Tangren02 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Good to know, useful information. Thanks ;)

jasonmarti1976 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Thanks, ipora88, I did not know that.

ipora88 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Jason, a slight correction. No westerners have any menkyo of any of the nine ryu-has to date. However, the Japanese Shihan are sometimes referred to as having 15th Dan so that they are not confused as having lesser rank than any other students of Hatsumi Sensei. But, only the Japanese Shihan have ryu-ha rankings. That is why Manaka and Tanemura could leave and transmit the ryu-ha as they have - they were already certified masters in them. And, not ALL Japanese shihan have menkyo certificates.

jasonmarti1976 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

The dan grading is something that is not used by the Japanese Shihan like Seno Hideo,Ishizuka Tetsuji,Oguri Koichi,Noguchi Yukio,Nagato Toshiro,Shirashi Isamu,Someya Kenichi,Nagase Hiroshi and Nakadai Keiji. However, you will readily see Westerners such as Mr. Van Donk and even Stephen K. Hayes with awarded (earned) dan such as 10th and 15th. Yep, not even Stephen K. Hayes received menkyo in anything within Bujinkan.

jasonmarti1976 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

In Bujinkan only the Japanese shihan have certification in actual ryu-ha that make up the nine schools within the organization. This may be because Hatsumi Sensei probably had already picked most of his actual students by the 1980s. At that time all Hatsumi's ranking black belts were Japanese. The most you will see today is guys with high dan grades (up to 15th dan). Hatsumi gave actual menkyo (licenses) to those early Japanese students only. (cont.)

Tangren02 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Historical ninja sometimes carried blinding powder (metsubishi), so for that time it was practical...

Tangren02 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

WOW, I didn't know that... (The part of Hatsumi not really teaching Western students everything)

superlardbucket (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

He'll make an exception for me... He will look at me and say, "This boy is like no other. I must expose him to the most ancient of martial arts secrets and train him to be the greatest martial artist ever!" and then he will... I'm being totally fecetious right now... DAMMIT! WHY WON'T HE TRAIN ME!?!

superlardbucket (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Well then, he's an extremely powerful master of the art of ninjutsu. And I'm just saying that he's much more killed than your average joe, so he's trying to make sure his students sense the killing intent since his technique would be a lot more precise, deadly, and harder to defend against than a normal one and he wants his students to be able to stop it.

ipora88 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

True students are not necessarily those that appear in a seminar, or those that will be exposed to him in a dojo even if they live in Japan for years. A true student is made so by the sensei. That student is the one that is taught "kuden" when others are not. He is the one that will receive actual certification in a ryu-ha (which sadly no Westerners have received from Hatsumi to date). Hatsumi's inner core of Japanese students (like Manaka Unsui) do have ryu-ha certification.