Bushinryu

Guy is the Street Fighter series' most recurring Bushinryu user.

Bushinryu Ninjutsu (武神流忍術, Bushin-Ryuu Ninjutsu, "Martial God-Style Ninja Techiques/Spells"), also known simply as Bushinryu, is a fictional style of ninjutsu that appears in the Final Fight series, the Street Fighter series, and Captain Commando. Guy is a notable master of Bushinryu.

History

Silhouettes of Bushinryu practitioners.

"When a threat to the world rises so will the shadow of Bushin."

Its origin is said to date back about 550 years ago (1440 AD). Since the Sengoku period of Japan. They have long since fought against the forces of evil from the shadows in order to protect the natural order of the world.

However, in the modern times after the Meiji era, the world no longer needs ninjutsu. It changed into a "dance" that was far from ninjutsu, and it was conveyed in detail as if it were a traditional performing art. However, in view of this current situation, a man who wishes for the true "Bushinryu" revival appears. That's the 38th clan leader, Zeku.

Like many ninja clans, the Bushinryu pass on their inner most secrets via the practice of isshi soden (一子相伝, isshi soden^? , "passed from father to child or master to disciple in every generation"). The teachings of the clan tradition requires that any potential clan leader must first defeat the current clan leader in a fight to the death, as there can only be one leader at all times. The succeeding student is then granted the title of Grandmaster (伝承者 denshō-sha, lit. successor) of the Bushinryu. Guy succeeded his master Zeku, the 38th clan leader after defeating him, though he did not kill Zeku. Proud of his student, Zeku stepped down, and Guy was ordained as the 39th Grandmaster of the Bushinryu Ninja Sect.

Zeku's presence in the game initially contradicts Final Fight 2, which identifies Genryusai as Guy's sensei, as the designers of the Alpha games did not take into account the SNES Final Fight sequels when developing the games. When Maki was reintroduced in Capcom vs. SNK 2, Capcom provided the explanation that Maki belongs to the original clan that formed the Bushin style, and that Genryusai was Zeku's master, who in turned trained Guy and Maki.

In Capcom's beat em' up game Captain Commando, which takes place in Metro City in the future (2026 AD), Ginzu the Ninja (one of Captain Commando's comrades) is also a practitioner and future successor of Bushinryu.

Description

Bushinryu relies on swift movements that overwhelm the opponent, employing speedy and unpredictable mix ups to manipulate a target into making a mistake and use of the environment to gain position. The Bushinryu art is known to disguise dash moves to give the enemy a false sense of the ninja using it is rushing at them, before a sudden stop and transition into various chain combo skills, before punishing the hapless opponent with devastating blows such as Bushin Goraisenpujin or Bushin Musou Renka

Known Practitioners

A shared attack between Bushinryu users (each has their own variation on the take)

Playable

• Guy (39th grandmaster)
• Maki
• Hokuto (mixes Bushinryu with Mizugami kobudo, resulting in her own personal style)
• Kairi
• Zeku (38th grandmaster)
• Kimberly
• Ginzu the Ninja

Non-playable

• Genryusai (Headmaster (宗家 Sōke), deceased)
• Gou (號 ゴウ) (Ginzu's father and 40th grandmaster, from Captain Commando)
• Guy's Henchmen (possibly)

Trivia

• Akiman states that the essence of Bushinryu is being able to take on multiple opponents by yourself. This fact would be adapted to Street Fighter Alpha manga and Sakura Ganbaru, where it is often mentioned that practitioners of this style specialize in taking on groups of opponents, a reference to Final Fight.

• In the Street Fighter 1995 cartoon series, the Bushinryu style is said to originate from Tibet.

• Bushinryu was named after the War God (武神 Bushin), the third boss from the Capcom game Forgotten Worlds. The War God also had a few appearances with characters related to the style, appearing as a statue in Guy's ending from Capcom Fighting Evolution and in the back of Zeku's default clothes in Street Fighter V.

• Gou appears in Street Fighter 6.
  • Sho, who appears in Captain Commando set in 2026 AD, is the eldest son of Guy's disciple Gou, and is a relative of Guy.