In the highly unlikely event that you’ve never heard of Bud Malmstrom, or don’t know his significance in the history, present and future of this art in the Western hemisphere: Shame on you. If you don’t know Bud, you don’t know jack (and if you don’t know Jack, you’re hopeless).

Bud Malmstrom was born in San Angelo, Texas on January 20, 1952. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, Mr. Malmstrom settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where he met and married his wife Bonnie, raised his family, earned a degree in accounting from Georgia State University, began his training in the Bujinkan martial arts (over twenty years ago), established the Bujinkan Atlanta Dojo, and became a member of the police force. He gives instruction in defensive tactics and firearms at the Public Safety Training Institute and is a certified Executive Protection Specialist. He has been awarded the rank of judan (10th level black belt) in the Bujinkan martial arts.

In short (no pun intended), he’s the genuine article, and he’s damn funny, too.

Ura & Omote: I've read that you had no martial arts experience when you began studying this art.

Bud Malmstrom: That is correct.

U &O: Why did you choose to study this art?

BM: I didn’t choose it. It kinda chose me. I just happened to be driving down the road one day and saw ‘Karate’ on this sign out of the corner of my eye and, for whatever reason, my body just turned into that parking lot, almost out of reflex. It happened to be the only ninja school in the Western hemisphere, and Steve was teaching.

He started me on some kind of hard-style Shotokan, whatever he was teaching at the time. I did that for about three weeks and I just couldn’t stand it. I was punching air, blocking air. There were guys over in the corner that were actually hitting each other with sticks and knives and throwing each other down. That looked like a lot more fun so I asked him if I could do that and repeatedly he told me, “No, you have to be a brown belt in some other system because that’s like real fighting. Do some other martial art first”. So finally I said, “Look, I need to do that or I’m going somewhere else,” and he said, “Well, OK. We’ll try you over there.” And I’ve been doing it ever since. So I didn’t even know what a ninja was when I walked into his school.

U & O: Were you interested in martial arts before that? Were you looking for a school to join?

BM: I had been in the Marine Corps for four years and that’s really all the military or martial training I’d ever had. Then I was working six days a week, going to school three nights a week, and I needed something physical to do. I thought about gymnastics, but there is no adult gymnastics program anywhere in the world. So I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll get into martial arts, and this place caught my eye. It kinda grabbed me and pulled me into the parking lot. There I was.

U & O: When you began training, what was your biggest obstacle?

BM: Time. Like I said, I was working six days a week, going to school three nights a week, trying to raise a family (two kids and a wife), and then trained two nights a week as well. I got about four hours sleep per night for about four years. That was the hardest thing: just not having enough time.

U & O: What do you find your biggest obstacle is now?

BM: I don’t really see any obstacles in my martial arts training right now. There’s not enough free time for golf, maybe. . .

U & O: Why do you keep training after so long? After all you've accomplished and experienced, couldn't you just concentrate on your teaching activities and leave the training to your students?

BM: I think that there are certain things about whatever it is that you’re doing that you cannot learn unless you teach it. That’s from math to martial arts to pottery to whatever. I can’t tell you what those things are, but I know that people that only train don’t have it. People who only teach lose something, too, so you have to train and teach, both.

When I go around the world and do seminars the thing that I recognize the most about the teachers or the people who sponsor me is that they don’t do enough of their own training. They’re so busy teaching that they don’t do a lot of their own training, and it requires a balance. If you only teach there’s a lot you will lose. If you only train there’s a lot you can’t get.

U & O: Do you think there is an endpoint to this training?

BM: Probably about ten years after the student that you’re connected to the most dies. Because I believe that Takamatsu still has some influence and input on Hatsumi-sensei. At least that’s what Hatsumi-sensei says. He says every night he fights and learns and trains with Takamatsu in his dreams. That may be true. Hatsumi-sensei is getting a whole lot better, so maybe it is true. I think the endpoint for Takamatsu is after Hatsumi-sensei dies.

U & O: What's the focus of your personal training right now?

