Training
Testimonials
I asked students of mine who have previous martial arts
experience to write about their personal experiences training at
the Bujinkan Raiken Dojo and here is what they wrote:
- I have trained in Tae Kwon Do
on and off since 1983. I recognize there are some gaps in
TKD in real world self-defense situations. I hoped that
Bujinkan system could help me fill in some of the holes
in my arsenal.I think that the ability to fall and or
roll properly is very important. The ability to break
bricks with my hands and feet is of no use if I am
knocked to the ground in a surprise attack and I do not
have a way to quickly get back on my feet and avoid being
stomped. Once knocked to the ground my TKD ability would
not help me in a grappling situation. Also, without
proper training in falling and rolling I might be hurt
from the fall and be left vulnerable. The very first
class I attended I was shown some rolling and falling
techniques. Here is a very serious shortcoming in my
self-defense that I experienced first hand in a street
fight. The attacker was very drunk and likely on drugs. I
was very easily able to keep him from hurting me by
kicking him and knocking him to the ground. Since the
attacker was not feeling any pain he kept getting up and
charging at me. I kept giving him progressively harder
kicks. I was confronted with the possibility of having to
use near lethal force to defend myself. I am sure if I
would have killed and or seriously maimed the attacker I
would have likely been sued and or had to spend some time
in jail. Imagine being in court for seriously injuring
someone and they introduce the fact to the jury that you
are a trained martial artist. I have never been taught
any way to control an attacker except through basically
beating them until they stop coming. The very first
weekend that I attended the Bujinkan Raiken Dojo I was
able to experience some controlling pins that completely
left me without any ability to fight back. If I would
have known how to do this in my street fight I could have
controlled the attacker instead of beating him until he
could no longer fight. I have only been training for a
few months and I already feel like I am learning a lot of
things that were missing in my Tae Kwon Do training. I
really like the hand to hand moves where you control the
attacker and use an appropriate amount of force to
protect yourself and prevent them from hurting you. I
think a main goal for me as a martial artist is the
ability to control a hostile attacker with exactly the
degree of force necessary. I look forward to learning
more!
- I have been training in the martial arts since I was 6
years old. I first started with Tae Kwon Do
because I liked the "Ninja Turtles" so much and
wanted to be like them. I trained in this art for several
years, and as I matured both physically and in the
martial arts, I came to realize the severe limitations to
Tae Kwon Do. This sent me searching for other martial
arts that could fill in this gap. I found a Shaolin-Do
school and started training there, but again found the
same flaw- the reliance on "kata" (these kata
are different from the kata found in ninjutsu), prepared
sets of certain movements. I then found Wing Chun
Kung Fu, and since there were only a handful of
forms, I thought I had found my answer. However, during
my training, I came to realize that this style too had
many flaws that could be dangerous in a real-world
confrontation. It wasn't until I moved to Georgia to
attend college when I found that Atlanta had many
ninjutsu dojos. The Bujinkan Raiken Dojo caught my eye,
and once I attended my first class, I knew with every
part of my being that I had found what I've been
searching for. In the Western sense of the word, ninjutsu
is complete with ground-"fighting", aerial
techniques, joint locks, strikes and weapons. However,
ninjutsu goes far deeper than just a compilation of
techniques. Taijutsu, the ninja's method for employing
their tactics, teaches one to use their whole body,
distance, and timing against their attacker, not just an
arm of leg, resulting in a unique system of self-defense.
You have to experience it to feel how incredily efficient
it is.
- I have taken Tae Kwon Do which we used as a basis for
our kickboxing classes. We incorporated
the aid of a professional boxing trainer to develop our
hands. I have taken Kenpo when I was younger but only for
about 6 months. I have trained in Aikibujitsu and Aikijujitsu commonly called the same thing
but most often confused. Aiki bujitsu and/or
Aikijujitsu are essentially hard style Aikido forms in
which the highest ranking Samurai warriors were trained
both with swords and open hand combat etc.! Some say that
Aiki bujitsu and Aikijujitsu are the same just
mispronounced by some English speaking foreigners,
regardless it is a hard Aikido style Japanese fighting
system that incorporates circular techniques, joint
locks, throws, kicks, punches and redirection as its main
force of directing or redirecting an opponents energy
away from harm. Taijutsu is similar to Aiki bujitsu
and Aikijujitsu but has much more fluid techniques that
follow the bodys natural movement.
Unlike Aikido, Aiki bujitsu and Aikijujitsu,
Taekwondo and other forms that I have studied, Taijutsu
allows the practitioner to move from posture to posture
naturally and fluidly without ridged stances and
must do moves, that can only be used to
counter a particular attack. The natural postures
allows the practitioner to both protect, redirect,
counter attack, or quickly adjust a move if it is
done wrong or timed incorrectly. It can be used to
overcome the enemy and also escape just as easily without
harm. Taijutsu is truly a total body martial art that can
be used standing up, kneeling and also on the ground -
grappling (or pseudo-wrestling). Taijutsu incorporates
many old weapons of an era that has long past, but its
forms or postures allows the user to incorporate moves
with guns, knives, police sticks, ink pens, ropes, a
shirt, towel or what ever as a weapon for defense and
offense. Basically what I am trying to say is that I was
seeking out another martial art to study. This was
due in part to the lack of real life defensive strategies
that I felt I learnt from other arts or from the other
teachers. Taijutsu has everything that I was
seeking. There are real life applications that have
existed for a thousand years, developed for protection
and survival. Yes there are throws, punches, kicks,
etc. but to me, the martial arts system of mere moves and
forms is not necessarily as important as is the way it is
implemented and its philosophy.