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| What is a Ninja? |
| Surrounded by Myths and legends, there is much controversy regarding the actual skills and abilities possessed by the Ninja. When speaking of Ninja, the image of a black clad assassin disappearing in a cloud of smoke comes to mind. This distortion, a creation of the movie industry, has nothing to do with the reality of studying Ninpo; contrary to belief, it was not 'supernatural' abilities which made the ninja invincible, rather it was the ability to unite his physical, mental and spritual side in harmony with the laws of nature. To no extent does a ninja place his heart second to the sword. A ninja never carries a grudge when humiliated or denounced. A ninja possesses a compassionate heart nd pusues peace and harmony. This attitude is called the spirit of 'Ninniku'. Ceaselessly helping the peaple around him, a ninja uses ninpo to mantain a just society. For this purpose, Ninpo Bugei, the origin of all martial arts and a previously guarded secret can now be taught to all. |
| A ninja must nurture the spirit of ninniku while obtaining profiiency in the basic 18 martial arts categories (Bugei Juhappan) and the exclusive 18 ninja categories (Ninja Juhakkei). The combined result produces the 36 Ninpo essentials (Ninpo Sanjuorokkei) The ability to execute these techniques leads to the level of tactical application and finally expansive knowledge results 'God heart, God eyes'(Shin shin, Shin gan) |
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| In an era more than eight centuries ago, Japan was composed of many independant feudal states. As warlords struggled to gain power, war was frequent, with many losses on all sides. One samurai, Daisuke Nishina, disenchanted with war and the seemingly never ending wasting of life left the fields of war and retreated into the mountains. His aim was to leave behind the death and destruction of war, and to find peace for himself. Whilst livinng in the mountains he came accross the warrior priest, kain Doshi, he decided to spend the rest of his days living in the remote mountain area, |
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| During this time, Japan underwent a form of unification, and the ruling warlords decided to assist in this unification everyone should follow the same religion. Those refusing to change their religion were persecuted and many fled to the hills. Those that stayed were 'convinced' of the wisdom in accepting another religious principle . Soon word spread of those in the hills following and alternative religion, and was decided that these people also should be converted. During this time Doshi ans Nishina, being worldly wise, had foreseen this and had trained all refugees in the fighting they had created. And so were born the YAMABUSHI, the Mountain warriors. many years passed before Yamabushi became known as Ninja. because of their total split with society the Ninja families went underground, and to counter-act the constant harassment they formed various strategies, from spy networks, to disguise and of course assassination. These were naturally for their own defense and survival. They gradually perfected these key skills for their own gain and were later often employed to do work that were impossible for others. |
| Often mehods used by Ninja were seen as cowardly and disgusting, however, guerilla warfare versus a numerically superior force was plain good sense. |