Instructor Biography
 
about the training

The training of the Colorado Springs Bujinkan Dojo is centered around self defense. It is not devoted to playing at being ninja. Before you ask about things like stealth training, ask if there is a real reason you need to know it. Even though it is something Don Roley knows, he has only taught that sort of thing to students with a valid reason, such as being in the military.
Secrets
 




Don Roley is the founder and instructor of the Colorado Springs Bujinkan Dojo.

He spent almost 15 years studying the Bujinkan in Japan and his total experience in the art is over 25 years. As far as can be determined, he is the teacher living in America with the most experience learning directly from the Japanese.

When master instructor Hiroshi Nagase could not make class, it was Don he asked to teach in his place. Many Japanese instructors used him as a translator for class.

It is important at this point to explain that there is a difference between someone you train with, and someone you consider a teacher. The Japanese in Japan let many Bujinkan people train with them, but there is only a few they consider their students and take extra responsibility for. While Roley trained with many people such as Noguchi sensei, Nagato sensei, Seno sensei and others, the people that could be considered his teachers were limited to three people, Oguri- sensei, Nagase sensei and Someya sensei. He wants to make that clear that many people in Japan showed kindness to him and helped him grow, but not all treated him as anything more than just another person in their class. There are many who never get this experience from Japanese teacher and he feels blessed to have had it more than once.

He is widely acknowledged as an expert in ninjutsu and its history and is currently working on  a translation of an ancient text of ninjutsu. He has written a children’s book about the ninja and has served as a fact checker for others about ninjutsu and the warrior arts of Japan.

He started training in martial arts in 1978 and has studied a wide variety of them. While in Japan, he took the chance to study a broad range of them while mainly concentrating on his core art of Bujinkan. He only teaches Bujinkan despite his wide experience.

Early in his life, he joined the military and his military speciality was 11B, military code for an infantry rifleman. He learned small unit tactics and advanced methods of infiltration and scouting while serving.

(Of course, he wonders what military experience has to do with teaching martial arts, but everyone else seems to list it on their web site.....)

While in college and learning Japanese he was recruited by a gun range to serve as a pistol instructor. The range was popular with Japanese tourists and he could teach them to shoot.He is now officially certified as a pistol instructor and the certificates he gives serve as the qualifications for a concealed pistol permit in the state of Colorado.

He has done rock climbing, is a certified scuba diver and done many other macho, manly things. Again, he wonders what this has to do with teaching martial arts and self defense but since everyone else seems to put it on their web page..........

Instead of just concentrating on the Bujinkan as a traditional martial art, he has delved into the very real practical applications of the moves. In this he is grateful to friends such as Marc MacYoung, Rory Miller and Peyton Quinn among others. In many cases, their experience with real violence led to him seeing the value and application of much of what he experienced in Japan.

He lives for his family and tries to attract people who think more of those around them than their own selfish desires. He is very strict in whom he accepts.

He speaks and reads Japanese at the highest level the Japanese government tests for, a very rare feat for an American.

Don Roley was watching Japanese animation before the rest of you posers, frequently refers to himself in the third person and calls everyone “Larry.” He takes the training seriously, not himself.

 

Don Roley, head instructor