BUJINKAN HOUSTON DOJO

The Bujinkan Houston Dojo is the oldest in Bujinkan dojo in Texas. Started in 1982 by Dr R. Kelly Hill one of the first black belts in the US, it has remained a center for training in Texas. Mark Harper has been involved in the running of the dojo since 1983 and took over as head instructor for the Dojo in 1989 when he moved it to Gymnastics USA at 10903 Tower Oaks Houston, TX in NW Houston. The email address is bujinkandojo@comcast.net.
| The new dojo is great almost the same floor size as the old gym but with a harder floor. I bought some mats for hard throws. There is a full kitchen and several day care rooms, a stage and a balcony. The back has a field we can train in and the bayou behind the fence. |
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Kids Classes are 7:15 till 8:15 Monday nights taught By Mark Harper and Jessica Harper. Adult classes are from 7:15 till 10:15 Monday nights taught by Shihan Rich Cearley. |
Ed, John,
Robert, Bob, Mark in the back row
Kelly and Stephen K. Hayes in front

2nd Hayes seminar 1984
We sponsor many seminars every year
including the Old Friends of the Bujinkan ( OFB) in February, the Houston
Shidoshi seminar in May, the Texas Shidoshi seminar in July and Daikomyosai in
December. We have also brought in teachers from all over including Joseph
Adriance, Jack Hoban, Stephen Hayes, Bud Malmstrom, Ben Cole, Mark O'Brien, Ed Martin, Brin
Morgan, Bob Higginbotham, Greg Kowalski, Shawn Gray and many others.

OFB 2001
| Over Thanksgiving week 2009
Rich, Jessica, Jon, Frank, Joanna, Chris and Joe went to train in Japan. Here
are some of the thousands of pictures they took.
Chris and Frank both passed the Godan test, Congrats to them.
|
Jessica with Soke Hatsumi |
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Up Coming Seminars
Well it is time for the
12th OFB (Old Friends of the Bujinkan)
I can't believe it has
been 12 years.
It will be held on Feb.
18th and 19th of 2012. Saturday we start at 10 and end at 5:30 to 6
then go eat. Sunday starts at noon till 4 then dinner at Tenchi.
The cost is $100 at the door or $80 if paid by 11th of Feb.
The date has been set for
Feb 18th and 19th for the 12th OFB
The Bujinkan Houston Dojo is proud to announce the OFB 12 (Old Friends of the Bujinkan), 2012 Featuring 4 Texas Shihan Where: Eternal Martial Arts 11202 Steeplecrest Dr. Houston, TX 77065 281-807-0037 fax: 281-807-5595 Host: Mark Harper Guest Instructors: Shihan Rich Cearley, Shihan Joseph Adriance, and Shihan Brian Tritico and Shihan Raj Yadav Items to bring: training gun, 3 ft. and 10ft. rope, training knife, rubber shuriken, hanbo, bo, shoto, and bokken. We will have dinner on Saturday night at 6:00 and a late lunch on Sunday so bring a snack. For more info and questions contact: Mark Harper bujinkandojo@ We will have some books, tapes, DVD's and training equipment for sale during the seminar.
