Bujinkan Taka-Seigi Dojo

Being female and living on my own in a foreign country has really driven home the necessity of knowing and being prepared to defend yourself. Although I was only a student for a few months before having to relocate to Japan, I still find myself running through the techniques I learned at Bujinkan Taka-​Seigi Dojo in my mind at times. Espeically when having to walk home by myself at 1am some nights.
The fact that I am now more than ever solely responsible for my own safety makes me grateful for the training I was able to receive from Bujinkan beforehand. Even though I am a novice fighter, what I have learned so far has at least allowed me some confidence and comfort that I would not have otherwise. I’ve learned that strength comes in many forms, not just physical.
This school offers so much more than martial arts training. The people of this dojo are invested in the entire wellbeing of their students. Even though I am now half way across the world, I still feel their support, encouragement, and investment in my growth. There is no price that can be placed on this type of connection.
Now I’m looking forward to being able to learning even more here in Japan (where this art originated) and especially when I return back to San Diego. I am so grateful to know just how beneficial Buj has and can continue to be in my life.

When it comes down to it, choosing a martial art is hard. I’m not someone with a torrid past, I don’t come from another culture, and I have no previous experience with anything combative; I’m pretty much just an average American college student. I’d been doing research on various arts around San Diego, and eventually came across BTSD’s website (
) and decided to check it out. I haven’t felt the need to look back, or in any other direction since.
The head instructor, Bill-​san, definitely comes on strong, sometimes even intimidatingly so, but there’s something about it that’s encouraging more than anything else. It took a few months to realize it, but the reality of the situation is that Bill-​san cares very deeply for his students, and his dojo, and doesn’t want to shortchange anyone by being anything but clear and direct, even if it seems harsh. Combine that with the fact that he has an incredible amount of knowledge and skill, and you have an instructor who actually knows what he’s doing, knows how to teach it and actually cares whether or not you’re able to get it. Something like this is hard to find anywhere, but especially in an environment where it’d be just as easy to just take your money and teach you just enough to keep coming back it really is a gift.
The other two head instructors, Jim-​san and Randy-​san, are equally incredible people, and the fact that any amount of instruction can be given by three different perspectives means that if you don’t understand something, it can always be shown a different way. The depth and diversity of experience in this place has probably contributed to my ability to learn more than anything else. In addition, there’s a very nice spectrum of ranks, so there’s always somebody who’s at your level, right above your level, way beyond your level and, after some time, right below your level as well.
The classes are put into three hours — Beginner, Beginner/​Intermediate and Advanced. Unless a particular technique calls for it or it’s an especially large class, students are rarely segregated into ranks for the first two classes; everyone trains with everyone. I’ve found this method to be extremely effective, since it means I can train with various kinds of body types and skill levels. When working with someone senior to myself, I can work on intensity, power or more advanced concepts, and when working with someone junior to myself I can work on control and efficient movement. No matter what, you can always learn something from working with anyone. The third hour, Advanced, is for senior students or by invitation only. This class is filled with deep, conceptual work and all kinds of insanely cool tactics, but since it requires a student to truly understand the fundamental principles of any given technique it requires time and experience. When a student hits that isn’t decided by rank, or how long they’ve been training, but when your individual skills are strong enough to train at that higher level of intensity. This attitude makes everyone’s training very personal, and adds to the unique experience of working with any given individual.
The art itself teaches not just unarmed techniques, but a huge variety of weapons, both modern and classical, ranging from sword, staff (bo-​, jo-​, and hanbo), ropes and knives to firearms, pens, belts, realistically anything. And it’s not just how to handle these weapons used against you, but to use and utilize them as well. This leads into what I feel is a major strength of this place: community.
There are two other schools/​programs that operate at the same facility: Jing Chinese Martial Arts Institute and Ready-​5, a survival/​readiness program. All three programs work both as individuals and as a whole unit, meaning that in addition to martial arts there are all sorts of other facets. Culture classes, for one, allow us to experience everything from calligraphy and music to dumpling making. There’s an extensive firearms program which, twice a month, takes a trip to a private shooting range so we can practice our skills for real, and to top it all off is taught by a former SEAL sniper. There’s Practical Self-​Defense classes, allowing us to apply our training to modern situations, and qi gong classes to teach us the non-​physical side of our art. Frankly, I haven’t even covered half of the things they teach there, but I think you get the point.
When it comes down to it, the vision of this place is to allow you to walk out a stronger, better person than when you came in, and in my opinion they’ve succeeded. But ultimately it’s your choice, so I say just check it out; it costs nothing, and they put you right in class so you get the full experience. But again, that’s just me.

