Ninjutsu
In
A Nutshell
Ninjutsu's long history doesn't
exactly lend
itself to a one page synopsis, but for those encountering the art for the
first time this outline may prove helpful.
In the main Ninjutsu was the inevitable reaction to the attempts of Japan's nobility to
create a working national government. This led to some very
nasty wars among the nobility over who lead the emerging government and what today would be considered "police
actions" against those content with the status quo. This has happened in most countries
at one time or another but in Japan events took the road less traveled, creating
a unique history that starts in the Koga and Iga regions of central Japan.
Thinly populated, mountainous (which favors the
defense) and distant from the
major cultural centers the Iga and Koga regions were populated by clans of
relatively independent peasants, mystics seeking enlightenment, and various
soldiers, (some from as far away from China) who were on the wrong side of the
last war.
Not exactly the kind of people to welcome an
increase in outside supervision. During the 13th-17th centuries a segment of the local population,
Drawing from the talents of its diverse population including the training
techniques of mountain ascetics, evolved into guerrilla
warriors. Teaching each other the skills needed to stay
alive these guerrillas developed a system of small unit tactics and self defense
emphasizing audacity, stealth,
and ambush. Centuries of constant combat purged this system
of failed training and doctrine while winnowing the remaining elements down to
their most basic truths.
This hard won wisdom is the basis of
Ninjutsu and its students are
called the Ninja. In tandem to the martial arts the Ninja developed strict cultural, ethical, and moral
standards, rule of engagement, that established the Ninja as a secret but fully formed society.
Within this world with in a world clans emerged,
specializing in different tactics and techniques, which were taught in schools
called Ryu. Of the several dozen Ryu formed only nine are known to
have survived to the present day. Six of these were adapted from the martial arts
practiced by the Samurai. Three were
wholly developed by the Ninja.
Life as a Ninja was normally very harsh and very
short. Nobody liked you. The government forces looked on you
with a loathing undisguised. You were a thief, a forger, an assassin, an
insurgent, fit only to be killed when convenient. The Peasantry hated the
special government attention you brought to the region and would turn you over
to the government in order to be left alone. Even the
Clans and Ryu often worked independently of one another.
Despite the animosity the Ninja flourished for a
longer period of time that separates modern America from the Pilgrims and the
first thanksgiving. The Ninja survived by being useful to the people who most
wanted them dead. Princes
and generals often called on the Ninja to neutralize social, and political rivals. Fresh
blood flowed into the Ninja from the lower parts of the nobility. More
than one Samurai, Japan's knights in shining armor, defected to the Ninja rather
than undergo the ritual suicide demanded in the event of failure.
But in the
end the isolation and disunity condemned them to defeat. By the 17th century an increasingly united Japan
allowed an increasingly unified nobility to act decisively. The Princes declared
the knowing of Ninjutsu, or knowing anyone trained in Ninjutsu a capital
offense. Bureaucrats opined there could be no pardon or quarter was given.
Better innocent deaths than a live Ninja. By the early 18th century the
hunt was in full force. Whole villages were destroyed as clans and Ryu were hunted into extinction.
By end of the 18th century Ninjutsu was broken as a political and cultural
force.
At this
moment of victory Japan's leaders stopped the persecution of the Ninja.
After initially shutting out the west, Japan's elites chose to embrace
modernization. Industrializing the nation became job one. As the social and
cultural fabric of Japan morphed from feudal to modern Ninjutsu and it practitioners began appearing as quaint relics of an earlier era.
Since they no longer mattered they were no longer hunted. Some even questioned if they had ever existed at all.
It was a cold, bitter peace for the Ninja. To
small to replenish their numbers from with in and unable to openly seek new
members the remaining clans and Ryus withered. As the 19th century closed all
that was left were old men, memories, and a little boy named Toshitsugu Takamatsu
(1877-1972). The boy became
a man, who by his conduct and longevity set the stage for Ninjutsu's
revival.
Born to a family long associated with the
Ninja, Takamatsu spent his childhood surrounded by old men who just happened to be the
last grandmasters of their respective Ryu. He got get an unorthodox education, learning
the whole of Ninjutsu by the time he was a teenager. It made for an
interesting life. At the age of 13 Takamatsu
single handedly put down a riot. As a young man he stared down the local
mafia and sought his fortune in China. He found ample opportunity and was
dubbed the Mongolian Tiger. His reputation for
ferocity in battle and personal integrity was absolute and he was asked to
return to Japan to oversee
the training of the Emperor's bodyguard. A far cry from the reception he
would have gotten a few generations earlier.
Having re-habilitated Ninjutsu's reputation by his conduct
and courage Takamatsu retired to his village and lived out latter years. The question of how Ninjutsu would survive his passing being
unanswered. In time he was paid a visit by
Masaaki Hatsumi, who had mastered the martial arts as child before going on to obtain degrees both in theater arts and osteopathic
medicine. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in the arts. Never losing his interest in the martial arts Dr. Hatsumi
made a point of searching Japan for new instructors and methods.
After finding Toshitsugu
Takamatsu he began training as Takamatsu's only student and after 15 years
was recognized by Takamatsu as the only other individual on earth fully trained in the art of Ninjutsu.
It became Dr. Hatsumi's responsibility to walk Ninjutsu back from grave.
He devoted himself to openly teaching Ninjutsu full time and doing what he could to
spread information about the art through the then new mediums of motion pictures,
radio, and television. He also made the decision to open Ninjutsu training to non-Japanese.
At the time these were bold moves, considering the conservative tendencies of Japanese culture, but
ones that were well worth the trouble.
As the 21st century opens Ninjutsu has emerged as a global phenomena.
Due to Dr. Hatsumi's unflagging efforts Dojo's run by his senior students exist in most of the word's urban
centers and have provided over 100,000 people world wide with some degree of training in the art.
A decisive, and almost unimaginable, reversal of
fortune.
Faced with extinction a half century ago Ninjutsu is now
known through out the world and is the subject of
multiple, yearly, national seminars called Tai Kai. Nearing the age of 70,
Dr. Hatsumi is still actively teaching and aggressively
using the latest technology to get his message out. His dojo's website is at http://Bujinkan.org.
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