I recently made the decision to join and train in the Genbukan.
Which reminded me of this post I had made and I felt I should come back and revisit this. I had made this decision long ago but was swayed by a Bujinkan Shihan not to do this (who it was is not important, mainly because I promised that I would keep it between this person and myself but I can tell you he is a highly respected member of that org and supposedly got his information directly from Nagato) His statements at the time we're shocking but for some reason after reading Ninpo Secrets so many times, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Tanemura would do such things as he was stating. Or perhaps these things did take place and Tanemura has changed since then. Either way after reading statements here and a lot of recent digging on the net I was able to clear up some other misinformations I had gathered from various Bujinkan members about Tanemura sensei. Thus leading me back to my original decision of wanting to join the Genbukan before I was persuaded not to. This is not to say that I think badly of the Bujinkan though, it's not my intent for this post; I highly respect Hatsumi but I also equally respect Tanemura. I just think the way Tanemura does things is the way that best suites me, Tanemura has had what I've been looking for all these years and the past 5 years I've spent training alone and following mainly Bujinkan advice and training aids has been a rather large headache I must admit. Too many people in the org here in America say too many different things about what is right and what is wrong etc etc. I always end up right back at the same place, who do I trust? who should I train with? I cannot afford to go to Japan and study with Hatsumi and even if I did he doesn't give out rank in the ryu-ha themselves so what is the point? I highly respect the man and think he's great but from what I understand he isn't even teaching the entire art anymore. One big thing Genbukan has that the Bujinkan does not (well at least not until you've spent years in the org) is the spiritual training, I've had the Genbukan 10kyu dvd for about a year or so now and know you guys start learning things like Ketsu-In from day one. The spiritual aspects of the art are just as much of an interest to me ast he rest. Hatsumi from what I understand doesn't make these things available to you until 2nd Dan and then again at 10th dan. This probably sounds like I'm bad mouthing him but I assure you I am not. Overall I look forward to meeting some of you in training and again apologize if I have offended anyone at anytime for this post.
I furthermore need to retract my statements made previously as I was misinformed and completely blinded by the cloud that had been..thrown into my eyes?