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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."
if you're ever curious about anything relating to ninjas and you want a straight, no bs answer, you can always ask a ninja.
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
Ninja is actually the art of bullshit. Seriously, the stories surrounding 'ninja' were part of the edge the ninja had. Talk up a good story, and no one will mess with you. Misdirection and cheap shots under the auspices of "quickest kill" led to its current incarnation.
"Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested." (LT 2004)
It's not always possible to have a clear shot. In such cases, a hidden knife to the throat can just be the solution.
Did anyone else see the occasional italicized letter in that? I'm a lazy bastard or else I would go find them all and whip out my own smithy code decrypting skillz.
"Timing is the most difficult," he adds, while casually deflecting a gleaming metal sword swung at his neck by a veteran student. After the turning the blade on the attacker, Hatsumi gives his arm a slight twist, eliciting a baleful yelp.
I really despise prose like this in newspaper articles. I find it hard to believe that that is an exact account of what happened, so it just destroys the article's credibility and makes it seem like the writer is just trying to write a third rate action novel.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
It's actually the art of stealth and endurance. Nin can mean concealment, sneaking in or endurance. While jutsu is technique. While much of Ninjitsu will be covered by crazy myth of ninjas leaping from trees etc. the essence of the concept still stands: It's a highly specialized form of danger avoidance in warfare for evading the enemy. Basically Ninjas are form of individual Maneuver warfare.
The concept itself is thought to have come from the Chinese assassins in the warring states period - the Moshuh Nanren. It's also said that the concept is also based on Sun Tzu's chapter on spies. Where spies also being translated as "gap men" (k'ai ho) or those that sneak through the enemies gaps (avoiding strengths like in maneuver warfare).
The most interesting aspects of this Asian thought is the cultural influence it has had on Asian warfighting. If you read some of the history of Japanese tactical patrolling in World War 2 you'll find some pretty deceptive patrolling techniques that were based off Ninjitsu training. A military author called H. John Poole has written about this. It's thought that the concept of stealth, assassination and danger avoidance travelled along the silk route to places like Vietnam and Indonesia. In the Vietnam war the VietCong used to train in similar ninja-like techniques in stealth walking, sensory enhancement and so on.
The best modern example is in the Indonesian military where they have a subset of the special forces (KOPASSUS) called Gadapaksi. They are also known as the "ninjas" as they specialize in night time assassinations and abductions. If you read any of the literature on the East Timorese or even the West Papuans the Gadapaksi are mentioned as terrorizing the local populace.
I've always thought that the whole base concept of the Ninja is brilliant. Pretty useful across a whole domain of study. Could be used from warfighting to black hat hacking.
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1 - It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
therefore,
2 - A decent street fighter can beat most martial artists.
however,
3 - I personally know at least two elderly ladies who have beaten off attackers who were trying to rob them. They didn't even break a sweat, it was over before the robbers realized what had hit them.
4 - The Japanese used to revere the way of the samurai as espoused in the Hagakure. They believed it so much they tried to take on America. Then they realized it was a crock.
5 - Don't worry about the most effective style. Just try to find a decent teacher. Get to know lots of other martial artists. You will eventually find the style that's right for you.
6 - 9/10 of everything you hear about martial arts is a lie. YMMV
7 - When choosing a style, remember that you have to be able to go to work the morning after your lessons. Don't choose a style that leaves you wrecked. My brother-in-law retired from Tae Kwan Do after he permanently wrecked his leg.
8 - The hagakure was written by a bunch of guys who had never been in battle. In that regard, it is a lot like trying to understand knights by reading Don Quixote.
9 - The Book of Five Wrings was written by someone who was actually good at fighting. He fought many battles and lived to an old age.
10 - Most Ninja schools may or may not be pathetic depending on your standards. Most people don't actually want to train to be killers so if you judge a school by how many killers it produces, most of them will fall somewhat short. The martial artists I most respect take the students they get and deal with them the way they are. Some styles and techniques produce mental abnormalities. A teacher who complains that his students are a bunch of lily livers and who shouts a lot is to be avoided. He or she isn't a happy person and you don't want to be like that.
That's why ninjas are the ultimate paradox; on the one hand they don't give a crap, but on the other hand, ninjas are very careful and precise.
