Be a founding member of a new sword art

[yorkshirelad]

Check this out! I can't wait! It's a new sword art in the process of being created by Richard Van Donk. If you get in the program immediatley (it'll only cost you $1400) you can be a founding member. I think this is great and will appeal to all ninjers out there. Check out the poll. You can decide whether the system follows traditional menkyo or Dan ranking. The course is completely interactive, so you never have to enter a dojo. Stimulate the economy and give your money to RVD today!

http://www.ninjutsu.com/SwordPoll/index.html

 

[K-man]

Such good value! Does the cost cover my sword and sash?

 

[Flying Crane]

I'm in. I have absolutely nothing better to do with $1400, so I may as well give it to Richard Von Dork. well, I guess I could use it as toilet paper, that might be more worth while...

My wife actually took some classes with this clown. He was teaching at UC Santa Cruz where she did undergraduate work there in the mid 1990s. Good stories there. Ask me about his lessons in verbal skills for self defense. It's become a private joke between us for years now.

 

[Flying Crane]

Go back to his poll and you can take a look at the current results. You do not need to answer the poll in order to see the results.

Looks like (if these results are honest) there are some 530 gullible bastards who answered the poll, pretty positive results too. snicker snicker. A sucker born every minute.

 

[Flying Crane]

Go back to his poll and you can take a look at the current results. You do not need to answer the poll in order to see the results.

Looks like (if these results are honest) there are some 530 gullible bastards who answered the poll, pretty positive results too. snicker snicker. A sucker born every minute.

The people who answered the poll are probably all young males under the age of 15.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Richard is the personification of all the wrong things in our art.
And somehow he made it to 15th dan.

 

[poollshark]

C'mon guys, he has trained really hard. He even trained in the rain

 

[Aiki Lee]

Isn't it time for this guy to disappear quietly into the shadows?

I've never seen footage from him, does he have any skill?

 

[Carol]

To heck with that! I'm foundnig a higher educational institution to start a multidisciplinary approach to the sword.

Apply now, you could be an inaugural student at Ichoppa U. :lol2:

 

[Sukerkin]

Wow! Cool name, Carol! Can I sell you some of my dan grades for rank in your new art? :angel:

 

[yorkshirelad]

Richard is the personification of all the wrong things in our art.
And somehow he made it to 15th dan.

It seems that everyone in the Bujinkan and their Mum are 15th Dan! Many of the people who studied the Bujinkan completely through Van Donk's tapes and DVDs are now 10th Dan and above. Does anyone really take this organization seriously?

 

[Grenadier]

Unfortunately, there are always plenty of individuals willing to give ranks to each other, in attempts to help inflate each other.

The last I saw, there were quite a few individuals who never made it past a certain ranking in several particular martial arts, who decided to band together, form their own organization, and promote each other to 10th dan in several styles, by the power that they self-vested amongst themselves...

 

[Senjojutsu]

To heck with that! I'm foundnig a higher educational institution to start a multidisciplinary approach to the sword.

However Carol,

Whenever I see the phrase "multidisciplinary approach" in any description why does my my mind revert back to one of Governor George Wallace's favorite political stump phrases?

"... a bunch of pointy-headed intellectuals who can't park a bicycle straight."

Just a child of the 70s I guess - who refused to grow up.

 

[Chris Parker]

Isn't it time for this guy to disappear quietly into the shadows?

I've never seen footage from him, does he have any skill?

I rarely speak out about instructors/members of other organisations, but.....

In the late 90's my instructor gave me a copy of RVD's "Combat Ninjutsu" video (yes, in the days of VHS....) with the words "You probably won't want to copy this, I'm giving it to show you how bad a 10th Dan can be". RVD's advise actually went against the techniques teachings in the various Ryu-ha, and had some very dangerous ideas, such as always taking someone to the ground, despite not there being any consideration of groups or weapons, or there being any real understanding or ability on the ground demonstrated at all.

