# Bansenshukai Ninjutsu



## Ground Dragon (Jun 3, 2011)

I might be moving to Columbus, OH in the fall.  I came across this school http://www.columbusninjutsuclub.com which says its style is Bansenshukai Ninjutsu.  They appear to pay homage to the past leaders of the Bujinkan but apparently are independent.

Does anyone have any experience with them, or just an opinion?  I've looked around about as much as I can and once in Ohio I can make a visit.  Just thought I'd see if anyone here had any thoughts about them.

Thanks.


----------



## Stealthy (Jun 3, 2011)

Ground Dragon said:


> Does anyone have any experience with them, or just an opinion?Thanks.


 
With no experience with them I can only offer an opinion. You need to ask someone who has experience with them.

On the surface there are three main reasons people join martial arts, they want to connect with the nostalgia, they want to compete or they quite simply want "good times with friends".

Since you may want varying degrees of each of these things the final decision will always reside in you.

Hopefully there will be some here to help guide you through the decisions you may not have answers for.

The aformentioned club seems to have some connection with authentic Ninjutsu though I have no knowlege of the level of that connection which may be relevant to you if that is what you need.

I do not know what you need in terms of competitive abilities but personally I would assume since you are looking at Ninjutsu you want to secure your body, mind and soul from unwanted oppression. Again though, I have no knowledge of whether this club can provide that level of training.

I will highlight however that since Ninjutsu is extraordinarily complicated there is a lot of room for damage to the systems by propogating a poor understand of it.

6 months in the MMA stables a black suit and a few Taijutsu techniques does not a Ninja make.

Good luck finding the information you require.

With Respect,
Stealthy.


----------



## Chris Parker (Jun 4, 2011)

Hi GD,

The guys from Bansenshukai come from the Bujinkan originally, and intially seemed to stay fairly true to the art they learned (Dan, one of the founders, posted here at one point, a quick search should turn some things up for you). However there seems to have been a number of changes, including an online dojo setup, and integration of modern American Jujutsu ("jujitsu" - damn, I hate that spelling....), which, frankly, is more set up as fancy moves with little reality. I have seen some semi-decent stuff from them a number of years ago based around the traditional kata (not great, but decent.... much worse exists from people with much higher ranks and much more experience, unfortunately), however there is nothing good or impressive at all in any of the clips on this page: http://www.columbusninjutsuclub.com/multimedia.shtml

Add to that the connection to Christa Jacobson's organisation through the "Shinobi no Mono" magazine she puts out, and a connection to a "Black Scorpion Society" show that they have gone further and further from anything realistic or genuine. That said, if what you see there appeals to you, you probably don't want the genuine article.

Stealthy, I don't know that I would agree with those reasons to start martial arts... for one thing, you missed self defence for one thing! But if we're going to look at this from an unconscious desire/want type of perspective, the most common thing people are looking for is life skills. But I'm not going into that too much online.


----------



## Stealthy (Jun 4, 2011)

Chris Parker said:


> Stealthy, I don't know that I would agree with those reasons to start martial arts... for one thing, you missed self defence for one thing! But if we're going to look at this from an unconscious desire/want type of perspective, the most common thing people are looking for is life skills. But I'm not going into that too much online.


 
I view self-defense as a competition. It is an involuntary competition with high stakes and no rules.


To be honest I have never looked for someone to teach me "life skills".

I regard self-mastery to be beyond my reach and therefore have never bothered with the living skills that lead others to it.

As such I do believe you are right, it is just not a reason I have personally entertained before.


----------



## Chris Parker (Jun 4, 2011)

That's not quite what I meant, no. But that is a big part of our particular focus (our name is Jyukutatsu Dojos, meaning "the School of Self Mastery", loosely translated: a bit more literal is "school/training place [dojo]for attaining [jyuku] maturity [tatsu]") in my schools.

Again, not to get too much into it, but when people are attracted to martial arts, most commonly due to the presentation of the arts in the media, they associate the martial methods (the arts themselves, represented as the techniques) with the lead characters using them.... who always manage to overcome obstacles that would stop most people (bad guys, being framed for a crime they didn't commit, getting the girl and earning your self respect by entering a tournament etc etc etc). That managing to overcome obstacles is really just a symbolic representation of life skills (skills to manage or better your life, overcome problems, gain confidence etc etc), so the martial arts get linked right in alongside it. Self mastery is a higher, and deeper topic entirely.


----------



## Stealthy (Jun 4, 2011)

I see, thanks.


----------



## Tez3 (Jun 4, 2011)

Stealthy said:


> With no experience with them I can only offer an opinion. You need to ask someone who has experience with them.
> 
> On the surface there are three main reasons people join martial arts, they want to connect with the nostalgia, they want to compete or they quite simply want "good times with friends".
> 
> ...


 
MMA stables? that's er..novel.


----------



## Stealthy (Jun 4, 2011)

Tez3 said:


> MMA stables? that's er..novel.


 
*Definition of STABLE*

1 *:* a building in which domestic animals are sheltered and fed; _especially_*:* such a building having stalls or compartments <a horse _stable_> 


2 _a_*:* the racehorses of one owner
*b: a group of people (as athletes, writers, or performers) under one management*
_c_*:* the racing cars of one owner
_d_*:* group, collection 

Since there are many groups of Prize Fighters I think it is fair to say that there are Stable"*s*".



Chris Parker said:


> Again, not to get too much into it, but when people are attracted to martial arts, most commonly due to the presentation of the arts in the media, they associate the martial methods (the arts themselves, represented as the techniques) with the lead characters using them.... who always manage to overcome obstacles that would stop most people (bad guys, being framed for a crime they didn't commit, getting the girl and earning your self respect by entering a tournament etc etc etc). That managing to overcome obstacles is really just a symbolic representation of life skills (skills to manage or better your life, overcome problems, gain confidence etc etc), so the martial arts get linked right in alongside it.


 
Actually this would be another aspect of what I refer to when I say "connecting with the Nostalgia", no doubt there are countless ways to say it and perhaps I should have used a better one but at the time i couldn't think of one while still keeping it simple. In this instance maybe "connecting with the Vibe" would have been better. Granted the associated vibe comes from media, movies, books, friends opinions and various other sources.

With Respect,
Stealthy.


----------

