Genbukan in Australia

[They-Call-Me-Bruce]

Hi everyone,

Not new to martial arts, but new to ninjutsu and I've been watching a lot of the Futen dojo videos on YouTube and keen to get involved. I'm aware of the glitches in history regarding ninjutsu, but this organisation seems very convenient with offering ninjutsu, jujutsu and Chinese arts (which I'm also interested in). There was a dojo here but I've contacted them and they're not involved anymore and the main webpage does not have a contact email. Does anyone know how to contact the Genbukan to find out about training options? I've tried contacting several instructors overseas but the entire organisation seems like a closed door school.

Is this normal for these dojos to not be responsive at all? If anyone has a contact email for an instructor, please let me know because I want to get started.

The old teacher here in Australia said he still teaches here in Sydney, but is no longer part of the Genbukan. Not sure how I would feel about training with an independent group but that might be only option.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi everyone,

Not new to martial arts, but new to ninjutsu and I've been watching a lot of the Futen dojo videos on YouTube and keen to get involved. I'm aware of the glitches in history regarding ninjutsu, but this organisation seems very convenient with offering ninjutsu, jujutsu and Chinese arts (which I'm also interested in). There was a dojo here but I've contacted them and they're not involved anymore and the main webpage does not have a contact email. Does anyone know how to contact the Genbukan to find out about training options? I've tried contacting several instructors overseas but the entire organisation seems like a closed door school.

Is this normal for these dojos to not be responsive at all? If anyone has a contact email for an instructor, please let me know because I want to get started.

The old teacher here in Australia said he still teaches here in Sydney, but is no longer part of the Genbukan. Not sure how I would feel about training with an independent group but that might be only option.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I presume, Bruce?

The Genbukan has been a bit of a troubling case recently... essentially, pretty much all the senior leadership, with very few exceptions, either left or were forced out over the past few years. A couple of them have now started their own organisation, most notably James Wright with his Kobukan organisation, and Roy (Kosen) Ron, with his Shisenkan group. At present, the Nanzan Dojo in QLD, just south of Brisbane, is now a part of Ron-s' Shisenkan organisation, and there is no presence I'm aware of for the Kobukan yet. The Sydney dojo (Sekiei Dojo), which was run by Roy Wilkins, was listed on the Genbukan website until recently, but is now not listed, with no Australian group currently mentioned on their home website. I don't know if he's gone independent, or joined one of the new groups.

That takes us to the idea of "independent". There's a lot that I could say here, but, historically, independence was more the norm than anything else... so, provided you're happy with the quality and credibility of the teacher in question, I don't see that as an issue. In it's way, the Genbukan was an independent group from the Bujinkan... as was the Jinenkan a decade later, the Bujinkan Brian Dojos of around the same time, Toshindo, my own schools, and so on. You could even say that Takamatsu was independent, as he left the Kukishin Ryu and the Kuki family in the 1930's, starting his own thing then. So, in that sense, the Bujinkan is just the second generation independent Kukishin group... hmm...

 

[They-Call-Me-Bruce]

Hi, I presume, Bruce?

The Genbukan has been a bit of a troubling case recently... essentially, pretty much all the senior leadership, with very few exceptions, either left or were forced out over the past few years. A couple of them have now started their own organisation, most notably James Wright with his Kobukan organisation, and Roy (Kosen) Ron, with his Shisenkan group. At present, the Nanzan Dojo in QLD, just south of Brisbane, is now a part of Ron-s' Shisenkan organisation, and there is no presence I'm aware of for the Kobukan yet. The Sydney dojo (Sekiei Dojo), which was run by Roy Wilkins, was listed on the Genbukan website until recently, but is now not listed, with no Australian group currently mentioned on their home website. I don't know if he's gone independent, or joined one of the new groups.

That takes us to the idea of "independent". There's a lot that I could say here, but, historically, independence was more the norm than anything else... so, provided you're happy with the quality and credibility of the teacher in question, I don't see that as an issue. In it's way, the Genbukan was an independent group from the Bujinkan... as was the Jinenkan a decade later, the Bujinkan Brian Dojos of around the same time, Toshindo, my own schools, and so on. You could even say that Takamatsu was independent, as he left the Kukishin Ryu and the Kuki family in the 1930's, starting his own thing then. So, in that sense, the Bujinkan is just the second generation independent Kukishin group... hmm...

Hi Chris,

Yeah, my name's Bruce and I loved that movie as a teen so the name for a martial arts forum was fitting. Thanks for the reply. I actually contacted a few of the Genbukan guys who are more visible on social media this time last year and they gave me the Sydney dojo's email. I contacted them recently after a long time of puuting it off and they're no longer part of it but he said he's teaching independently. I've tried to request watching a session but I can't seem to get much information about them. I've tried contacting the honbu and other dojo leaders and can't get a reply.

The whole thing seems a little odd, like a closed door school with a huge website and lots of branches but nobody will reply. I live in Sydney and travel a lot for work, so the idea of being with something that has a lot of branches, especially in the USA is ideal, but this group seems a little stuck up for a commercial operation. I'll wait and see if anyone from there gets back to me, but maybe checking out other options is better.

Thanks again for the reply.
Bruce

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Chris,

Yeah, my name's Bruce and I loved that movie as a teen so the name for a martial arts forum was fitting. Thanks for the reply. I actually contacted a few of the Genbukan guys who are more visible on social media this time last year and they gave me the Sydney dojo's email. I contacted them recently after a long time of puuting it off and they're no longer part of it but he said he's teaching independently. I've tried to request watching a session but I can't seem to get much information about them. I've tried contacting the honbu and other dojo leaders and can't get a reply.

The whole thing seems a little odd, like a closed door school with a huge website and lots of branches but nobody will reply. I live in Sydney and travel a lot for work, so the idea of being with something that has a lot of branches, especially in the USA is ideal, but this group seems a little stuck up for a commercial operation. I'll wait and see if anyone from there gets back to me, but maybe checking out other options is better.

Thanks again for the reply.
Bruce

Yeah, the Genbukan has always been a rather... restrictive organisation. Personally, I've gone in a rather different direction to any of the major groups (in fact, I can't think of anyone that does all the things I do the way I do), which is a big part of why I'm independent... it's not easy to describe without sounding a bit arrogant, but, simply, I don't know that any of them are actually doing the arts the way they're meant to be done, in a number of facets... so I'm essentially reconstructing them from the ground up. It's challenging, but I think gets more to the heart of each of the systems in a more accurate format.

That said, if you like the Genbukan approach, the Shisenkan (Kosen Ron's group) is more along the lines of the Genbukan, with a more transparent hierarchy, and the Kobukan (James Wright) is a bit more adaptive, while keeping the formalities of the Genbukan. As we continue down the track, I think you'll see more and more of these "independent", or, at least, split off organisations from the larger ones, especially with what's been happening with the Bujinkan over the past 8 years or so. But that's another, very long conversation...