Or you might not have. This goes along with what I had in my head when I posted the last few posts and is in a similar vein to what wrote in this post not long ago. It's nice that you're a green belt and already have things figured out and it's certainly easy enough to take shots at RVD because he's such an easy target however, it could be that your training isn't much better than what you think happens in those RVD videos. In fact, how do you know it is? Does your instructor have a higher rank than RVD? Has he trained longer? Did he get his rank from Soke? Oh wait, that's where RVD got his too. In the Bujinkan it seems there is a propensity to measure ourselves against the worst of the bunch rather than the best. "At least I'm not training with that guy". But with that guy having the same ranks from the same headmaster how do you know your teacher is not more of the same? You're not good just because (maybe) you're not part of all the bad out there. Just because you know a teacher that is good doesn't make you good too. Especially if you just started. But that doesn't stop all the trash talk that seems to get passed around so often. If you're lucky to have found a really good teacher in these arts (and it takes quite a bit of luck judging from what we're seeing on Youtube. Heh) you didn't dodge a bullet. There's more pressure on you now. Students of crappy teachers can only expect to be crappy. But, as my sempai told me once when we first met, if you want to be considered a student of a really good teacher, you have to be really good yourself. There's a really high bar set for you. It's nice that everyone in the ninjutsu sub-forum here on MAP is at such a high level of skill and understanding that we can all take shots at the easiest target of the bunch. What are the chances? So many good practitioners and no questionable ones all found themselves in the same message board on the internet! /irony. There's a good chance that there are some sucky people here too (I'm one of them). Your teacher could be too. Or maybe he's good. That doesn't mean you are, too. It means you have your work cut out for you. Hopefully, you don't end up similar to those people you find it easy to criticise.
Mr Collins Your really not getting this, so let me explain. I started in this art nearly 30 years ago, and for a time was under Stephen K Hayes. Because of the distance I could only train with Mr Hayes or one of his senior students on rare occasions and as such used to use the video coursee. I had overt 50 Videos/DVDs. However it was only when I left TSD and found two teachers, one who is my main teacher here in the UK who has visited Japan over 22 times and holds a 15th Dan and another 15th Dan who lived in Japan for 5 years' and a trip for myself to Japan to see that what I had been doing was full of flaws. Now three years latter we are still working on these flaws but I realise that video training can only be a memory aid at best, and I wouldn't dream of thinking I can learn by watching Hatsumi Sensei. Do you realise that I have students in my group who have been with me for 15years, they have been members of the Bujinkan for three years and as yet they have not received a single grade and yet I would bet that they could run circles around any video taught black belt. Forget the grade, forget videos, find a good teacher who can help you move forward.
In the Bujinkan it seems to be a real crapshoot to find a good teacher. However, at least you have the option to find a different teacher if you've come to the conclusion that you really don't mesh with your teacher.
Regardless of RVD's personal skill, i feel its far better to be trained, in person by a Godan or Rokudan to whom i can ask questions, grapple with and see physically where i'm going wrong than to be trained by a dvd made by a dan kugyo menkyo that with which none of the above applies. I dare say RVD is a fantastic instructor in the flesh but the whole training solely by dvd thing is really fishy to me. Thats all I'm saying.
I feel that i've landed on my feet with my current shidoshi. My last one perhaps, wasn't so great. In fact he was running a bit of a blackbelt factory. His class was way too grading orientated.
