During his 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 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 and Fukumoto Yoshio 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 training continued for 15 years until the passing of Toshitsugu Takamatsu in 1972.
Masaaki Hatsumi focuses the training of the Bujinkan on the “feeling” of technique, or perhaps more accurately, what he terms the feeling of real situations.
While technical knowledge of an art is considered important, the direction of this feeling-based approach guides the practitioner towards a “natural understanding” of what links various martial lineages as well as what is most effective in real situations.
I have one question. Respectfully, why did Dr.Hatsumi color his hair purple, was it a bet he honorably agreed to, or was it a prank?