BM: My three wood. I’m having a hell of a time... [laughs]. Compacting movement. Making my timing and distancing and so forth more compact, so that it requires less taijutsu to accomplish the same thing, to achieve the same end result.

U & O: Why is it important for you to go to Japan and train with Hatsumi-sensei directly?

BM: Because I think the further away from the source you get the more diluted the training and the essence of what should be taught and passed on is.

U & O: You've commented publicly about your involvement with Manaka-sensei and the work he is doing with his own school, the Jissen Kobudo Jinenkan. Is there any further comment you'd like to make on this subject?

BM: Yes. I have trained with Manaka-sensei since he resigned from the Bujinkan. I believe that Manaka-sensei has things that he teaches that aren’t generally taught anywhere else in the world. I think that his basics are very good and I think a lot of people in America need work on the basics. For me specifically, I need work on my basics, and Hatsumi-sensei doesn’t teach the basics anymore. He’s far beyond that. It would be like a college professor teaching how to add, or the ABC’s: he’s way beyond that. I think a lot of people need the ABC’s. I know that I felt like I needed the ABC’s, and that’s why I trained there. But I want it clearly understood that I will never leave the Bujinkan so long as Hatsumi-sensei is the Grandmaster.

U & O: Of all your training experiences, which do you think has had the greatest impact on your personal development?

BM: I would say the first time I met Hatsumi-sensei. We trained for ten days up at Steve’s house in Ohio in 1982. I think that was probably the cornerstone to the effort and the energy that I’ve put into training to this point. There were many things that happened during that time: he broke my ribs, he pulled a live blade across my face and didn’t cut me, I saw him do the godan test to himself — Steve tried to punch him in the back of the head and Sensei just stepped out of the way while he was in mid-conversation. There were a lot of things that happened to me in those ten days that made me stick it out to this point. I think that those ten days probably had the biggest impact on my training.

U & O: What is the focus of your teaching activities right now?

BM: The basics. I’m trying to get all of my people to be more precise and more specific about where they move, how they move, why they move, where their balance is, that kind of thing, so that at some point it’s in their body enough to where they can let go of it.

U & O: What is the core lesson, if you could name one, that you want your students to learn?

BM: That martial arts is a matter of living, not a matter of winning or losing.

U & O: Firearm and survival training are significant elements of your curriculum. Why do you feel it is important to study these subjects?

BM: Firearms training is a reality in today's lifestyle, at least in the South. Many people carry a handgun here as private citizens. More importantly, almost all of the gangs and punks carry guns. If I truly want to protect my family in a situation where they may be in danger from one of these scavengers then it makes sense to have a gun on me and not in my car. And if you are going to carry it you should know how to use it.

As far as survival training, the more areas of life that you are familiar with the less you have to be afraid of. If you can survive in the woods, then your job becomes a choice rather than a necessity. Working becomes your choice and not something that you have no choice but to do. This is an extreme example, but the more advanced you get at wilderness survival the less equipment you need to survive. The only thing that you can take with you in any survival situation (physical, financial, spiritual, etc.) that doesn't weigh anything and no one can take from and use against you is knowledge. The only way to gain this knowledge is by doing it. So we do it.

U & O: There are those that believe that this art isn't for everyone and especially not for women. What is your opinion regarding women in the training?

BM: For those who believe this art isn't for everybody, I agree with them. But a person's attitude is what limits the appeal of this art to those people; their gender has nothing to do with it.

I think this art is really good for women because you don't have to be agile, super quick, aggressive or stronger than your opponent. I’m glad for my sake as well.

U & O: In what direction, ideally, would you like the Bujinkan in America to go?

BM: I don’t care. It will go wherever it’s natural to go, so I will help it go there.

Eric Baluja is a member of Hô Shin Dojo (NY). He studies under Hannibal Serrano and Nick Affuso, students of Mr. Malmstrom and with whose assistance this interview was made possible. Eric can be contacted at ceb@nyc.dol-esa.gov and www.tappedin.com/hoshin.