Please give me an insight into the dark side...

I am really interested in Ninjutsu. However, the biggest school here in my state have let me with a sour taste in my mouth about Ninjutsu, especially with the swordwork and taijutsu. Plus they fact that they don't do much else.

I was wondering if there were any schools that still taught the main disciplines:

Mind you, some of these aren't practical nowadays :Angel: lol but I really want to learn ninjutsu for the history and well...the coolness aspects too! BUt do any schools these days retain their teachings of the majority of these disciplines, and not just leaning towards the martial side of things?

 

Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto Ryu..
天真正伝香取神道流

 

Thanks! But that is more Samurai focused isn't it?

BTW: NO Ashida Kim links please! Even I know that! :lol:

 

You'll find that the two are not so far apart as all that..The Shinto Ryu has Ninjutsu in it's curriculum as well as the other arts you mentioned...
It's not the Bujinkan, or the other X-Kan arts here, but it does have the majority of the things you were interested in learning still actively taught in the school..
Regards.

 

My Samurai Sense suspects that I need more research. Thanks for pushing me in the right direction!

 

Hi kensei.....did you know there is a school teaching Katori Shinto ryu in Mosman Park?

I was going to go check it out because I was very interested in the sword work (so much swordwork from Tsustumi Hozan has been lost over the last century and a half, I'm trying to 'fill in the gaps' of my own training) but I've never had the chance due to working hours.

They teach Tomiki Aikido there as well. Sensei Conolly encouraged me to go check it out but all the same I'd mention it to him first (which I'm sure you would )

That's their website......mentions ninjutsu in the curriculum....

http://www.keishinkan.net/

P.S I'm doing a sword grading tomorrow....little bit scared, lol

 

I was actually thinking of the smoke bomb stuff and the getting out of a straightjacket stuff too, plus the fitness and natural ability to navigate terrain and weather.

Perhaps i watch too many movies...

 

1. Seishin-teki kyōyō (spiritual refinement)
Go to Bible Studies or a Church, then go to a Mosque and learn from the Koran. Go to Japan do some Shinto and Buddhism and then finish it off with some Taoism and Confucianism.
2. Taijutsu (unarmed combat, using body only as weapon)
Local Bujinkan Dojo or Judo. Judo is good if you don't have prior Martial arts experience.
3. Kenjutsu (sword fighting)
Same as Taijutsu
4. Bōjutsu (stick and staff fighting)
Same as Taijutsu
5. Shurikenjutsu (throwing blades)
Same as Taijutsu
6. Sōjutsu (spear fighting)
Same as Taijutsu
7. Naginatajutsu (naginata fighting)
Same as Taijutsu
8. Kusarigamajutsu (chain and sickle weapon)
Same as Taijutsu
9. Kayakujutsu (pyrotechnics and explosives)
Diploma in Pyrotechnics or Chemistry Degree. Military offers excellent training.
10. Hensōjutsu (disguise & impersonation)
Drama Diploma/Degree or Military
11. Shinobi-iri (stealth and entering methods)
Find a Car Thief, Cat Burglar or any criminal well versed in stealing things. You will be amazed at how much you can learn (not that i advocate stealing things, respect all laws in your country of residence)
12. Bajutsu (horsemanship)
Horse riding lessons
13. Sui-ren (water training)
Swimming lessons. Military
14. Bōryaku (military strategy)
Military
15. Chōhō (espionage)
Military Intelligence or find a good hacker.
16. Intonjutsu (escaping and concealment)
As 11.
17. Tenmon (meteorology)
Find a Weatherman. Diploma in Meteorology???
18. Chi-mon (geography)
hmmm.... hire a local guide

 

Shadow Ronin's advice is Join a judo club and the military while learning from criminals .

 

So ex military turned criminal who does Judo must be pretty talented...

 

Being a ninja is hard work.

I take it a school that can place me back in a historial context through it's training methods are pretty much slim and none? I have to settle for a good novel?

 

Kensei1984 said:-

To be honest, yes, I think this may be the case. If you honestly want to learn how to get out of a straitjacket I have two suggestions:-

Find a local magic group that includes escapologists and convince one of them to train you. Actually Garth might have some good advice in that area in the sense of how people go about learning magic skills and tricks as he himself is involved. Garth?

The other option is to recognise and accept that you were put in the straitjacket for a reason. The only way to get out is to convince the nice people at the institute that you are now sane and ready to rejoin society as a productive member. Taking your meds regularly and not shouting "Je suis Napoleon!" at random intervals will no doubt help your case.

Obviously this last is just a bit of fun. But seriously, it seems to me that you might be thinking of movie spies and ninja rather than either modern or historical reality.

 

Haha... it was meant to just be an example, albeit a ludicrous one.

But in all seriousness....I just wanted to know if there was more to Ninjutsu than it's weapons and taijutsu, which I did the research on and came up with that list.

 

Hehe, I know, that's why I tried not to be too serious.

Here's a thought. Just like soldiers have generic skills and then specialisation skills, you'll probably find that many historical ninja were not super-human masters of all skills in the Bugei Juhappan, Ninja Juhakkei and so forth. What you may find is that they would have had certain common areas of training and then specialised in certain areas as required. The group as a whole may have had access to the whole range of skills but each individual was unlikely to do so. See what I mean?

You might also want to look at the list of skills in the Ninja no Hachimon as well as the Bugei Juhappan and the Ninja Juhakkei.

 

Well I was studying a psychotropic lecture at that time, so perhaps thats why I thought of the straitjacket.

But what you say makes sense. Like the military has it's subdivisions of covert ops, jump infantry..etc...

 

MWDAndy posted

Ok without tipping off how its done, just to say that these things are not something that you can learn over night, it takes years. However get yourself a copy of "Houdini on Magic" Dover press. ISBN 0-486-20384-0. Printed in 1953 and includes lots of hand cuff escapes and lock picking, although i am told very hard to get hold of now (try e-bay). Got my copy from a second hand dealer.

As MWDAndy said join a magic club, but as a member myself they wont just give out the secrets. You often have to audition. We have a guy who does a strait jacket escape in our club.

But magic can be a great sideline to Ninjutsu (Genjutsu) as lots of the skills, pick pocketing, escaplogy, mentalism, cold reading, misdirection, card throwing (Card Scaling), are well worth researching.

Remember that magicians like Jasper Maskelyne was used by the armed forces during WWII to make entire battalions disapear, and he once camouflaged a machine gun post so well that the high ranking commanders sent to test him could not find it even though they were within feet of it.

Garth

 

Garth said:-

Hi Garth

You got any links or references for that? Sounds interesting.

 

Yeah, if you aren't morally inclined to learn from criminals learn from magicians.

Same skill sets, different functions.

 

Just remember not to practice burgling in your judo suit.

"Now you see him........now you........erm......still see him!"

 

I'm just glad I didn't give a handcuff example. who knows what kinky things YOU might think.

Garth, that example of magic sounds fully sick. I'd love to hear from ya too.