IBDA Bujinkan Is Different

"Ancient Arts for Modern Times," our theme since the late 1980s.

The Bujinkan arts offer so much. There is a reason the Ninja and Samurai arts it represents have lasted well over 1,000 years: they were developed and refined in real life and battle, not in a garage dojo by a guy who borrowed from six arts to make his own. We study many ancient schools, and their application in modern combat situations. Our mission is to share the arts as a path of personal transformation and a way of life. Our primary goal is to keep the Bujinkan teachings alive.

⚔ Living Empowered. A family-oriented lifestyle path. Not just martial skill, but mind, body, spirit and life. Shin Gi Tai Ichi is the goal from the beginning.
⚔ Warrior-Monk training. A non-religious spiritual path: awareness, meditation, even Kuji-In. We wear the NIN symbol on our uniforms.
⚔ Ninpo Taijutsu focus. Budo Taijutsu is studied as well; IBDA-issued ranks are in Ninpo Taijutsu.
⚔ Rank means something. Based on three things: specific knowledge at every level, your taijutsu ability, and your character development. You earn it well enough to teach it.
⚔ Godan Sakki Test for 5th Dan, given by Doshi. A 10 Dan system (with 5 elemental levels). No 15th Dans.
⚔ Teachers Training Course. You are trained to teach responsibly, and can earn several teaching titles.
⚔ Knowledge Library. Unprecedented Bujinkan study materials from beginner to master teacher: at the dojo, binder courses, or all online. Study anywhere, anytime. Phone app!
⚔ Ground fighting (Ninpo Ne Waza) taken from the Bujinkan schools' methods, Amatsu and Junan Taiso body conditioning, and Bujinkan fight finishes, not just submission and stop.
⚔ Realistic combat. No wimpy training. All punching styles, not just Ichimonji. Resistance training. Countering drills.
⚔ Weapons: ancient, exotic and modern, with how-to training and defense methods. The 18 Skills of the Ninja.
⚔ IBDA Master Council to carry the art forever. Almost 40 years of excellence.

Why this matters now

Our responsibility at IBDA greatly increased when Hatsumi-Sensei retired and passed the Sokeships of the 9 schools to individual Senior DaiShihan. Separate Sokeships change everything. Whether we want it or not, Japan training will never be the same without Soke Hatsumi and the split of schools, and the Hombu Dojo closing indefinitely during the virus did not help. My allegiance is to my teacher and the arts. During this transition, Hatsumi-Sensei granted IBDA and me full permission and his deepest blessings to carry on the Bujinkan arts in the way I feel is best. IBDA honors him and is dedicated to carrying his wisdom teachings forward, as we have for nearly 40 years of offering the arts worldwide. Our IBDA Masters Council will continue the arts forever, no matter what happens in or out of Japan.

IBDA has a comprehensive, strategic learning standard while many other dojos do not. You can count on solid knowledge for your earned rank, and on our instructors to know the material, because they all must pass a Teacher Training Course, learn specific knowledge to earn their Shodan, and do a realistic knife take-away battle in the process. Not all Bujinkan dojos offer the vast array of training IBDA does, and few have gone the distance Doshi has.

We now have many Bujinkan Kyu and high-level Black Belts wanting to switch their training affiliation to IBDA, and we fully support helping everyone we can. Bujinkan rank requirements vary from dojo to dojo; very few require 50% of the knowledge or taijutsu ability that we do, and we strongly feel the arts cannot continue without a solid learning and ranking structure and a solid organization. If you are in this position, this is your quick and easy path, for whatever Hombu grade you have.

Your Roadmap to Joining IBDA

If your Bujinkan rank came from someone else

Welcome to IBDA, and thank you for considering training with us and growing in the arts together as a family. Many students and instructors decide to train with us and continue their ranking with us after training with other Bujinkan instructors. Most of them want a solid, standard curriculum, so they know why they are given a grade. We want every grading to mean something special: a measure of how far a student has traveled down the path and how well they have learned the material. Especially since many who never thought they would teach end up teaching at least a few others. Ninpo Taijutsu training is so much fun it's contagious.

Step 1: Learn the IBDA material

Everyone who trains with the International Bujinkan Dojo Association follows the same guidelines. Everyone must learn and properly demonstrate the same material for each rank, as taught in the Kyu and Dan manuals, no matter where or from whom they learned it. At least get the Shodan Course and start there, so you know our IBDA material; all IBDA rank is measured by your knowledge of our training. This is especially important for Dan-level people joining us at an instructor level: it gives you a reference for teaching others, and assures every IBDA student they can attend any IBDA instructor's class and get help with their training. You can teach your class any way you like, adding whatever lessons you desire, as long as your students can demonstrate the IBDA Kyu material when they test.

Step 2: One demonstration for Shodan

Kindly, your Bujinkan Hombu rank with Japan is just that: your rank with Japan. We honor that you worked hard for it. Frankly, not all Bujinkan dojos rank the same, not even close; a grade can reflect massive knowledge or a weekend seminar. So no matter what you had to learn to get certified, we have worked out an easy Accelerated Path: share with us what you already know, and get fully certified with us to your current grade and beyond. Those who qualify can do ONE demonstration for Shodan (an overview of the Shodan material).

Step 3: Pass the Shidoshi Teachers Training and get certified

Study and pass the Shidoshi Teachers Training and you are certified. Then move on to the Dan-level material. It is the learning that is most valuable, not the rank, which only recognizes that you have learned certain material. Anyone affiliating with Doshi Richard Van Donk, at any level from 9th Kyu to 4th Dan, must know the information IBDA requires up to that level.

Step 4: Test your own students

Every instructor must have a relationship with Doshi Richard Van Donk to test their students, as he is responsible for you and the students you grade with IBDA. You need at least a Shidoshi-ho (junior teaching) license, which can be issued at Shodan after passing the Shidoshi course, to rank students one grade below you. The process is the same as it was in Japan, but much, much faster: our web portal makes it easy, you earn the same when ranking students, and you can buy patches and supplies at wholesale. Shidoshi (fully licensed master teacher) licenses are granted after you pass the Godan (5th Degree) test with Doshi. And your studies continue: there is so much more to learn.

Your Path With IBDA: To Master Teacher

Achievement Level 1: Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt with IBDA
Achievement Level 2: Shidoshi-ho, licensed junior teacher
Achievement Level 3: Advance through the 2nd to 5th Dan material to prepare for the 5th Dan test with Doshi
Achievement Level 4: Shidoshi, fully licensed teacher
Achievement Level 5: Shihan

The greatest level of all is what you feel inside: the changes you have made in your life, and how that has affected others because of your hard-earned efforts.

You can be a Black Belt in techniques and a white belt at sharing it.

It is one thing to be able to do techniques, and another to share the teachings so others can understand and do them well. The Teachers Training Course teaches you to set up training, create schedules and themes, select material for your classes, instruct a class, handle dojo situations and interact with your students. And you can be a Black Belt in techniques and at sharing it, but a white belt at running a dojo, and your school will fail. That is why the IBDA "Dojo Wealth Building Course" will teach you, A to Z, how to run a profitable dojo, so you can get paid doing what you love.