Mildly Interesting

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Japan Still Has Ninjas — But They’re About to Go Extinct (psnaudus.medium.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by CaspianXI to c/mildlyinteresting

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In 2012, Jinichi Kawakami emerged as the last surviving ninja grandmaster. Kawakami believed that the art of ninjutsu has no place in the modern age, as we have better weapons, the internet, and better medicines. Masaaki Hatsumi, another surviving ninja grandmaster, has not appointed an heir. Once Kawakami and Hatsumi pass away, ninjas will forever cease to exist.

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[–] spittingimage 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

For anyone who's interested, Hatsumi-sensei's school is called Bujinkan Taijutsu and is practised in Japan, the US, New Zealand and other places. It's a serious self-defense style and students train without mats, because if you need it to defend yourself, you'll probably be on concrete. It comprises kicks, punches, throws, joint locks, weapons and poking opponents in the most painful nerves.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to hit anything with a throwing star.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I knew a guy who trained in ninjitsu in highschool. I trained in Kung Fu for a few years before I met him. We used to spar after school and he was ridiculously hard to fight. All of his moves were deceptive. Even simple kicks and blocks were meant to decieve. As a result I was constantly trying to predict his actual motive instead of just fighting him straight-up. It's a really neat style that seems to be very effective against other trained martial artists. Idk how it would fare against an untrained street fighter, but I'd guess that it is just as effective in that situation too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

@spittingimage are you yourself.... a ninja?

[–] spittingimage -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Of course not, silly. There's no such thing.

But I did spend two years in the late 90s letting other people in black lock my joints so I could see how it was done.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

So would you say you're a spitting image of one then?