KIHON HAPPO SEMINAR WITH
SHIHAN SHAWN GRAY
The weekend of May 21st and 22nd Bujinkan Sanami Dojo will be honored to be hosting Shihan Shawn Gray for his 3rd trip to Austin. Last year was his first seminar in Houston with Rich Cearley and was a great success. This is always a great insight into the training in Japan. Shawn Gray is an outstanding and humble practitioner of the art, he is also a great inspiration ...to myself as well as a wonderful representative of the Bujinkan organization. A bio, exact times, cost, as well as topic will be posted shortly. Contact Sanami dojo or Duff Culp for more details. 512-773-9952. Directly from Shawn Gray The topic of this seminar will be my interpretation of Kihon Happo as done in past years in Japan, with influences from training with Sensei in Japan this year. We'll be starting with "by-the-book" versions of the 8 techniques from the written densho and will then explore variations with and without weapons as homework exercise...s based on current training in Japan. WEAPONS TO BRING: SWORD, SHOGE, BO Shihan Gray--Bujinkan Gray Dojo Japan Shawn left behind 10 years of Karate and Kendo to begin Bujinkan training in Canada after returning from a 1-year stay in Japan in 1990. After a training visit in 1995, he relocated to Japan permanently in January of 1997. Shawn passed the godan test in January of 1999, and in 2000 at the urging of Hatsumi sensei established a dojo, the first Bujinkan dojo in Japan led by a civilian foreigner. Shawn has regularly served as interpreter for Dr. Hatsumi and has translated much of Sensei's writing into English. He has been regularly invited to give seminars in Europe , North America , and Asia. Cost for the seminar: $100 for both days $60 for one day Time: Beginning Saturday morning at 10:00am to 5:30pm with a one hr break at 1:30 for lunch If you are interested? There will be a dinner planned at Maudies Mexican cantina Saturday night at 8:00pm. Please contact me so you don't have to wait and we can reserve enough space for everyone. Sunday will run from 10:00am to 4:00pm lunch at 1pm
The Eleventh
OFB Feb. 12th and 13th
The eleventh OFB 2011 was
great! Joseph taught both days in memorial of his
daughter who died unexpectedly last year. The OFB
started as a donation to my son who is blind, a
quadriplegic with many other problems. We honored
Joseph's Daughter by donating all the proceeds to help
cover her funeral expenses.
Joseph is one of the best
Shihan in the Bujinkan in my opinion and has been a
great friend for the last 30 years. Thank you Joseph for
being my friend and mentor.
Saturday we did,
Ninjutsu or Ninpo as a kakuto-jutsu that
is a true science of survival and combat born of
necessity to predict and protect one from danger.
It was down dirty and to the
nitty gritty of combat situations. He taught like the
Texas Tiger he really is. With very few brakes he showed
many ways to deal with real life attacks, including
knife, stick, chain, sword and empty hand. We
started Saturday at 9:00am with basic attacks and went
on from there. His movement was smooth with no wasted
motion. He added weapons as the techniques allowed and
were about the same with each weapon.
We broke for a quick lunch
at Jason's deli then back to training. It was very fast
paced like in Japan with a few tries with each technique
then on to the next. Luckily I had gotten a new high
definition video camera so it will be availably for
future study. We ended at 5:00 so the dojo could have a
kids lock in for valentines day and went to a buffet for
dinner and great conversation. We had students from as
far away as Florida and from Louisiana and all over
Texas. It was fun seeing Jay from Florida as he started
training with me in 1990 when he was 13 and has really
grown in his training.
Joe and a few others met at
Denny's on Sunday morning before training started. We
got a late start as the dojo is rented out Sunday
mornings for a church group. I asked for Spear and Sword
and Joseph delivered big time. Unlike most seminars
Joseph showed Ancient warfare from a ninjutsu
perspective. We broke into 2 groups and discussed
strategy, attacks and defenses. Each side had a General
and each side talked about how to overcome their
opponents. We did several tries for each part and
discussed having a general or skilled fighter and
how they were dealt with from the other side. Then the
fun started. Joseph picked a few from each side and they
were mercenaries or spies(ninjas) who attacked their own
side. After a while no one knew who to trust. It was
great seeing someone changing sides or using the
upstairs to launch shuriken attacks on their own side or
the other side. It really showed how ancient and modern
warfare happens when the fight starts. Chaos ruled during
each clash. I was very happy no one was hurt as they
were using my iron bo's and other weapons. There were
many cuts and bruises but that helped everyone
understand what happens in war and in a fight. One thing
that stuck out in my mind was Joseph talking about with
all the rules and padding in sport combat, no one gets
the hits, bumps and bruises in a real fight. He stated,
get over the jarring of an attack and finish the fight.
A great weekend overall.
Some of us went to Tenchi for a nice Japanese dinner and
everyone was off to their homes to practice what we
learned.
I can't wait till the next
seminar in May with Shawn Gray and the Texas Shidoshi
seminar this summer.
Mark
The Shawn Gray
seminar last weekend was great.
