Bufū Ikkan

"Bufū Ikkan" --
Some notes on understanding the Bujinkan martial arts

In around 1986 I started producing a photocopied sheet containing some phrases commonly used by Sōke (Dr Hatsumi), with translations and brief explanations. By 1992 this had grown to a 40-page "book" (still photocopied, but copyright) which I entitled "Bufū Ikkan" (see above: as Sōke often does, I've included a pun). It still concentrates on some terms you might hear Sōke use (written in Japanese, with transcriptions in the phonetic alphabet), with a few personal insights. Here is a small sample (a 16K .GIF file).

Since 1992 I have not had time to update the book further, much though I would like to -- and ought to, to reflect the new ideas that Sōke often brings up and my changed understanding of some other concepts. I could at least tidy up the formatting, take out the phonetic signs (many people said they were too difficult, although it did help them pronounce the words more correctly than normal romanization), update the bibliography and reprint it ... and will do so when I get a chance. There may also be versions in other languages sometime (I've seen some attempted translations but none I'm really happy with). But for the time being you're stuck with the 1992 edition, costing 10 pounds including p&p (roughly US$20 - see the Exchange Rate Calculator). This can be paid online via PayPal. If you want more details please get in touch.

Other Bujinkan books

People sometimes ask me if I can obtain various Japanese books, both by Sōke and others -- for example Ninpō Taijutsu, Kimi ni mo nareru Ninja, Ninja Ninpō Gahō, Ninpō Sengoku Zukan or Bansenshūkai. Unfortunately all of the above are out of print and quite difficult to obtain now (if you want to sell any of them, I might be interested). The following books however can still be found relatively easily, either as reprints on Amazon (see 'bibliography' links below) or on eBay: Sōjutsu, Bōjutsu, Hiden Togakure-ryū, Knife & Pistol Fighting, Ima Ninja, Hanbō/Jutte/Tessen, Sekai no Martial Arts.

Incidentally, you may find some people offering translations of various of the above books on eBay etc. There is little doubt that you can learn from these translations, but having looked at a few I'd also say that many have flaws, and many are also unauthorized (i.e. in breach of copyright), despite what they claim. I would advise you to ask Sōke first ... and/or stick to looking at the pictures and reading Sanmyaku and Sōke's official English books instead.

To give you some idea of how many books are available on the subject of Ninjutsu in general, and the Bujinkan training more specifically, here is a copy of the Japanese and non-Japanese bibliographies I originally drew up as part of Bufū Ikkan.


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