Ninja

Did you know that the modern view of Ninja stuff as a martial art comes from a chain of two men?

The more famous is Masaaki Hatsumi. He is the guy that came out in the early 1970's and said he was the Grandmaster of 9 schools of martial arts, including 3 schools of Ninja stuff (Ninpo).

He had learned it from the late Toshitsuu Takamatsu over a period of 15 years. Apparently, the two lived about 450km apart, and Hatsumi made the long trip to train regularly.

Does any of this make you sceptical about the validity of Hatsumi’s claim to be a nine time Grandmaster? Mind you, Hatsumi was an experienced martial artist before meeting Takamatsu.

Let’s line things up a little differently. Instead of 15 years to become head of 9 styles, let’s call it 1.5 years to master one style. Let’s make that person be me, an experienced martial artist. Now, let’s put my teacher a 10-15 hour distance away. Heck, let’s make it closer. Keep me in my home, and put my teacher in Los Angeles. I decide to train with him regularly. What would that mean? Let’s have me fly there for one weekend a month.

Will I be the equivalent of 10th Dan skill in 1.5 years? I will have spent 18 weekends with my teacher.

You’ve got to be kidding. Or maybe Hatsumi doesn’t claim to be of that skill level in all 9 arts. I bet he’s just saying he has inherited the claim from various schools. The last student in a style perhaps inherits its head position by being the last man there, regardless of skill level. I can accept this way of seeing things.

Why then, do Hatsumi’s followers take such pride in calling him a 9 times grandmaster? Perhaps it is the kind of advertising that lies without lying. You know, like those products that claim they contain no trans-fats at all, but that are full of fat. It’s not a lie, exactly.

Anyhow, if you’d dropped into Takamatsu’s dojo long ago, you would not have known it was a Ninja art. He dressed like a Samurai to train. Light coloured jacket, dark hakama pants. You’d probable think you’d stumbled upon some kind of Aikido school.

When Hatsumi went public, he changed things a lot. Judo had its own uniform, Karate its own, and Taekwondo its own as well. He wanted a distinctive look. What do you choose to wear when you are the only practitioner of 9 martial arts? He wanted black, but not just a black gi. Several other groups already did that.

He introduced the now famous Ninja look. You know, the black costume, with a black eye-slit mask. He got those split-toed Ninja shoes. Where did he get them from? Not from Tatamatsu. The suit and mask is exactly a Japanese puppeteer costume. They’ve used them for decades, and the outfits are available off-the-rack. They even come with the mask. The boots are a good idea for a climbing around, but they are really just every-day Japanese construction worker footwear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwB4vYTr23g

The problem is people now think Ninjas hundreds of years ago wore those outfits. What do I think real Ninjas wore? I bet it was the most run-of-the mill clothing available. If they were just going to walk down a street, I bet it was the equivalent of a t-shirt, hoody, and a pair of jeans. Blend into the crowd. Maybe even a baseball hat.

I wonder which martial art I should pick on next.