The Bujinkan is known for "Ninjutsu", but this is not the whole story by any means. The image of the Ninja as a black clad assassin is not correct.

Only 3 of the 9 schools we study were historically called "Ninjutsu" schools. The head of the Bujinkan Dojo, Dr Masaaki Hatsumi prefers the term Budo Taijutsu, although he has used the term "Ninjutsu" in the past.

When we train what we do is in some ways similar to other martial arts in that we gather in a training hall (a Dojo) to enjoy ourselves throwing each other around etc... but there are a few important differences. Our training is not competitive, and is definitely not geared towards "keeping fit" -- it is not a sport. As there are no competitions, there are also no rules or limitations on techniques (we study punching, kicking, throwing, joint locks, chokes, nerve points, and just about any conceivable weapon, particularly sticks, swords/knives, halberds/spears, chains/ropes, etc.).

This obviously makes the art quite dangerous, but in a good Dojo the training is always very relaxed and friendly. There is no being "hard". The training is generally very informal, and the different grades & belts do not have such a rigid significance as in some other arts.

Dr Hatsumi has inherited nine schools of martial arts: Togakure-ryu, Koto-ryu, Gyokko-ryu, Takagi Yoshin-ryu, Fudo Shinden-ryu, Kukishin-ryu, Kumogakure-ryu, Gyokushin-ryu, and Gikan-ryu. If you are interested in these then follow the links on this page or read "Ninjutsu, History and Tradition" by Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, or any of his other books (I will try to put a link to a bibliography in at some point).

There are other books out there, but be careful what you believe as there has been a lot of rubbish written along with the good stuff.

Credits:
Text: The majority of this text has come from Ben Jones' homepage so thank you to him.
Graphics: The excellent kanji on the left-hand side of the page and the wooden background come from my good friend Scott's page.