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This article is about the Japanese espionage martial arts and techniques known as ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is frequently depicted fancifully in fiction; for these depictions, see the article on ninja.
Ninjutsu (忍術), also called shinobi-jutsu (忍び術), is a collection of techniques originally practiced for espionage purposes. It includes methods of spying, confusing enemies, and gathering information. Ninjutsu can also involve training in disguise, escape, concealment, geography, meteorology, medicine, and explosives. Practitioners of ninjutsu have in the past been seen, at least in legend, as assassins for hire, and have been associated in the public imagination with other activities which are considered criminal by modern standards. Even though it was influenced by Chinese spying techniques, ninjutsu is believed by its adherents to be of Japanese origin.
It is properly distinguished from ninpō (忍法) which has its roots in Shintoism and is concerned more with the realms of the mind (noosphere) and spirit.
Although the popular view is that ninjutsu is the art of secrecy or stealth, actual practitioners consider it to mean the art of enduring - enduring all of life's hardships. The character nin carries both these meanings.
A sample curriculum of a ninjutsu school
This lists the 18 fundamental skills of the Togakure-ryû school of ninjutsu.
- Seishin-teki kyōyō (spiritual refinement)
- Taijutsu (unarmed combat)
- Ninja ken (sword fighting)
- Bōjutsu (stick and staff fighting)
- Shurikenjutsu (throwing blades)
- Sōjutsu (spear fighting)
- Naginatajutsu (halberd fighting)
- Kusarigama (chain and sickle weapon)
- Kayakujutsu (fire and explosives)
- Hensūjutsu (disguise and impersonation)
- Shinobi-iri (stealth and entering methods)
- Bajutsu (horsemanship)
- Sui-ren (training in water)
- Bōryaku (military strategy)
- Chōhō (espionage)
- Intonjutsu (escaping and concealment)
- Tenmon (meteorology)
- Chi-mon (geography)
Schools of ninjutsu
The Bujinkan Dōjō headed by Masaaki Hatsumi is one of three organisations generally accepted as teaching ninjutsu. Hatsumi's Bujinkan Dôjô consists of nine separate schools of traditional Japanese martial arts, several of which contain ninjutsu teachings.
There are two other organisations teaching similar martial arts. These are the Genbukan headed by Shoto Tanemura, ex-student of Hatsumi, and the Jinenkan headed by Fumio Manaka, also ex-student of Hatsumi.
Other extant traditional martial arts such as the Katori Shintō-ryū contain some aspects of ninjutsu in their curriculum, but are not ninjutsu schools per se.
The espionage techniques and the like of ninjutsu are rarely focused on these days, since they are strongly bound with the circumstances and culture of feudal Japan.
Other schools
Several other schools of Ninjutsu exist, some of which can be traced back to legitimate Japanese origins. Stephen K. Hayes studied under Masaaki Hatsumi but teaches an americanized system, To-Shin Do, in his Quest Centers.
In Israel, one of the first places where Bujinkan ninjutsu was practiced outside Japan, the A.K.B.A.N organization uses the Bujinkan curriculum at the way it was used when Doron Navon, the first foreign Bujinkan shihan, practiced under Hatsumi sensei.
However, there are several persons and organizations claiming to teach "ninjutsu" whose validity and lineage have come under question. Such arts may still be "effective," but many hold that they should not accurately be named ninjutsu.
For example, Ashida Kim is an American who claims the specifics concerning his teacher (whom he calls Shendai) must remain secret. Another self-proclaimed grandmaster whose authenticity is questioned is Frank Dux.
Other schools, which may or may not directly relate to the genuine Japanese ninja traditions, have different paths. For example, the Temple of the Full Autumn Moon, which teaches Saito Ninjitsu (and defines ninjitsu as something very similar but different from ninjutsu), follows the Wu Shan Fa or "Five Mountain Path of the True Warrior Spirit" (a Chinese name).
It should also be noted that some historians do not believe that any true ninjutsu ryūha exist today, but not all agree with this view.
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