The instructor
Shihan Lisandro
Serra Delmar
Background
Twenty-three years,
one teacher.
Lisandro began training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu in Argentina in 2003, at eighteen, under Dai Shihan Juan Manuel Gutiérrez. He has trained under the same teacher ever since — more than two decades in a single unbroken line, which is less common than it sounds.
In 2014 he opened his first dojo, Bujinkan Garrotxa, in Catalonia. He moved to the United Kingdom in 2017 and founded Bujinkan Shinryu Dojo in Hereford, where he has taught continuously since.
The sakki test
In the Bujinkan, the licence to teach is not granted on paperwork. It is granted on a single examination taken at the Honbu Dojo in Japan, and Lisandro took it in 2015.
The candidate kneels in seiza, back to the examiner, eyes closed. Behind them, a padded sword is raised and cut down at their head. There is no signal and no count. To pass, you must move before the cut lands — not in reaction to a sound, but ahead of it.
It is not a test of technique, and it cannot be drilled. It tests whether years of training have changed how you perceive intention. Most people who take it fail the first time.
The name of the dojo
Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, head of the Bujinkan, gave this dojo its name: 神龍 — Shinryū, divine dragon. Dojo names in the Bujinkan are given, not chosen.
On grades
What "10th dan"
means here.
Worth explaining, because Bujinkan grading does not work the way it does in karate or judo, where 10th dan is the summit of the entire art and held by a handful of people alive.
The Bujinkan runs kyu grades first, then dan grades that continue past 10th to 15th. Rank carries a title, and the licence to teach arrives partway up rather than at the top:
| Grade | Title | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 9th – 1st kyu | Student | Beginner grades, before black belt |
| 1st – 4th dan | Shidoshi-hō | Assistant instructor; may teach under supervision |
| 5th – 9th dan | Shidoshi | Licensed instructor — awarded on passing the sakki test |
| 10th – 14th dan | Shihan | Senior instructor |
| 15th dan | Dai Shihan | The most senior grade in the organisation |
Lisandro was graded to 10th dan by Dai Shihan Juan Manuel Gutiérrez in 2022. His teacher holds 15th dan.
Any instructor's rank can be verified through the Bujinkan Honbu Dojo. Ask — a club that minds being asked is telling you something.
The line
Where this teaching comes from.
- Toshitsugu Takamatsu1889–1972 — transmitted the nine traditions to Masaaki Hatsumi
- Soke Masaaki HatsumiFounder and head of the Bujinkan, Honbu Dojo, Noda, Japan
- Dai Shihan Juan Manuel Gutiérrez15th dan — Asahi Ryu Dojo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Shihan Lisandro Serra Delmar10th dan — Bujinkan Shinryu Dojo, Hereford, England
The dojo
Assistant instructors at Hereford.
All classes are taught by Shihan Serra Delmar. These are the dojo's senior grades, who hold the rank of Shidoshi-hō and assist in training.
Dojos led by former students
Two of the students Lisandro taught in Catalonia now run their own Bujinkan clubs.
- Bujinkan GarrotxaBesalú branch — Catalonia, Spain
- Bujinkan GarrotxaEl Torn branch — Catalonia, Spain
First class free
Come and see for yourself.
Adults train Monday and Thursday, 7.00–8.30pm, at Steiner Academy Hereford. No experience needed.
Book a trial class