There will always be students and teachers in the Bujinkan who will stray from the path and want to do their own thing or they may have this idea in their head that they know more than they really do and want to change things according to what they think it should be.

  In Bujinkan, there is often a tendency for inexperienced students to want to make Bujinkan into something it's not, they may try to mix their own personal beliefs, religion and/or preferences into their training. While the Bujinkan does not discriminate against any of these things, it's a safe bet that Hatsumi Sensei would like you to study his Budo correctly and without the ego.

  Personally, I think that if a student is unable to keep these things out of the training, then they have no business training in the Bujinkan. Bujinkan is what it is, it's not meant for you to make it something it's not.

  Someone once emailed me about wanting to make a christian based Bujinkan Dojo, this is not religion people, stop training in the Bujinkan if you want to do that. Nothing against christians, it's important to leave one's religious preference out of training. I may devote a future article on the subject of Bujinkan and religion.

  It's important to keep it real and understand that the Bujinkan is already a complete system, no need to modify or add to it or change it. Our art is already integrated with a core change process that is flexible to adapt to each students unique personality.

  Hatsumi Sensei is very clear on what the Bujinkan teaches and how it should be taught, it is wise to follow his guidance and not try to do your own thing but instead follow the transmission being taught.

  I learned early on in my training that doing your own thing isn't always necessarily the right thing, How you represent the Art is very important not just to Soke but to everyone training in the Bujinkan. Those that have strayed think they are right but we in the Bujinkan know differently don't we :)>