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Bujingodai Martial Training
A Video Analysis by Phil Elmore
 |
Sensei Dave Gibb, of the Pembroke Bujingodai Dojo in Canada, sent me a homemade videotape in which he and some of his students appear. The tape is intended as internal, supplementary instructional material to keep Bujingodai satellite dojos “in the family.” |
Modern Ninjutsu practitioners typically find
themselves the subject of controversy, usually stemming from their claims
of lineage or revolving around
questions
of the legitimacy of their recently founded styles. I don’t believe
there’s any way to generalize accurately about these issues, as each case is
different. One question that does come up frequently when modern
Ninjutsu is discussed, however, is the physical efficacy of the style. It
was with that question in mind — “What are these people doing,
physically?” — that I reviewed this tape.
The tape’s contents represent, roughly, what
would be Bujingodai’s “white belt” through “green belt”
materials. Filmed in a plumbing warehouse in which the Bujingodai dojo is
located, the quality of this video isn’t bad for a homemade effort. The
visuals are fine, and the sound is okay — though when Dave’s students shout out
the motto of their school (“Loyalty! Honor! Courage Respect!”) it is
much too loud compared to the sound level of the rest of the video.
On blue mats lining the floor and standing in
front of an overhead garage door, Dave and his students demonstrate a variety of
basic rolls. These range from one-hand front rolls and one-hand back rolls
to side rolls, diving rolls, and a flying rear roll performed while recovering
from a shove. In one demonstration that I found impressive, Dave crouches
on top of the back of another student, while a third student dives over both of
them before rolling out. Rolls typically conclude with the student coming
up into a “combat kneel” position.
My
teacher Dave pointed out that neither Dave nor his students appear to be
slapping enough, in doing their rolls, to protect adequately against injury to
the head. When I asked him about this, Sensei Gibb told me that they train
to use the hands to land while coiling into a roll to recover. In eight
years, he said, neither he nor his students have hurt their heads doing rolls of
this type.
Demonstrations of leaps and jumps and related
techniques follow. I don’t agree with some of the footwork that goes with
a few of these, but there were no surprises in the batch. One of the
techniques, a counter to being grabbed from behind in which you thrust your
behind backwards while pushing your arms before you, has been taught to me by
more than one person with minor variations.
At one point I rewound to watch the
demonstration again. Dave does a cartwheel fairly effortlessly, which is
particularly impressive to me, because he ( like me) is a large Caucasian
mammal.
There are some falls and throws that come
directly from Judo or Ju Jitsu. I enjoyed the segment of the tape that involves
using arm bar and arm wrap takedowns, as I thought these were well demonstrated.
When I reached the segment on stepping, I
figured the standard Ninja sideways cross-step would make an appearance, and it
did. Forward walking inline, a crouching run, and a
“shovel-foot” technique are also demonstrated.
The stances demonstrated during one segment of
the tape are all similar, if not identical, to stances in Charles Daniel’s
Taijutsu
book. I asked Dave about this, as well, and he said that while the
Bujinkan forms the foundation of his training, techniques derived from it
constitute about 40% of what he teaches now.
When I pointed out that there seemed to be a
lot of leaning on the tape — points of center not properly aligned — Dave
admitted that he does tend to lean a little, something that should be corrected.
Striking power in the Bujingodai is said to
come from the momentum of the body, by throwing one’s self behind the strike
(rather than through generating torque with the hips). One of Dave’s
students repeatedly uses a hand strike that I found curious and very
telegraphed. Extending one hand forward to point at the target while
cocking the other back at his hip like a bent wing, he moves forward and strikes
with the rear hand while bringing the forward arm back to that chambered
position.
What caught my eye is that this looks like the
empty hand equivalent of a knife fighting technique
alleged
by Mike Ruppert to be used by the “ninja students” he has sparred
— one that he defeated repeatedly by “palming” the chambered,
reverse-gripped knife against the body.
Dave
said that this is a strike he does from time to time as well, one that
allows for a “hidden approach” and which can indeed be used with
weapons.
Kicking in the Bujingodai involves what I
consider the standard repertoire of Karate kicks: front kicks, side kicks,
roundhouse kicks, crescents, and so forth. The style definitely is not a
kicking style, Dave explained, so he does not emphasize it and teaches only the
basics.
One segment I honestly didn’t enjoy was one
towards the end of the tape, in which a couple of students engage in what I
would call “limited sparring.” This appeared
somewhat clumsy and didn’t add much instructional value, though the role-playing
concept has value as a training technique.
Overall I thought Dave came across as quite
friendly on the tape. He and his students seem comfortable with what
appears, to me, to be a fairly acrobatic martial art. The tape obviously
provides no insight into the legitimacy of this modern Ninjutsu style in terms
of history, lineage, or development.
I am nonetheless grateful to have been able to see
its physical expression for myself.