Hello everyone, greetings from USA I am doing research on exotic martial arts styles and sects for a ninja'esque comic book, but I'm trying to do something different with it by being authentic. But I need characters from many different lands, so I'm doing research on the different ninja-like martial arts styles from around the world, while trying to be unique and seperate fact from fiction. The Lin Kuei and An Chi Like for example, the Lin Kuei of Mortal Kombat video games is a Chinese ninja sect which supposedly practices An Chi, a ninja-like martial art involving guerrilla tactics. Is there any truth to this at all? I found some information about a legendary hero named Yi Yin who was a Chinese assassin, and another video game Dynasty Warriors features Pang Tong, a Chinese shinobi, as well as Zhuge Liang, who was also a Chinese ninja inventor and strategist. But there is very little information about Lin Kuei in history books. Sun Tsu mentions gokan, and Emperor Gao had spies. Zhuan Zhu was an assassin, but the author uses the terms sishi and cike, not 'forest demons'. The Trulkhor and Kay Zee Another example is a Tibetan martial art called Kay Zee, supposedly featured in the movie Batman in which Bruce Wayne learns Kay Zee, a sort of Tibetan ninjutsu. Also the Tibetan trulkhor, supposedly are ninja. But the only information I got on Trulkhor is that its a type of yoga, with ninja-like chakra alignments, postures of stillness and sudden evasive movements resembling exotic animals like the butterfly and the humming bird. The Garuda Cult and Tengu I am also interested in knowing if there was ever a ninja-like art in ancient India, because I remember reading something about a Hindu cult of assassins dedicated to Garuda, or to Kali, who were similar to ninja. I think the Thuggee cult was dedicated to Kali, but I'm wondering about the Garuda cult. Is there a connection between the Garuda bird-god of India and the Tengu bird-kami of Japan? Also, how did the tengu become associated with ninja? Thank you in advance, ~Obake~
I think a lot of the connections between different regions and times (like Garuda and Tengu) are down to pure coincidence. Humans have used animal imagery to represent ideal characteristics for centuries. For example, there's no historical link between the USMC and the Garuda Cult, but they both used birds in their symbology.
Animals in mythology is a pretty common thread in animist cultures across the world but likely to occur independently. Aborigne assassins were called Kurdaitcha (dependent on the aborignal group and customs) this was an assassination method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdaitcha im troubled by the term "exotic" - what does this even mean? are we talking about the orientalist "exotic" which is pretty much anything non-european in current culture? i pretty much always regarded Wales and Texas as more "exotic" than asia so im unsure what exotic means...
I did practice Tsa Lung Trul khor briefly in a centre under the auspices of Namkhai Norbu's Yantra Yoga/International Dzogchen Community. It is yoga in the normal sense of the word rather than something that could be used for martial purposes. It is all about opening up the subtle channels of the body in order to cut through delusions and become enlightened rather than kicking the living delusions out of someone else. Oh Wales is very exotic - with a suitably exotic martial art to go with it.
Thank you, Karatebadger, for that useful bit of information. Why do some websites draw a connection between Trulkhor and Ninjutsu? Also, I remember reading something about an art called "Kay Zee," I believe it was. I'm not sure if it's Chinese or Tibetan, or if it's even a real style. According to what I read, it was the art that Bruce Wayne learned in Batman while he was in Asia. Does anyone know anything about this?
I'm sorry, I guess I should clarify what I mean by "exotic" martial arts. I meant the more rare, secretive styles that are hard to find. In this case, I'm looking for styles and warriors of the past who practice concealed weapons, camouflage, stealth, assassination, etc. Something that resembles ninjutsu. A good example would be European bartitsu, which is an old style that incorporates French canne de combate, a cane-fighting style similar in nature to the hidden cane-swords used by ninja. The styles are completely different, but the idea behind concealing blades within a cane or umbrella remain the same.
KFM is Spanish in origin, and pretty gumph as a style. Relies heavily on hands staying close to the head, and elbowing people.
After looking back at this thread, I analyzed that KFM is short Keysi Fighting Method. Is it Keysi or Kay Zee? Or both? And you say that it's not Asian, it's Spanish? So it's not even related to the Trulkhor, then, or to Ninjutsu. Or is it one of those modern styles created when a ninja from the Bujinkan started taking students in Spain?
Yes. You can find a lot of this on Wikipedia tbh. Keysi Fighting Method is a Spanish form of Reality Based Self Defence (rbsd) and it's thoroughly unusable.
I couldn't find any information about Keysi on regular Wikipedia, apart from a brief mentioning of it being the style used in Batman Begins. However, I did find this on Black Belt Wiki, which I would not have found without your help. Thank you Chadderz
Care to elaborate? I thought Bruce Lee did Jeet Kune Do. However, there are a lot of styles nowadays that claim to be influenced by Bruce Lee's teachings, so I can totally believe it.
Brother I hate to be repetitive but there is actually zero about Lin Kuei in history books. If you can point me to such a book, I will gladly try to read it try to tell you whether it's factual or not.
Sigh...Keysi or Keysi Fighting Style (KFM) was created by Andy Norman (British) and Justo Dieguez (Spanish) who - people may correct me here- were involved in Jeet Kune Do concepts before they created KFM. Justo Dieguez claimed he took the high guard Pensador concept from watching spanish gypsies fighting in mines in confined enviroments, and they adapted this gypsy fighting method to create a modern reality based self defence (RBSD) method. Their claim to fame occured whe the choreographers of batman begins, sick and tired of wire fu in films, wanted to showcase a martial arts style that would reflect the director Nolan's interpretation of batman - realistic, gritty, and emotive rage. Apparently KFM impressed them so they used it in the film. Nowhere is the film is KFM mentioned though. Ducard (liam neeson) says that Bruce Wayne had learned : "Tiger, Panther (wtf is panther?) Jujutsu, you are skilled but this is not a dance" (God ...im so geeky for actually remembering this - sense of pervading shame...) Then he is trained in some sort of Ninjusu by the league of Assassins, because you know batman is stealthy and ninjas are like kewl. Or something. He then proceeds to beat people up using a fighting style that resembles none of the above (KFM) - which tells you nothing about martial arts and quite a bit about film studios.