We had people from Austin and as far away as Denver come learn
from a very skilled Shihan. He started Saturday with rolling and
different ways than I have seen. Then he went over Geryaku No
Maki, aspects of the Ten Chi Jin. I loved the progression and
the variations in movement as well as the similarities from one
tech. to the next. Shawn has a way of demonstrating and
explaining so everyone understood. I also noticed later in the
day he had to correct people less and less as they "got
" it. He also went over Tachi and explained it was
different from Katana as it was older and from horseback
fighting and has a more curved blade to go at different angles
to get under armor. I found it very interesting. We went out to
a buffet for dinner and had some nice conversations as to what
is it like to live in Japan.
Sunday we again went over some rolls and then did Muto Dori. Many of the movements he showed Saturday, were applicable to the sword attacks we did Sunday. I noticed everyone had plenty of energy for the whole weekend and I think it was due to Shawn imparting his understanding of taijutsu. I know I have a few years worth of training out of this seminar. I did video the seminar so I have a study guide for this years practice. Shawn will be back next year so we can continue to learn from one of the best Shihan I have had the opportunity to train with. Thanks to Rich Cearley and Joe Altemus for sponsoring Shawn.
__________________
Shihan Greg Kowalski Seminar May 15th 2010
Shihan Greg Kowalski started
Saturday morning with the first kata from Koto Ryu, his
knowledge of the ryu was in depth and the combat applications
and henka were great. As with many old school instructors he
went around helping each participant then let many show what
they learned. As he corrected or commented on each the next pair
did it better till we all had new insights into the ryu. He also
asked Rich and Brian for their input on the techniques he
showed. Normally we end Saturday at 5 or 6 but everyone wanted
to "keep going" so we ended at 7:30, then headed to
dinner. We heard what it was like back in the 80's in Japan and
being one of the only foreigners living and training at that
time.
Sunday we were going to do more Koto
Ryu but George was worried it will rain in Austin next weekend
so we decided to do Naginata on Sunday here and do the second
part of the Koto Ryu in Austin.
After almost 29 years in the
Bujinkan it was fun to really learn the basic cuts, blocks
and kata associated with that weapon. I had made some extra
Naginata and long weapons but we did not have enough so I
trained the first half of the day with a 20 pound Bisen Toh. You
really had to use taijutsu to use it safely with your training
partner and to keep from breaking his weapon. It helped me move
correctly without making too big a movements. Others tried the
Bisen Toh after that so I got to use a Naginata and it was light
as a tooth pick. Greg discussed the differences between spear,
kama yari and the curved blade of the naginata and
demonstrated many variations.
He also discussed the modern
Naginata school he studied and compared it with the Naginata
training in the Bujinkan and other battlefield schools that
still teach it.
We all asked Greg to come back next
year and I hope he will have the time to share more with all of
us.
Greg will be teaching in Liberty
Hill near Austin May 22nd and 23rd if you missed Houston or want
to continue where we left off don't miss next weekend.
for more information go to: http://www.facebook.com/shovelG?v=wall#!/event.php?eid=115017171842145
Contact Joseph for more information. Bujinkan Tetsushi dojo
January 2010 we will start the kids class for kids from 6 till 16 years old. It will be from 7:15 till 8:15 on Monday nights taught by Mark and Jessica. |
| 2009 JAPAN TRIP |
| TAPES OF PAST SEMINARS |
| TRAINING EQUIPMENT |
| Kids Class |
BUJINKAN LINKS
| Bujinkan Hombu & Ayase Classes |
| Bujinkan Buyu Dojo USA http://www.livingvalues.com |
| USA Information on the Bujinkan http://www.winjutsu.com/ |
| New England Ninjutsu Shihan Greg Kowalski |
| Gray Dojo Shihan Shawn Gray |
| Colorado Springs Bujinkan Shihan Don Roley |
| Directory |
Texas Bujinkan Dojos Bujinkan Houston Dojo Mark Harper and Shihan Rich Cearley Bujinkan Tetsushi Dojo Shihan Joseph Adriance
Bujinkan Bellaire Dojo
Shihan Brian Tritico Houston Combat Arts Shidoshi Frank Grimes and Shidoshi Joe Altimus
Lake Jackson Bujinkan Dojo
Shidoshi Beto Frausto Bujinkan Tetsushin San Antonio Dojo Shidoshi Rae Mann Bujinkan
Sanami Dojo Duff
Culp |
| Information on seminars in Texas http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/BujinkanTexas/ |