Comments on: Summer Reading Note: Ninja

By: Historian

Historian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:13:31 +0000

The current Ninjutsu schools legitimacy rests on how people perceive Takamatsu Toshitsugu and Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu, Takamatsu’s teacher. Unfortunately since this may not have been his real name(Shinryuken) discovering evidence of him is difficult. This however fits in with the way Ninjutsu operates (Kuden/Hiden). Koryu and ways of thinking which demand knowledge and hard evidence might as well stay away from trying to discover information.

By: Dougie Gray

Dougie Gray — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 12:46:23 +0000

Michael Wert, e-budo is a feeding ground for trolls, Koryu.com have there own agenda and do not cover the subject, yes there are frauds out there teaching things as Ninjutsu that have no connection with Ninja in the past.
Do you have a reliable source for what you are saying, it’s just opinion otherwise.

Hatsumi teaches Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu BTW not Ninjutsu, though it does include elements of Ninjutsu.

By: Michael Wert

Michael Wert — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 01:29:35 +0000

Saw the trailer, saw Hatsuumi…as for ‘ninjutsu’ the bujinkan and historical accuracy of
20th century groups that claim to teach ‘the art of the ninja’ do a search for ‘ninja’ on http://www.e-budo.com.
Also do a search on http://www.koryu.com or http://koryu.com/library/ninjutsu.html or midway down
this article http://koryu.com/library/mskoss5.html
And no nasty blog responses please.

By: BRANDON ALVAREZ

BRANDON ALVAREZ — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:34:05 +0000

There’s a new in-depth documentary that explores the authentic history and misconceptions behind the ninja of Old Japan. It’s called “SHINOBI – Winds of the 34 Generations”. There’s clips and a trailer at the film’s official website: http://www.shinobiwinds.com.

By: Mike Wert

Mike Wert — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 07:54:56 +0000

I’ve always thought it would be possible to do a decent academic work on the ninja (as you pointed out in the first line) but more from a popular image of ninja before the 20th century. Practitioners of the ninja arts point to several komonjo on ninjutsu, but these are usually unauthored and undated. Also, the docs seem to focus on some philosophical aspect of ‘ninjutsu’ and never on technique. I’ve always suspected that these were written by peopel in the Edo period who were influenced by, and contributing to, the ‘ninja’ image rather than any historically real ninja. I’m willing to be proved wrong though. After all, Edojo did have the niwanoban. For more on the ninja controversy do a search on http://www.e-budo.com
(note: the organizations of koryu and kobudo in Japan have not to my knowledge ever recognized the legitimacy of any art claiming to be soley ‘ninjutsu’….