Masaaki Hatsumi, (born 2 December 1931) is the founder and current Soke, or Grandmaster, of the Bujinkan Organization, currently residing and teaching in the city of Noda, Chiba, Japan. He is also a doctor of oriental medicine, specializing in the mending of bones.
He is sometimes called “the last ninja”, as after the death of his
teacher Toshitsugu Takamatsu in 1972 he was the only person in the
world who mastered all the eighteen disciplines of ninjutsu.
Beginning in
childhood, Masaaki Hatsumi studied several popular martial arts. After
teaching martial arts to American soldiers stationed in Japan
he noticed that the larger and stronger Americans had an advantage in
battles when using the same techniques. He began to question the
legitimacy of modern martial arts training and started to search for a
one where persons of equal skill truly were equals, even if the other
one was stronger. It was after this time, while studying ancient
Japanese weaponry, that he learned of ninjutsu and a martial artist
named Toshitsugu Takamatsu who still knew it.
In 1957 he began making regular trips to train with his new teacher (who resided at the time in Kashiwabara, in Nara), taking a 15-hour train ride from his hometown of Noda in Chiba. This one-on-one training continued for 15 years until the passing of Toshitsugu Takamatsu in 1972.
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