NINJA SMALL-WEAPONS SEMINAR SERIES
FLEXIBLE WEAPON. ADAPTABLE WARRIOR.
Discover How Training with the Kusari-Fundo—the Ninja's Weighted-Chain Weapon—Develops Your Ability to Control Changing Distance, Momentum and Movement, While Teaching You to Recognize the Potential of Flexible Tools Beyond the Traditional Weapon.
Sunday, August 30, 2026 • Noon–5:00 PM Eastern
Attend LIVE In Person in Sunbury, Pennsylvania—or Join Us Online
$45 — Kusari-Fundo Seminar Only
$125 — Complete 4-Seminar Small-Weapons Series
Every seminar is recorded, so you'll still receive the training even if your schedule prevents you from attending live.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR WEAPON REFUSES TO STAY STILL?
Most weapons are relatively predictable.
A knife remains rigid.
A stick holds its shape.
A sword maintains its length and structure.
The Kusari-Fundo ('chain with weighted ends') does none of those things.
It bends.
It swings.
It wraps.
It rebounds.
It can rapidly extend or collapse its effective range.
And the more you try to control it through strength and tension alone, the more likely you are to discover that the weapon has ideas of its own.
That's part of what makes Kusari-Fundo training so valuable.
Because learning to use a flexible weapon isn't simply about memorizing another collection of "Ninja techniques."
It's about developing the ability to adapt to something that's constantly changing.
THE WEAPON MAY BE FLEXIBLE. YOUR TAIJUTSU HAS TO BE, TOO.
During this special five-hour training, we'll explore the fundamentals necessary to handle the Kusari-Fundo safely and effectively while integrating the weapon with the same principles that should already drive your unarmed Taijutsu.
That means working with:
- Kamae and positioning
- Distance and changing range
- Timing and angling
- Whole-body movement
- Momentum and redirection
- Striking and impact
- Wrapping and entangling
- Control and transitional applications
- Familiar Kihon expressed through the weapon
The goal is not for your Taijutsu to disappear because a weapon has been placed in your hand.
The weapon should become another expression of it.
STRIKING IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
The obvious use of a weighted chain is to swing it and hit something.
And yes—we'll absolutely explore striking.
But if that's all you see, you're missing much of what makes the Kusari-Fundo interesting.
We'll investigate how its flexible structure can create different tactical effects and how the weapon can become part of familiar movements, controls, and Kihon rather than existing as a completely separate skill set.
For advancing students, this opens a much larger line of study:
What else do you already know that can now be explored through the weapon?
That's one of the questions I want you leaving the seminar with.
WHAT WILL YOU DEVELOP?
By the end of the afternoon, you'll have worked toward greater ability to:
CONTROL A FLEXIBLE, MOVING TOOL
Develop the handling skills necessary to work with the Kusari-Fundo's movement rather than constantly fighting against it.
MANAGE CHANGING DISTANCE
Explore how a flexible weapon can rapidly expand and collapse its effective range—and how your movement, timing and positioning must adapt with it.
USE MORE THAN IMPACT
Investigate striking, wrapping, entangling, controlling and transitional possibilities rather than treating the weapon as nothing more than a swinging weight.
INTEGRATE KIHON WITH THE WEAPON
Explore how familiar Taijutsu and foundational techniques can be expressed through a weapon rather than abandoning your existing skill set and starting over.
RECOGNIZE USEFUL CHARACTERISTICS IN OTHER FLEXIBLE OBJECTS
Begin looking beyond the "official weapon" toward the shared characteristics found in belts, straps, cords and other flexible objects that may be present in everyday life.
DEVELOP ADAPTABILITY INSTEAD OF DEPENDENCE
Your capability shouldn't disappear because your preferred training weapon isn't available.
The deeper objective is learning principles you can carry with you.
WHY THE NINJA SMALL-WEAPONS SEMINAR SERIES?
What if weapons training wasn't about collecting a list of "official" weapons and techniques—but learning to recognize the characteristics, principles and possibilities they reveal?
What makes something a weapon?
Is it the name?
Its historical purpose?
The fact that it was purchased from a martial-arts supplier?
Or is it what a trained person recognizes that the object allows them to do?
Throughout this four-part series, we'll explore the Kusari-Fundo, Tanto, Shuriken and Hanbo not simply as traditional Ninja weapons or collections of techniques to memorize, but as training models for developing adaptable skills and perceptions.
A belt or cord isn't a Kusari-Fundo.
An everyday edged or pointed tool isn't a Tanto.
A coin, card, coaster or other small object isn't a Shuriken.
A cane, umbrella or wooden dowel isn't a Hanbo.
But what useful characteristics do they share—and what possibilities does a trained Warrior-Protector recognize that someone else might overlook?
There is also a practical reality to this way of training.
The equipment available to you can change.
Your environment can change.
Travel can change what you have with you.
And laws governing weapons can vary considerably from one jurisdiction to another.
That's another reason the series emphasizes capability that isn't dependent upon always having one particular weapon available.
The understanding travels with you.
KUSARI-FUNDO — Flexible WeaponTANTO — Psychological WeaponSHURIKEN — Disruptive WeaponHANBO — Adaptable Weapon
Four very different weapons.
One larger objective:
THE ADAPTABLE WARRIOR.
FROM THE TRADITIONAL WEAPON TO THE EVERYDAY ENVIRONMENT
A belt isn't a Kusari-Fundo.
Neither is a strap, cord or charging cable.
