About me

 

Started my first formal training in Ohio, United States in 1991 under Stephen K.Hayes, first American to ever be allowed into the Ninja School of Sõke Masaaki Hatsumi. Went on with several trips to Ohio, and over most of the western hemisphere, before having my first stay in Japan in 1994; training with such great instructors as Sõke Hatsumi himself, and most of his students- Shihan Tetsuji Ishizuka, Shihan Toshiro Nagato, Shihan Fumio Manaka etc. These Shihans and their old school training is what made the greatest impact on me and how my training developed. People have generally become too soft these days, loosing all touch with the real martial arts; but these guys were so very far away from soft one can imagine. In the years to follow I have done many different martial arts; among them Combat wrestling, Russian Sambo and Mixed martial arts in various forms. Growing up and spending my twenties in a rather small village in western Norway(Flåm), and being the mysterious guy who spent all his time and money traveling abroad for training, never was available for a party cause he was busy training; landed me in quite a few “situations” with the older “tough guys” in town. One after the other they confronted me on various occasions- until the last and biggest one(more than 2 meters tall, about 115-120kg), looking more like a grizzly bear than a man; challenged me to a wrestling match after having seen me drink a bottle of red wine. He thought he’d teach me a lesson for life, of course strongly pointing out that neither punching nor kicking was allowed; of course I accepted the challenge. Shortly told; it took me 1 second to throw him to the ground in his first attempt – he begged for a second chance, since he according to himself was “not ready”. This time I was a little more pissed off-;1.5 second and the fight was over- him begging for me to loosen my fingers from his throat. Let me add that his “pack of wolves” were all watching- and that was the end of any and every challenge in my hometown. Later in life I have been involved in countless real fights, working many years as a bouncer etc. I shall not go into every detail, as some things are better left unsaid- but let me say it this way; I never lost, and my only concern on every occasion has been to NOT maim or kill people in these encounters. It’s not empty talk, and for those who want to go into the research- by all means do so.

I have figured in several news articles in Norway, both for my strength and martial skills, even on Norwegian television(TV2).

Throughout the years though, the concept of Ninjutsu has changed too much to almost be recognizable; having become a big business for many so called martial artists and self made masters. This and many factors, led me to establish my own curriculum; going back to the roots of extreme physical training, and tuning the techniques I have been taught towards present day western society and the potential treats we face- while still retaining the soul of it’s Japanese ancestry. Thus was born Tatsujinkan Bujutsu.