About Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu

First some definitions:

"Bujinkan" =  "Divine Warrior School"
"Budo" = "Warrior Way" or "Way of the Warrior"
"Taijutsu" = "Body Movement" or for our use "Combat Body Movement"

From the above definitions we can say that a reasonable definition of "Budo Taijutsu" is
"The warrior way of combat body movement".
"Bujinkan" is the name given to the organization under the leadership of
Dr. Masakki Hatsumi.

Dr. Hatsumi is the founder of the Bujinkan organization.
The Bujinkan is made up of  nine schools or lineage's.
Dr. Hatsumi was given the title of Soke (Grand master)
of all nine lineage's by his teacher Toshitsugu Takamatsu.
The oldest and most well know lineage is Togakure Ryu Ninpo
which has roots that can be traced back to around 900AD.
(A full list of the lineage's can be found below)
Takamatsu Sensei passed to the next life in the early 1970's.
Since that time Hatsumi Sensei has opened the training of these
arts to the public worldwide. The art has grown from a handful of
practitioners in the 1970's to literally hundreds of  thousands of practitioners today.

In a nutshell Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu is one of a few truly combat oriented martial arts
around today. If you look at the history of most martial arts very few are over
200 years old and most have been turned into sports. Budo Taijutsu
is taught as a survival based fighting system, because it is not
a sport there are no rules to abide by and no forms to learn.
Instead we use different basic techniques as building blocks to
look at different scenarios that might occur in a combat situation.
Over the last 1000 years of Japans history there have been
thousands of different lineage's, and over 200 of those have been
"Ninjutsu" lineage's. Out of those 200 there are only a handful left, 
one of the oldest being "Togakure Ryu Ninpo". It is interesting
to think of how those arts died out, quite possibly with their
teachers on the battlefield. 

The Nine Lineage's or Schools of the Bujinkan Dojo 
 Togakure Ryu Ninpo (Ninjutsu) 
Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu (Samurai)
Kuki Shinden Ryu Happo Hikenjutsu (Samurai)
Kumogakure Ryu Ninpo (Ninjutsu) 
Gyokko Ryu Koshijutsu (Samurai)
Koto Ryu Koppo Taijutsu (Samurai)
Gyokushin Ryu Ninpo (Ninjutsu)
Gikan Ryu Koppojutsu (Samurai)
Shinden Fudo Ryu Dakentaijutsu (Samurai) 

<> The following is a partial list of the basic areas of study that can be
found in the Bujinkan organization:
I want to preface this list by saying that I in no way claim to be a
master of all of these studies. We touch on all of these studies at
times in our dojo. Our main focus is on Taijutsu.
(the areas in bold text are the studies that I feel are my favorite areas)
There are thousands of Bujinkan instructors around the world,
and if you search you can find one who specializes in the study
what you are interested in.

Basic Areas of Study 
Taiso (Stretching & Conditioning) 
Taijutsu (Unarmed Combat) 
Tantojutsu (Knife Fighting Arts) 
Bojutsu (Stick Fighting Arts) 
Shurikenjutsu (Blade Throwing Arts) 
Kenjutsu (Sword Fighting Arts) 
Iiajutsu (Fast Draw Sword Fighting Arts) 
Kusarigamajutsu (Chain & Sickle) 
Juttejutsu (Iron Truncheon Fighting Arts) 
Kusarifundojutsu (Chain Fighting Arts) 
Kyoketsu Shoge (Dagger, Rope, Iron Ring Fighting Arts) 
Yarijutsu (Spear fighting Arts) 
Naginatajutsu (Halberd Fighting Arts) 
Bisento (Battlefield Halberd Fighting Arts) 
Meiso (Meditation Techniques) 
Ninki (Specialized Ninja Tools) 
Gotonpo (Use of Natural Elements for Escape & Evasion) 
Heiho (Combat Strategy) 
and 
Firearms Training

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