Slashdot Mirror
Wisdom From The Last Ninja
I Could Tell You But... writes "The AP has a story about ninjutsu master Masaaki Hatsumi, last living student of Japan's last 'fighting ninja.' He offers advice from the heart of Ninjadom, like 'always be able to kill your students,' and describes the current popular ninja image as 'pathetic.' At age 76, students are speculating on his successor, who may for the first time be non-Japanese." From the article: "As I cautiously raise the sword with a taut two-handed samurai grip, my sparring partner gingerly points to Hatsumi. I avert my eyes for a split second - and WHAM! The next thing I know, I'm staring at the rafters. Keeping your focus is just one of the lessons thumped out on the mats of the Bujinkan Dojo, a cramped school outside Tokyo that is a pilgrimage site for 100,000 worldwide followers. They revere Hatsumi as the last living master of ninjutsu - the mysterious Japanese art of war practiced by black-masked assassins of yesteryear."
I have studied under Hatsumi, years ago. Before a lot of the current 'purpose built' combatives were created for military and govt. use, he and his instructors would train select U.S. govt. and military personnel.
Someone mentioned that "ninjitsu is the art of assassination". An inaccurate statement.
Ninpo Taijitsu (a very rough translation would be ninja combat), as taught under the Bujinkan, consists of several different schools. Stealth, sword combat, locking/holding/throwing, striking, etc. are some examples of the different schools, each with their own head instructor.
There is a famous story from the '50s (?, maybe '60s) where the Japanese National Judo Champion (at the time he was also the world champion) essentially 'called out' Hatsumi and ninpo taijitsu as a 'fraud'. Said champion was invited to face off with Hatsumi. Hatsumi proved he was no fraud, and shortly thereafter the Judo champion became one of the senior instructors at the 'judo' school of the Bujinkan.
Hatsumi is the real deal. I've seen him run along the top of chain link fences. At one seminar, a 250+ lb. Marine spoke up and said "Ok I know you're good, but really...in combat - what are you going to do to me?". Hatsumi sqared off with the Marine, and had him on the ground and incapacitated very rapidly. No ego, no bravado - just a teacher who understands that you must be able to demonstrate that what you teach will work for real.
Hatsumis instructor, Takamatsu, was (for lack of a better term) a real life 'ninja'. He was an agent/assassin/etc. for hire that worked for various warlords in the late 1800s.
Do some searches on Hatsumi and Takamatsu - I believe you guys will find some very interesting reading.
Sadly, when Hatsumi leaves us the Bujinkan will probably never be seen again in its current form, with one true Master overseeing all of the various schools that comprise Ninpo Taijitsu. It will truly be the end of an era.
Regards,
Former (novice) student of the Bujinkan
While any monkey can use a firearm,
Firearms are one of things that are easy to learn, but very difficult to master. When doing long range shooting, you don't just casually place crosshairs and pull trigger. You spend time practicing. Learning your weapon. You handload your bullets (and art in it's own right) to exacting tolerances and test out multiple powder types and charge levels to get the best grouping you can from your gun. When taking a long shot, you must have a bullet-drop table (or a good idea of it) and adjust your hold over depending on the yardage. At ranges of a few hundred yards, the slightest of movement will appear as a huge "bouncing" of the crosshairs. Most people train to exhale before aiming and not take another breath until the shot is taken (minimizes movement). Most people also practice dry firing just as much as live ammo, to notice and try to minimize "flinch", which is basically an anticipation of the recoil and an attempt to brace the rifle right before firing (it's slight, but can make a big difference).
Yes "any monkey" can pull a trigger, but becoming an accomplished long range shooter takes a lot of time and effort.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
First of all, the guy writing the article admits he's no martial artist and is somewhat starry eyed.
Second of all, it doesn't sound all that far fetched. If they're really training with real bladed weapons (not for the novice), that could be exactly what happened. I've seen demonstrations by some old (and old-school) martial artists which aren't that far from this.
Some little, tiny, old asian man tells two strapping young black-belts to come at him with wooden swords -- in a shockingly short period of time, both young hearty blackbelts are staring up at the ceiling wondering how they could have done things differently.
A friend was at a martial-arts film festival in Toronto, and they pulled him up on stage for a demonstration. A 60-year old man who had been in a bunch of films said "come at me" -- several witnesses confirm in slightly less than 1 second, my friend was spun around, *lightly* struck on the head, *gently* thumped to the floor, and placed into rather painful an arm bar -- by a man who was both amazingly fast, and very dilligent about not breaking the volunteer. He applied just enough pressure to demonstrate he could have done more, but didn't even leave him with a bump, bruise, or any lasting pain.
I don't remember the exact set of near-beatings which were applied, but the speed was something to behold. My friend assures me he doesn't really know what the heck happened -- just that the arm-bar was enough to assure him the guy applying it could have broken his arm has he chosen -- the only thing he knows is it was all over before he was sure it was ready to begin.
Seriously, if this guy has been doing this quite so long -- dodging a sword, taking it from you, and twisting your arm into an uncomfortable position isn't exactly a stretch to believe.
Don't believe me? Walk into an Aikido dojo and ask for a demonstration. You might see things in a different light. A modern master is amazing -- an old school master from the last of the REAL old school masters -- something utterly amazing to behold. Especially the ones who use things with sharp edges and the like.
As schamltzy as the reputation of martial arts is in film, and as much as you don't like the prose in the article, you should be aware of the fact that anyone who has been doing martial arts for *that* long is probably an exceedingly quick sonofabitch. And, chances are, when a bunch of young guys travel from all over the world to train with you, you're probably pretty amazing.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I'm yet another person who's Bujinkan and who has studied under soke Hatsumi.
He and ninpo taijutsu are far, far from black-clad (ok ok we're black clad) assassins of the night. Soke himself is very enlightened, cheerful, and playful. The Bujinkan has affected me a great deal spiritually boosting me and making me a better person. To see the start contrast of "ninjutsu" and actual ninpo taijutsu, try and pick up some copies of Sanmyaku, which are essentially the Bujinkan magazines full of kind and wise words.
I've also read comments here saying that his mentor, Takamatsu, was more of a ninja assassin, which is also bollocks. He was a man of his time and engaged in much life-and-death combat, but was not some evil assassin. I can only hope that the motion pictures of Takamatsu make their way into the world and everyone has a chance to see the man in motion, not just rusty old pictures.
You learn some pretty good combat and stealth techniques, but you also learn heart and peace and none of this is anything like the "ninja assassin" bullshit (which ironically, was why I first joined the Bujinkan, whoops).
Uh, no.
During the Sengoku period, during which the separation of Samurai as a class happened, the Ninja were reviled as those who killed without showing their face in battle. They were most certainly not Samurai, but were a class of ashigaru, which were essentially a class below samurai. They were allowed the longsword and surnames, but as a class of footmen, they ranked below the samurai.
Contrary to your belief, everyone was allowed a "weapon", but only the samurai were allowed the long sword. The Chonin (commoners) were only allowed the wakizashi.
There were no kings in Japan. Only the emperor, shogun (when appropriate), and various daimyo. Also, the samurai were not of the police force; those duties were carried out by members recruited from the chonin class, supervised by a machibugyo, who is more of a "civilian" overseer than a member of the forces.
The samurai class were definitely in politics, as they were members of the ruling class, but usually only the highest houses were politically active.