New Book: Wisdom from the Ninja Village of the Cold Moon, 2006

We are sorry. This book is no longer is print and is not available for purchase.

In 1984, Stephen K. Hayes published a small volume called Wisdom from the Ninja Village of the Cold Moon. Uninitiated members of the general public saw it merely as a book of verse and poetry. Initiated members of the Kasumi-An lineage saw it for what it was - the only English-language densho published by a native speaker of English. It was the ultimate book of ninja strategy and tactics.

Fast forward 22 years. Cold Moon has been out of print for two decades, and the few copies floating around now fetch absurd prices on eBay and other sites. Stephen K. Hayes has transformed from an international adventurer to the founder of a modern ninjutsu tradition, To-Shin Do. In the two decades that have elapsed, An-Shu Hayes has gathered greater insights and put the wisdom passed from Hatsumi sensei through the trials of life.

Now, Wisdom from the Ninja Village of the Cold Moon is back. Revised, updated, and expanded with new insights, this legendary book is available again - but only briefly. This limited edition is not and will not be available in any bookstore!

Earn a copy of Cold Moon for free!

Help promote Cold Moon - print out this flyer and put it up wherever you can!

Read excerpts and commentary from the book!

Read testimonials from book owners!

Each copy of the book comes with the following:

• Individually numbered, unique edition
• Silk bookmark sewn in
• Autograph from Stephen K. Hayes

A note from The Quest List founder Chris Penn:

Cold Moon is written in the style and feeling of the Togakure family densho (scrolls kept by the grandmaster of a lineage). If you ever have the opportunity to study these scrolls, or any lineage's historical documents, the training that Cold Moon provides will be invaluable in successfully interpreting the material. Once you understand the layout, writing style, and secrets of Cold Moon, you will understand how these types of scrolls are written.

Cold Moon isn't just flowery poetry. Like everything in our lineage, Cold Moon is a multi-purpose tool. You can, yes, appreciate it as a book of poetry and nothing more, just like you can look at a katana as a work of art. Cold Moon is more than that.

Traditionally, at least in China and Japan, poetry was a means of encoding a lot of information that could be memorized easily and then transmitted from person to person. It is, to use a modern expression, kind of a data integrity checksum, helping ensure that information remains both easy to transmit and easy to keep intact. Equally important, it's also an excellent means of encoding information too. A person uninitiated in our lineage would stumble across a book like Cold Moon and mistake it for just a book of poetry.

If you are enrolled in To-Shin Do or ninjutsu merely as a hobby or social activity, then Cold Moon will likely just be a book of art or a collectable, and that's fine - if you decide that this martial path is for you, then you will have bought the travel guide in advance. If you're a serious practitioner of the art of self protection, then it's essentially a manual of our training tactics and strategies. You'll learn how to do various skills in the dojo, from punching to sword fighting to first aid. You'll learn why these skills are needed and in what context from Cold Moon.

Wisdom from the Village of the Cold Moon is pretty much the only opportunity you will have to buy a densho lineage scroll written in the English language by a native English speaker. Consider it to be one of the densho of To-Shin Do.

Buy a copy, and encourage your fellow Distance Learning and dojo practitioners to do so.