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From “Ninpo Taijutsu to Budo Taijutsu”

Exploring the evolution of the Bujinkan training during the last 25 years

MARCH 22nd-25th, 2012

held in the California Napa wine country.

Join us for 3 1/2 days doing exciting, informative Budo training and a great party with old or new friends!

Mark down these dates -March 22nd-25th, 2012 (Thursday night to Sunday eve) in Middletown, California (a small mountain village in the Napa Wine country north of San Francisco) for an exciting special Tai Kai.

Everyone is welcome to train! No rank requirements! No Experience Necessary! Come if you are a brand new beginner (we will take care of you) or a vary experienced Master. Come if you train with me or you don’t train with me. It would be cool to have some old students that have moved on come to this event and share their stories and knowledge. We respect all affiliations or arts at this event.

Just come, learn some cool stuff, meet some new lifelong friends and have a really great time. Ask anyone who has been to our events and they will tell you why they keep coming back all time. Our events are special and are way beyond a normal seminar. Very few organizations ever have a 25th year event and we are determined to make it very memorable.

SPACE IS LIMITED THIS YEAR- to about 75 people for the training due to the training location.

Group Banquet Dinner and Tai Kai Party will be held on Saturday night.

Starts 7pm Thursday Night and goes until 5pm Sunday.

Need more info?  http://www.ninjutsu.com/tai-kai-events.shtml

See you on the mat,

Richard Van Donk, Shidoshi

IBDA SHIDOSHI COUNCIL IS FORMALLY BORN

At IBDA we are growing worldwide in students, dojos and instructors due to the web presence, home study programs and word of mouth about what we are doing different. This is very delightful to me as I love to see the teachings getting out and people enjoying the arts and all the life changes it brings them.

This is why I have worked so hard over the years to offer these teachings to everyone – no matter where they live. I wanted people to have what I didn’t in study material. And for them to have a least some kind of training if they didn’t have an instructor near them. Hoping that they would hook up with a teacher someday  or become one themselves. I also created a Teachers training course so they could learn to become one.

People think that I did this for the money, it is simply Not true. Frankly speaking, the business side of this barely pays for itself but it does bring the teachings to the world which has been my mission all along. Many, many times I have paid out of my own pocket to get Soke Hatsumi’s teachings to the public. My personal income comes mostly from my consulting and private coaching, which I truly love.

It has been over 25 years now and the growth has gone from teaching at the park and at the beach to a University Dojo to creating a regular  in town dojo that grew to over 100 students in a short time to having high ranking instructors all over the world. Many of these students have become 15th Dans. Some have left to go on their own and others have stayed. It has been quite a journey.  Lately due to IBDA’s solid study curriculum, rank that has meaning and worldwide growth many instructors are coming back and the growth is expanding past the ability for me to serve IBDA properly by myself. 

IBDA OFFICIAL COUNCIL

So behind the scenes I have been working with a great group of leaders in IBDA by forming an official Shidoshi / Shidoshi-ho council that will be overseeing the students and the growth of IBDA worldwide. At the next meeting I will be selecting 3 leaders to take administration roles. I will remain as the IBDA Chairman and Founder and help guide them in this process.

So expect a lot of great improvements and exciting opportunities to learn. I will list just a few here and leave the rest to surprises.

Those in the IBDA Teachers Council will take the lead in helping all new Home Study Course students grow in the arts with overseeing their studies with lessons, ranking and answering questions. Some will offer private lessons and rank tests through Skype for a small fee. This can revolutionize the training as you can get instructor feedback on your growth and studies or ask them important questions.

These certified IBDA instructors will be posting FREE training clips on the YouTube Ninjutsu.coms channel and in the Facebook Channel plus additional private training clips in the Ninjutsu forum (which will also be upgraded soon).

Plus many IBDA themed seminars will be offered on a regular basis so you can catch up on your skills or enhance them. The first IBDA 9th kyu – 5th kyu Seminar even will be in Michigan Sept. 24th and 25th, 2011 and taught by Shihans Dan Ordoins and John Owsiak. Attend this if you can. Our goal is to have a monthly IBDA event calendar with seminars all over for you to choose from.

We already have over 25 years of experience in serving you and we want to build on this with you in mind. We have a mission to bring you the very best teachings you can experience and an organization that grows with technologies and time. IBDA has been now structured to outlast me, or anyone that is currently involved. I hope that you want to be a part of building a great Bujinkan.

You can trust the teachings from anyone in this IBDA Council as they will have studied the Shidoshi Teachers Training Course so you know that they are well trained by me. Plus they have been through all of the IBDA material so you can ask them any question on the material up to their rank grade.

A future goal is to have a Martial Arts Center Complex where you can come train any time you want for as long as you want. We have the plans and are just waiting for the funding to occur.

