There was a time when the public’s fascination with ninjutsu was at its peak. We were deep into it and really enjoying ourselves because it was a very fun art—stealth, cool weaponry, a touch of mysticism, unique techniques, and even mountain war games.
In the beginning, we trained out of a garage and had an absolute blast. We became known around town as "those guys in black." A lot of people came to train with us—a lot. John and I were Shidoshi in Bujinkan Ninjutsu, but I had trained with various ninja-like groups over the years from different cultures because I enjoyed the stealth, unusual weaponry, and techniques. We borrowed a lot from them as well.
We put on public demonstrations where we pushed spikes through our arms, threw knives with our feet, and cut watermelons off of students with live sword blades. It freaked some people out. I guess they didn’t know how to categorize us since ninjutsu was nothing like the martial arts they were familiar with. However, our stunts drew a lot more people to us than they scared away.
The only real downside at the time, was the ridiculous stories created by people who didn’t know anything about us, or the fantasy-prone students who made up wild tales about how we trained to impress their friends or loved ones, who didn’t share their obsession with ninjutsu. We're still trying to live those stories down. Every once in a while, we hear some of the old rumors, like, “Are you part of that crazy ninja cult?”
On that note, I should mention that we had quite a few people come to us, hoping we were a cult. They asked to be initiated and sign a blood oath to start training. Of course, we laughed at those people. We couldn’t have been less cult-like. We were just a bunch of single guys hanging out and enjoying the extremes of an old warrior tradition. We also had some serious Casanova types training with us, and of course, their jilted lovers had some pretty nasty things to say about the school and their exes. We didn’t condone hurting anyone, but we also didn’t try to control our students’ personal lives. Still don’t.
At one point, we were visited by Michael Graham, who claimed to be an ex-member of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment—their version of the British SAS—and a high-ranking ninjutsu practitioner. He was a tough, interesting guy with a lot of equipment and military-inspired training ideas. I can only imagine what our neighbors must have thought.
Eventually, MMA stole the public’s attention away from ninjutsu. But by that time, we had already stopped practicing it and were neck-deep in MMA. We later trained a world champion who was invited to the UFC—a woman who was the Queen of Pancrase Absolute Champion, a Kickdown Champion, and numerous others who won grappling and MMA local and regional championships. What we learned from MMA serves as the basis for the arts we teach now.
Still, I look back on those ninja days with fondness and a bit of longing. They were so much fun, and we were surrounded by so many good people, just as we are today. Ninjutsu was a greatly misunderstood and misrepresented art, and anyone who thinks that a person skilled in stealth and carrying a sword isn’t a threat, well, that’s just ignorant. Think again. 🙂
-The Soke
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