't work back then, then why would it exist in the first place? They didn't need to look uber elite back then. They just needed to cast spells to defeat the enemy of course =]

It's true of the feudal Japanese in general that most of them believed in mysticism and magic, and so the use of kuji spells was probably not limited exclusively to the people of Iga. I just find it funny that I've never seen anyone except the ninjas still do it.

[Nii]

well the kuji kiri might be part of history... to perhaps cast magic...

I mean, if it didn't work back then, then why would it exist in the first place? They didn't need to look uber elite back then. They just needed to cast spells to defeat the enemy of course =]

[Virus]

Hatsumi very rarely kicks people out. When he said "This is the sort of person we don't want in the Bujinkan", he was referring to the person that wrote the letter. (who isn't a kid but a grown man.) He means that we don't want people that engage in bitch politics with other dojos and who try to get them kicked out..

[Andrew WA]

Did Dr. Hatsumi hold that letter up and say the kid who wrote it should be kicked out of bujinkan or did he say the instructor should be? Or did the instructor hold it up and say the kid should be kicked out? Re-type that last sentence.

[Lane]

I don't know if he really thinks it's giving him magic powers, I think he's just doing it too
look like a 1337 n1nj4 s3ns31

Which is even worse.

[Virus]

I don't know if he really thinks it's giving him magic powers, I think he's just doing it too
look like a 1337 n1nj4 s3ns31

[Lane]

He was actually doing the cuts? Did he fold his hands into a position at the end and chant "rin kyo to sha kai jin retsu zai zen?"

For the uninitiated, the kuji-in (nine syllables listed above) and kuji-kiri (nine crossing hand-slashes made in the air) are a Shugendo spell from mystic Buddhism that is somehow linked to Togakure ryu ninpou. It is a curious historical artefact of ninjutsu training, but I wasn't aware anyone, especially non-Japanese students, still took it seriously.