Could a unique ninja martial art have evolved from regular samurai combat techniques, to make the shinobi more effective at their jobs? Is this what modern ninjutsu is?

This is a speculative exploration on how regular samurai bujutsu may have evolved into a unique shinobi marital art. It features the perspectives of Eric Shahan (a dojo-cho in Jinenkan) and observations on Banke Shininobinoden’s fighting techniques.

Now, a brief refresher…

The previous article on ninja martial arts established that fighting instructions were absent within the three historical ninja texts. Also, a unique ninja fighting style has yet to be proven to exist. It was therefore deduced that ninja martial arts were regular hand-to-hand and weapon techniques used by the samurai.

Yet, the shinobi’s job was different from regular samurai.

Espionage missions prioritised safe escape over fighting, unless when absolutely unavoidable or hunting criminals. These exceptions came with some tactics specified in the Bansenshukai to help ninja gain the upper hand. So, could these tactics have been refined over the years to become a unique combat system passed down by shinobi families?

While present historical records cannot prove this, what do modern practitioners think?

Modern Ninjutsu Perspective: Ninja martial arts evolved?

When it comes to modern ninjutsu schools, there are four reputable organisations that can be traced to Japan: Organisations that teach martial arts and ninjutsu transmitted by Toshitsugu Takamatsu (i.e. Bujinkan, Jinenkan and Genbukan) and Banke Shinobinoden. While none can prove their lineages back to the Sengoku or Edo period, their founders are deeply involved in ninjutsu research.

For this exploration, I emailed Eric Shahan from Jinenkan and a representative at Banke Shinobinoden Spain. Keep in mind that this is purely speculative and digs into the experiences of people within their respective arts.

Ninja Combat – Eric Shahan (Jinenkan) Perspective

Eric Shahan is a respected translator of many historical Japanese martial arts and warrior books, such as the Ninjutsu No Gokui and The Complete Martial Arts of Japan (several volumes). He is also the present head representative (dojo-cho) of the Jinenkan dojo located in Matsuodo, Chiba (Japan).

His responses are in quotation boxes.

Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu and Martial Arts

Togakure-ryu is a ninjutsu ryuha that exist within the Bujinkan, Jinenkan and Genbukan. Eric talks about the curriculum when asked about its focus on martial arts over shinobi-no-jutsu (i.e. ninjutsu).

Many techniques mentioned are done with an underlying shinobi espionage-oriented mindset. Suiton and Doton also appear to be enhancements to the regular martial arts of the ninja; these skills would certainly have helped the ninja gain an edge over their enemies.

This Togakure-ryu Biken video shows how altered weapons and techniques may have given ninja an advantage over their adversaries.

Since Biken intrigued me, I pressed Eric for details on how secret sword techniques differed from typical sword techniques.

What Martial Arts Did Ninja Train In?

Eric emphasised that espionage played a huge role in Iga and Koga defense strategy.

But how so? I prodded him further on how espionage and terrain might have influenced martial arts in the region.

Difference between Ninja & Regular Martial Arts?

As pointed out by Eric Shahan, some weapons thought to be exclusive to the ninja appear in other martial arts.

And since differences in ninja combat techniques and weapons were hard to identify, I followed up with a question on the fundamental differences that made shinobi martial arts, shinobi martial arts.

Each martial art clearly has a fundamental principle behind its combat techniques – whether it is Aikido, Karate or Budo Taijutsu. And what Eric Shahan has identified about Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu martial arts is consistent with the needs of the shinobi profession.

Note: Tokugawa Ieyasu was the shogun who ultimately united Japan and brought an end to the Sengoku period, a turbulent period of constant wars. He was said to have employed the shinobi from the said regions into the ranks within his government.

Eric Shahan’s Translated Works

Please support Eric Shahan’s efforts in translating old Japanese books for the English-speaking world. These are some of his translated works of pre-modern Japanese manuals about ninjutsu and martial arts.

