We in the Bujinkan have come under heavy fire recently, from all sides, and unfortunately it has taken the form of personal attacks on the integrity of Soke and the technical abilities of our instructors. I may have been very vocal in my opposition to this bashing, mostly because Soke isn't here to speak for himself, and I don't believe he would bother responding in any case. Maybe I said too much, maybe not enough. Maybe I should not try to defend what is indefensible. I (and others) clearly saw a different Hatsumi Soke than the particular author who saw fit to paint a picture of him as greedy and apathetic. I was astounded by his GENEROSITY and hospitality- he spent more money entertaining me than I spent on him. He refused to accept a gift I brought him, yet continually gave us gifts. The fee for the rank he awarded me AFTER watching me train for several days cost less than half of what I expected. The martial arts standards in Japan are very high; the problem is in this country, and it is not Soke's fault or responsibility.

I do not disagree that the grades awarded to certain instructors in this country and elsewhere are unmerited. If anyone cares to check the articles of my newsletters over the past five years, you will see that in fact I have been saying the same thing. But I have been saying it with the intention of helping the situation, not bashing people. Yes, there are a good proportion of Bujinkan teachers that move poorly, lack feeling, and are missing technical ability and fighting skills. The fault for this trend does not lie in Japan, it lies within the teachers in the U.S.

Hatsumi Sensei has to trust the instructors over here to properly convey what he is teaching. When he prepares to give the Fifth Dan Test, with few exceptions he has never seen the student in front of him. He takes for granted that the person should be sitting there to take the tesัi.e. that he/she has received adequate training to be properly ranked as a qualified Yondan. Maybe Soke's mistake is trusting that task to us.

I have met Bujinkan Shidoshi who's sole purpose, it seems, is to pump out Godan's like they're an endangered species. One Shidoshi I met bragged about how many Godans he had brought to be in his own home town, something like seven or eight. And the skill level of these people reflect the "shake and bake" process. I have lost black belt students to other Shidoshi who offered them a higher rank, and now they are Godans. It's OK that they left me. I don't mind it being said about me that I promote too slowly.

How many of you in the Bujinkan have refused a Dan rank? I refused my Nidan rank, because I thought it came too soon. I think de-emphasizing the importance of rank is the first step in solving this problem. The other important thing, as teachers (and students) is promotion in proper time. My own personal scale is at least two years for Shodan, and at least two years per Dan rank after that. Let's make sure our Yondans are really Yondans, and not Shodans in disguise. This is the solution.

Let's take this art as seriously as it is. One thing Ed Sones said to me after I became a black belt was "Well, now you can be killed in training." And that's exactly the way he trained me: with deadly seriousness. No one has ever come into the Missouri Ninja Center and questioned the ability of the black belts here. I challenge all Bujinkan Shidoshi and Shidoshi-ho to raise the level of seriousness of their training, as I strive to do. Go to Japan, or at least, go to different Bujinkan dojos, as many different ones as possible, to see how others teach. Maybe in a few years no one in or outside of our art will be able to make a disparaging remark about any of the teachers in the Bujinkan.

Shidoshi Ken Harding, 6th Dan, heads the Missouri Ninja Center in St. Louis. He started his training in 1984, has trained with Hatsumi Soke in Japan, and studies Japanese, Yoga, shiatsu, herbology and nutrition. He may be contacted via E-mail: Shadowswrd@aol.com.