The Last Ninja - Bujinkan TaiKai USA

[Bester]

Ok, I was in the process of looking up other information, and found this DVD : The Last Ninja - Bujinkan TaiKai USA

Description
Masaaki Hatsumi - The Last Ninja In August of 2003, 72 year-old Masaaki Hatsumi, the GrandMaster of Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu, left his home in Japan and came to the United States to demonstrate the true art of the ancient Japanese Ninja. Hatsumi’s system is called "Bujinkan" and contains elements of classic combat martial arts, as well as, the mysterious art of Ninjutsu.

This DVD contains the incredible techniques and fighting style of the Ninja, including esoteric weaponry and hand to hand fighting. Hatsumi’s teaching style is very conversational and gives insight into the warrior life philosophy of, perhaps, the most mysterious guerilla fighters who ever lived.

Now at an advanced aged, but still remarkable strong and agile due to decades of his Ninja training, Hatsumi has said that he will never teach again outside of Japan. His retirement from international instruction is the end of an era.

Masaaki Hatsumi is truly "The Last Ninja."





Ok, my questions here are:
1- Is this a good reference video?
2- Is his retirement due to age, issues with the state of the art outside Japan, or preparing for when he is gone?


Is there a listing somewhere of other dvds and VHS that have documented the Bujinkan arts? I am only aware of the books by Mr. Hayes, and Mr. van Donk. (Apologies if I misspelled the latters name).

 

[Cryozombie]

Is there a listing somewhere of other dvds and VHS that have documented the Bujinkan arts? I am only aware of the books by Mr. Hayes, and Mr. van Donk. (Apologies if I misspelled the latters name).

Hatsumi Sensei has a whole series of DVDs out...

Mr. Von Donk does sell them on his site, but they are not "his"

http://www.ninjutsu.com/hatsumidvds.shtml

 

[Dale Seago]

Ok, my questions here are:
1- Is this a good reference video?
2- Is his retirement due to age, issues with the state of the art outside Japan, or preparing for when he is gone?

1 - It's a superb video, though you wouldn't understand what you're seeing without already having an extensive training background. In this one, Hatsumi sensei applies the concepts of juppou-sesshou (the theme for last year's training) to kata from a number of the Bujinkan's nine systems. In my opinion, whether you understand what you're looking at or not, it's an absolute joy to watch.

2 - He hasn't retired from teaching, he simply is no longer teaching outside Japan. In addition to his regular weekly classes at the Hombu dojo in Noda and at the Budokan at Ayase, he held a special Tai Kai in Japan in April of this year to commemmorate the 33rd anniversary of Takamatsu sensei's passing, and will be holding the usual annual 3-day Daikomyosai "training festival" in Japan at the end of this month.