View Eric Shahan’s Full List of Translated Works

Ninja Combat – Banke Shinobinoden Perspective

José Defez of Banke Shinobinoden Spain responded to my email. However, he might have misunderstood that my questions were asked as a curious potential student. His kind response was appended with a list of links about Banke Shinobinoden’s bujutsu. Thus, the exploration will include those resources as a basis.

Banke Shinobinoden Martial Arts

Unlike Takamatsu Ninjutsu organisations, Banke Shinobinoden separates shinobi-no-jutsu (ninjutsu) and bujutsu (martial art) as distinct ninja training disciplines. We will only focus on its bujutsu syllabus and determine if there are alterations that make ninja combat techniques superior to regular martial arts.

Banke Shinobinoden’s bujutsu includes empty-hand and weapons fighting techniques from several Koga ryuha that were passed down to the Ban family. Intrigingly, their weapons-based syllabus include archery on horseback  and blowguns, other than the large number of regular Japanese weapons. This seems to be consistent with the deduction that ninja martial arts are regular samurai martial arts.

However, based on observations, there seem to be alterations that made their bujutsu advantageous against regular samurai combat.

Altered Ninja Fighting Techniques (Banke Shinobinoden)

According to Jinichi Kawakami, ninja techniques are not for fighting. If it was ever necessary, the cost had to be kept minimal so as to not draw significant attention. As such, ninja fighting techniques were purposed to avoid danger (i.e. avoid attacks) and avoid being knocked down.

Implicit in the demonstration during Cool Japan’s visit to Banke Shinobinoden Japan were four observations:

What Modern Ninjutsu Schools offers in ninja combat?

The shinobi’s espionage-oriented mindset clearly influenced the martial arts of the four modern ninjutsu organisations. This is evident from the use unconventional tactics to gain an edge against adversaries. These tactics include adjustments to weapons (i.e. katana length), distracting the opponent, using unusual sword forms (that deviates from what the enemy expects) and more.

Moreover, Eric Shahan believes that the terrain within Iga and Koga, combined with reliance on espionage, might have influenced ninja fighting techniques.

Assuming that the shinobi had a unique martial art, it would have started out as regular samurai bujutsu and then evolved.

While this cannot be validated by the three historical manuals and is a speculative exploration, modern ninjutsu martial arts have certainly incorporated the ninja mindset to make their fighting techniques more effective. Therein lies your advantage if you choose to train in modern ninjutsu martial arts.

Read the historical perspective and other articles on ninja martial arts below.

Related Articles: Ninja Martial Arts & Modern Ninjutsu Schools

• Historical Perspective on Ninja Martial Arts
• Antony Cummins on Ninja Martial Arts (Historical Ninjutsu Researcher)
• Upcoming: Martial Arts for the Modern Ninja

The post How did Modern Ninjutsu and Ninja Martial Art Schools Evolve? – Interview appeared first on Way Of Ninja.

How do ninjutsu techniques actually look like? They aren’t exactly martial art moves, but stealth techniques.

COOL JAPAN visits Banke Shinobinoden’s training grounds to capture some ninjutsu moves on video. See each ninjutsu technique in action in the list below. And watch the entire show at the end.

What is Banke Shinobinoden?

Banke Shinobinoden is a ninjutsu school located at Kaizuten Shrine in Shiga prefecture, whose soke is Jinichi Kawakami. He is one of four people commonly thought to be the last modern ninja.

Even though Banke Shinobinoden’s historical lineage cannot be independently verified (like every other ninjutsu school today), Jinichi Kawakami is an expert on the subject whose knowledge is consistent to actual historical sources. Furthermore, he is a historical ninjutsu researcher and lecturer at Mie University, Japan, and a director of the official Iga Ninja Museum.

But why the interest in Banke Shinobinoden’s ninjutsu techniques?