Not really. This happened with chinese martial arts. One of the reason why the current levels of mastery are inferior to the ancient past is this whole idea of keeping an edge over your students. To be always be able to beat them means you can't teach everything -- you keep a secret in reserve to defend your life against students aspiring to take over. Those students, when all growed up and teaching, also keep a secret in reserve. Eventually the art is very diluted.
"Movie-style ninja, BTW, have a much longer history than the movies (although the term "ninja" does not appear to have been popularized until the 20th century). Ninja shows, ninja houses (sort of like American "haunted houses" at carnivals), and ninja novels and stories were popular by the middle of the Tokugawa period. The "ninja" performers may have created the genre completely out of whole cloth, or they may have built on genuine lore derived from old spymasters. Either way, however, it's clear that much of the lore underlying both modern ninja movies and modern ninja schools has both a long history AND little basis in reality outside the theatre."
"I used to tell students that the question of ninja was, from a historian's standpoint, still somewhat open. I think I'm going to take a much stronger line from now on, and point out that there are no historically credible claims supporting the historicity of a tradition which somehow concludes with modern schools of ninjustsu."
Somewhat related is this post makes the argument that the supposedly ancient history of karate (and possibly other martial arts) was manufactured in the 19th century for political reasons related to the colonization of Okinawa by the Japanese.
"It's Dot Com!"
In Léon (or The Professional), when Jean Reno teaches Natalie Portman how to be a hitman, he started training her as a sniper because that gave her the most distance between your target and herself. However, as she got better, the distance slowly got shorter and shorter, until one of the scenes when Jean came out of the shadows with a knife to the neck of his target.
I know movies don't really hold any universal truth, but there just might be something to that. When you're far away, there are a lot more factors in play due to the distance. The closer you are, the more gauranteed kill you have (if you're skilled enough).
I mean if you're going to say gun replaced swords, might as well say rocket launchers replaced guns.
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This is slightly off topic but really the legands of wonder fighters have about as much reality as Crouching Tiger etc.
... Standards and Practices !
Show up in the Octagon and see who walks away. It's pretty simple. The _proven_ methods of combat are mutai, jujitsu and just plain pounding the crap out of the other guy. The Gracies with Royce Gracie as the lead dominated the early days showing Brazillian Jujitsu as the most effective combat method. As time has passed there have been advances in defense and the striker - grappler thing is much more even now.
I would like to see Hatsumi strut his stuff but it's just a myth. There have been quite a few so called amazing martial artists humiliated in short order.
PenGun
Do What Now ???
The biggest thing yall seem to be missing is that fighting techniques, which invoke skill over physical streangth, Teach Respect, honor, and humility. Somthing that is missing in most of the westernalized cultures. 1 on 1 training as a spiritual form is the best way for anyone of any age to learn respect, not just for your elders but for your peers. You also gain peace by the teachings. I was a wrestler in HS, and studied many ancient art forms for better technique and more creativity against an oponant, sense then I have been too busy and been knocked out of shape, but I still hold on to the respect I gained.
I've two very good friends who are into the Bujinkan, a husband and wife team. He just recently was awarded the right to teach, and has opened a school where he is co-instructor with a much more senior member, one who has taken the "sword test" referred to in TFA. She, on the other hand, is a relative novice, and is lucky, on a good day, to measure in at 5'3".
At a demonstration I sponsored in June, she was able to show quite convincingly how a very small woman is able to take down, bind and otherwise incapacitate an assailant a foot taller, and several tens of pounds heavier. The assailant in this case was a student of classical Okinawan karate with an aproximately equal skill level. Her husband did the same on a man, again, markedly out massing him, who is well trained in akido and Shindo-muso-mu (I might be spelling that wrong).
SIZE is not the determining factor. TECHNIQUE is. Regardless of how well your opponent resists, it is, simply put, child's play to defeat an opponent, even one of equal or greater skill, if you adhere to basic principles of technique. I can say from long experience that the victory goes not to the best trained, but to the one who fails to make mistakes.
To think that a 76 year old man is going around throwing around guys half his age with ease is silly. They're either cooperative opponents or so incredibly untrained they may as well be cooperative.
To make such judgements without knowing the facts is silly. You talk about serious sparring, but if you're willing to make outrageous statements like this, I highly doubt that you take what you are doing that seriously.
