Ninjitsu Anyone?

[Great Sage]

Has anyone ever trained in ninjitsu? I recall many people implying how formidable ninjitsu was during the “ninja craze” of the 80’s. My knowledge of ninjitsu is based solely on what I’ve read about Stephen Hayes and a self-defense video by Sho Kosugi. Many of the actual fighting techniques resemble Hapkido and karate.

The fact is I’ve heard mixed reports on the study of ninjitsu. Some books state that the ninja were revered even by their enemies, the samurai... while other sources dismiss ninja as simply spies who used trickery and deceit to serve their end.

I’m curious as to how effective ninjitsu techniques and tactics are in today’s modern world. During the whole “Blood Sport” era, I remember hearing about Dux Ryu for a time until everyone, including his students, debunked Frank Dux as a fraud. I’m anxious to hear some thoughts on ninjitsu.

[Nick]

I looked at the curriculum at ninjutsu.com and it looked pretty good...

...but finding a good dojo will be hard. The only one in Boston is pretty crappy and the only other one in Massachusetts is forty miles out of the city.

Later...

[Szczepankiewicz]

Seek out Master Ashida Kim and all your questions will be answered.

Tell him Spanky sent you and he will welcome you with open arms....

[terry]

I looked into Ninjutsu briefly about 20 years ago. I met one of Steven Hayes' students and went to one or two seminar-type functions. Um, it was a lot of lecturing with some interesting tidbits of philosophy and history but not much working out. I dunno, I kinda like to sweat.

No interesting women (I was single at the time). I didn't really fit in with the crowd, either. Too many coffee shop communists for me.

[Nick]

LOL. Ashida Kim.

Anyway, the best chance of getting good training in Ninjutsu would be to go to California or Japan and train at the Bujikan headquarters.

Later...

[seeker]

It´s weird that trehe is so few Ninjutsu dojos in U.S.A. (if I understood the previous writers correctly) specially bujikan dojos. In the small country on Finland where I live there is one in almost every city. See http://www.bujinkandojohelsinki.cjb.net/. (You probably can´t understand these pages, but you can look at the "linkit" (links))

[swan104]

Did Frank Dux say he was a ninja too? Isn't he the guy that was mates with Van Damme?

[ceasarx]

where i live there was a ninjitsu Dojo and the guy who taught it was really good . his dojo shut down for reasons I dont know about. The other guy that I know who is a certified Ninja is know a semi pro grappler and teaches BJJ. he has given up Ninjitsu all together and says he prefers BJJ.
I am not an expert at the system but from what I have seen I think it is based on movements and well placed strikes and over all it looks like it has merit

[chris davis 200]

i have trained in Bujinkan. Needless to say it is Pants!

Frank dux has alot of questionable claims! check this out ..

http://www.teemax.com/busmanartical.html

Also check this article on the validity of Bujinkan ninjutsu

http://koryu.com/library/ninjutsu.html

There are many arguments to the contrary but having trained in Bujinkan and traditional Koryu i can say that the bujinkan Weaponry work is quite poor and the hand to hand techniques are basically JuJutsu.

I have also seen Masaki Hatsumi doing weaponry with extremely low skill levels. IMO (and many others opinions too!)

If i were you i would look for a traditional JuJutsu school if you want realistic authentic Japanese hand to hand - or a traditional kobudo school for weaponry.

cheers
Chris

[Szczepankiewicz]

If we stop hearing from Mr. Davis in the next week or so, you'll realize that the ninja's have exacted their revenge for his lies!

[chris davis 200]

Really .............. You think so ................ - Im going into hidding!!!

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Szczepankiewicz]

It's been nice knowing you....

[aseepish]

I did a bit of Bunjinkan for about 3 months, a couple of years ago. There was a lot of mysticism, but there were some interesting ideas. The weapon work was not so hot (especially in Canada where a good 80% of the weapons are illegal), especially with my background in Filipino MA. The empty hand stuff was interesting, but I wouldn`t make it my sole system. It`s pretty much aiki-jujitsu. I agree with Chris Davis.

In Japan Ninjitsu is a joke. There are budo clubs everywhere and you can see ads for karate, aikido, kendo and the like at the train stations. Nobody does ninjitsu and nobody here takes it seriously.

[vamjok]

hi tony hehehehe

[swan104]

When I was training in kung fu a while back, one person I trained with decided to switch to Ninjitsu at another club. He said that as a warm-up exercise, they would run around in a circle, but if they made too much noise, then the instructor would make them do pressups.

Is that the norm in Ninjitsu schools?

I remember doing one Ninjitsu class when I was about 10, but I can't remember anything about it. I don't think the club is around anymore.