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Shhh. I wasn't gonna say that... hehe.
Question about Von Docks Home Study Program
- Thread starter Shinobi89
- Start date
Shhh. I wasn't gonna say that... hehe.
With very few and very rare exceptions, someone who's trained in ANYTHING for 6 whole months is not at a point where they can offer more than minimal correction. For example, after 6 months or so, I'd expect one of my students to be able to name the punches -- but not teach more than the order of them.
It seems quite clear that you've made up your mind how you're going to train. Advice from those who have been there and done that doesn't seem to be making a dent in your opinion. I wish you luck in your training.
ElfTengu
Blue Belt
Those who know me will be amused to know that I once bought the Van Donk Black Belt Home Study Course after nearly a decade away from the art, though I must point out that this was some time ago, before it was even available on DVD.
And at about the same time I joined the BBD.
And even though very little of what the BBD do nowadays is anything like the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, it was still a million times more beneficial than watching people go through the motions on my television set.
And when I did make the move back to the Bujinkan having found a dojo, it was the practical experience of training in a dojo that did me far more good than the video course, so much so that I was graded to 3rd kyu in my first Bujinkan grading and little over a couple of years later have now achieved the black belt I had been aspiring to since 1986!
I am sure that Mr Van Donk's extra curricular material is great for people who already have some idea of what they are doing, but the full Black Belt Home Study Course is really for people who are hundreds and hundreds of miles from a dojo and have no other way of training.
You must also be aware that in this art there is more than one variation of doing almost everything, and I'm not talking about henka, I'm talking about the standard basic technique. This is even the case in Japanese dojo I am told. So having thoroughly absorbed what you believe you have learned from a DVD or tape, you may find that you have either learned it wrong, or you are doing it the Van Donk way, which may not be the way of the teacher who you eventually end up with, in fact I pretty much guarantee it.
I would even go so far as to recommend studying judo, jujutsu or aikido in a real dojo as preparation for real Bujinkan training, rather than a home study course, or in conjunction with a home study course (but don't try the Bujinkan material out in a non-Bujinkan dojo, for a billion reasons).
Finally as to this 'other' grandmaster. Some people rush to be teachers at the expense of being proper students. Nobody could learn more than a couple of arts to those levels with any real mastery. There seem to be some genuine Bujinkan gradings in there but you can't fully teach Bujinkan until you are 5th dan and even then there are people of 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th dan and higher who do not consider themselves good enough to teach or have any students so why is someone far lower than them in such a rush to be a big shot master teacher? It's just not Budo.
And some of the arts and organisations listed are questionable. I won't say any more than that but the Eishin Ryu, if she has genuine rank in it, is probably the only thing listed there that has any foundation in reality or would help with Bujinkan training.
Remember, anything Americanised ends up owing far more to its American influences than its Japanese origins which tend to fade away under the shadow of the stars and stripes.
Watch Napoleon Dynamite. Rex Kwon Do!
And at about the same time I joined the BBD.
And even though very little of what the BBD do nowadays is anything like the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, it was still a million times more beneficial than watching people go through the motions on my television set.
And when I did make the move back to the Bujinkan having found a dojo, it was the practical experience of training in a dojo that did me far more good than the video course, so much so that I was graded to 3rd kyu in my first Bujinkan grading and little over a couple of years later have now achieved the black belt I had been aspiring to since 1986!
I am sure that Mr Van Donk's extra curricular material is great for people who already have some idea of what they are doing, but the full Black Belt Home Study Course is really for people who are hundreds and hundreds of miles from a dojo and have no other way of training.
You must also be aware that in this art there is more than one variation of doing almost everything, and I'm not talking about henka, I'm talking about the standard basic technique. This is even the case in Japanese dojo I am told. So having thoroughly absorbed what you believe you have learned from a DVD or tape, you may find that you have either learned it wrong, or you are doing it the Van Donk way, which may not be the way of the teacher who you eventually end up with, in fact I pretty much guarantee it.
I would even go so far as to recommend studying judo, jujutsu or aikido in a real dojo as preparation for real Bujinkan training, rather than a home study course, or in conjunction with a home study course (but don't try the Bujinkan material out in a non-Bujinkan dojo, for a billion reasons).
Finally as to this 'other' grandmaster. Some people rush to be teachers at the expense of being proper students. Nobody could learn more than a couple of arts to those levels with any real mastery. There seem to be some genuine Bujinkan gradings in there but you can't fully teach Bujinkan until you are 5th dan and even then there are people of 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th dan and higher who do not consider themselves good enough to teach or have any students so why is someone far lower than them in such a rush to be a big shot master teacher? It's just not Budo.
And some of the arts and organisations listed are questionable. I won't say any more than that but the Eishin Ryu, if she has genuine rank in it, is probably the only thing listed there that has any foundation in reality or would help with Bujinkan training.
Remember, anything Americanised ends up owing far more to its American influences than its Japanese origins which tend to fade away under the shadow of the stars and stripes.
Watch Napoleon Dynamite. Rex Kwon Do!
JadecloudAlchemist
Master of Arts
In my link there are schools closer than Miami. Some closer to your area.
Good an actual dojo the way to go!! Careful with learning from someone with only a few months of training he may not have correct kamae or proper grasping of technique. However going to class together and practicing together what is taught in class is a good way to go.
I guess..As a supplement to your dojo training. I don't know if I would buy it if I was training at an actual dojo but to each their own.
Her questionable ranking is questionable Ninja ryuha. I suppose it is possible to go thru ranking rather fast however beware of those who have multi ranking in quite a bit of arts. Just common Red flags seen in the Martial arts.