I've two very good friends who are into the Bujinkan, a husband and wife team. He just recently was awarded the right to teach, and has opened a school where he is co-instructor with a much more senior member, one who has taken the "sword test" referred to in TFA. She, on the other hand, is a relative novice, and is lucky, on a good day, to measure in at 5'3".
At a demonstration I sponsored in June, she was able to show quite convincingly how a very small woman is able to take down, bind and otherwise incapacitate an assailant a foot taller, and several tens of pounds heavier. The assailant in this case was a student of classical Okinawan karate with an aproximately equal skill level. Her husband did the same on a man, again, markedly out massing him, who is well trained in akido and Shindo-muso-mu (I might be spelling that wrong).
I don't believe you. Or I should say, I don't believe he was really fighting back. I take Brazilian Jiujitsu and help train with a bunch of guys who all do cage fighting. Size matters. The idea that a small woman who is physically much weaker than a man going up and throwing him around like a ragdoll is a lie. I've been training in martial arts for 20+ years and have two black belts in two different styles as well as grappling and kickboxing experience. The Martial Arts are so full of silly demos that you can't tell what's real and what's not any more. The only way to test this stuff out is to actually test it out. That means putting on gloves and going at it full speed.
When you actually test a lot of traditional techniques this way you'll see that they blow up under pressure. Decades of poor teaching and lack of testing has allowed a lot of very weak technique to permeate most martial arts styles. Only the competition based systems (judo, boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, etc.) can perform. Everything else is just esoteric dancing.
To make such judgements without knowing the facts is silly. You talk about serious sparring, but if you're willing to make outrageous statements like this, I highly doubt that you take what you are doing that seriously.
I know the facts. I trained Bujinkan for years. I know a lot of guys who have also trained for years. I don't train any more because it doesn't work. Anyone who does any serious sparring knows I'm being serious in my statements. If you are fighting a 76 year old man and you are half his age and he's throwing your around like a rag doll you aren't really trying. If you are trying, you need to train in another style that shows results because a 76 year old man shouldn't be kicking your butt and I don't care who he is.
I've trained with Ninjutsu guys and with Mixed Martial Artists and Brazillian Juijutsu practioners. I have to agree with the grandparent poster - if a tiny guy half your size is throwing you around, you aren't much of a fighter.
I think the stories about Hatsumi aren't complete rubbish. But there is a bit of a difference between some exceptionally skilled tiny guy surprising a 250lb Marine (who may have very little experience with any kind of serious standup grappling) and the same guy getting onto a mat or ring with a Judoka, BJJ or MMA fighter, collegiate wrestler, and so on - even a more reasonably-sized one. What's more to the point is that the exceptional skill level of someone like Hatsumi or the founder of Aikido (O-Sensei - I couldn't spell his name to save my life) might be rather moot as compared to the skill levels in the people that they can _teach_ in a reasonable amount of time.
That is, most people I've met who had pure Ninjutsu or Aikido or any of the 'tricky' arts just really couldn't carry off their techniques against a half-decent, remotely resisting opponent. They could carry out their techniques well in the dojo against each other, but were obviously very well programmed to avoid doing the 'wrong thing' as an attacker. I think, ultimately, after 10 or 20 years these guys might be able to execute perfectly timed throws and joint-locks against attackers that aren't carrying out well-telegraphed, linear, predictable attacks, but I'm being generous here, as I've never met a practioner from those arts who could handle themselves well in this situation who didn't have extensive cross-training in some other art.
On the other hand, I've never run into anyone who had studied Judo, BJJ, boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, etc. for any length of time, who couldn't carry out the techniques that they knew very well against an opponent who really wasn't 'letting them hit/throw/tap them'. Obviously, many of these people have weaknesses (the boxers don't get a miraculous defense against getting taken down), and some of the techniques might be sloppy. But a wrestler who misses the double leg takedown has plenty of alternatives (and is used to using them), and the boxer who misses with the jab is pretty used to that and has another one on the way in about a quarter second, but the aikido or ninjutsu person who misses the 'graceful, deadly throw or strike' ususually winds up pretty flummoxed.
If you're depending on brilliantly misdirecting the energy of a cloddish 250lb puncher into a graceful throw, but find that instead the cloddish 250lb puncher managed to fake a one-two or whip a foot inside your ankle during the procedure, the science tends to break down. Now you're suddenly brawling with someone twice your size - a moment in which many of these reedy little guys start to wish that they'd spent a little more time in the weight room.
