History
History of Ninpo/Ninjutsu:
The history of the ninja is long and ancient. Some say it extends back for over 2,500 years, but in fact there are records going back as far as 4,300 years. It would be fair to say that it has been around ever since homo dapiens first appeared. The original "Shinobi" warriors would have developed a wide variety of shinobi arts using stones, sticks, vines and the like. Old stories say they played an important role as 'behind-the-scenes' forces in Ôkume no Mikoto's nation-building operations and Emperor Jimmu's subjugation of Yamato, which legends place at around 600BC. Some old documents also state that Prince Shôtoku (574-622) used shinobi.
This venerable Japanese art of Ninjutsu was also subject to influence from overseas. Even today, the Ninpô Taijutsu legacy includes techniques called Senban-nage(throwing of thin iron plates) and Hicho-jutsu (misunderstyood by many to mean 'leaping techniques' although it actually refers to ways of neutralising the opponent's own techniques). These area part of the Gyokko school of Kosshi-jutsu and the Koto school of Koppo-Jutsu, which were apparently brought to Japan from China by Yao Yu Hu and Zhang Wu Sheng, during the T'ang dynasty(618-907). Another legend says that a T'ang general known as Yi Gou fled to Japan following a military defeat. He landed at Ise, went into hiding, and practiced Zen meditation in the Sada Caves near Iga. Yi Gou was apparently a master of he art of Hicho Ongyo-jutsu, a literally 'super-human' method for hiding from an enemy in order to render their techniques ineffective.
The essence of the tradition stemmed from the training methods of Japan's shugenja and yamabushi mountain warrior ascetics, who subjected themeselves to the harrowing rigors of harsh wilderness living in order to realise and achieve the strength of the very mountains in which they dwelled. In the early part of the ninth century, the shugendo methods of cultivating power through the experience of trial were expanded to include the mikkyo "secret doctrines" of enlightment, then recently introduced to Japan from their far-off Himalayan sources. Shugendo was the way of approaching enlightment by repeatedly exposing oneself to the experience of overcomming dangers potential death in the mountain wilderness. Shugendo was process of going beyond technique to the higher experience of using the personal will as the ultimate tool for self-protection.
The Togakure ryu Ninpo school of ninjutsu is today the oldest remaining historically traceable ninja tradition in the world. The ryu was founded by Daisuke Togakure, who studied with the Shugenja of Tagakure Mountain, north of Nagano, and later with the warrior wizard Kain Dosji of Iga. The ryu school, currently in its 34th Generation, was established in the late 1100's. Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, of Noda City, Japan is the grandmaster for the present generation, having inherited his title from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu, the 33rd grandmaster.
Along with the eight other warrior ryu for which Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi holds the title of soke("head of the family" or more commonly in the West, "grandmaster"), the Togakure ryu Ninpo continues to thrive as an active training inspiration and guide in the modern world. The universal principles of mind and body work that characterised the original tradition are just as valid for society today as they were nine centuries ago.
The history of the ninja is long and ancient. Some say it extends back for over 2,500 years, but in fact there are records going back as far as 4,300 years. It would be fair to say that it has been around ever since homo dapiens first appeared. The original "Shinobi" warriors would have developed a wide variety of shinobi arts using stones, sticks, vines and the like. Old stories say they played an important role as 'behind-the-scenes' forces in Ôkume no Mikoto's nation-building operations and Emperor Jimmu's subjugation of Yamato, which legends place at around 600BC. Some old documents also state that Prince Shôtoku (574-622) used shinobi.
This venerable Japanese art of Ninjutsu was also subject to influence from overseas. Even today, the Ninpô Taijutsu legacy includes techniques called Senban-nage(throwing of thin iron plates) and Hicho-jutsu (misunderstyood by many to mean 'leaping techniques' although it actually refers to ways of neutralising the opponent's own techniques). These area part of the Gyokko school of Kosshi-jutsu and the Koto school of Koppo-Jutsu, which were apparently brought to Japan from China by Yao Yu Hu and Zhang Wu Sheng, during the T'ang dynasty(618-907). Another legend says that a T'ang general known as Yi Gou fled to Japan following a military defeat. He landed at Ise, went into hiding, and practiced Zen meditation in the Sada Caves near Iga. Yi Gou was apparently a master of he art of Hicho Ongyo-jutsu, a literally 'super-human' method for hiding from an enemy in order to render their techniques ineffective.
The essence of the tradition stemmed from the training methods of Japan's shugenja and yamabushi mountain warrior ascetics, who subjected themeselves to the harrowing rigors of harsh wilderness living in order to realise and achieve the strength of the very mountains in which they dwelled. In the early part of the ninth century, the shugendo methods of cultivating power through the experience of trial were expanded to include the mikkyo "secret doctrines" of enlightment, then recently introduced to Japan from their far-off Himalayan sources. Shugendo was the way of approaching enlightment by repeatedly exposing oneself to the experience of overcomming dangers potential death in the mountain wilderness. Shugendo was process of going beyond technique to the higher experience of using the personal will as the ultimate tool for self-protection.
The Togakure ryu Ninpo school of ninjutsu is today the oldest remaining historically traceable ninja tradition in the world. The ryu was founded by Daisuke Togakure, who studied with the Shugenja of Tagakure Mountain, north of Nagano, and later with the warrior wizard Kain Dosji of Iga. The ryu school, currently in its 34th Generation, was established in the late 1100's. Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, of Noda City, Japan is the grandmaster for the present generation, having inherited his title from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu, the 33rd grandmaster.
Along with the eight other warrior ryu for which Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi holds the title of soke("head of the family" or more commonly in the West, "grandmaster"), the Togakure ryu Ninpo continues to thrive as an active training inspiration and guide in the modern world. The universal principles of mind and body work that characterised the original tradition are just as valid for society today as they were nine centuries ago.
