[ninja_claws]

To be honest here
and seriouse
bujinkan is probably the only thing that really has some ninjutsu in it
but You must get too a certain rank before you start really learning it
that means training as a grunt shit like I am for about 6 or 7 years
and also
very few Bujinkan dojo's are good, at all
Most of them are shit
so I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to be training at the one I am

and the guy who said he could kill someone with one punch, unless he's just wackin the shit out of someones sack
i dont think he knows what the fuck he's talking about
he probably watches too much dragon ball Z

[Gazelle]

[quote="Hengest"]There are three main schools usually associated with ninjutsu: Bujinkan, Genbukan, and Jinenkan. None of these really use the term ninjutsu anymore, since it only relates to a very specific part of their syllabus, which is rarely taught in the average dojo. Bujinkan now prefer to call their style "budo taijutsu", Genbukan name theirs "ninpo bugei" and Jinenkan, as far as I know, just call it plain old "Jinenkan".
[quote]

Why would they prefer to be called the names you mentioned as oppose to the others? What do the names mean?

[Hengest]

Any name in Japanese ending with the kanji "-kan" actually refers to an organisation, association or specific dojo. A rough translation would be "house" or "club". Thus "Bujinkan" means something like "martial spirit house" and Genbukan "virtuous martial house". I'm not sure about Jinenkan, as I'm not aware of what kanji they use to write their name.

The names they use for what they teach, however, don't translate so easily. Roughly, "budo taijutsu" means "martial-way body skill" and "ninpo bugei", "endurance-method martial technique".

It seems to me that the schools are now using these names because "ninjutsu" (a) only covers part of what they do, and (b) hasn't been cool since the 80s. When Hatsumi first became popular outside Japan, calling his art Togakure Ryu ninjutsu (which actually only forms a small part of the Bujinkan syllabus) attracted the punters because everybody had seen a Sho Kosugi movie and wanted to learn to do all that. Now ninjutsu doesn't sell, they can afford to be more honest about what they do, calling their style by a name that more accurately reflects what they teach.

[Gazelle]

Thank you.