Want to join us as a student? Go here  http://www.ninjutsu.com/  or http://www.budotaijutsu.com/index.html

Want to join us as an Instructor? Go here http://www.ninjutsu.com/IBDA_instructor.shtml

 I will post more on this as it develops. We have some very great ideas to help you become the best martial artist you can become.

See you on the Mat!

Richard Van Donk, Shidoshi

IBDA OFFERS YOU WHAT NO ONE ELSE DOES

Practitioners are studying the Ninjutsu and Budo Taijutsu arts worldwide now. The International Bujinkan Dojo Association IBDA has had a strong position in offering the world the teachings of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi for over 25 years now. We have a dedicated mission to help those without reputable certified teachers in there area have the opportunity to study the art until a teacher develops near them or they become one themselves.

This process, although not always appreciated by those that do not understand our goal and how much we help people with our program, has been highly successful. At IBDA we have worked very hard at creating a trust able standard and a study curiculum that is 2nd to none. At IBDA we have strived to make our ranks mean that you actually learned something to get them. At IBDA we have worked hard to have a unified organization where every instructor is trained to be an instructor and knows all the material up to their grade.

You may be thinking “Well, isn’t it that way everywhere?” It should be but it is not.

Our Soke has chosen to have no uniformed organization and no structure to the teachings or to the rank grade system. This freedom is wonderful in so many ways and yet can be a major challenge to an art that grows beyond a few teachers. 
You see there has been no qualification of what it means to be a teacher in the Bujinkan. Nor is there any structured study curiculmn in the Bujinkan. So untrained instructors can teach whatever they want to make up. There is no set structure for what a rank grade is in the Bujinkan. So the ranks vary so much making it hard to decide on choosing a real good Bujinkan teacher. Many instructors do not abide by the Bujinkan Hombu rules and they issue their own certification instead of properly grading their students through Japan. The students suffer for this as their certification is not recognized by solid Bujinkan Instructors.

Because of all these variations in grades unscrupulous Bujinkan instructors go around giving seminars and issue new rank grades to students that they have only met a few hours before. This is harmful to the elated student and the instructor who is now powerless to help guide their own students along the Budo path. I have seen great harm come in this immature and inconsiderate grading method by even high ranked instructors. I personally feel that no one should rank someone else’s student. There is a great meaning to the student-teacher and the art relationship; if not there is no relationship. Call me old fashion if you want. But this is the way martial arts has been handed down for hundreds of years and why I have stuck closely to my teacher, Soke Hatsumi, all these years when others haven’t. Enough said on this.

Here is IBDA’s (International Bujinkan Dojo Association) position -
1. We offer a solid connect to Soke Hatsumi in Japan. You get Japan Budo Taijutsu certification and Japan teacher certification.
2. We offer a well established Organization with students and Instructors all over the World.
3. We offer a solid proven strategic study system (tested over 25 years in over 100 countries) taking you from beginner to Master. We offer all of Soke Hatsumi’s study materials, as well as a University of Ninjutsu/Budo Taijutsu studies from Shihan Richard Van Donk both online and in complete Dojo/Home Study Courses. Plus forums and a Ninja Vault. Ninjutsu.com Youtube and Ninjutsu.com Facebook Channels.
4. We offer a solid proven ranking system. You know what to study for your next grade
5. We Offer you Ninjutsu / Ninpo Taijutsu teachings that are NOT taught in Japan. You learn this first just like Shihan Van Donk did. Then you learn Budo Taijutsu starting at Nidan.
6. We offer you a school by school wazas training plus the master principles of Budo Taijutsu.
7. We offer you a Teachers Training Course - to become a Shidoshi teacher of the “Warrior Ways of Enlightenment”.
8. We offer you an IBDA Teachers Council to help you personally with your lessons both in and out of the dojo. The teachers are called Shidoshi or Shidoshi-ho, a junior teacher. At 5th dan you become a Shidoshi.
9. We offer the opportunity when eligible to take the 5th dan, Godan, Sakki test anywhere in the world. Shihan Richard Van Donk has been authorized to administer this test on behalf of Soke Hatsumi. Please note he will only do this for prequalified IBDA students. Your IBDA instructor will let you know. All other need not apply. We do not grade other peoples students.
10. We offer private lessons (in person or by Skype), seminars, Tai kais and Japan Trips.

To learn more please visit http://www.ninjutsu.com/ and www.BudoTaijutsu.com to learn more about our art and what we offer you.

See you on the mat,

Richard Van Donk, Shidoshi

www.Ninjutsu.com
www.BudoTaijutsu.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ninjutsucom
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ninjutsucom/205883806119490

Budo Taijutsu is comprehensive in it’s nature and it’s application. It draws from the Taijustu and wazas of 6 martial arts schools and draws on the conceptual ideas of 3 others. Soke Hatsumihas never codified this body of knowledge into a structure. Nor has he ever listed or spoken out the core principles of these teachings contained within his teachings of Budo Taijutsu. He just demonstrates the art and shares ideas, principles and concepts in the moment or attached to a yearly theme.  

