Who are the Japanese shihan?

[Highland Ninja]

For those who haven't seen my other posts, I'm just getting back to training in Bujinkan after a long absence. Obviously a lot has changed over the years. I'm curious as to who the current Japanese shihan are at this point.

Yes, I remember the ones who split off (Manaka, Tanemura). But from the ones who are around now, I only remember Nagato (met him long ago). I know who Noguchi is (never met him though). The rest, I'm totally unfamiliar with. Is Ishizuka still around?

There are some people who I assume are shihan on some of the DVDs, but I can't figure out who is who. There's a bald guy, kinda thin, looks almost more Chinese than Japanese. Soke demonstrates on him a lot on some of the DVDs. And there's a really young looking Japanese guy who I always see wearing a bandanna, he's on the Koppojutsu DVD.

So I'm wondering if there is any sort of list of who the Japanese shihan are now, so that I can figure out who is who when watching the DVDs. I hate referring to people as "that bald guy" or "that guy with the bandanna". Makes it a lot more normal in conversation to be able to say "Did you see what [insert name] did here?" rather than "that guy who looks like this".

Also, I remember someone named Taro Yoshikawa who was, if I remember correctly, doing some sort of translating for Hayes back in the early 80's and was at one of the Shadows of Iga Ninja Festivals. The story I got from Steve was that Taro was an excellent technician, and Soke wanted him there teaching so that we could see textbook form in motion. I don't recall ever hearing anything about him ever since.

Yeah, it's been awhile!

 

[benkyoka]

But from the ones who are around now, I only remember Nagato (met him long ago). I know who Noguchi is (never met him though). The rest, I'm totally unfamiliar with. Is Ishizuka still around?

Yes, he is.

There are some people who I assume are shihan on some of the DVDs, but I can't figure out who is who. There's a bald guy, kinda thin, looks almost more Chinese than Japanese. Soke demonstrates on him a lot on some of the DVDs.

That is Yabanaka-san

And there's a really young looking Japanese guy who I always see wearing a bandanna, he's on the Koppojutsu DVD.

That is Yoshida-san.

 

[Highland Ninja]

Thanks Benkyoka. So both of them are shihan?

Which one is Ishizuka? Does he appear in any of the DVDs? I don't see anyone who looks anything like him. Of course, after all these years nobody looks the same, but I'm surprised I haven't spotted him yet.

 

[benkyoka]

Which one is Ishizuka? Does he appear in any of the DVDs? I don't see anyone who looks anything like him. Of course, after all these years nobody looks the same, but I'm surprised I haven't spotted him yet.

If you have the DVD of the 1992 Daikomyosai, you will see a lot of him. Also, you can see him briefly training on the 2006 Daikomyosai DVD. He did demo a technique on the last day of the Daikomyosai but that part was edited out of the final cut of the DVD.

 

[Grey Eyed Bandit]

Best question ever asked on an internet forum...

"What's the difference between Hatsumi sensei and Noguchi sensei?"

:ultracool

 

[Highland Ninja]

Benyoka wrote:

If you have the DVD of the 1992 Daikomyosai, you will see a lot of him. Also, you can see him briefly training on the 2006 Daikomyosai DVD.

Ah! I only have the 2001 Daikomyosai and the Bujinkan Koppojustu DVDs so far, so no wonder I didn't see him. Good to hear he's still around!

I could swear I read on a review somewhere that one of the DVDs feature most (or perhaps all) of the current Japanese shihan demonstrating techniques, but I can't figure out which one it was. Can anyone tell me which one that was? I think it might have been one of the late 90's Tai Kai's maybe?