Going to Ninjutsu TONIGHT!!

[Hatori]

Greetings! I'm so excited. I start at a new Ninjutsu Dojo tonight. This Instructor regulalrly trains with Hatsumi Sensei in Japan (in fact he flies out there on Friday!) and they make a yearly trip to train with the Man himself. Been a while since I studied budo Bujinkan Taijutsu but I've dusted off my tabe and black gi and I'm dead excited about going. Will report back and how quickly my ass was handed to me on a plate!!!

[sirdarksol]

Sounds exciting!

[disgruntled]

oh cool! can you tell us a bit about what you are going to learn? i know they do grappling, but how does that differ from BJJ?

[Hatori]

The class was fantastic. I felt really at home as I've been studying Taijutsu for 15 years so the movements were almost identical to what I've already been training in. Bujinkan Taijutsu to give it its correct title is a traditional discipline with Instructors receiving training from Dr Hatsumi, the 34th Ninjutsu Grandmaster himself. We study weapons such as short stick, hanbo (3 ft staff), Bo, naginata, sword (katana/ninjato), chain (Kusarifundo) knife, and taijutsu which is the empty hand combat. It utilises body mechanics, anatomy, pressure points and covers trapping, striking, kicking, locks, holds, chokes, pins etc as well as rolling and breakfalling. Unlike BJJ it doesn't like to take down to the ground and stay there. We prefer to stay on our feet and pin our opponent, whilst maintaining a constant awareness of our surroundings. We do training in ground fighting but we prefer to do what is necessary and then leave! The Instructor is off to Japan tomorrow to train with Dr Hatsumi himself so I look forward to joining him one year when they go off on the annual pilgrimage to Japan.

[disgruntled]

cool, i am glad that you enjoyed the class.

why did you decide to take ninjutsu if it is so similar to taijutsu?

[Hatori]

I moved away from taijutsu to try something new and different so I went to study Systema, Kenpo and Wing Chun but I always enjoyed the taijutsu and felt something was missing from what I had been doing. You don't stay with something for 15 years without having an all-consuming passion for it and I felt that I'd been away from it for long enough and decided to go back to my first love. Proper traditional Ninjutsu that I'm now doing is very similar but with the added bonus of traditional japanese etiquette, japanese sayings plus traditional Ninja weapons which I haven't done for a couple of years now but it felt sooo good picking up a bokken and hanbo again! I suppose that you don't really appreciate something until you no longer have it.

[disgruntled]

i know exactly what you mean!

[eYoon]

Originally Posted by Hatori

I moved away from taijutsu to try something new and different so I went to study Systema, Kenpo and Wing Chun but I always enjoyed the taijutsu and felt something was missing from what I had been doing. You don't stay with something for 15 years without having an all-consuming passion for it and I felt that I'd been away from it for long enough and decided to go back to my first love. Proper traditional Ninjutsu that I'm now doing is very similar but with the added bonus of traditional japanese etiquette, japanese sayings plus traditional Ninja weapons which I haven't done for a couple of years now but it felt sooo good picking up a bokken and hanbo again! I suppose that you don't really appreciate something until you no longer have it.

maybe i'm wrong as i'm no expert..... but isn't it true that "real" ninjutsu died out hundreds of years ago?

[sirdarksol]

Depends on what you mean by "real."
The "rank" of ninja lost its point about the same time that the samurai lost their swords and titles. Because of this, the traditional clans of ninja faded away. They were, ultimately, financial entities, and when the money went away, so did the clans.
However, as with many other arts that lost their practical purpose, there were those who were dedicated to the art, rather than the position or the money or the power. These people could very well have continued the practice of the art, even as it became pointless from a pragmatist's point of view. Due to the fact that these people were, by nature, secretive, it is also quite likely that this practice would go unnoticed.
Add to this the Meiji debacle...I mean, Restoration, which was a historical purge of the unsavory elements that built Japan in an attempt to make it look like Japan's creation was free of the blood and horror that was involved in the birth of every other nation on the planet, and records of such people could very easily have disappeared, whereas the more "noble" arts, such as kyudo and kenjutsu were seen as acceptable elements of the past.

[eYoon]

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

Depends on what you mean by "real."
The "rank" of ninja lost its point about the same time that the samurai lost their swords and titles. Because of this, the traditional clans of ninja faded away. They were, ultimately, financial entities, and when the money went away, so did the clans.
However, as with many other arts that lost their practical purpose, there were those who were dedicated to the art, rather than the position or the money or the power. These people could very well have continued the practice of the art, even as it became pointless from a pragmatist's point of view. Due to the fact that these people were, by nature, secretive, it is also quite likely that this practice would go unnoticed.
Add to this the Meiji debacle...I mean, Restoration, which was a historical purge of the unsavory elements that built Japan in an attempt to make it look like Japan's creation was free of the blood and horror that was involved in the birth of every other nation on the planet, and records of such people could very easily have disappeared, whereas the more "noble" arts, such as kyudo and kenjutsu were seen as acceptable elements of the past.

hmmmm that makes a lot of sense. thanks for that.