Ninjutsu training then and now

"I am very interested to hear the specific differences between what Hatsumi-sensei taught to Mr. Hayes as the "ninja arts" and what is being taught now."

Here are just a few thoughts. Of course, there are way too many to include in a forum like this.

There was heavy emphasis on what 16th Century aggressors would throw at a defender. These attacks were based on the ways people moved, the way they dressed, and the environmental conditions of those days. (We never went into anything like defending against boxer jabs, wrestler takedowns, kick boxer round kicks, and small group verbal-hassle-and-test surprise muggings because those were not things that were threats in the 1500s.)

Every technique ended with the aggressor on the ground maimed to the point of total immobilization, and more often than not, dead or dying. (No legal system to protect or prosecute defenders in those days...)

Many of the kamae and techniques were performed in odd ways designed to keep the aggressor from seeing the face of the defender.

Many of the techniques involved unusual hidden weapons that would be impossible, impractical, and illegal today for anyone but some sort of counter-intelligence agent. (How to tear the face off with a circular swipe of the shuko, etc) And if you are a counter-intelligence agent today, modern technological developments far outshine the capabilities of these crude 500 year old iron, bamboo, and string implements.

There were all sorts of methods demonstrated for escaping burning buildings with tatami floors and cedar plank ceilings, walking through Japanese gardens designed to detect intruders, etc.

The biggest difference was the ninja mind set. Hatsumi Sensei told me in 1982 that he did not believe many people could fully grasp the ninja way of thinking and seeing ("Only 2 or 3 in a generation, if that many..." were his words). I disagreed with him strongly at the time, even argued with him about it (politely, of course). Throughout the 1980s I tried to teach the ninjutsu that I had learned from him in Japan in the 1970s, even though it had been "retired" in Japanese dojo.

By the time I got to the 1990s, I had come to understand totally what he was trying to tell me. I completely agree with Hatsumi Sensei's views on the inadvisability of teaching authentic ninjutsu at this point. (Yes, I am aware that there are people teaching Bujinkan taijutsu and calling it ninjutsu, but I doubt the authenticity of their methods as real ninjutsu if they did not spend a lot of time with Hatsumi Sensei in the 1970s or me in the 1980s) When I started my school in 1996, I moved ninjutsu to the background and offered a modern adaptation that was much more appropriate for the times.

- Stephen K. Hayes