Dojo Caracal
The Dojo
Dojo Caracal is a home for learning and practicing the martial art of Budo Taijutsu, within the international Bujinkan organization. Over the years it has also become a community, and to a large extent a family, of people who train, learn and grow together.
Training is non-competitive. We learn through shared work, inquiry and ongoing practice, with an emphasis on natural movement, precision, attentiveness and understanding the principles behind the technique.
The dojo is for those looking for more than a collection of self-defense techniques. It is a place to train over the long term, to develop body and mind, and to go gradually deeper into the martial way.
The People and the Atmosphere at the Dojo
Training at the dojo: partner work, movement, control and shared learning.
A dojo is first and foremost the people who train in it.
At Dojo Caracal a very diverse group of people meets, of different ages, different backgrounds and different walks of life. And yet, over the years, a few common denominators have emerged.
These are very curious people. People who think, observe and above all ask questions, sometimes endlessly. They tend toward independent thinking and toward examining things others might take for granted. Not all of them show it outwardly, but many have an inner unwillingness simply to follow the herd.
In training, too, they are not content with knowing how to perform a technique. They want to understand why it works and what lies behind it, and sometimes also to ask whether what we learned is really the only way to see things.
There is a lot of humor in the dojo and very little room for ego. Not because the ego disappears when we step into training, but because we try to be aware of it and of the obstacles it places in the way of learning.
And they are friends. People who are happy to help, to support, to share knowledge and to train with one another. Veterans with newcomers, the young with the older, and each one brings something different to the training.
Perhaps this is the most important common denominator: the desire to learn, and the willingness to keep asking.
And this circle does not end at our dojo in Israel.
Every year we travel abroad at least once for training camps and seminars. I travel together with students who wish to join, and we train and meet friends and teachers with whom deep professional and personal connections have formed over the years.
Especially close ties exist with members of the organization in the Czech Republic and with Bujinkan Czech Dojo, the largest organization in the country, led by Luboš Pokorný, and with its affiliated dojos and teachers throughout the Czech Republic. Close ties also exist with Bujinkan Warszawa Dojo in Warsaw, with Bujinkan Kuki Taisho Dojo in Copenhagen, Denmark, and especially with Michael Schjerling, who heads it, with its branch Kuki Taisho Dojo Bujinkan Krakow in Kraków, and with Mariette van der Vliet and our friends at the dojo in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.
And of course, over the years we have kept a direct connection with Japan, with the Hombu Dojo and with the senior teachers of the Bujinkan.
These connections allow us to keep learning and to be exposed to different perspectives, but there is also something in them beyond the learning itself. They connect people and dojos thousands of kilometers apart and make them part of one community of friendship, learning and shared training.
How We Train
Training in Budo Taijutsu is done mostly in pairs. We learn techniques, but technique is not the final goal. It serves as a tool for learning principles of movement, distance, timing, balance and the ability to adapt to a changing situation.
An important part of the learning process is done at first at a slow, controlled pace. Slowness is not only a means of checking and refining the technique. It allows us to learn from the foundations, to understand the movement and to absorb it into the body gradually.
A child does not begin by running a marathon. First they learn to stand, then to take their first steps, and only later to walk and run. The same is true of learning to read and write: we start with letters, move on to words and sentences, and only much later can we write an essay. In the martial arts we believe in the same principle: thorough, precise and internalized learning, on which freer, faster and more complex movement can later be built.
There are no shortcuts. Sometimes the long way turns out to be the short one, and the short way turns out to be the long one, at best. At worst, it simply leads nowhere.
Training includes empty-hand work and the study of a very wide range of weapons. These are not two separate worlds: principles of distance, timing, movement and body structure appear again and again in different forms throughout training.
Your training partner is not an opponent to defeat but a partner in the learning process. Even so, training is not supposed to be, or to stay, comfortable and predictable. As we progress, the pace, the intensity and the degree of uncertainty change, and we learn to act under pressure, resistance, change and surprise as well.
And yet, as in any field of skill in life, the more we progress and gain experience, the more things that were hard at the beginning of the way become simpler and more natural. The difficulty decreases, the ability grows, and with it the enjoyment.
Learning through shared practice, demonstration and correction during training.
Who Is the Training For?
No previous martial arts experience is needed, and no exceptional physical fitness either. What matters more is who you are: the training is meant for mature people with emotional stability, curiosity and a genuine desire to learn.
Budo Taijutsu is not necessarily for everyone. It demands patience and perseverance over time, and a willingness to return again and again to the basics, to ask questions, to make mistakes and to examine yourself. It also demands awareness of the ego and the ability to set it aside, because our goal is learning, not competition.
The only comparison that matters is with yourself: how you move today, what you understand today, and what has changed since you started training.
No one arrives at the dojo already “ripe and ready.” In fact, the dojo is the place where we “ripen,” each at our own pace, until we become, hopefully, riper fruit.
When and Where Do We Train?
Giv'at Ada
Mondays | 19:30–22:00
Wednesdays | 19:00–21:00
Givatayim
Thursdays | 19:00–21:00
Training takes place all year round, except on the eves of Jewish holidays, the holidays themselves, and the intermediate days (Chol HaMoed) of Sukkot and Passover. During Chol HaMoed, special workshops are sometimes held.
Want to Get to Know Us?
The best way to find out whether the training is right for you is simply to come and try it.
You can come to a trial class (free of charge), meet the people, see how we train and experience it for yourself. No previous background is needed.
Free of charge