Dressed in black martial arts uniforms and with split toes tabi footwear, approximately 60 students perform various wrestling and throwing techniques in the 520 square meter Budojo 1 at the Tokyo Budokana huge martial arts arena in the Ayase area of Adachi district.
The venue hosts a wide range of martial arts training, but when I visited one evening years ago, the tatami-floored Budojo 1 was entirely dedicated to the Bujinkan, an organization most strongly associated with authentic ninjutsuthe combat and stealth techniques used by ninja.
That evening, the students were under the watchful eye of Bujinkan founder Masaaki Hatsumi. He was chairman of A Sakki test, which required students deemed “ready” to sit with their eyes closed and dodge a blow from a bamboo sword – some succeeding to considerable collective excitement. However, one thing stood out about the class: despite a handful of Asian faces, the group of ninja students was largely a sea of white men.
