The Art Of Dr. Hatsumi

In the previous post, we saw Dr. Hatsumi's top American student, Stephen K. Hayes describe how Hatsumi moved from teaching Togakure (sp?) Ninjitsu to Bujinkan, in which military and espionage techniques were removed. This was frustrating for Hayes, but allowed Hatsumi to teach to a wider audiance.
It seems to me that half of the art of the Ninja is bold showmanship and theatrics, which were no doubt invaluable in the art of deception. Despite his age, Hatsumi flows with natural movement from technique to technique. Even when he blows a move, he easily transitions into a successful resolution.
To a certain extent, it's too bad this art has all the trappings of "The Dark Warrior", because that tends to turn mature martial artists off. With that said, Hatsumi demonstrates some wonderful and stylish techniques, and it's no doubt this would be a fun art to experiment with.
Coming up next; a review of Hatsumi's excellent book, simply titled "Stick Fighting".