| My introduction to the
Asian martial arts was not unlike that of most of you, through the
TV screen.
At the age of six I saw the Legendery Bruce Lee in the
martial arts film classic, "Return of the Dragon". I was
in awe. I had too learn those wonderful moves I had seen the late Mr. Lee perform.
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| My journey into the world
of martial arts began by asking my parents if I could start learning
Kung Fu. Asking didn’t seem
to work to well so I had to do what was deemed by my as the only
alternative, I started to beg. I begged for more than ten
years that they let me begin training. Their answer was
always, "No!"
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| Most people stop when the
come up against a brick wall. Not I. A way around it had
to be found. In the mean time I keep myself "in the
loop" the only way I knew how. It wasn’t easy.
I would sneaking around a dark house at three a.m. to watch the "Hong
Kong" movies, as my friends and I called them. Classics such
as, "The Five Deadly Venom's" or " Kid with The Golden Arm."
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| When I got my first
part-time job at the age of 16 I was worried that my job would
interfere with my martial arts lifestyle (meaning that I would miss
watching "Blackbelt theatre", on the weekends). I convinced
the store manager that I needed my weekends off because I had an
important place to be every Saturday and Sunday at one p.m. (this
being home to watch).
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| Then came the day, my
day. It was the best day in my life up to that time. I’d
ask my parents no more. I simply signed up for
Karate lessons and told them that it wouldn't
interfere with my school work and that I would pay for the lessons
with the money I had earned from my part-time job. After ten
years of perfecting the best way to say "No", they were
speechless.
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| I signed up at one of the
oldest clubs in the city, rationalizing that they must be good and
reputable if they had managed to stay in business for so long.
This was my first mistake. At a friends urging I joined the
local Tae Kwon Do club. It was a fine place, but
the teachers gave little instruction themselves leaving us to be
taught by lower ranking students who didn’t really know what they
where teaching themselves. The schools curriculum also
centered around tournament fighting, whereas I wanted to learn self
defense techniques.
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| A few years passed, then
one day I noticed a magazine article advertising a "ninja
seminar". I decided to give it a try and fell in love with it
immediately. The dojo was 450 km from where I lived, but I
never found it hard to drive four hours, train two-three hours and
then drive home another 450 km, all in the same day.
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| That first year I wasn't
taught much and was more or less a human punching bag.
Afterwards I was told that because of the distance that I lived from
the dojo it was necessary to test my resolve. Once this
initiation period had passed I was introduced to the gentleman who
would become my mentor, Mel Pyke. Sensei Mel took me under his
wing after refusing to accept all other potential students. He
showed me the true art and helped me see it's essence. To this
gentleman I will always be grateful.
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| In time I received an
invitation to come train in Japan. Upon arriving at
Narita airport I felt as if I had come home, so to
speak. The Japanese instructors were very polite, patient and
would always correct our mistakes. As well they would explain
all of the techniques thoroughly.
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| During the Homeland war in Croatia
I went over to offer use of my knowledge in the bid for democracy from the
serbian
communist regime. I worked in the Croatian Secret Service and
trained the Presidential Honour Guard in unconventional warfare
tactics (ninjutsu). While serving in Croatia I had a
chance meeting with a young man who would change the way I taught
and presented the Bujinkan curriculum. It was Shihan Dean
Rostohar. Shihan Rostohar is one of Hatsumi Sensei's top
ranked students and a very capable practitioner.
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The name of our dojo comes about because of
various reasons. BUJINKAN (name of the parent
school), SEISHIN ( Shihan Rostohar gave
me permission to call my dojo SEISHIN , which is the name Hatsumi sensei told him to call
his dojo), NINPO (honouring our ninja traditions), RONIN (master
less warrior - honouring the devotion of the 47 ronin of Ako to
their master). We have no physical connection to the Ronin of
Ako through our traditions. But the devotion they showed
following their lord, even after his death is remarkable. I
try to honour my teachers with the same kind of devotion. They
tell me to keep training hard, and teach me wonderful things.
To respect them I try my best.
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I hope that
perhaps I can inspire true individuals to take up the arts
(whichever) and find fulfillment and enjoyment as did I. All
arts are good if taught properly by qualified and knowledgeable
instructors.
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No one person can
have a claim on knowledge.
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