Im 16 and interested in starting this martial art but it seem a little confusing, especially because of all these different styles I%26#039;ve heard about...they all seem to blur together and i cant decipher them. Can someone please explain the ninjutsu specifics? I heard somewhere that jujitsu was taught, but i thought taijutsu was taught? And what about these 9 kyu... are they all part of the same thing or are they separate..or do they even have anything to do with this? Also, if u could recommend a type or style for me I would appreciate it.|||Here it is in a link...
http://www.bullshido.com/articles/ninjut...
If for some reason you don%26#039;t want to click the link, here is what it says. (Just so the Ninjers out there have to scroll through my long answers mu ha ha ha!)
Ninjutsu (1) can be translated to mean the “art of endurance” or the “art of lying in wait” and refers to the unorthodox guerrilla and espionage tactics employed during Japan%26#039;s “warring states” period. Some koryu schools such as Tenshin Shoben Katori Shinto Ryu contain Ninjutsu in their curriculum, but the term has become synonymous with three organisations, the Bujinkan and it%26#039;s offshoots, the Genbukan and Jinenkan.
Training.
Most of the training is based around Kihon Happo, (basic eight way) which is drawn from schools/ryus in the Bujinkan which were not Ninjustsu schools. . Kihon Happo contains Ichimoji Kamae, Jumonji Kamae, Hicho Kamae are postures, and Omote Gyaku, Ura Gyaku, Hon Gyaku, Musha Dori, and Ganshki Nage which resemble one step Japanese Jujutsu kata. Several weapons are primarily taught, Roko Shaku Bo, (six foot staff) Han Bo, (three foot staff) Shuko, (hand claws) Bikenjutsu (swordwork), Shuriken, (star shaped and bo), Manriki Gusari, (fighting chain) and dozens of other weapons you learn at advanced ranks. (Yudansha). Most of these techniques and weapons are not unique to Ninjutsu practice.
Claiming to be a Ninja is the same as if you claimed to be a medieval knight. Neither truly exists anymore. (2) The actual origins of Ninjutsu have not been resolved, but have been long connected with the adjoining Iga and Koga geographic areas of feudal Japan. While many claim a Ninjutsu lineage from the “Koga”, the last recognized Soke from this lineage Seiko Fujita died in on January 4, 1966 from cirrhosis of the liver. http://fujitaseiko.tripod.com/page9.html leaving behind no students to carry on his Ninjutsu teachings. It should be noted that during his lifetime Seiko Fugita publicly declared that his Ninjustu art was going to die with him. (3)
That’s assuming that Seiko Fugita was even a legitimate representative of the Ninjutsu practiced in the Koga region of Japan. Many Japanese martial artists doubted Fugita’s claim to a Ninja heritage based on his inability or refusal to divulge a detailed lineage beyond that he had studied with his grandfather. There is no independent proof that Fugita’s grandfather was actually a Ninja, and Fugita said he had only studied Ninjutsu with his grandfather for a short period of time before he died and before Fugita had reached adulthood. So whenever someone claims Koga Ninjustu as their continuous lineage, as verses American civil war style battle re-enactment, they are full of hot air.
In the Iga lineage of the ryu that comprise this art, only three of the nine schools are even alleged to have decended from the Ninja as verses the Samarai. These are Togakure Ryu, Kumogakure Ryu and Gyokushin Ryu. However the first and the last of these three ryus have had their ninjustu pedigrees disputed. Gyokuskin has been claimed to be just another form of jutsu because it has an identical name to a historic jutsu school which also specialized in sacrifice throws (sutemi waza) and Hatsumi has refused to send away his ninja materials concerning Togakure Ryu to be authenticated. (He did offer to let people view his documentation but would not let it out of his sight.)
In any case, of the nine ryus that make up the material taught by Masaaki Hatsumi’s Bujinkan and also its offshoot the Genbukan, Jinenkan, and finally the Toshin Do, all use this disputed material. Ironically these are the Ninjutsu organizations that HAVE a claim to historic legitimacy! It is possible however, that these ryus are also legitimate if one accepts the argument that some Ninjas were members of the Samurai Class and also used Samurai arts. This is an argument that most neo-ninjas don’t want to hear because it would destroy the previously accepted belief that the Ninja and the Samurai were mutually exclusive social classes.
