Earning A Black Belt In The Bujinkan ( Part I )

The ideal of earning a Black Belt sounds great, everybody wants one, yet very few are willing to do what it takes to become one.

In the Bujinkan, a Black Belt is a dime a dozen, however, good Black Belts are very rare indeed. Many teachers will hand out Black Belts like candy, not me, every student of mine has to earn it the old fashion way with perseverance determination and a positive mental attitude.

One of my requirements for Black Belt is that a student has a flexible body, an open mind and a good heart, attitude is everything.

In addition to these qualities, a Black Belt student should understand the importance of respect, humility and compassion. The Ninja Laws cover the core things we consider for Black Belt training at our Dojo.

You can witness many Black Belts in the Bujinkan who have bad attitudes, anger issues and disrespect for their teachers and fellow students in training. I think it's important to keep these students out of the Bujinkan as Hatsumi Sensei only wants good people studying his Budo. I have been fortunate to only have good students train with me and to keep going.

Because Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu exposes students to realistic fighting skills, its important that students have the correct heart for training. Our Dojo logo represents the core attributes of what it means to be a student training in the Bujinkan Martial Arts.

At our Dojo, a student's rank is not as important as who they become in the process. Students who have a bad attitude don't last, they usually end up falling on their own FudoSword.

I look at all my students as Black Belts in training until they show me they do not have what it takes to be one, so for me training a Black Belt is not so special. What makes a Black Belt student special is how they live their life. The heart is the most important rank of all.

Our Bujinkan Dojo theme is Enduring Heart, this is what our training is all about.

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