My newly released Budo Taijutsu Course was created to help all Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu practitioners understand all the dynamic relationships of the art. This art has never been defined the way it is in this course. For many students it has been difficult to determine what they are really studying and what is important in that study. One reason is that the training draws from 9 different schools and over laps in it’s concepts in every class. The other is that while concepts are explored they have not been defined all in one place leaving the student to determine for themselves what is useful in the training. This has it’s pros and it’s cons. Many students and instructors have become confused.  What was was needed was AN OVERVIEW TEACHING ON WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS AND CONCEPTS IN LEARNING THE ART.

I asked myself and 10 other IBDA instructor the following question:

“What are all the most important lessons of Budo Taijutsu ever taught to me by Soke Hatsumi over the last 25+ years?”

The concpets literally came flying into my brain and at first I wrote them down as bullet points – but then as I went back over the bullet points I received specific exercises on how to share these points with you.

Then I codified all the lessons into a progression of importance to detail it all out for anyone to learn them.

Then I held an event “Perfecting Your Budo Taijutsu”where we filmed these concepts so everyone could have them and study the core principles so they could better their taijutsu. The results turned out so great that I made a study course into 11 DVDs and a 236 page manual + a 70 PAGE Ten Chi Jin Manual – Shidoshi Richard Van Donk notes from 25 years of compiling and studying the Heaven Earth And Man scrolls known as the Ten Chi Jin. This is a $75 bonus value (for real check the price at the store). It is included here in case you are not real familiar with the core teachings of Soke Hatsumi.

Helping Shidoshi Richard Van Donk (15^th Dan) in share their master Budo Taijutsu principles in this course with their years of experience are Shihan’s Dan Ordoins (15^th Dan), Linda Van Donk (13^th Dan), James King (13^th Dan), John Owsiak (8^th Dan), Carlito Flores (8^th Dan); Shidoshi’s Charles Benham 7^th Dan, Roman Marquez, 7^th Dan, James Clum 7^th Dan, and Shidoshi-ho’s Jamie Daiken (4^th Dan) and Theodore Schink (4^th Dan). These IBDA instructors have all trained with me (and others) and have been to Japan to train in the hombu dojo directly with Soke Hatsumi. You have to agree that this adds up to a wealth of experience in budo. Get the best of what they have learned in the arts presented to you. Get started and enjoy this training.

It rocks and everybody so far loves it. If this interests you get it now as it is $100 off until about Sept. 25th. http://store.ninjutsu.com/budo-taijutsu-course/

Enjoy the arts.

See you on the Mat,

Richard Van Donk, Shidoshi

www.Ninjutsu.com

www.BudoTaijutsu.com

It’s been a while…. Been busy working on the new things we have to offer for your training in the wondeful world of ninjutsu (budo). We have the Budo Taijutsu Course coming up soon along with the Sword Specialist Course and lets not forget a new and improved store with all the training gear and materials you need for the journey! I hope everyones working on the Kihon Happo and rememeber we got lots of new things coming your way. Keep Going!!

RVD

IBDA “All Things Ninja Tai Kai” with Shihan Richard Van Donk held March 24th-27th, 2011!
The Art of Winning – Perseverance – Ninpo Way of thinking – Strategy in Combat – Inner Arts – Philosophy – Junan Taiso/Body conditioning- Stealth – Survival – Exotic Weapons – Tai Jutsu – Kihon Happo – Kuji-in and Kuji-Kiri, Gathering information -Meditation – Goton Po – Disguise – Gun retention, disarms and survival use – Survival – Sword – Making a mask from your Shirt – Climbing Skills- Weapon vs. Weapon – Hostage retrieval and Negotiation – How to survive a Real knife attack – Teaching your children how to survive – ETC…..

We have an awesome training planned.

Hope you can make it.

http://www.ninjutsu.com/tai-kai-events.shtml

Please make your comments below

Hi There,

It is back to basics this year in the Bujinkan. I hope that you are studying your Kihon Happo and San Shin. Our foundations are important in everything; from our kamae to our relationships to our living fulfilled. Making a life assessment (as well as Taijutu assessments) often can bring us more rewarding opportunities to grow from.

I have SIX quick announcements in this one message to you. Please take a moment to at least quickly view them. Store specials, new Hatsumi book, 3 new Shodan Training Manuals, upcoming Budo Taijutsu Course, IBDA TAI KAI and Happy Valentine’s Message.