The reader should be aware that while Masaaki Hatsumi%26#039;s Lineage stems from a man named Toshitsugu Takamatsu, that there are reports that efforts to prove the existance of Takamatsu%26#039;s own named Ninjutsu teacher have been unsuccessful. Given that this missing master would have been alive in Modern Japan. (Post Meij restoration, starting in 1868) and Japanese society loves paperwork, there should be some independant documentation establishing his existence. The absence of such evidence has called the existence of Takamatsu%26#039;s teacher into question. http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthre...5... See also http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...=... posts #199, #201, and #206 since some of this information has been taken down from E-Budo.
But even if the Iga lineage is real, another problem exists. There are few contemporaneous accounts or texts concerning Ninjutsu that were written during the Japanese feudal period. Those which still exist include Basenshukai, written by a samurai from Iga-Ueno named Fujibayashi Yasutake, in1676. Shoninki, written by a samurai from Kishu named Fujibayashi Masatuke, in 1681, and Ninpiden written by Hattori Hanzo Yasunaga in 1653. (We do not know if Fujibayashi Yasutake and Fujibayashi Masatuke were related.) The Ninpide and Shoninki does not mention hand to hand combat techniques and the Basenshukai only briefly touches upon this subject. They instead talk about intelligence gathering, and to simplify the subject, sneaking around. Unlike their modern contemporaries, the feudal ninja were not particularly concerned with unarmed one on one hand to hand combat.
Other records of this period include Densho and Makimono. (recordbooks and scrolls) These were often used in Japan to record the materials from a ryu. One thing to understand about these records is that they were mostly written in KANBUN, which was basically Chinese written for Japanese people and predates current kana. For Ninjustu Densho and Makimono, the passages in the documents (4) were vaguely worded. For example a technique might be described as follows:
Uke grabs tori%26#039;s right wrist with left hand.
Twist ukes wrist and push towards uke’s chest
Drop down and throw.
If one is familiar with the school or knows the techniques first hand, this description may be of use, but this does little to tell the neo-Ninjas of today how to do feudal era techniques. Illustrated records were rare and limited by the author’s artistic talents, or lack thereof.
So those who claim to learn from %26quot;secret scrolls%26quot; (especially those who claim Koga lineage) are fooling themselves.
Recent Politics.
Masaaki Hatsumi, the creator of the Bujinkan claims to be the inheritor of three schools of ninjutsu, Togakure Ryu, Kumogakure Ryu and Gikkan Ryu along with six other Samurai ryu from Toshitsugu Takamatsu. To date, none of the Ninjutsu school scrolls have been verified as authentic by Japan%26#039;s most prominent koryu associations the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai and the Nihon Kobudo Kyokai. Defenders claim that those ninjutsu schools were passed down orally but Hatsumi%26#039;s claim of being the 34th Generation soke of Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu is suspect as this would make it the oldest Japanese ryu in recorded history. The claim is made further problematic as there would be little need for advanced espionage techniques before the rise of powerful feuding warlords. Two of Hatsumi%26#039;s original Japanese students have split off and created their own organizations, the Genbukan (Tanemura) and the Jinenkan (Manaka). One of the first Americans to study under Hatsumi, Steven Hayes has also split off and created Toshin-do.
Finally another driving force behind Ninja politics is that Hatsumi has created a 15 degree dan ranking system which is not common in Japanese martial arts. The result is that he has given out high ranks which have often been seen as unwarranted. This promises to produce lots of conflict after his passing since not all the people given high ranks have also been awarded menkyo kiden, a teaching license giving you permission to teach that particular school of martial arts. Stay tuned for more drama.
A fighting Critique:
The advantages of Bujinkan training include a wide variety of weapons, and the lack of emphasis on performing solo kata drills. Students are generally free to use variations of the basic techniques during training. The disadvantages of the system are:
1)The lack of a complete ground game.
2)The use of stances or “kamae” during training that are difficult to use in an alive situation.
3)With few exceptions, Bujinkan schools do not engage in sparring. Techniques are most often trained against an unrealistic attack.
4)Bujinkan does not currently have any significant representation in modern Mixed Martial Arts or Submission Grappling events.
5)A large portion of training time is devoted to low percentage techniques and untested material.
6) Given the Ninja mystique, we at Bullshido have found more delusional martial artists and live action role players in this art then any other. So be careful who you select as a teacher.
