“Bujinkan Community”

 

     Last night I told Soke about this blog.  I wanted him to know that I was writing since he has told me so many times before to do so. He was happy to hear about it and said that it is important for the community of the Bujinkan.  He has talked about this many times before, and I feel that this has become a more significant need for the future of the Bujinkan.  

It seems that many of the past politics have become less of a problem.  I think that this is because people have matured and are more confident in their abilities and there is less of a feeling of need of competition between Shidoshi.

 

This is a real accomplishment, because the future of this art is in our hands.  In the future, coming together for training will be important to maintain consistency for what is being taught in Japan.  Soke is currently not traveling overseas now and not everyone can make the trip to Japan.

 

Some recent events (and not so recent events) around the world are evident of this Bujinkan community that come to mind are the Aussie Taikai that turned out to be a very successful and positive event from what I hear.  There is also the Buyu camp in CA and the east coast as well as other events.

 

These types of events are going to become more and more important for the Bujinkan and Soke is putting strong emphasis on this sense of community.

 

I recently felt that this was true at the last seminar in CA that was hosted by my long time Buyu, Ken Lux in Granite Bay CA.  There were several people attending from the local (and not so local) Dojo’s and the sense of community was very strong.  When I got back to Japan, I wasted no time in letting Soke know about this training and named all the Shidoshi who attended. Many of them are my sempai from the early days of the Stockton Dojo.  He again, emphasized that this is very important for the future of the Bujinkan.

 

I strongly urge people to take advantage and participate in training events that are in the positive direction of this aspect of community as much as possible.  It’s not only important for individual training, but for the future of the Bujinkan.