AKERU BUJINKAN DOJO

Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu is a single martial system comprised of the teachings of nine ancient and traditional Samurai & Ninja schools of martial arts. The Bujinkan organization incorporates the teachings of the martial arts lineages (ryūha) that Masaaki Hatsumi learned from Takamatsu Toshitsugu under the banner of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. These are:

• Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu (戸隠流忍法体術)
• Gyokushin-ryū Ryū Ninpō (玉心流忍法)
• Kumogakure Ryū Ninpō (雲隠流忍法)
• Koto Ryū Koppō jutsu (虎倒流骨法術)
• Gyokko-ryū Kosshi jutsu (玉虎流骨指術)
• Kuki Shinden Happō Bikenjutsu (九鬼神伝流八法秘剣術)
• Shinden Fudo Ryū Dakentai jutsu (神伝不動流打拳体術)
• Takagi Yoshin Ryū Jūtai jutsu (高木揚心流柔体術)
• Gikan Ryū Koppō jutsu (義鑑流骨法術)

The Bujinkan Dōjō has a series of kyū (grades) below the level of shodan. The new student starts at mukyu ("without grade") and progresses from kukyu (9-kyu), the lowest rank, to ikkyu (1-kyu), the highest. Unranked (mukyū) practitioners wear white belts, kyu grade practitioners wear green belts (men) or red belts (women), and those with ranks of shōdan and above wear black belts. In some dojos kyu-level practitioners – especially in children's classes – wear colored belts, though the actual color of the belt varies from place to place. In Japan it was once customary for kyu-level men to wear green belts over a black ninjutsugi and women to wear red belts over a purple ninjutsugi, but this practice has largely been abandoned. Currently, both male and female Bujinkan practitioners now wear green belts over a black ninjutsugi and on the feet they wear tabi (soft-sole tabi for indoor training and jika-tabi for outdoor training) at most dojos.