Welcome to Bujinkan
Welcome to the Bujinkan Yamaneko Dojo in Tucson, Arizona! Here you can learn all there is to get you started training in one of the last, remaining true martial arts. Budo Taijutsu is the complete martial art, incorporating strikes, grappling and weapons to form a complete package.
The Bujinkan Yamaneko Dojo in Tucson was founded in 1990 by Shihan Prather under full charter from Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi. Shihan Prather has been a personal student since 1984.
Yamaneko News
Budo Taijutsu or Ninjutsu is the original mixed martial art, and one of the last, true complete warrior arts, incorporating strikes, kicks, grappling and a myriad of weapons into one organic, intuitive system that utilizes timing, distance and flow in place of speed and strength.
Shihan Prather has been Bujinkan Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi’s personal student since 1984 and remains so today. Both teacher and student have continuously visited each other in the US and Japan over the last twenty seven years. Shihan Prather has been inducted twice into the US Martial arts Hall of Fame, published and featured in both America’s and Japan’s most prestigious martial arts magazines, and his books and DVDs sell worldwide. All ranks and certificates come from Hatsumi Soke and the Hombu in Japan.
What is a Traditional Dojo?
By definition, dojo means “place of the way”, or “place for seeking the way”. And what THAT means is a dojo is more than just a practice hall; it is an institution for bettering oneself through effort and determination.
One of the most dominant characteristics of a traditional dojo is the emphasis placed on serious self defense and combat. No matter how graceful or beautiful an art, the techniques MUST boil down to stark effectiveness.
Almost as important as technique is the development of character. While some fighting styles in the modern world are indeed effective, they lack a sense of deeper personal perfecting that is a trademark in traditional arts. This is not a critique on either traditional or nontraditional – simply an observation about priorities.
Traditional dojo are often austere places that utilize methods handed down over many generations. However, as time moves on, teachers find what space they can to offer their arts. To determine if you are in a traditional dojo, you need to examine the mindset of the place more than the walls. And part of that mindset involves formality.
Excerpt from Matthew Apsokardu's book "Surviving A Traditional Dojo"