anyone here have any suggestions for locating authentic information on the ninja? I’m doing some research and I’ve located a ton of info on Samurai but everything I’ve come across on ninja so far is garbage.
Try this
Red,
Start here. I'tll help lead you to what ever you're looking for.
Chizica
Just because you walk passed a new school doesn’t mean you have to sign up, you know.
I remeber watching a documentary on Ninjitsu on the History channel a few months back. Im not real familar with this subject, but it seemed rather informative. Perhaps you should contact them and see if you could get a copy of the show.
Stephen K. Hayes has written a great deal on the subject…there are also a few books out by the Grandmaster of the Bujinkan Hatsumi…there was a whole special on ninjutsu a while ago…Stephen Hayes was on it…
http://www.resource-media.com/arts/Ninjitsu/ninjitsu.html
Ninjitsu is the ancient Japanese Art of the Ninja. It is the martial art of choice for the night vagabonds and killers. Ninjitsu unlike it’s social counterpart, the Samurai, is an underground class of warriors trained to quickly gain entrance to hire security areas and achieve it’s mission. Ninjitsu began more than 800 years ago. Ninja means “stealers - in”.
Their forte is espionage and assassination, by any means possible. Ninjas were usually trained from childhood and continued learning the art of Ninjitsu from birth. Soon, even the elite Samurai class began to fear the Ninja for their notorious skills. Ninjitsu was practiced in great secrecy. Upon the arrival of Modern Japan, the Ninjitsu class was absorbed into Japan’s Secret Service arm of the government. The art of Ninjitsu was later brought to the western world during the 1970’s because of the work of Doron Navon and Stephen Hayes. They found a Ninjitsu headmaster living in Japan who was willing to train them.
The art of Ninjitsu is also known as “ninpo”. Ninpo is a traditional Japanese bujutsu martial art that goes bcack for tens of centuries. It was developed as a counter culture art to the Samurai Warrior Class and was considered to be anti-government and illegal. Ninpo continues to be practiced today unter the tutelage of Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, 34th Grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu Ninjitsu Tradition. Dr. Hatsumi is considered to be the last variable true Ninja Grandmaster having a direct line of decent going back to Feudal Japan.
The art of Ninjitsu has no bounds. Their direct aim is assassination and espionage. They use many stealth and killer tactics including ninja stars, throwing knives, smoke bombs, poisons, darts, bow and arrows, karate, wrestling and guerilla warfare tactics. Ninjitsu is best known for their black uniforms and shurikens.
Red…
Isn’t this all you need to know about Ninja?
"1. Ninjas are mammals.
-
Ninjas fight ALL the time.
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The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people."
Ninjas Suck ™
Vagabonds Rule !!!
I think I remember hearing someone say ninjutsu is enough to make kings and vagabonds…or something like that
From what I understand, the martial aspect of ninjas is called Taijutsu
I think ther’s a taijutsu school somewhere here in colorado.
I’ll see if I can find a link.
this is the link, I haven’t been to this school, but an aquantaince directed me to the link because he is a disciple.
taijutsu refers to the unarmed aspects of the ninja arts and can be translated as “body movement” since footwork and evasion are a big part of the ninja’s training…
Many schools will teach taijutsu to the beginner and intermediate students, reserving the weapons and stealth training for those students who have achieved black belts…there are several reasons for this
Masaaki Hatsumi.
Stephen K. Hayes.
A can of worms
Depending on just how authentic you want the information to be, you might find that you’ve stumbled into a hornet’s nest when you try to find information about ninjutsu.
Several of the classical Japanese koryu (old schools) contain ninjutsu within their curriculum. The Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto ryu is an excellent example. However, these schools keep this aspect of their curriculum as a closely guarded secret, so you will not find anything out other than it exists.
When it comes to the ninjutsu schools that everyone is familiar with in the West (Bujinkan, Genbukan, Jinenkan), there is quite a bit of animosity involved when it comes to the question of its authenticity. People who train in these schools get awfully testy when scholars of the classical Japanese arts suggest that they are a recent innovation. Suffice it to say that the discussion of ninjutsu and people like Hatsumi, Tanemura, Hayes, etc. usually ends up looking a lot like the discussions of Shaolin-do on this forum.
For tons of ninja info and more flame wars than you can shake a stick at, try searching the E-Budo forums.
Good luck and happy hunting,
Tom
Just because you walk passed a new school doesn’t mean you have to sign up, you know.
listen, if I’m going to start training ninjitsu then I want to know all I can about it first! Besides my 6 months are up in Capoeira!!!
Actually I’ve just been doing a lot of research on the Samurai as of late and figured the Ninja would be an interesting subject. So far good information on them has ben as elusive as they were purported to be…maybe it’s on purpose?
I did find out some interesting things:
1- apparently there is no verifiable proof that anyone has ever been assassinated by a so called ninja.
2 - The popular black uniform of the ninja is actually a stage hands costume. Apparently in the Edo period when plays about ninja were popular, they were trying to figure out how to imply one’s ninja-tude on the stage (Since in actuality ninja probably disguised themselves as monks, travellers, or something their enemy might not recognize as being an enemy of theirs). the stage hands wore all black during these plays to signify that they are not part of the play and should be ignored.
3 - ninja were used more for scouting and for infiltrating during a siege to keep the enemy on his toes and prepare him for the attack.
Just avoid Ashida Kim/Chris Hunter/etc.
But you already knew that.
My first ninjutsu instructor helped Ernie Reyes Jr. prepare for the film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: the Secret of the Ooze.”
Re: Red…
Originally posted by SaekSan
[B]Isn’t this all you need to know about Ninja?
"1. Ninjas are mammals.
-
Ninjas fight ALL the time.
-
The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people."
[/B]
to be a break dancing ninja
every boys dream lol