Taikai

Taikai – Martial arts "congresses"

Bujinkan Taikai are events where enthusiasts of the Bujinkan martial arts gather together to train (not compete). From 1986 to 2003 up to ten were held every year in various locations around the globe, conducted under the tutelage of Dr Hatsumi, the art's grandmaster, and attended by up to 1000 people aged anything from 8 to 88 and coming from over 35 countries. It is now only possible to train directly with Dr Hatsumi in Japan, but some of his pupils organize large-scale international seminars which have also come to be called Taikai. There has also been a large gathering in Japan every year, called the Daikōmyōsai (3 days' training, around December 2), which is still taught by Dr Hatsumi.

Group photo of the May 1999 Taikai in Tucson, Arizona


Past Taikai

The videos of past Taikai are recommended training tools, although quality varies and there are no videos of some of the early Taikai simply because the technology wasn't commonly available then. This site used to show the video lengths, prices, formats and so on and have links to the organizers’ websites or email, but this information soon became out of date so has been removed – if you still need it, look at the archived version on the WayBack Machine. As for where to obtain the videos, a few places have large selections (e.g. Pedro Fleitas, Arnaud Cousergue and Richard van Donk) but otherwise I can only suggest eBay, or using Google to try and track down the organizer (many have since left the Bujinkan). Note that Daikōmyōsai videos are listed elsewhere, on my page of Bujinkan videos.

Month/ YearVenueOrganizer
1986-88
5/86California, USMark Hodel
5?/86Cleveland, USTetsuya Higuchi
8/87London, UKPeter King
8/88London, UKPeter King
8/88Stockholm, SWESveneric Bogsäter
?/88Los Angeles, USMark Hodel
1989
5?/89IsraelMoti Nativ / Ilan Gattegno
6?/89New Jersey, USJack Hoban
6?/89San Francisco, USMark Hodel
8/89Malmo, SWENo official video
8/89London, UKPeter King
8?/89Dublin, IREBrian McCarthy
8?/89Muenchen, DMoshe Kastiel
1990
5/90Torremolinos, SPRuy Mendoza
6/90Atlanta, USBud Malmstrom
8/90Malmö, SWESveneric Bogsäter
8/90London, UKPeter King
8?/90Muenchen, DMoshe Kastiel
1991
4/91Torremolinos, SPRuy Mendoza
4/91Gran Canaria, SPPedro Fleitas
6/91Texas, USEd Sones / Richard van Donk
8/91Malmö, SWESveneric Bogsäter
8/91Berlin, DMoshe Kastiel
8/91Muenchen, DMoshe Kastiel
8/91London, UKPeter King
1992 Theme: Sword
2/92Taiberias, IsraelMoti Nativ / Ilan Gattegno
3/92Gran Canaria, SPPedro Fleitas
4/92Adelaide, AUSEd Lomax
5/92Albufeira, PORErnani Pinto
6/92Atlanta, USBud Malmstrom
7/92LuxembourgMoshe Kastiel
8/92Malmö, SWESveneric Bogsäter
8/92London (inc. Hendon), UKPeter King
10/92Hawaii, USEd Sones
11/92Barcelona, SPDorina Tejera
1993 Theme: Bōjutsu
5/93Huelva, SPAndres Ponce
6/93Sydney, AUSEd Lomax
7/93Paris, FArnaud Cousergue
8/93Washington, USPhil Legare
9/93Buenos Aires, ARDaniel Hernandez
10/93Madrid, SPJesus Eguia
1994 Theme: Yari / Kodachi
5/94Frankfurt, DSteffen Fröhlich
6/94Atlanta, USBud Malmstrom
9/94Chester, UKBrin Morgan
1995 Theme: Naginata / Daishō-sabaki
3/95Auckland, NZMurray Lynch
4/95Valencia, SPJosé Giner
5/95Gran Canaria, SPPedro Fleitas
5/95Tucson, USJeff Prather
10/95Stratford (and Hendon), UKPeter King
1996 Theme: Biken
5/96Amsterdam, NLMariëtte van der Vliet
8-9/96Atlanta, USBud Malmstrom
10/96Alicante, SPJosé María Conejo
1997 Theme: Jōjutsu
5/97Paris, FArnaud Cousergue
7/97New Jersey, USJack Hoban
9/97South AfricaBrin Morgan
10-11/97Barcelona, SPPaco Roldan
1998 Theme: Shinden Fudō-ryū
5/98Milan, ITEnzo Rossi
8/98Stockholm, SWELarry Jonsson
9/98Tennessee, USARoy Holmes
1999 Theme: Kukishin-ryū
4/99Frankfurt, DSteffen Froehlich
5/99Tucson, USAJeff Prather
8/99London, UKPeter King
2000 Theme: Koppō
6/00Amsterdam, NLMariëtte van der Vliet
8/00Atlanta, USBud Malmstrom
2001 Theme: Kosshi-jutsu
8-9/01Washington DC, USPhil Legare
10/01Madrid, SPJesús Eguía
2002 Theme: Takagi Yōshin-ryū
7/02Stavanger, NORElias Krzywacki
8-9/02St Louis, USEd Martin
2003 Theme: Juppō Sesshō no Jutsu
6/03Manchester, UKBrin Morgan
8/03New Jersey, USJack Hoban


This page produced by Ben Jones (contact me).
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