Camouflage is a wonderful idea so long as you have some that is colored for your specific environment. One that is used to blend into dark areas might be hard to come by, while one used to blend into wooded areas would be quite easy to find.
And "urban" camouflage is useless in the 'hood. After all, who will stand out more, the guy in "urban cammies" or the guy in sweats or a jeans and shirt? Blending in to your enviroment is much more than picking the right cammies. It's the right clothing and attitude.
That's exactly right. Depending on whether or not you think people will catch a glimpse of you, you should take into consideration what your "stealthing" garb looks like. While wearing camouflage pants is a popular trend nowadays, wearing the whole nine yards would be a bit conspicuous. Again, it would be great for natural terrains, but in an urban environment, go with color-based "normal" attire.
i hold to my beloved charcoal hoody!!! i got within five feet of my friend in a feild before he could see me and figured out where the steps were coming from and he said it was like i apeared from nowhere
Big difference between getting within 5 feet of a friend and not being seen at all. What you are wearing has nothing to do with that. My nickname at work is "sensei", because I am constantly walking up to people and standing behind them or next to them for 3-5 minutes before they notice me. I walk quietly, naturally. As for camouflage, at night, I stick to what Silent and I have been saying all along. If it's a wooded area, and you are in the woods, wear the colors native to that area. If it's a bit more urban and you're "skulking around" wear dark blues mixed with greys, that will simulate the natural dark and shadows much better than black will. When Hatsumi visited the USA the first time, he demonstrated this to us in a large field. He and the shihans disappeared in front of 150 people. He then had us try it, and since most of us were wearing mostly black (too many Sho Kasugi movies) we did not blend in very well. We stuck out like blobs of oil on water. If you just want to blend in and not be noticed, wear whatever the rest of the neighborhood is wearing. Don't be flashy, don't stand out. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
On the ninja The silent assassins, there is a lot of old text and reports that I read when fully training in Ninjitsu that suppose the use of tools for espionage and also waiting in a place for days or longer rather than hours to gain the spying intel. However for assassination the texts read, a dignatorys or emmissary is walking in the gardens with his latest wife. He has 4 samurai guards with him. 3 ninja in the intimidating garb (it was in that day) jump out and and throw flash powers and shurikens and all that stuff about. The samurai attack the ninja and whilst the ninja dont fight much they just keep them distracted enough with flash powder and large swinging weapons, Kasari etc. In the meantime the dignatory and his geisha retreat from the danger. As the samurai return they then see the guard is dead and noone is about. He is killed by a bo shuriken (straight dart type like a metal Pencil) It must have come from one of the ninja. In truth the assassin was the geisha who was by his side for months, the black garb ninja were the distraction. SONSHU
I think we need to keep in mind that such instances were very few and far between as ninja rarely ever had to resort to assassination. The tasks a ninja had would be reconnaissance, strategic military planning, guerilla warfare soldiers, etc. But yes, if they had to resort to assassination, things such as the above planted spy/assassin could have been used and gone on for months before the actual killing. Just try to stray from the idea that ninja were ruthless assassins. They did not like killing just as much as most people would loathe having to assassinate someone nowadays.
Doing Taijitsu I know of the mis conceptions and what you have put is right - I was merely trying to give a daylight reason for the infamous black garb. It is not the ninja you would have seen who was the threat. The spying, recon and the softer skills were the mainstay of the ninja. Just giving more info to people. The best weapons the ninja had was not following the japanese honour system with such blind rigidity. SONSHU
when i did what i mentioned earlier i was much younger and had not begun to study such things. i am now (not to brag)very good at stealth an any situation ,let me refraze that most situations. im not a shadow yet ,but i do tend to walk softly and be silent without meaning to. i do sometimes like to stand about people without their knowledge of it for a long time ,and have stayed in a room with someone for hours before they knew i was there. i do make it a habit to train in stealth always and in all situations and i am very proud of the skill i have earned and developed (long post for me but i felt my skill was being attacked sorry if you didnt mean it like that)
No, wasn't attacking your skills, just pointing out the difference between stealth and sneaking up on you buds. No offense meant. I have noticed that an important part of stealth, is the thought process that goes with it. If you think about who or what you are sneaking up on, they can and usually will "feel" you before you get there. The trick is to not think about them, but to just do. I had posted some exercises in an earlier post about how to sharpen this ability, if anyone is interested I can repost them.
Brad, I'd love for you to repost them so that I can compare them with my knowledge on the subject. I know exactly what you are talking about as we have done plenty of "feeling the intent" exercises and sensing when someone is focusing on you with the intention of harming. By the way, I will finally have the opportunity to tell Papa-san you said "hi" tomorrow. He was away at a seminar in Texas last week, but I will be sure to tell him tomorrow for you.
