Differences and similarities between Japanese JuJitsu and Ninjitsu

The title sums up pretty much my whole question, but I will say it again: How similar and different are Japanese JuJitsu and Ninjitsu? Thank you

 

Which ryu?

If you want such an answer you have to narrow your parameters

I also assume you mean Taijustu rather than ninjutsu since the latter is much wider than unarmed

 

Unfortunately, many schools that bill themselves as "ninjutsu" are distinguished by the gullibility of their students. Do plenty of research to ensure that any school which professes to teach ninjutsu is actually legitimate, and not invented out of whole cloth. There are good schools with solid traditions, but they tend to be outnumbered by the ones that just want to run around in their pajamas playing ninja.

 

The traditions taught as ninjutsu, are mostly just different schools of jujutsu.

Interestinly most Jiu-Jitsu taught in the West isn't even close to Japanese Jiu-Jitsu.

 

Meh I don't think you are far off I think you answered it pretty well in your posts. I think that he Bujinkan has victim both of its own success and evolution though. I've looked through its history over the years and the character of the system seems has gone through a lot of evolution as Hatsumi has himself developed.

Hatsumi I gather right up to the early to mid 1970's had little less than a score of students and much of the training then was harsh and ballistic. See below a video when he takes his small cadre of students to see Takamatsu.



at 2.25 we see a variation of Santo Tonko no Kata (complete with Metsubushi) anti arrest and escape from the Togakure Ryu. This has a very different feel and dynamic from the later instruction videos where Hatsumi is a lot gentler. Here he is fast and dynamic: like a an advance fencers lunge! Not much later after the video Takamatsu his instructor died and the lineages passed to Hatsumi. Somewhere between 1972 and 1975 the name of Bujinkan 'emerged', but up to that point he had a recognizable if eclectic set of schools which he taught as he pleased
Even if Togakure ryu (ninjutsu) was the most visible to the media it was certainly not the most taught system in the school. Steven K Hayes being for example was exposed to a lot more Koto Ryu in the the mid 1970's (obvious from his books - probably Tanemura's influence), than many of the later pupils who were exposed to Gyokku Ryu basics.

On his site he had an interesting thing to say about the whole systemic way he was taught as a way of explaining why his 5-elements system was so different to that of later students:

"The so-called Kihon Happo began in the 1960s as a sometimes-changing group of simple fight exchanges originally called the Hatsumi-ha no Kata, or “Hatsumi branch (of the Ryu) example lessons”. Supposedly Toshitsugu Takamatsu created them as something Masaaki Hatsumi could teach his students in the 1960s.

After I returned to America in the early 1980s, the Hatsumi-ha no Kata underwent a few tweaks in Japan and were then offered as the 8 techniques of the Kihon Happo. “Kihon Happo” translates as “collection of basic principles” but is literally written “8 ways of basics”. But no Japanese thinks of “8” when hearing “hap-po” – they know it means “comprehensive collection”. In a play on words, Masaaki Hatsumi allowed there to be 8 techniques, coincidentally. He enjoyed puns and word plays as a form of humor.

The Kihon Happo were so new, and communication within Masaaki Hatsumi’s organization was so challenging, that I did not know about them as a “thing” until a few years later. I had earlier created a curriculum based on the 5 elements of the mandala I had studied."


By 1980's after his illness Hatsumi seemed to favour a hybrid softer more system rather than teaching elements of each of the Ryu's separately. The embryonic curriculum was apparently based on the Kihon Happo at its core (which according to the old Tokyo Sports interviews Takamatsu explained were fundamental Gyokko Ryu techniques that were taught in his Grandfathers dojo ... so much much older than 1960's) . I gather there was originally a semi official Kyu 1- 9 syllabus in the early 80's, but it was quickly abandoned as the Bujinkan grew larger and internationally.

This is unfortunately where I think the whole Ninja thing got out of hand in the 1980's. The students wanted to learn Ninjutsu (Togakure ryu) made famous in screen and print. But The Togakure school is a small small subset of the Bujinkan with very little little in the way of hand to hand combat except for:

- Anti arrest and evasion techniques (to escape!)
- Eye Blinders and Shuriken for distraction (to escape)
- Jumping , Rolling out of sight field of vision
- Improvised climbing gear in the form of hay handling farm implements - and how to use them for self defence when you cant get the damn things off and caught by a guard sneaking in/climing a wall (to eventually escape!)

There is an extra section I gather on using the 5 elements for hiding escape and camouflage (escape!!!), and a Sword Fighting section focusing on the properties of a Ninjas shorter blade (which can also be propped up against a wall to..you guessed it ! Escape!) and I am given to understand a lot of oral tradition (with probably a bit more escaping). The interesting thing about Togakure Ninpo is that many of the physical skills seem to useful to a ninja who screwed up. Sort of implies you should be more training on not being spotted in the first place... any way...

Very little viable stuff for hand to hand combat for a 20th century man (or is it? Escape-Fu is usefull...)

But people wanted to be taught ninjutsu. The fundamental basics of the Bujinkan, Kihon Happo was based on Gyokku Ryu which is not a Ninja school and is indeed similar to a lot of jujitsu joint locking throwing and striking. In Black Belt magazine and mainstream media Bujinkan was ninjutsu, even though most of the stuff being taught wasn't. Hatsumi just went along with it until sometime in the 90's he had enough of it and renamed it Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (9 Gods warrior bodyskill?), as a way of perhaps reminding people that

"yes we wear black yes our organisation does have a ninja tradition for which its famous. No its not really the focus of what we do at all."

Its telling that when Takamatsu was asked about his Ninjutsu training as a child, he described Shoten no Jutsu (running up walls) as 'boring'. And yet ironically of the 9 traditions Togakure Ninpo is the one hes most associated with.

So:

How similar and different are Japanese JuJitsu and Ninjitsu?

Not much. Ninjutsu is the Japanese art of Subterfuge/Spying. Its a martial art in the way Gunnery, Siege warfare and Horsemanship are 'martial arts' that Budoka may have had to learn.

How similar and different are Japanese JuJitsu and Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu?

Quite Similar. Though I'll leave to Duncan to explain how Bujinkan Taijutsu varies in emphasis (!?) from other forms of Japanese Jujitsu.

Ill start the ball rolling:

I've read that Gyokko Ryu (the Ryu that forms much of the initial training i the Bujnkan) is characterized Primarily by skillful footwork that along with the retention of the joint allows the practitioner to rotate around the opposing joint rather than using muscle strength. In short the joint lock works not because of how its been applied but its due mostly to where the practitioner has moved to relation to the opponent.

Generally Similar or Different to other Jujitsu? (clearly though there are quite a large number of jujitsu schools some which might be similar, so probably and unfair question Duncan!)