The Art – Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu

Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu (武神館武道體術) literally translated means “The Divine Warrior’s Hall of the Bodily Technique/Art of the Martial Way”, taijutsu meaning body/bodily technique or art and being the application of the body which underlies all combat, whether armed or unarmed. Hence the use of taijutsu in the name of our art suggesting that this lies at the root of bujutsu, or budô—the art or way of war. While the full name of our art is Bujinkan Budô Taijutsu, it is often simply referred to as Bujinkan Budô (“Bujinkan Martial Arts”), or even just Bujinkan, by its practitioners. The name Bujinkan Dôjô, however, is the name of the organisation teaching the art and not the art itself.

As mentioned, we treat this collection of nine ryûha (schools) of old Japanese warrior arts as one single art—one “style”, if you will—despite it being comprised of different parts. It is because of how well each of these combine with the other (and thus also why, historically, some of them having influenced each other when trained side-by-side by the same people) as well as fill in each other’s blanks, as it were.

We, therefore, train according to a formula of basics that consists of various fundamental principles and techniques from nearly all of the nine ryûha to establish the base for the student. From that point on, he/she will begin learning what is from which school as well as delve deeper into each and learn its full “curriculum” of techniques, forms, principles and philosophies.