I am a female, a little tiny one actually and I’ve always been very afraid of standing up for myself but I pretended otherwise.
However, being at this dojo (for over a year now. almost 2 years) I’ve learned so much about myself and my life and the world around me.
Things like just because I’m a small woman doesn’t mean I have to let others tell me what to do, I have the right to tell people to back off if they’re getting in my personal space. I come from a culture where telling people (especially if they’re older than you) to go away or hitting anyone is a huge no-​no so to come here and overcome all these things, breaking through over 20yrs of culture that I’ve been buried in has been a huge challenge but I realize now that what we do here is not some bullshit performance kind of art. It’s meant for survival and the people who think otherwise are well… not being realistic. I know the head instructors here and they are DEFINITELY NOT all about «hey look at me and what I can do» They are there to help us and teach us about body mechanics and how we can get out of a sticky situation.
And its not even about the whole fighting thing. This dojo teaches you about life, I think that’s more important, especially in an art like Bujinkan, we don’t do competitions and performances because if we did it full on people would probably die.
This place teaches you to think, practically, realistically and I think that’s what a lot of people find like a «turn-​off» because the instructors here will tell you how it is. There’s no sugar coating anything. There are 12yr olds who train in this… if they can think and act like adults I don’t see why others cant.
This place is not a hangout spot to have fun and relax and enjoy. Although there are times to do all of those things, its not when we’re training. The training is for adults who are ready to see what the world really is turning into and training yourself to protect the ones you love and care about like your family and kids. It’s about that one day when you might be fighting for your life and hopefully that day never comes but when it does, who walks away from it?

Unilocal ratings are helpful, but always trust your instincts and go check the place out for a free trial. This is the only way to judge any dojo in my opinion. However, this video gives a feel for this dojo —

A bit of background on myself, I have trained in multiple arts including Shotokan-​ryu, Kenpo karate, BJJ, jujutsu, Aikido, and Hapkido. My training went in that order and I loved the study of katas, but eventually progressed to a point in which I wanted to move into kumite and randori to work flow. Each art that I did built a different perspective and a different set of tools, but I felt as if something was missing. I wanted to continue to train in Hapkido as this was my favorite, but found a hard time finding the right dojo for me.
Then I did some internet searches late one night and somehow found myself on the BTSD website. As I read through it I was shocked. An art with 9 schools — full weapons collections, flow, elements, and a rich tradition going back 100s of years. I found the «Essence of Ninjutsu» by Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi and bought it used. I had to go see this for myself at the dojo as my view of ninjas was misguided to say the least due to the portrayal in modern movies. I scheduled a trial day and to my surprise, there were no masked crazies jumping around and running on roof tops. I watched the senior instructors demo parts of the kihon happo and noticed the flow. I saw elements of each of the arts I mentioned above that day (with the exclusion of BJJ, which we work on the ground from time to time– just not that day) and saw an efficiency that was distilled down for combat. There were Navy Seals, MARSOC marines, Law Enforcement, etc… as well as highly educated individuals training here — always a good sign that I look for in a training environment. As the session unfolded, I was hooked. This was the art that I had searched for that encompassed a large amount of techniques and deep philosophies.
The head instructor (Bill Stegner) was quite hard on me in the beginning. He taught me a valuable lesson — that my «cup was full» and it was time to empty it. Most students likely would have left, but I knew he was hard on me because he cared. Other places would have just taken my money and let me go on in this plateau state. However, he slowly guided me to where I needed to be and I believe he does this with each and every student. Jim Shihan and Randy sensei are just as patient and really work with people to make them understand and preserve the intricacies of this traditional art.
On top of this the dojo is geared for modern warfare and stresses the importance of being familiar with firearms, knifes, etc… Gun disarms, knife disarms, etc… are worked consistently with the bujinkan techniques and there is a whole manual dedicated to modern warfare that is distilled down to an incredibly efficient process that was designed by Phil Legare Shihan.
Additionally, there is a strong Crossfit affiliation, Ready 5 (disaster preparedness, weapons training including range days for various firearms) and cultural seminars such as calligraphy, etc… You will find people doing WODs before class and others wearing weight vests during class.
There is also a wonderful couple, Craig and Silvia (
), that teach Qigong on every other Saturday and this practice is applied to the Bujinkan training. This also progresses into courses in healing, which greatly helps people understand vital points to work in Bujinkan.
In the end, you can read this review and it just provides you information. Choosing any dojo in any style is important and you must choose the training environment that is right for your needs. BTSD is exactly what I was looking for and I can say that the instruction and philosophies are deeply rooted. Arts based in combat roots are not for everyone, but come to the dojo and see for yourself.
And in the year I have been there, I have had no overcharges or problems with billing and Laura Stegner (who handles the load of the administration duties) is one of the most honest individuals I have met in my life and she responds to my messages within 30 min or less.
Wishing you the best on your martial arts journey!
Shikin Haramitsu Daikomyo!

I feel like I’m a part of the preservation of an ancient art, and its adaptation in the 21^st. century. I’m definitely part of the family. I’ve studied martial arts in San Diego at other places but I didn’t find the mix of learning something practical and traditional, with all the philosophies mixed in. Our instructor, Bill Stegner, often says that the intent of our training is to leave the dojo stronger than we entered (in every area of our lives).
There are cultural classes to bring wholeness into the education. I’m kind of a geek that way so I liked learning about sword making and loved the Sake Night. I missed the classical Japanese archery session so I won’t comment on that. It sounded great though.
Finally, because of the friends of the Dojo, like Craig and Sylvia Reid, we’ve had visitors like Shin Koyamada (from the Last Samurai) to speak about the Shin Koyamada Foundation and Olympic athletes and record holders to train with us and talk about competing. I took it like competing like the best in the world. I don’t know any place else that can provide that.