Nindurance

Were you fond of watching ninja movies when you were just a little boy? Do you still remember yourself clad with a ninja suit conceptualized by your young imaginative mind? Did you stop seeing those kinds of movies because you thought ninjas after all never existed? But why are there lots of young boys (oh, yeah even big guys) and a few girls who would admire ninjas a lot and would want to be them.

A ninja is one who is an expert in different kinds of martial arts like the art of ninjutsu.  Ninjutsu is a combination of martial arts, war techniques, and tactics commonly practiced by ninjas. There is no known exact origin of ninjas but it is believed that they were trained rigidly to do espionage and assassination jobs to stop chaos or maybe just to perform a job vested on them by their rulers. Typically, ninjas are classified as assassins but they still are warriors in all senses. They move as fast and as discreet as the wind, this is taught to them during their trainings, therefore ninja could be translated as “one who can move almost being unseen.” Talking about servants, warriors and the war techniques, it would be unfair to mention the samurai. Samurai, when translated means “to serve” thus in a real sense it is either serving his lord or master or serving one’s own country. For one to become an effective server of the lord and nation one should be educated with fighting tactics and that includes expertise in martial arts.

As mentioned earlier, ninjutsu is the art of teaching different tactics and martial arts helpful to win a war. One common form of this martial art is Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. In here one is taught about bone breaking, muscle and joint dislocation of the opponent, ground fighting, and proper handling of traditional and modern weapons to become a Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Ninja. Being expert in martial arts, ninjas also have weapons that they use to defeat their opponents easier. The most common one, as we usually see in ninja movies is the ashiko which are spiked claw that helps them climb faster. A poison dart is also used, they usually carry them in their mouths so when the situation calls for the enemy to be killed it would just be so easy to give their opponents a peaceful death. For female ninjas they carry them in their hair.

Kakute is a ring dipped in poison. The poisoned ring is used to strangle an opponent to death leaving lesser evidence. The ever famous bow and arrow is used both by the ninjas and samurais, they could be long or short bows dipped in poison. Another staple weapon for ninjas (and also samurais) is the sword. The difference though is that ninja swords are shorter than of the samurais. They use it to slash a limb or any body part or stab an opponent to death (this seems so gory, huh). Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu is martial arts that originated in Japan but now is being taught in different parts of the world including the United States. The training may seem so rigid and painstaking but it is rewarded by an overwhelming sense of achievement. It is not enough to know the best ninja moves or be the best in handling weapons, what is important is the kind of person you will turn out to be when you will finally be called a real NINJA!

For aspiring ninjas remember this philosophy from the great master, Masaaki Hatsumi:

When properly applied, the kamae reflects the ninja’s heart. This means that our physical nature conforms to our intentions, and there is no division between our interior and exterior aspects. This state of integrated mind and body action is totally natural, and can be observed readily in the movements of animals as they interact with their environment. Only human beings seem to develop the need to be trained in natural body motion

Put in mind that one should not just undergo the rigid ninja training just because they find it cool, there is more to being a ninja. Remember that in history, ninjas were warriors and servants and you could still be now.

Can’t wait to become a certified ninja? Be trained with the master NOW!

For more information please visit www.NewJerseyNinja.com

There are several Ninjutsu schools that are accepting students in the New York and New Jersey area.