Ninjitsu in South Africa - What it is and find a dojo or club

Ninjitsu is the ancient Japanese Art of the Ninja. It is the martial art of choice for the night vagabonds and killers. Ninjitsu unlike it's social counterpart, the Samurai, is an underground class of warriors trained to quickly gain entrance to hire security areas and achieve it's mission. Ninjitsu began more than 800 years ago. Ninja means "stealers - in".

Their forte is espionage and assassination, by any means possible. Ninjas were usually trained from childhood and continued learning the art of Ninjitsu from birth. Soon, even the elite Samurai class began to fear the Ninja for their notorious skills. Ninjitsu was practiced in great secrecy. Upon the arrival of Modern Japan, the Ninjitsu class was absorbed into Japan's Secret Service arm of the government. The art of Ninjitsu was later brought to the western world during the 1970's because of the work of Doron Navon and Stephen Hayes. They found a Ninjitsu headmaster living in Japan who was willing to train them.

The art of Ninjitsu is also known as "ninpo". Ninpo is a traditional Japanese bujutsu martial art that goes back for tens of centuries. It was developed as a counter culture art to the Samurai Warrior Class and was considered to be anti-government and illegal. Ninpo continues to be practiced today under the tutelage of Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, 34th Grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu Ninjitsu Tradition. Dr. Hatsumi is considered to be the last variable true Ninja Grandmaster having a direct line of decent going back to Feudal Japan.

The art of Ninjitsu has no bounds. Their direct aim is assassination and espionage. They use many stealth and killer tactics including ninja stars, throwing knives, smoke bombs, poisons, darts, bow and arrows, karate, wrestling and guerilla warfare tactics. Ninjitsu is best known for their black uniforms and shurikens.

Ninjitsu is the ancient art of the ninja shadow warriors of Japan. It is a unique method of moving and thinking which developed our system often referred to us the art of winning

Taijustu is the basic defence method used. This method of relaxed continues body movement allows the user to create a never ending supply of effective counters to any given defence situation and is unique to Ninjitsu

Ninjitsu is a complete fighting system dealing with the Physical, mental and spiritual aspects of student development. Techniques cover locks, throws, ground fighting, multiple attacks, modern weaponry. And all types of traditional Ninjitsu weaponry In fact in Ninjitsu there is no restriction on the type of available technique we can add on to our taijutsu. The power of this relaxed system has to be experienced to be appreciated

Ninjitsu did not come into being a specific, well-defined art in the first place, and many centuries passed before Ninjitsu was established as an independent system of knowledge in its own right. The Ninja, at the beginning did not use that label for themselves, they were merely practitioners of strategies that were cultural opposites of the conventional outlooks of the ruling Japanese Samurai class. Their highly illegal counter culture went underground and it was for this reason alone that the art was shrouded by centuries of mystery and deliberate confusion in Japanese history.

In AD637, En no Gyoja, a warrior monk, set up his Shugendo Dojo in the Togakure mountains. This following carried on for a further 500 years. Diasuke Nishina was born into this sect in 1165. In 1181 Heike Troops crushed the Shugendo Warriors and Diasuke Nishina was forced to flee south to Iga Province. Here he met a mystic warrior priest - Kain Doshi. He studied this mysticism and adapted it to his own Shugendo learning. As a commemorate of his rebirth, he changed his name to Diasuke Togakure and with this the birth of the Togakure Ninjitsu Ryu.

What was once condemned as an underground assassins technique, is today more recognised as a positive and powerful way of life in which harmony with nature, a working knowledge of universal laws and intuitive realisation of where the future is headed and learned through the experience of the Warrior Ways.

Nin of ninjitsu and ninja, a single simple sound in Japanese, requires extensive English words to explain. At it's most elementary level, Nin (also pronounced Shinobi) can mean endurance, perseverance, and forbearance in both the physical and mental realms.

Nin has a second dictionary definition of stealth, secrecy or concealment. The Japanese ideogram for nin is composed of the lesser ideograms of "blade" and "heart". The construction of the written character implies that the heart, or will, is channelled and directed in ways that give it the effectiveness of the blade as a tool for accomplishment.

In this broader sense of this concept, nin really means to be in control of one's mind, body, and perception of right and wrong. And having the ability to focus you mind and heart on the tasks in your life with the efficiency of a blade The jitsu or jutsu of Ninjitsu simply means school

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