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."

Comments

Re:Know what Really Pisses Me Off?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Look at the quotes in the article, it's meaningless blabber.

He who does not listen, does not hear.

Re:Ninja is replaced by Sniper

[MagicDude]

If killing is your only goal, then yes, a sniper rifle is just as good, and requires less training. However, suppose your goal is to kill the target, and then take his briefcase full of secrets. Shooting him from 500 yards will just cause attention to swarm around the target and you'll never get those missle silo sites. There's where you need a ninja to sneak in, dispatch with the bodyguard, slit the target's throat, slice off his hand above the wrist to get rid of the handcuff connecting the target to the breifcase, and then disapear into the night.

Re:Ninja is replaced by Sniper

[SquadBoy]

Yes?

And your point is?

You *do* understand that those are all good things, right?

Joking aside

[ndogg]

It is sad to see an art form like this die out. It's a little like seeing a species without a purpose die out. Sure it's a dinosaur, but it's still interesting to study and learn about.

If I were him, I, too, would probably lament the popular images of ninjas. Hollywood has definitely bastardized it, and disgraced the legend of the ninja.

The last of his species. For obvious reasons.

[Opportunist]

Yeah, Ninjas are cool, Ninjas are mysterious, but face it: They're outdated. As outdated as the record industry, but they have a worse lobby.

While fighting as a sport, or for close combat, will continue to exist and has its right to exist, the art of sneaky assassination is no longer a business. If you want someone dead, hire a hitman. Easier to train, more numerous, thus cheaper.

It's simply a matter of technology. It's really no longer feasible to have a person get close to your target and have him strike there. Surveillance equipment makes it virtually impossible to get him close enough. Sneaky and stealthy or not, it's hard to beat a good surveillance system. Whatever you do, a heat or movement sensor will catch you.

Getting close enough to your target is also no longer as possible as it was. Bodyguards are well equipped. Communication is by far superior than it was 100 years ago. And to get into a bulletproof car, you also need more than just a can opener.

It's over. Killing is no longer really an artform. Everyone can do it. Just pull the trigger.

Expanding on this a bit...

[einhverfr]

I would like to expand on this a bit.

Even handguns are next to useless in sufficiently close quarters. Yes, you can hit someone with them, but even there, their weight makes them slow. If oyu are trained for unarmed combat, the only weapons really worth a darn in close combat (less than about 8 feet) is a knife of a good club. And even the club is often not a match for a bare hand (esp if the barer is untrained).

In any case, training in close combat is well worth what is put into it many times over.

Note that even with all the technology available today, unarmed combat is still taught to all our soldiers, and ninja-like skills are even taught to some of our special forces. The reason is that there is nothing more important than troops on the ground.

Finally, suppose you are in an area you are not allowed to carry weapons and need to defend yourself. Unarmed combat training is worth its weight, as is training in improvised weaponry.