Takamatsu Toshitsugu's (Masaaki Hatsumi's teacher) "Ninjutsu" was made up from childhood games?

In the third edition of the Bugei ryuha daijiten, Watatani Kiyoshi (a friend of Takamatsu Toshitsugu), stated that Toshitsugu Takamatsu%26#039;s %26quot;Ninjutsu%26quot; was made up from childhood games.


http://www.mardb.com/ninjutsu/ninjutsu-a...





In addition to that the lineage claimed by Masaaki Hatsumi and Takamatsu Toshitsugu is very suspicious.





Also, the Iga-Ryu Ninja Museum in Japan does not recognize Masaaki Hatsumi or Toshitsugu Takamatsu.





What do people make of this?|||and you find this surprising about ninjitsu.|||It%26#039;s correct that Masaaki Hatsumi%26#039;s Ninjutsu lineage is bogus. Do some research on it and you will find a lot of information about it. Toshitsugu Takamatsu%26#039;s friend said he made up his Ninjutsu from childhood games. The lineage of Togakure Ninjutsu does not add up and most people in Japan that study this stuff can confirm this (historians etc).





I personally have talked to Sensei%26#039;s while in Japan and they have told me Masaaki Hatsumi%26#039;s Ninjutsu is not authentic.





Masaaki Hatsumi has no proof of his Ninjutsu lineage being authentic and this is why the Koryu community does not accept his claims.





About Jinichi Kawakami, he is respected in Japan. His teacher, Masazo Ishida, was a well-known martial artist in Japan and member of the Japanese Special Forces. Few people know the truth about Jinichi Kawakami----mostly only military historians and martial artists in Japan. He%26#039;s the real deal that few people outside of these communities in Japan know about. His training is harsh and traditional:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOGl1JsJ...





Masaaki Hatsumi%26#039;s students are almost all foreigners. Most Japanese people just see him as an actor and ignore his claims:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xXAQuJ5H...








|||This is a common misconception...





I have personally spoken with Japanese members of the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai regarding Hatsumi Masaaki, and the issue was not the lack of documentation (tatemae). The Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai requested Hatsumi Masaaki to join their organization. However, during this time, Hatsumi Masaaki was very vocal publically regarding the lack of true warrior ability and spirit of most %26quot;koryu%26quot; that had survived. This didn%26#039;t go well with the Nihon Kobudo Shinkokai, so the request was dropped (honne).





Anyone who claims that Hatsumi Masaaki is not considered koryu in Japan and highly regarded by many other soke really are in the dark as far as this issue (I don%26#039;t question they%26#039;re are menkyo holders out there, who have lived in Japan and knowledgeable, and so and so said such and such over beers, but not this issue).|||This is not new , this has been going around and back in forth for many years.|||Okay... I can actually address all three of these pretty well as well...





Watatani Kiyoshi made these comments in the Daijiten in around the 1960s, and the revision in the 1970s or so changes the wording. Much of the %26quot;childhood games%26quot; that are referred to are things like learning to balance on fences and %26quot;sense intent%26quot; while walking away and turning at the same time. These games are common and lead well to parts of training that were part of the Togakure Ryu, and so were included. Takamatsu Toshitsugu also was the first to write the teachings of the school down. To understand this, you%26#039;d have to understand traditional transmission methods, like densho and kuden. For ninja, many were apparently illiterate (much like the farmers and settlers in US history), so kuden was an appropriate transmission method, and also prevented anything physical from being found as evidence of their training. Many of your %26quot;classical martial arts densho%26quot; weren%26#039;t written until the Edo or Meiji eras, when the arts were already dying off from disuse. Prior, they too had been passed down through kuden.





The lineages passed down in many koryu are suspicious for the same reason. People forget who their teacher%26#039;s teacher%26#039;s teacher was, so they fill in someone. You%26#039;re playing a game of %26quot;telephone%26quot; going back generations. Dates may be wrong, things split and aren%26#039;t annotated, etc. Much of this has become a problem due to the above Daijiten quotes, and has drawn a lot of focus. Most of us inside realize the simple truth: What we%26#039;re learning works and works well, so there%26#039;s no reason to question it. Just as, after a time, you no longer question your own teachers (or you wouldn%26#039;t if you meant them respect).





The Iga Ninja Museum (not Iga ryu, but Iga region) is headed by a man named Kawakami Jinichi (who actually claims Koga-ryu soke-ship). If we want to talk about mysterious lineages, this guy claims he learned ninjutsu from an old man doing magic tricks in a park when he was a kid (something akin to Miser%26#039;s Dream, if I remember the story correctly), and no one has any record or evidence of that man%26#039;s existence. Further, it%26#039;s because of this record and the challenges against him that he%26#039;s made such a fuss of Hatsumi Masaaki. Seeing as how he also was a technical engineer for years before ever claiming he was a ninja. In addition to this, the last accepted Koga-ryu (btw, Koga is the ryu, Kouka is the region) Soke, Fujita Seiko, said, %26quot;No one alive knows my art.%26quot; shortly before he died.





So, from what we can prove in terms of lineage (since two years ago or so, the grave of Toda Shinryuken was found), we can at least trace back to Toda for Togakure ryu, which means that if the actual material was a lie, then it%26#039;s at least traceable back three generations. Whereas Kawakami Jinichi supports his records with the %26quot;Mysterious Dude%26quot; Defense... You%26#039;re going to take that seriously?