And that's important.
The purpose of this training is not to pretend that every flexible object is interchangeable with a purpose-built weapon.
Different objects have different lengths, weights, materials, strengths, weaknesses and limitations.
The better question is:
"What characteristics does this object possess—and what might those characteristics allow me to do?"
Training with the Kusari-Fundo gives us a controlled way to begin developing that kind of perception.
Rather than depending upon someone to tell you, "This is a weapon," you begin learning to recognize potentially useful attributes for yourself.
LIVE AT THE DOJO OR TRAIN WITH US ONLINE
LIVE DOJO ATTENDANCE
Join us on the training floor for the full five-hour seminar.
You'll be able to train directly with partners, ask questions, receive coaching and corrections, and explore the material hands-on.
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Noon–5:00 PM Eastern
Warrior Concepts Black Belt & Life Mastery Academy
Bujinkan Mori no Tora Dojo
314 Market Street, Suite 1
Sunbury, PA. 17801
CALL: (570) 884-1118 if choosing to Register by Phone
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE
Can't make it to the dojo?
Join us live online and train from wherever you are.
You'll be able to follow the instruction in real time and work through the material from your own training space.
And if you can't attend live at all?
This seminar, along with all of the other 3, will be recorded.
Your schedule changing doesn't have to mean losing the training.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
LIVE STUDENTS
- Those training with us at the Academy should wear their Martial Arts Uniform or other clothing that allows unrestricted movement
- Students should bring their own training Kusari-Fundo mock-up or other approved alternative
- A limited supply of loaner weapons will be available for those who cannot supply their own.
- A training notebook is always a good idea and highly recommended
VIRTUAL STUDENTS
You'll want:
- A safe training area with adequate clearance
- An appropriate training Kusari-Fundo mock-up or other approved alternative
- Martial Arts Uniform or other clothing that allows unrestricted movement
- A training partner if you want to work the partner portions live
Additional preparation and access information will be sent to registered students before the seminar.
About Your Instructor
Dai-Shihan Jeffrey M. Miller
Jeffrey M. Miller is a Bujinkan Dai-Shihan and direct student of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, with more than five decades of martial arts & self-defense training, military combatives, and experience teaching students these timeless lessons for self-protection and the effective protection of others since 1989.
His approach to traditional Ninjutsu and Budo goes beyond simply collecting and passing on martial arts techniques. Training with Dai-Shihan Miller focuses on understanding the principles beneath the techniques—and developing the movement, adaptability, awareness and decision-making needed to apply those principles under changing conditions.
A former U.S. Army Military Police officer whose duties included law enforcement, investigations, dignitary protection, counter-terrorist operations, and other security assignments, Miller brings both traditional martial arts study and practical, real-world experience to his approach to modern Warrior-Protector training.
During this seminar, you'll learn the traditional Kusari-Fundo as a weapon in its own right, while also exploring what this flexible weapon can teach you about distance, timing, momentum, positioning, control and the taijutsu underneath effective weapons use in an actual, violent self-defense situation.
CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT TO TRAIN
OPTION 1 — KUSARI-FUNDO SEMINAR Only
Sunday, August 30
Noon–5:00 PM Eastern
Live dojo or virtual participation.
Recording included.
$45
BEST VALUE — COMPLETE NINJA SMALL-WEAPONS SERIES
Get the complete four-part Ninja Small-Weapons progression:
KUSARI-FUNDO
Flexible Weapon. Adaptable Warrior.
Sunday, August 30, 2026 - Noon to 5PM ET
TANTO
Psychological Weapon. Adaptable Warrior.
Saturday, September 19th, 2026 - Noon to 5PM ET
SHURIKEN
Disruptive Weapon. Adaptable Warrior.
Saturday, November 14th, 2026 - Noon to 5PM ET
HANBO
Adaptable Weapon. Adaptable Warrior.
Saturday, December 12th, 2026 - Noon to 5PM ET
Individual price: $45 each
Four purchased separately: $180
COMPLETE SERIES: Just $125
Save $55.
And because every seminar is recorded, you don't have to worry that one unexpected scheduling conflict will cause you to miss part of the progression.
Planning on attending three?
Three individual seminars would cost $135.
The complete four-seminar series costs only $125.
You get the fourth seminar and pay $10 less.
Full-Series students will also receive special preparation and integration lessons designed to help connect the four trainings and reveal the deeper progression running through the series.
WHY THIS COMPLETE SERIES IS MORE THAN FOUR SEMINARS
Each weapon presents a different problem.
Each asks you to notice something different.
And each is designed to influence how you approach the next.
We're going to begin with perhaps the most obviously adaptable weapon of the four—the flexible Kusari-Fundo.
From there, the questions become progressively less obvious.
I'm deliberately not going to give away those lessons here.
Discovering them is part of the training.
If you choose the complete series, don't think of this simply as attending four unrelated weapons seminars.
Think of it as a progression designed to challenge how you see, interpret and adapt to the tools in front of you.
DON'T JUST LEARN ANOTHER NINJA WEAPON.
Learn how it moves.
Learn what makes it useful.
Learn how it changes your Taijutsu.
Learn what familiar principles look like when expressed through it.
And begin developing the perception to recognize those same kinds of possibilities when the "official" weapon isn't there.
FLEXIBLE WEAPON. ADAPTABLE WARRIOR.
Kusari-Fundo Seminar
Sunday, August 30, 2026 • Noon–5:00 PM Eastern