Footnotes:
1) There are different Romanization systems for Japanese. Ninjutsu can also be spelled Ninjitsu. We prefer the first spelling because the JSO system is currently the most accepted Romanization system for the Japanese language and all the posers spell it the other way with the i.”
2) Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith, “Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts” (Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1969, 1980), p. 131. “No Ninja exist today.”
3) Seiko Fujita, %26quot;Koga Ryu Ninja Ichidai Ki%26quot; a reprint of his autobiography %26quot;Doron Doron Saigo no Ninjaz%26#039; (Soujinsha 1959) .
4) The lead author of this piece, Ben Bradley reads Japanese and bases this comment on the materials he owns and has seen.|||I agree with most of the information posted at bullshido.com (as judomofo posted here) since most of ninjutsu%26#039;s history is obscured, vague, and overall a colossal mess. But in the end I must say that im not a history buff, and ninjutsu is just another art. So instead of anyone ever complaining just choose to accept what it offers or not and if you do then (as a wise person once said) %26quot;dont look a gift horse in the mouth%26quot;|||The Japanese word ninjutsu means %26quot;stealth technique%26quot;. I see some people in ninjutsu gym in America tries to sound fancy and says the %26quot;art of......etc., etc.%26quot; but that%26#039;s not what it means. The word %26quot;nin%26quot; means stealth and it can also be said as %26quot;shinobi%26quot; which is another word for ninja. Jutsu means technique.
Ninjutsu started out as a set of survival skills that were used by groups of people who lived in mountainous regions of Japan. They were self-reliant, and had a strong affinity with nature. These techniques used to hunt and fight eventually developed and became the strategic base of the ninjutsu martial arts. The ninja clans used their art to ensure their survival in a time of violent political turmoil. It also included methods of gathering information, non-detection, avoidance, and misdirection techniques. Ninjutsu can also involve training in disguise, escape, concealment, archery, medicine, explosives,and poisons(nothing magical or fancy like the ones you see on tv).
There are 18 disciples in ninjutsu:
1. Seishin-teki kyōyō (spiritual refinement)
2. Taijutsu (unarmed combat, using body only as weapon)
3. Kenjutsu (sword fighting)
4. Bōjutsu (stick and staff fighting)
5. Shurikenjutsu (throwing blades)
6. Sōjutsu (spear fighting)
7. Naginatajutsu (naginata fighting)
8. Kusarigamajutsu (chain and sickle weapon)
9. Kayakujutsu (pyrotechnics and explosives)
10. Hensōjutsu (disguise and animal morphing)
11. Shinobi-iri (stealth and entering methods)
12. Bajutsu (horsemanship)
13. Sui-ren (water training)
14. Bōryaku (military strategy)
15. Chōhō (espionage)
16. Intonjutsu (escaping and concealment)
17. Tenmon (meteorology)
18. Chi-mon (geography)|||There is much more than just a physical aspect of Martial arts, there is an entire philosphy behind the development of martial arts that dates back centuries.
Ive been studying Martial arts for a little under a year now so Im not as well versed as most people would be, but I can give you a little guidance. The reason Martial arts all seem to blend together is because they all do. There is not one Martial art that I have found that doesnt share some its beliefs or techniques with another. I havent focused to much on ninjitsu specifcally, I practice Aikido, so I cant offer to much on the specifics of ninjitsu.
As far as choosing a martial art that is right for you, this is a question that most people struggle with. You have to decide what you want to get out of learning an art. Do you want to better yourself as an individual, achieve higher learning and build your confidence, or (some people say this is better, some worse) do you just want to learn how to break legs and become an ultimate fighter. There are styles that are better and worse for both. If you want you can shoot me an email, its jci333@yahoo.com, I may be able to help you choose a style that best fits you, or at least point you in the right direction.|||Of course in modern times not all of the schools of ninjutsu are applicable, so the instructors usually just teach taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) and sometimes they teach escape tactics and all that. My cousin protected her life with some taijutsu techniques, so you can definitely make it work, it just depends on your dojo as well as yourself.|||ninjtsu is very much about balance, speed and quick quiet takedowns...pressure points and quick breaks are also involved|||Bullshido.com is bull as far as ninjutsu and Bujinkan go. Check www.ninjutsu.com for a good start. Plenty of info for you there. I hope this helps. Enjoy! :-)|||BS ninjutsu is almost always a mcdojo. Take up jiu-jitsu
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