INTERVIEW WITH A NINJA | NINJUTSU HISTORY AND COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS 

Check out the Aikido Silverdale playlist - more Aikido weapons videos, with slow motion! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3lNflHbvHb8.html More footage from the amazing seminar in Melbourne Australia ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MhFQWoZiydc.html

I've watched this twice now - fabulous interview

very cool guy! great interview

Really admire the ninja guy for having the courage to be so open and transparent about an art that gets a lot of flack for "not being real". Watched some of the other video's on your channel and what he does seems to resemble Daito-ryu with a bit of hapkido? Either way (names are largely irrelevant!) he seems a very capable person and teahces in an honest an open way, so kudos to him and his students.

Some important and valid points here that are common to all modern martial arts; Styles change as times change. As much as we cling to originality and history of our martial arts masters they have all had to adapt to modern times, not only for the 'terrain' but because of the type of people we have become. You cannot compare Feudal Japan to modern Australia and say 'We train as they did in the old days.' In times of old people trained for survival in life or death situations or trained to be elite warriors in the palace guard or to protect against invaders coming into your village. Also as Sensei Duncan mentioned the lines between styles is blurring. Not to say the styles have become diluted but rather modern sensei have started to realise that all martial styles have something valid to offer, wether it be judo, wing tsun, tai chi or karate each style has something that adds tools to our collective Budo toolbox. You will also notice that I use the word styles a lot. Martial arts were originally a lifelong undertaking and not just something you did for 3 or 6 years then went to uni or joined a tennis club. Although there were a lot of 'styles' of martial arts out there; judo, ju jutsu, aikido, karate, gung fu they have all, over time, been driven to give people what they want, either: 1. a Fighting form of martial arts or 2. A martial art where one can study the aspects of the history and lifestyle. So there is a difference between 'style' and 'art'. To maybe give a better example let's take karate, as a beginner one is taught the basics, the self defence aspect, the kata and also competition sparring. But eventually each karateka will veer towards tournament or traditional and their own personal style will come through. Basically you choose the sport karate or the martial 'art'. It's this selection where people who tend to 'talk rather than listen' miss the point of martial arts in general... "To better yourself" wether you want to be a fighter or an artist is totally up to you. You chose the way you want to train based on what you want to get out of your art to better yourself. Speed, flexibility, strength, conditioning, health and well being, spiritual awareness? You wouldn't walk into a gym and say to a woman doing yoga that lifting weights is better, or tell a guy running 10k on a treadmill that doing 300 squats is better. So why do we say that karate is better than judo or kung fu is better than tae kwon do or greco roman wresting is better than boxing? The only thing YOUR martial art is better than is sitting on the couch watching movies. Great interview - keep them coming :)

unusual to see someone talk like this, good on him!

Interesting stuff and a nice honest interview.

fair play to him for being so open. Ninjutsu get a lot of "its not a real martial art" which is a daft reaction - surely its down to the intention of the practitioner - names are irrelevant.

great interview, theres a lot of anti ninpo bias out there so brave to speak up like this

anyone who thinks it's not real try and tackle this unassuming looking guy and get tied in knots real quick