West Los Angeles Dojo

Your friendly neighborhood dojo teaching traditional Japanese martial arts in the West LA and Culver City area.

Here you will learn the history and traditions of our lineage, the Bujinkan, is comprised of 9 Ryu-ha (schools) which date to the Warring States period in Japan's 15th century. These schools specialize in battlefield tactics with weapons and a wide variety of unarmed techniques.

Space is limited, because we keep small class sizes to make sure everyone can get the details they need to develop in this art. Use the link below to schedule an interview to learn more about what we do.

Save My Spot

Meet your instructor, Mark Franco

"You can call me 'sensei,' but I feel like we're all students on the same path, I've just spent more time on it so I can help you along. We're all a bunch of Youmees. You's and Me's."

With over 30 years of experience in martial arts, Mark Franco is motivated not by learning how to fight, but rather understanding the principles behind movement, in a way that is efficient, and practical. Aside from his sense of humor, what makes Mark different from most other martial arts instructors is his ability to break-down and explain the subtle movements behind techniques.

"This isn't about learning how to beat up your opponent, its about learning the skills so that you don't have to."

In training we will cover:

TAIJUTSU

You will develop your balance and understand yourself as you learn techniques for defense using not just your hands and feet, but your whole body. This includes striking, grappling, and evasive agility.

KENJUTSU

You will develop focus and an immovable spirit as you learn the strategy and fundamental techniques for the katana. We'll often train with a wooden "bokken/bokuto" or a bamboo "shinai" so we can push ourselves without injury.

KOBUDO

You will learn the historical context that gave rise to this art as you practice other foundational weapons of the Samurai era, such as spear, the 6-foot wood bo staff, the 3-foot hanbo, the tanto (knife), and other special weapons such as the jutte and kusarifundo.