Are modern Ninjas active?

[Goju_boi]

listen to Alex,he knows what he's talking about

[dippedappe]

My understanding - and I did spend some time training in Bujinkan (Ninjutsu, now Budo taijutsu) once upon a time - is that they did not use Katana because Katana were out of their price range (They used ninja-to, which is a general term for the cheaper, shorter, straight swords they used that were designed to their specifications to be more utilitarian and disposable) and I never heard of them using Sai. Maybe a couple of them did. I recall seeing material on using a kunai (heavy gardening spade), nekode (hand 'climbing' claws), hanbo (short staff - think 'cane" sizewise), shuriken (hammered nails and flat metal plates like hinges, basically) and other improvised objects, but I don't recall anything sailike in that list. The instructor I remember working with also recommended, IIRC, that all his students get checked out with firing handguns and rifles at a shooting range, and i've heard that this isn't unusual. The ninja of history were apparently an early and enthusiastic adoptor of firearms, according to some of the stuff left over.

Acrobatics was not a particularly highlighted thing taught.

The whole exercize pretty much struck me as historical preservation; the people teaching the skills which were reputedly used by the ninja weren't what I would call 'ninja' themselves, but they knew a decent amount about them. Flashing katanas, sai, and black stage handler costumes was not a significant part of that history. Peasant clothes, improvised gimmicks, and 101 Twisted And Wrong Uses for Everyday Household Objects was.

I might have mistaking the katana with the ninja-to. I do know that they use ninja-to, but I'm still sure that I have read or seen ninjas using katanas too somewhere.

I did not know that Taijutsu was the same as Ninjitsu. Or maybe it's just a style of Ninjitsu?

ok you never have taken ninjutsu and i do so how can you tell me if its effective or if wat they r doing is real i mean with all due respect if you have correct me i have been in many fights cause i live in a bad Neighborhood second of all it doesnt matter if they do hand weaving that was in every ninja book in the 80's go to barnes and noble and look for a Steven Hayes book that doesnt make them a ninja there were never high kicks in ninjutsu i know i sound harsh but ppl have been given the wrong impression of Ninjutsu and i dont want you to have one other ppl on this forum seem to have an uderstanding and coments are for the most part right TRUST ME IM TRYING TO HELP

From what I have seen of Ninjas from documentation films, Action movies and books, Ninjas did use high kicks, acrobatics, katanas, sai, nunchakus among the other weapons JusticeZero mentioned. My guess would be that different Ninjitsu styles used different moves and some might use more weapons than other styles. All this may be refering to Ninja in newer age though.

And I'm not saying that Ninjitsu is not effective in a fight. I'm just using logic by saying that, if they use much of their time in training in stealth, training to be quick and stealthy in natures surroundings, and killing in one stealthy hit with their sword or shuiken, their Ninja-magic and making smokebombs. Then it's logic to me that they aren't devoting themselves to fighting in a realistic fistfight in the most effective way, when they are designed for killing fast and stealthy, and not for having a vs fight with their target. After all, they were assassins and spies.

It's not like I'm just mindlessly disagreing with you. But if I do not find what you say logic, or it doesn't have anything to do with what I'm saying, or if you have misunderstood, or if I know it's wrong, then I will disagree with you until I understand I'm wrong. That is of cause also the basics of a discussion.

[Anbu Alex]

Actually stealth came later in the art of ninjutsu and just because something is in a movie doesnt make it tru sai is a Karate weapon look it up and in the REAL documentation they never used sai or high side kicks or roundhouses kicks remeber there are fruads out there *cough* frank dux's, asida Kim* end cough* i think you have seen books from guys like that unless the document is done by Hatsumi soke or Shoto Tanemura then they are fake and all movies especially american made movies about ninjas are no tru interpetations

and you have yet to give any proper argument cause you just admited to saying you saw thins from books and movies anyone cause write a book about ninja's doesnt mean ts all true

[Goju_boi]

lol,yeah.I don't think that the mutant ninja turtles are the best examples of the art of ninjitsu

[Adonis]

Shredder was my favorite. Ninja turtles rock!

Old memories.

[ovine king]

.....there is a difference in training in ninjutsu and other arts used by people who were called ninja and being a person who used to be called a ninja.

knowing how to cook doesn't make you a chef.

knowing how to drive doesn't make you a racer.

knowing wing chun doesn't make you a anti-ching rebel.

knowing jujutsu and kenjutsu doesn't make you a samurai.

knowing ninjutsu and other ryu doesn't make you a ninja.

someone here (or it might've been on another board) mentioned that what people like hatsumi, ignoring his personal claims, are teaching what used to be ninja arts. They are maintaining the traditions and hence keeping them alive more than they are for anything else. They are most definitely not training people to be ninja, even though he arts that they train used to be used by them.

[sdargie]

wow, this is real similar to a debate I had on another forum about when a musician can be considered a musician. The "knowing how to..." logic came up a lot too which is what made me think of it.

[ovine king]

that's also kinda true to an extent; I can play three songs on a piano but i am sure as a mushroom that i am no musician.

In the case of ninja/samurai, the biggest difference is that theirs was really a question of profession. They learnt their skills to make their job easier, they didn't learn their skills to be a ninja. Whether or not they actually trained in the ryu, they were still by way of their profession/family, ninja.

[sdargie]

If you classify ninja/musician whatever by what it says on your tax form or your family tree then it's black and white. But for the rest of us that weren't born into the Togakure-ryu would like to know what shade of grey we are. I'm not going to get into this kind of debate again but I will link to it in case anyone is interested.

http://rarb.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1641&highlight=

[Sankaku Jime]

With regards to the weapons traditional ninjas used, they used whatever they had. Many would use a sharpened metal rod as a sword and just take a katana from a dead samurai or steal one. The ninja-to is pretty much a myth promoted by Stephen K. Hayes. The people in that video were not doing Ninjutsu/Budo Taijutsu. I feel like I came into this discussion way too late because there is so much to address, ugghhh. The comment about not training to be and effective fighter was a little confusing but I know what the guy was saying. For example, Muay Thai teaches you to fight effectively with lots of combinations and such. Budo Taijutsu trains to kill or maim within a couple moves. I know this doesn't completely address the issue but it's the best I can think of right now. There was a lot of misinformation throughout the thread(and many other places) and I'll leave it at that since I don't have time to sit here at work all day. I hope I cleared up a couple of things though.