how do you become a ninja??

[Kensai]

I ninja is some one who practices Ninjutsu.

 

Simple

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

 

[--]

I'm afraid not. That's what I'm trying to say. A ninja is a member of a clan of Japanese orgin that specializes in mercenary work, usually involving espionage. These clans rose during the Sengoku, and were an active force in the dissolution of the Togukawa shogunate, late in the Bakumatsu. Practicing Ninjutsu makes you a Ninjutsu practitioner, but you are not a ninja. And unless you were born a ninja, into a legit ninja clan, I'm sorry to say that you never will be a ninja, not in this lifetime.

 

Being able to fire a rifle does not make you a marine.

 

Wearing a pinstripe suit does not make you a mobster.

 

Practicing Ninjutsu does not make you a ninja.

 

These are all special orginizations, not general categories. Simple as that. And most likely, you would not want to be a ninja. If you knew half the things a ninja's line of work involved, you might never bring yourself to practice Ninjutsu again.

 

 

[shuriken_girl]

Ninjas...

 

"Real" (and I stress "real") ninjas are no longer around. Some historians doubt they even existed in the first place.

 

I think they did, but I don't think they lived by a code of honor.

 

My definition, take it or leave it - "Secretive assasins and spies who have dedicated their lives to training in a variety of arts including fighting, infiltration, mixing poison, disguise, acupuncture and healing. They are mercenaries for hire with no loyalty to any one person, and will sell their services to the highest bidder. They lived and trained in secret clans in feudal Japan."

 

Has anyone else here read Shogun?

 

Anyway, ninjas are clouded in mystery and lore, so to know the real truth about them isn't as easy as buying a book or surfing the internet. Seeking the truth may be dangerous.

 

Isn't it an interesting thought, that maybe the reason we know so little about them now is because they make it that way for their own protection?

 

Or maybe the whole ninja thing spawned from something else altogether and evolved through made-up stories into what we know them as today. Or maybe half of what we know is true and half isn't, simply due to poor documentation on this secretive matter.

 

Asia still keeps secrets that the West can't comprehend...

[taezee]

all ive got to say on this whole thread is wow!!

 

_________________

 

Javier l Rosario

 

bayshore new york

 

instructor taekwondo/hapkido

 

"whenever youre lazy enough not to train .someone, somewhere is training very hard to kick your ass"

 

[ This Message was edited by: taezee on 2002-07-07 03:40 ]

[rabid hamster]

lol yeah, this is an interesting thread. and

 

-:, how do you know if you have to be "this and that" to be a ninja? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm simply stating that there's no way for anyone to know for sure.. Right? I always thought the ninja's code was something like, "do anything you can do win in combat, but be gentle as a butterfly outside of it..." Umm, something like that.

 

And well, I don't think ninjas would kill their mom or someone they loved for their stupid head of clan guy, I mean, they escaped so they would stop being bossed around by samurais...

[Kensai]

I suggest that you read Soke Hatsumi's book on his diffinition of the "ninja". He is the 34th Togukawa master. More importantly a Ninja is one who upholds the ideals of the Ninja. So simply place them under the name of mercenary is farcical! Soke Hatsumi has never been hired by any Tashu or has has ever killed a man. And he is not of a ninja family. The reason why he started doing Ninjutsu was because he did not like the way that Heavier American AirForce men would beat him at Judo which he had been doing for longer.

 

To say that Soke Hatsumi is not a ninja is quite obviously wrong. If you learn and believe in the arts of the ninja. Then you are one.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

 

[Ti-Kwon-Leap]

My grandfather, (who was a ninja I think) once told me: "Believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear."

 

Right after that he vanished in a puff of smoke.

 

 

[ZeRo]

hehe Ti-Kwon-Leap your grandfather is cool! i didnt think this thread would get this big! thanks for all the info! but stil after 4 pages of replys i still dont know how to become a ninja

 

 

[Ti-Kwon-Leap]

It would seem by these videos that ninjitsu has been under our very noses all this time consealed in that which has heen termed "extreme sports". I particularly like the repetitive, generic heavy metal theme music...

 

Also there is apparently a "home study course"

 

for all you housewives. ...yeesh!

 

http://www.ninjitsu.com/action_video.html

 

_________________

 

"It is not enough to aim, you must hit."

 

-Italian Proverb

 

[ This Message was edited by: Ti-Kwon-Leap on 2002-07-07 13:25 ]

[--]

Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm going to be. Most of you don't know the first thing about ninja or their lifestyle.

 

First of all, they existed. If they had not, Japan would still be run by Shogunates.

 

Second of all, ninja were not superhuman freaks. They were normal peasants, villagers, fishers, farmers, whatever, that trained to be able to fight the oppressive samurai.

 

From historical records, we know that these individuals banded together as clans, and soon formed large orginizations upon the fall of the shogunates and the end of the Bakumatsu.

 

Ninja as you people think of them have never been around. I don't really care how many ninja movies you have seen, throw all that BS out the window. Ninja used blades, ninja used guns, ninja even used gernades and hang-gliders.

 

Unless you have bothered to study them, don't come in here acting like you are a Taijutsu instructor. I know two, as well as a Japanese historian, which is where my info comes from. Unlike most of you, who seem to get your info from sources like Realultimatepower.

 

Do your homework, kids.