Another year is behind us. It was dedicated to our spiritual growth through Saino Kon Ki. We strived to discover what that means through the study and practice of the school of Gyokko Ryu Koshijutsu.
As well as the last one, this year we organized two international seminars, of which one was with the world-renowned shihan Sveneric Bogsater. The instructor of Bujinkan Macedonia, Igor Dovezenski, held seven outdoor seminars, as well as many sunday trainings. We are especially happy with the great number of attendants to our traditional „Survival“ and „The path of Shugenja“ seminars. This year, for the first time, we had guests from outside our country visiting those seminars which we see as a great accomplishment. Also, members of our Dojo attended three international Bujinkan seminars and three seminars held by other Japanese traditional martial arts (koryu) schools.
Currently our Hombu dojo has 41 regular students.
But we don’t stop there. We aren’t fooling ourselves that it’s better to have a few good than many bad students. That is a loser’s justification. Bad students are indeed rare in our art, but we strive to make good people out of them too. We believe that bad teachers that lose their students because they have nothing to teach them, are a bigger issue. Those seek afterwards followers who shall blindly seek their guidance and cherish their „pretty“ words. We do not produce blind followers – we create warriors (leaders).
This year we had one failure as well. Our dojo located in Bitola ceased working, or more accurately – never began to do so. In the future we should be more careful with whom we give our trust to. Contrary to that, we opened another Dojo in Skopje, which gave great results. The standards for opening a new Dojo will be far more strict from now on. The same strict standards that were set by the Hombu of Bujinkan Macedonia will be applied.
During 2009 we held two grade testings. Our Dojo is among those that pay special attention to the testing standard. For a shodan, the requirements are a minimum of five years of training without missin more than two classes a month (and we have about 14 a month). That means – a lot of effort and a sincere approach to the art.
Among othe things, we held out traditional woman self-defense workshop,
which
attracted a great deal of attention from the media here, by which we successfully presented our art and organization to the Macedonian public. We tried to present soke Masaaki Hatsumi in the grandest possible light.
We built our own Ninjutsu Training Center, in which we held a Ninja Camp. Our center, on our property. What took place their is impossible to describe in this little time and space. 24/7 Koryu Bujutsu and Ninjutsu. Incredible!
A few more statistical pieces of information about our work this year. From the 1st of January 2009, until today, our web page was visited by over 12.000 people, among which the most regular visitors are from Germany, USA, Serbia and Croatia (sorted by number of visits). Of course, that isn’t really a large number, which one can „brag“ with – but considering that we don’t do any other type of self-marketing, the number isn’t that bad.
In 2010 we expect even better results. As always. Ninpo Ikkan!
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Yesterday, in the Hombu Dojo of Bujinkan Macedonia we held a testing for student degrees.
The 9th kyu test was passed by Tina D. Katerina D., Goran B., Goran M., 
Dragan M. and Anton P., while the test for 7th kyu was passed by Maja I., Igor S. and Miron C. For 5th kyu, the test was taken and successfully passed by the students Bojana G., Zoran T., Darko B. and Blagica S. Rightfully, the 3rd kyu degree was earned by Marjan P. and Marko O.
For their efforts, dedication and regular attendance and love for the art and school, certificates were given to the students Marjan P., Marko O., Darko B., Maja I. and Anton P. This year, our gratitude certificates for help and aid in advancing the Bujinkan Ninjutsu un Macedonia were given to Marjan P. and Darko B. (all the names awe written in short in out of respect and in order to keep their privacy).