Two reasons. First, compared to Bujinkan, not many people know the actual techniques taught by Banke Shinobinoden. Second, the focus of their syllabus is a point of curiousity; where most ninjutsu schools today focus mostly on martial arts, Banke Shinobinoden’s syllabus seems to have equal emphasis on both shinobi-no-jutsu and martial arts.

Note: Because COOL JAPAN’s ninja episode focuses on foreigner perspectives, the training footage captured are of students from Europe visiting the dojo. Apparently, these students travel to Japan yearly to undergo one week of training. They then write down the details of every technique they’ve trained in, so that they can replicate the training back in their home countries.

Banke Shinobinoden Ninjutsu Techniques

Banke Shinobinoden breaks down ninja techniques into the following categories, which they state is necessary to conduct espionage missions:

1. Martial arts – traditional empty-hand techniques and weapon techniques (sword, shuriken and others)
2. Information gathering – disguise, psychology, invasion and others
3. Pharmacy – poison, medical treatment, gunpowder manufacturing and others
4. Art for amusement – traditional arts, acrobatics and others

Warm Up and Conditioning Drills

It is evident from the training footage that Banke Shinobinoden takes conditioning against weakness, pain and sudden attacks seriously.

Crawling and jumping on all fours

Shinobi sometimes crawled to make themselves less visible to the enemy. This conditioning exercise trains their agility and swiftness when crawling or jumping on all fours in all directions – back, forward, left and right.

The warm up supposedly last for nearly an hour.

Strengthening weak body parts

The shinobi conditioned weak body parts such as their fingers by smacking down on them continuously. It helps with getting used to the pain and strengthening the body part.

This is no different from traditional Muay Boran fighters who kick trees to condition their shins. Or street calisthenics practitioners who form calluses from constant bar work (i.e. pull ups, muscle ups and more).

Condition body to deal with sudden strangulation

Being ambushed from the back and strangled must have been common. Based on my understanding, hitting the throat could condition a reflex that helped the shinobi deal with sudden strangulation.

Secret techniques of the ninja – Uzuragakure

Uzuragakure involves distraction and illusion.

1. Light the gunpowder concoction – the sudden flare of light and smoke blinds the enemy temporarily.
2. Quickly crouch down, make yourself appear small and cover yourself with a dark cloak – in the dark you will look like a rock formation.
3. Do not move even when tired or accidentally kicked

Iga ninja supposedly disappeared from plain sight by imitating rocks in the surroundings. Obviously, this technique works better when it’s dark.

Use of Unconventional Weapons & Fighting Tactics

Historical sources reveal that ninjutsu was not a martial art. But how did the shinobi deal with combat, when forced to fight. Banke Shinobinoden’s techniques gives some insight on how ninjas fought:

1. Unconventional tactics – weapons would be used in unpredictable ways that the enemy were not used to, thereby giving the shinobi the advantage. This includes improvising weapons to confuse and overwhelm the attacker (e.g. bamboo with lead ball).
2. Distraction tactics – often times common tools and objects were used to distract rather than to maim.
3. Use of common objects in their surroundings – historical sources suggest that ninja did not carry special weapons that would expose their identity. Using common items in a fight makes sense.
4. Running away – according to Jinichi Kawakami, shinobi sought to minimise the cost of fighting; this essentially means fleeing when possible (or setting up a fight that makes fleeing easier).

To dodge a katana slash and roll away

Lead Ball attached to Bamboo

Using gardening shears

Using Kimono Obi

Using metal rings to distract

Cool Japan – Ninja Episode (Visit to Banke Shinobinoden)

Cool Japan’s ninja episode explores the ninja from a foreigner’s perspective. It features places in Japan to get your ninja experience and talks about how ninja manga and anime influenced pop culture.

If you have no time to watch the whole show below, the 7-minute segment on Banke Shinobinoden begins at 17:17 and ends at 24:50. 

[DailyMotion Video]

Source: COOL JAPAN – Ninja & Banke Shinobi Spain

The post Watch this Japanese Ninja School Demonstrate Ninjutsu Techniques appeared first on Way Of Ninja.