1. Everything at the Ninjutsu Store is 10% to 25% off!
Happy Valentines Day Special Until Feb 14th  www.NinjutsuStore.com

2. Soke Hatsumi is releasing a new exciting book called “The Essence of Budo” very soon.
It is said to contain many secrets of budo and a history of his lifelong search for truth and justice. There are several hundred pictures in it of techniques, scrolls and mysteries. Look for it in May. You can reserve a copy today so that it is mailed to you the day it arrives.

3. Two big Ninjutsu Course Specials Save $100
Ninjutsu Shodan Course Reg. $397 Now $297
Teacher Training Course Reg. $347 Now $247

4. Three New IBDA Shodan Training Manuals
Okay we did it for you! After many student requests we have now put the entire Shodan No Maki 9th kyu to Shodan picture book into separate training 3 manuals. All the step by step technique and waza pictures that are enjoyed in the Distant Learning program can be enjoyed in the dojo. Check them out at the store. The publication is at the printers and we expect the books next month.  www.NinjutsuStore.com

5. Budo Taijutsu Course is coming soon!
Shihan Richard Van Donk and 9 other IBDA instructors teach their best “Master Principles of Budo Taijutsu” on 12 dvd’s. Included is a comprehensive Training manual. There is NOTHING like it in the Bujinkan. Our projected Release date will be at the March 24th Tai Kai.

6. IBDA “All Things Ninja Tai Kai” with Shihan Richard Van Donk held March 24th-27th!
The Art of Winning – Perseverance – Ninpo Way of thinking – Strategy in Combat – Inner Arts – Philosophy – Junan Taiso/Body conditioning- Stealth – Survival – Exotic Weapons – Tai Jutsu – Kihon Happo – Gathering information -Meditation – Goton Po – Disguise – Gun retention, disarms and survival use – Survival – Sword – Making a mask from your Shirt – Climbing Skills- Weapon vs. Weapon – Hostage retrieval and Negotiation – How to survive a Real knife attack – Teaching your children how to survive – ETC….. We have an awesome training planned. Hope you can make it. http://www.ninjutsu.com/tai-kai-events.shtml

Again, Everything at the Ninjutsu Store is 10% to 25% off!  www.NinjutsuStore.com

Share the love at Valentine’s Day!

Please take a moment and post your comments below.

Just released is Shihan Richard Van Donk’s Ninjutsu Masters Course

http://mastercourse.ninjutsu.com/

My goal has always been to provide you with the best education possible.  I want to give you a solid foundation to take you from Beginner level to Master level in Bujinkan Ninjutsu-Budo Taijutsu.

I am an ALL IN type of guy when I decide to do something. To me if it is worth doing at all then it needs to be done well and without compromise. Especially if I am going to be spending a lot of my time doing it. I want all the information that I can get on the subject so that I can master it for myself. If you are like me then this course may be for you.

Ninjutsu Masters Course

I want you to have a personal experience with me as part of your training so as a bonus I offer you a $100 discount to an IBDA Tai Kai and a $250 discount for a private session with me so that I can fine tune your taijutsu, teach you the inner arts, or help your through a life challenge. You have 2 full years from the date of purchase to take advantage of your bonuses.

So I invite you to check it out at http://mastercourse.ninjutsu.com/

Bottom line we have an infinite amount of training available to you. Start anywhere you want. Even if you choose not to be affiliated with IBDA we welcome you getting our study materials to help you become the best martial arts practitioner that you can be.

See you on the mat,

Richard Van Donk, Shidoshi

Dear Buyu,

I write this today just in case you have not already heard.

Shihan Mark Hodel (15th dan) has passed recently from heart failure. Mark did so much for the Bujinkan in the way of providing training space for us, hosting instructor seminars, hosting many Tai Kais for Soke, publishing Soke’s Bujin and Sanmyaku magazines, offering a way for Buyu to connect at his website www.winjutsu.comand much more. He was a very humble man for all his accomplishments. He did more for the Bujinkan and the people in it than most anyone will ever know. He was a great man who lived his budo with great heart.

You can go here to read at little more about Mark and his Budo principles. http://www.winjutsu.com/hodel/index.html

Personally Mark was a dear friend, as I knew him before he even started Ninjutsu in the early 80′s. We both lived in Stockton California then and I spent much time with him both in and out of the dojo before moving to Santa Cruz.

It was because of Mark that I really started training in the art.  I recently saw a picture of our training group on Facebook taken in the mid 1980′s at the Stockton Dojo provided by Mark. Out of about 20 people in the photo 8 of those people are now over judan and 6 are now 15th dan. This would have never happened without Marks grace. Thank You Mark!

His contribution was huge but more than that he was a wonderful man, a good father, and a great person to have as a friend. I will never forget him or the gifts that he gave us all. May his heart find peace.

Much love and peace to his direct family, close friends (Jack) and the Bujinkan family.

Oh, my… Off to light a candle.

Richard