Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu is a traditional and ancient Japanese kobudo martial art with a rich and viable history that spans over ten centuries. Developed by the legendary ninja and samurai of feudal Japan, the Bujinkan martial arts continue to flourish worldwide in the 21st Century under the direct guidance of Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, thirty-fourth grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu Ninpotradition and eight other distinct budo traditions. Hatsumi Sensei is the last and only true ninja soke (grandmaster) having a direct line of descent from feudal Japan. Three of the nine Bujinkan schools are traditional ninpo ryu ha. The term "ninpo" refers to the group of martial traditions and philosophy that were developed in Japan since the ancient period based on the bugei juhappan (warrior's eighteen skills) andninja juhakkei (eighteen ninjutsu skills). The compassionate and defensive nature of ninpo is revealed in the saying: "ninpo is the essence of goshinjutsu (self-protection)". The remaining six Bujinkan traditions were exhaustively perfected by the bushi (or "samurai") during the incessant years of warfare that plagued Japan during the Sengoku ("Warring States") Era and directly afterwards.