Feeling intent and stealth exercises. Okay, here goes. Most of these exercises need a partner or 3. If you can get more people together, it'll be more fun (and frankly, if it ain't fun, why bother?) 1) Partner exercise. You sit on ground. Eyes closed or blindfolded. partner walks quietly around you stopping at various times and places ( think of you as center of compass, uke stops at the 8 points) When uke stops, or you think/feel they have, you point in the direction you think they are. Variation 1. When uke stops, they reach out to touch you. When you feel the touch, point at them. Doesn't matter if they are just starting to reach or actually touch you, point when YOU feel it. Variation 2. When uke stops, they think/emote that they are going to STRIKE/HIT/SMASH you very suddenly and violently. When you feel that, point. Variation 3. When uke stops, they reach out to touch you while thinking strongly about striking you (combing 1 and 2 above). Instead of pointing, you move out of the way. 2) Partner exercise. This one is fun! You stand in shizen no kamae (natural posture). Wear a blindfold. Uke walks around you, silently and at any time/point grabs you. This is not a sudden, wrenching grab. Just a casual grab. Can be sleeve, wrist, arm, belt, whatever. You do a CONTROLLED takedown (ura gyakku, omote gyakku, hon gyakku, etc). Control is the key here. Your goal is not to hurt, but rather feel your uke's body position in relation to your's. Variation 1. Once you have the hang of the above, try this. Start of same as above. Instead of walking and grabbing, uke will punch you. Punch is slow and walked in. Slow and walked in. Again, say it with me out loud, SLOW AND WALKED IN. Your job, move. That's all. When you feel the punch, move out of the way. Move when the punch starts or when you feel it touch you, or anywhere in between, but move. In this variation it is okay for your uke to give you some kind of signal he is about to strike. But only at the beginning of the exercise. After you have done it for a week or two, then stop giving signals. 3) Group exercise 1. 3 or more people, the more the better. One person is "it". Everyone else forms a circle around "it" facing in. "It" closes eyes (I found a blind fold works better, no cheating and the psychological advantage of not having to concentrate on keeping eyes closed while concentrating on exercise. Your eyes will open, guaranteed). The others take turns walking in and trying to touch "it". "It" points at person coming in, if you get caught you become "it". Variation 1. Same set up, except circle faces out. "It" tries to sneak up on people in circle. If you get tapped on shoulder, you become "it". If you turn around to catch "it", and they are not sneaking up on you, that's right, in the middle you go. If you do catch them, you remain in circle. This helps you from making to many false ID's. You have to pay more attention to what you feel/hear. All these exercises are best practiced at night.
This question is kind of dumb but why do you guys need to be stealthy? Are you robbers? Or is this part of ninjitsu?
No such thing as a dumb question Chris, there are many reasons for training in stealth. Foregoing the obvious ones of sneaking around, I'll look a bit at the spiritual/emotional aspects of training for it. I train for the sake of training. The concentration that it takes to be able to move silently, yet swiftly (or slowly, depending on your need) is an exercise in meditation for me. A sort of moving meditation if you will. It's also an exercise in physics. By placing my foot down in the water or tree leaves this way, I create a disturbance, this way doesn't. By slowing down in the initial stages of training, walking slowly and deliberately, you learn to control you balance. Lower your weight on one leg while crossing your legs, now, take a high step with the trailing leg (hicho no kamae), move into shizen no kamae or ichimonji no kamae. Repeat. At any time, if I were to call out "Stop", you should stop and be able to remain in balance. It's not that easy. I still have problems with it. But, training it is a step towards the path of enlightment. Stealth training also helps you refine or develope that ever elusive 6th sense(it does exist, in a western way of thinking, it can be equated to Soke's Godan test) It helps to refine and heighten your other senses. All people are born with this ability, but as we get older, less informed people (our parents, teachers, siblings, strangers on the train) tell us it does not exist. You have felt it before, that tingling on the back of your neck and the feeling someone was watching you. They were. Stealth and "feeling intent" training will help you regain these skills or senses, if you will. People that train in stealth movement for personal gain, or with the intent to harm or harass others are not the type of people we want in this art. They generally don't last long, their own "intent" tends to drive them away. It gets too esoteric or "mystical" for them. Hope this helps.
This is what I think what stealth is: Stealth in my word is good for spying and easedropping on people and listening to conversation that will be of Vital importance. Aren't ninjas used as Recon?
Sure If that's what you're job/mission is. But face it, very few (if any) of us studying ninjutsu these days will be called upon to do that. If you're doing that because that is what you want to do, see my earlier post.
and couger you must concider even the slightest possibility that it may become necessary to use stealth to protect yourself or your loved ones which is ovcourse the or should be ones motivation
