The Last Ninja

Jinichi Kawakami

Raw Story reports:

"A 63-year-old former engineer may not fit the typical image of a dark-clad assassin with deadly weapons who can disappear into a cloud of smoke. But Jinichi Kawakami is reputedly Japan’s last ninja.
As the 21st head of the Ban clan, a line of ninjas that can trace its history back some 500 years, Kawakami is considered by some to be the last living guardian of Japan’s secret spies.
“I think I’m called (the last ninja) as there is probably no other person who learned all the skills that were directly” handed down from ninja masters over the last five centuries, he said."

(snip)

"Kawakami first encountered the secretive world of ninjas at the age of just six, but has only vague memories of first meeting his master, Masazo Ishida, a man who dressed as a Buddhist monk.
“I kept practising without knowing what I was actually doing. It was much later that I realised I was practising ninjutsu.”
Kawakami said training ranged from physical and mental skills to studies of chemicals, weather and psychology.
“I call ninjutsu comprehensive survival techniques,” though it originated in war skills such as espionage and guerrilla attacks, he said.
“For concentration, I looked at the wick of a candle until I got the feeling that I was actually inside it. I also practised hearing the sound of a needle dropping on the floor,” he said.
He climbed walls, jumped from heights and learned how to mix chemicals to cause explosions and smoke.
“I was also required to endure heat and cold as well as pain and hunger. The training was all tough and painful. It wasn’t fun but I didn’t think much why I was doing it. Training was made to be part of my life.”

(snip)

Kawakami says much of the ninja’s art lies in catching people unawares, rather than in brute force.
“Humans can’t be on the alert all the time. There is always a moment when they are off guard and you catch it,” he said.
It is all about exploiting weaknesses that allows the ninja to outfox much bigger or more numerous opponents; distracting attention to allow a quick getaway.
It is possible to hide — in a manner of speaking — behind the smallest of things, Kawakami said.
“If you throw a toothpick, people will look that way, giving you the chance to flee.
“We also have a saying that it is possible to escape death by perching on your enemy’s eyelashes; it means you are so close that he cannot see you.”
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This last part about deception reminds me of another Ninja story I read years ago; An old Japanese lady told her family about her father, a ninja.
Could he disappear, they asked?
She replied:
"Once when we were being attacked, he hid us in a manure pile".

Is This Guy Just Nuts Or What?

The ever controversial "Ashida Kim"

Fellow Dojo Rats-- I write this at great risk from my remote undisclosed location; My dog is patrolling the surrounding woods, I have closed the curtains and gathered my finest Okinawan farming weapons close to me.
I reveal this information only because I have survived previous scrutiny by someone associated with Count Dante's "Black Dragon Fighting Society" for using Dante's picture at the top of the Dojo Rat blog (see "Of Dante and Dojo Rats", December 2006 archive), and feel the need to inform the general readership on this topic:
I may end up on Ashida Kim's "Shit list".
The guy demonstrating his superior technique over a #4 steel-jaw leghold trap is perported to be Ashida Kim, Ninja Master. Or Radford W. Davis. Or Chris Hunter.
Kim(Davis/Hunter)is author of at least fourteen books on the art of the Ninja, yet the lineage of his instructors remain unclear.
From a presumed Ninja Temple near his Lake Alfred Florida mailing address, he offers certification in various mail-order martial arts. Here is an example of his services that was posted on his website:

“Among our membership are experts not only in the Way of the Empty Hand, but also of such weapons as the Nunchaka, Sword, Staff, Shuriken, Sai, Jutte, Chain and Sickle, Archery, Halberd, Tonfa, Hanbo, Yawara, and Tanto. Contemporary members are also skilled in the use of firearms and pyrotechnics, and trained in the Art of Commando Warfare, Survival Skills and Anti-Terrorist Operations. Our fellowship exists as a confederation of independent agents for the purpose of preserving, practicing, studying, and teaching the Martial Arts. To qualify for membership, an applicant must present previous certification of rank in recognized fighting system. Or, test in person before a panel of qualified DOJO Instructors for graduation. In the 21st century we have included videotesting as an alternative method.”

As stated on his website, certification may include a "Dojo Brotherhood Badge" or "Komosu Dragon Patch", also available for $12.95 each.
In his well researched article on the "Bullshido" website,
(http://bullshido.net/modules.php?name=Reviews&file=viewarticle&id=160)
Samuel Browning describes how a member of the Bullshido staff sent $55.00 and a cooked-up resume in below-black-belt credentials to Kim's organization for certification in Vale Tudo. Several weeks later he recieved his Black Belt cert, but there was one thing wrong-- Vale Tudo does not have a belt ranking system.
Phil Elmore at his excellent site "The Martialist" also recieved certification, and posted a review of Kims work (http://themartialist.com/pecom/mugei.htm)
As Phil beams:
"The back of my booklet, just before the Black Belt certificate, is a write-up that tells me simply reading the book will arm me with knowledge and power equivalent to a first degree black belt in any conceivable martial art. Thus it was with pride that I filled out my certificate with a black semi-permanent marker, framed it in a four-dollar plastic and cardboard frame, and mounted it on the wall of my cubicle with a thumbtack."
Kim's organization, which at times has used the Name "Black Dragon Fighting Society", appears to be at odds with the website of Master William V. Aguiar, who maintains the copyright on that name and was a contemporary of Count Dante, who is pictured at the masthead of the Dojo Rat blog. In fact, Kim seems to have ripped a page out of Dante's playbook for fame and fortune, by printing out pamphlets of fighting methods as described by Elmore above. Additionally, Kim-Davis-Hunter is on video demonstrating Dante's techniques, such as "Kata Dan-Te, Hands of death".
Now let me tell you something else. I have owned and used #4 steel-jawed leghold traps such as the one that is soundly defeated by Ashida Kim in the video above. I am the first to admit that I have avoided this technique with great caution.
I also am concerned about the potential repercussion of revealing Ninja trade secrets-- Again from Kim's website refering to his "Shit List":

“We have encountered not a few individuals who, by their bad behavior as well as shabby and rude treatment of others, warrant some attention. In the first book we did on Ninjitsu, we included a Mandamus, a warning, never to steal this knowledge, lest the thief incur the wrath of our astral spies and occult guards, which are everywhere. And how true that warning is. For you and I, my friends, are those spies and guards. And now is the time to deliver our wrath. Therefore, posted on this site, shall be the names of those who have offended our most noble Brotherhood and the reasons for their dishonor, and the action we shall ask you to take against them, so that all will know how they have earned this disfavor and the justification of the penalty they have incurred.”

So my friends, I can say nothing further on this subject. I have to go check my trip-wires and pit-traps before nightfall sets in.