By the way, beating most traditional Karate guys is not exactly rocket science, as they tend to be very fast and strong, but exceptionally predictable, linear and quite vulnerable to grappling.
I don't buy the whole 'UFC = reality' argument, but it's a lot more real than most of the proofs that traditionalists presented before the UFC. It's interesting to note that the traditionalists tended to make arguments that they'd totally destroy their opponents in any UFC-type fight right up to the point that they had the chance to prove it, and decided later that their art was all about
(a) not fighting on thin mats,
(b) deadly eye pokes and throat strikes,
(c) surprise and/or fighting in street clothes, or
(d) spiritual stuff after all.
I would recommend reading some of the writings of Stephen K. Hayes, a student of Hatsumi's, since I found they shed some light on the deep cultural aspects of ninjutsu. The ninja culture of feudal Japan was an important counter-culture (in) to the predominantly (yo) influence of the bushi, or samurai. Of course read Master Hatsumi's own writings as well!
Remember it was not military defeat in any single large battle that undid the historical influence of the ninja, but stability and a lack of customers (ie. lack of interest). Sadly, history repeats itself somewhat today...which is why, as mentioned in the article, so many of the students now are foreigners.
There is a documentary film about Toshitsugu Takamatsu, with Masaaki Hatsumi in it as well. It's a Japanese film, the title in English is "Takamatsu Toshitsugu, the Last Real Ninja". It's based upon a black-and-white movie filmed in the '60s that shows Takamatsu Sensei teaching Hatsumi Sensei in a park. Takamatsu Sensei demonstrates unarmed techniques and weapon techniques from the nine schools, with comments in Japanese (subtitled in English) by Hatsumi Sensei. A torrent for this film was uploaded to Secret Cinema http://www.secret-cinema.com/ a while back. It's dead now, but I am busily working on getting it back up again, so if you're interested check Secret Cinema for it in the next few days.
To think that a 76 year old man is going around throwing around guys half his age with ease is silly. They're either cooperative opponents or so incredibly untrained they may as well be cooperative.
Guy get a clue!!!
The master in question here is 76 years old, as you write. so he likely started martial arts training with
OBVIOUSLY EVERY OPPNENT HE EVER WILL HAVE is: incredibly untrained what the fuck do you think? That 20 years SEAL training (for a guy of age 40, 20 years of training is very reasonable) can compete with 40, 50 or 60 years training?
The intersting point in this story is not that he is doing some ninjutzu (in fact there are likely over 100 different ninjutsu schools and his is only ONE of them)
The interesting thing is that sceptic people like you believe that there is one ultimative fighting technique. You think it could be ninjutzu, but you don't find the guy impressive, so you reject this idea a second later.
ALL FIGHTING TECHNIQUES ARE CREATED EQUAL. There is no reason some guy practicing 50 years judo can not beat easy a guy practicing 20 years karate, and vise versa. You can extend this to boxing or any "serious" martial arts you want. However in our days most martial arts focus on one aspect: Aikido only does fighting while both partners are standing (but punshing and kicking is "allowed") Brazilian Ju Jutzu only does fighting in wrestling style where both opponents are on their knees on the ground.
As soon as a Brazilian Ju Jutzu fighter allows me to make a really hard hit, he is down. As soon as he graps me and we get into close fight, I'm down. Most Ninjutzu schols teach BOTH (and more).
I know a guy called "Hiroshi Tada". He as well is about 75 or 76 and teaches Aikido. He is no way less impressive than Hatsumi Sensei. Albeit no one claims that Tada Sensei is running on fences for show purpose
The founder of Aikido has lots of videos of "show fights" with US forces soldiers not beliefing he can compete with them, he was age 60 then already and the US soldiers surely below 30. If you don't beleive stuff, google for it
When you do martial arts seriously: you get BETTER EVERY YEAR. You have the climax of your "fighting" abilities just a few weeks before you die (supposing you dont get a serious illness, and supposing you dont die in such a fight
Ah, and: When I go into a grappling school, judo school or kickboxing school you know the instructor can kick butt because he gets out there and, well, kicks butt. No! A serious teacher has enough to do to run his school, such ppl don't run around wild and kick butt.
angel'o'sphere
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.