So, does he have any skill? Absolutely! In marketing, mainly. Martial arts seem to be a different thing, though. I mean, just check out the pic of him in Seigan no Kamae at the top of the linked page - the kissaki is way too high, his footwork is terrible, his weight is too high for such a wide posture, his grip is far too tight, his top hand is flush up against the tsuba, the hips and shoulders are out of alignment, and, unless this is a reversed photo (which I'm not convinced it is...), he has his hands the wrong way round (left on top)!!!!!! And that's just looking at photo he deliberately posed for, quality of movement is not really promising there.

 

[Sukerkin]

I actually went to have a look at the website after Chris's comments ... oh ... my ... god!

Reading the supposedly genuine posts down the side bar nearly made me snort tea out of my nose I confess :lol:.

 

[yorkshirelad]

I rarely speak out about instructors/members of other organisations, but.....

In the late 90's my instructor gave me a copy of RVD's "Combat Ninjutsu" video (yes, in the days of VHS....) with the words "You probably won't want to copy this, I'm giving it to show you how bad a 10th Dan can be". RVD's advise actually went against the techniques teachings in the various Ryu-ha, and had some very dangerous ideas, such as always taking someone to the ground, despite not there being any consideration of groups or weapons, or there being any real understanding or ability on the ground demonstrated at all.

So, does he have any skill? Absolutely! In marketing, mainly. Martial arts seem to be a different thing, though. I mean, just check out the pic of him in Seigan no Kamae at the top of the linked page - the kissaki is way too high, his footwork is terrible, his weight is too high for such a wide posture, his grip is far too tight, his top hand is flush up against the tsuba, the hips and shoulders are out of alignment, and, unless this is a reversed photo (which I'm not convinced it is...), he has his hands the wrong way round (left on top)!!!!!! And that's just looking at photo he deliberately posed for, quality of movement is not really promising there.

I actually bought a copy of this video years ago. Now, I don't know anything about the various kamae in the various ryu of the Bujinkan, but I do know that this video is embarassingly poor. The bizarre thing about RVD is that he has gained a 15th Dan from Hatsumi and a Menkyo Kaidan from Machida Sensei of the Enbukan.

His website is entertaining! If I was a fourteen year old day dreamer, this would be a dream come true. I could buy his DVDs. I could recieve a black belt in the Bujinkan, from Hatsumi from watching the DVDs. I could buy more DVDs and get my nidan, sandan and yondan, from Hatsumi. I could recieve certification in all the weapons studied in the bujinkan from one of Hatsumi's top shihan, Richard Van donk all from buying more DVDs. Then after one dojo visit (to Van Donk to get my black belt), I could go on a trip to the Hombu and take the sakki test administered from Hatsumi, without so much as meeting him before, and become a Shidoshi. That's right, two dojo visits would get me a godan and teacher's license from Hatsumi. Then within five years after taking my sakki test and becoming a personal student of Hatsumi, I would be a Judan in the Bujinkan from Hatsumi himself.

Now, because RVD has bee legitimized by Hatsumi and Machida, he has started his own "sword art". If I'm a spoiled fourteen year old dreamer, I can have my parents buy me into this thing and become a founding member, with a Menkyo Kaidan from Van Donk. This is truly beautiful. RVD is some piece of work!

 

[yorkshirelad]

I actually went to have a look at the website after Chris's comments ... oh ... my ... god!

Reading the supposedly genuine posts down the side bar nearly made me snort tea out of my nose I confess :lol:.

Yes, I love the comments from the Indian guys asking (in not too many words) if they can train with the great RVD for free. Hilarious!!

I had to go back to the poll and leave a comment. I just couldn't resist!

 

[pgsmith]

It is very confusing to me. I know a couple of highly ranked Bujinkan instructors, and they are both very knowledgeable and likeable people. Then you've got highly ranked Bujinkan instructors like this fellow that look incredibly awkward and seem to be all about themselves. I just have a very difficult time reconciling the vast differences between people highly ranked in the same organization.

Anyone that refers to themselves as "master", obviously isn't in my book.