Bujinkan News

Any information here comes only directly from myself or from the Bujinkan Sōke, Dr Masaaki Hatsumi; so don't expect daily (or even monthly!) updates, let alone rumours. There are plenty of online BBS for those... You can get automatic notification when this page changes by page monitoring services such as ChangeDetection.com, ChangeNotes.com or Aignes.com.
Last updated:

Running again...
Nothing directly to do with the Bujinkan or Ninjutsu, but true to my martial name Ozaru I again participated in the Great Gorilla Run: please click through to read details and sponsor me.
New book: Unarmed Fighting Techniques of the Samurai
Plans for the 'print on demand' book seem to have been shelved; but a new book by Dr Hatsumi is set to appear soon. Current 'official' plans are that it will be available by December 2007 in Japan and May 2008 elsewhere. It's going to be in English, it will be published by Kodansha International, and although initial reports were that it was going to be so comprehensive it would put an end to all arguments over the 'correct way' to do techniques etc. it now seems set to be the same size as The Way of the Ninja and the other recent books. It is available for pre-ordering at most Amazon sites: US, UK, JP, DE/AT, FR, etc.
New videos
Dr Hatsumi continues to release new videos (DVDs): recently also some older "Kuden" footage, at the rate of around one per month. These are often available for pre-ordering via Amazon Japan; for the latest details, see my Bujinkan videos page. Please note that it is no longer possible to order videos directly from Dr Hatsumi.
Sad news: Bonnie Malmstrom, organizer of many Atlanta Taikai, has died (12 March 07). More details here.
Welt der Wunder, the team who produced the recent Ninja documentary featuring Dr Hatsumi, have a lot of related info on their website (in German, of course). The documentary will apparently be released on DVD sometime this year, probably also in English and Japanese editions.
MTV have also filmed a short documentary about Sōke's daily life, but I have no details (yet) on when it's being broadcast.
Brandon Alvarez's documentary Shinobi Winds is available on DVD direct from his website. It's notable for the variety of people interviewed (many ex-Bujinkan), with some unique footage from Japan and interesting comments on the influence of Kabuki on the modern Ninja image.
Ninja film
Shōchiku's film "Shinobi / Heart under Blade" is available for pre-ordering or rental from Amazon US, UK and DE/AT, or now in various versions at JP. It is based on a book by Yamada Futarō (Kōga Ninpō-chō) that was also made into a cartoon (anime) called Basilisk (for DVDs see here)-- which in turn was translated into German (see here). The film attracted some attention as it was funded through public subscription. Having now seen it though I have to say it's absolutely dreadful: save your money!
Recent books... (see also my comprehensive Bujinkan books page)
1. Sōke's most recent book "Japanese Sword Fighting: Secrets of the Samurai" is now available at Amazon US, UK, JP, DE/AT, FR, etc.
2. Advanced Stick Fighting: another hardback book by Dr Hatsumi published by Kodansha International following the success of The Way of the Ninja (see below). This one does contain the Japanese text as well as the English. Available now online at Amazon US, UK, JP, DE/AT, FR, etc.
3. Benedict Jacka's "To Be a Ninja", an enjoyable children's story (Harry Potter meets Jiraiya?) with plenty of Bujinkan focus, and even some Hollywood interest it seems; available at Amazon US, UK, JP, DE/AT, FR, etc. There is also a Spanish translation available: US, UK, JP, FR, etc. The sequel, "Ninja: The Battle", is also now available: UK, JP, DE/AT, FR
4. Hino-san's "Kokoro no katachi", a paean to Hatsumi Sensei, has been translated into Spanish (La Imagen del Corazon) and English (The Image of Kokoro)
5. Hatsumi Sensei's own "Ima Ninja" has been translated into Spanish (El Ninja Moderno)
Book on Takamatsu Sensei
Various people have asked about a book on Takamatsu Sensei that has been published in German and English and is apparently being prepared in Spanish. This book has NOT been approved by Hatsumi Sensei - in fact he suggested to the author that it was a bad idea to publish it - and Sōke has commented that he suspects much of the content will be inaccurate. Hence it is not recommended.
Book: The Way of the Ninja
This hardback book by Dr Hatsumi, translated by me, was published in Japan on 9 April 2004. The book is in a sense designed as an "update" to the well-known "Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu" book, but the contents are quite different. Blow-by-blow descriptions of techniques constitute only a small part of the book; much of the writing is 'secretive', like a modern Makimono. In fact, this applies to many of the photos too...
The book is approaching its fifth printing. For collectors: each printing has the same ISBN no., but minor differences in photographs etc. The easiest way to distinguish them is to look at the double-page photographs before the "Contents": printing 1 has no calligraphy, printing 2 has calligraphy on 1 photo, printing 3 has calligraphy on 3 photos. Sōke's original Japanese text was added from printing 4.
- Title: The Way of the Ninja: Secret techniques
- Publisher: Kodansha International (Japanese page)
- Written by Masaaki Hatsumi, translated by Ben Jones
- ISBN number: 4-7700-2805-9 // 978-4-7700-2805-1
- RRP: US$35 / 3500 yen / UKP 19.95 / CDN$ 52.95
- 208 pages, with plenty of photographs, including several of Takamatsu Sensei.
- Now available online at:
  - Amazon UK US DE/AT FR CA JP
  - Kinokuniya, Honyasan, e-Hon and many other Japanese bookshops.
Of course, any good bookshop should be able to order it for you, and you may be able to use inter-library loans to view a copy at your local library.
Some people have asked about translating The Way of the Ninja into other languages. This is possible, but you need permission to do it, and as the situation is rather complex, I suggest you contact me for details. Just for the search engines: Kōdansha International = Kôdansha International = Kodansha International, Sōke = Sôke = Soke, Ninpō = Ninpô = Ninpo, Ōzaru = Ôzaru = Ozaru, Togakure-ryū = Togakure-ryû = Togakure-ryu)
Another book in the pipeline - plans changed, see above
Another book about Dr Hatsumi is also under consideration at present. This one may well turn out to be "print on demand", and hence Sōke needs to have some idea first of how many people would be likely to order the book. He would need around 1500 people to make production worthwhile: you can now 'register' your interest here (over 500 pre-orders have been received so far). The Japanese text is effectively ready, but it needs to be translated, typeset and printed (Sōke is also continuing to re-edit the text, until the 'magic number' is reached and he feels the timing is right, so it is not easy to be definitive about the contents of the book, although I do have a provisional list). The cost will be in the region of 10,000 yen (US$100?) for pre-orders (it will be more expensive when on general release later), for a book with around 300 pages, containing approximately 50% text and 50% photos (2/3 colour, 1/3 black & white). Any profits from the sale of this book would go towards establishing either a larger Honbu Dojo or a Bujinkan / Budo museum.
Please register your interest via e-mail (remember to fill in the number of books and your postal address, and to delete the 'abuse' part included in each e-mail address to prevent spam).
Slightly older book
If you haven't yet read Alex Esteve's "Exploring the Essence of the Martial Arts", it contains a good overview of the Bujinkan arts, with valuable contributions from 18 Shihan worldwide. [I translated the articles from Japanese Shihan as well as various other parts of the book.] Currently it is only available from Arnaud Cousergue's BudoMart.

This page produced by Ben Jones (contact me).
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