Basic Question-- sorry

[CED]

Dear Forum Members,

sorry to bug you guys with this basic question, but i am not a student of Ninjutsu. i was flipping through the book "The Mystic Arts of the Ninja" by Stephen K. Hayes, and on the Acknowledgment page there is a picture of Mr. Hayes with his wife and instructor Grandmaster Hatsumi. I noticed that on both Mr. Hayes' gi and Grandmaster Hatsumi's gi there are several Japanese words or letters written on them. Mr. Hayes seems to have them on the outside flap of his gi and some on his belt. Grandmaster Hatsumi also has them on the outside flap but also on his chest and left shoulder. I was just wondering if anyone on this forum might know what these mean and or represent?

again, sorry for the "basic" question.

Thanks

CED

[gendzwil]

"Ninja Gap"

[climbthis]

neil-san!

i just spit out my food! that killed me!

maybe its some cool 'engrish' stuff. like "Dr. superlove" or "no smorking" or "fack you man"

CED,
sorry we're not much help here. yet.

jerome cervantes

[Brian Owens]

I don't have that specific photo, and don't read much Japanese anyway, but here are some general observations:

On the chest of the dogi one often finds the emblem of the school/ryu or large kanji with the name of the school/ryu.

On the flap of the dogi I would expect to find the name, and possibly the title of the wearer (In Mr. Hayes' case, being non-Japanese, the name would probably be in romaji or katakana, and his title, Shidoshi, would probably be in kanji if present.)

On the belt is usually the wearer's name on one end, and rank, school, etc. on the other end. This varies alot depending on the school in question.

In my old school our dogi were plain white with no ornamentation, but our names could be embroidered on the right rear of our hakama, with the color of thread depending on our rank.

Hope this helps. You could also try taking the photo to anyone, martial artist or not, who reads Japanese.

[Brian Owens]

You could also try posting your question in the Ninjutsu thread. I bet someone there knows specifically what it is.

P.S. Remember to sign your full true name on all posts, or one of the moderators will get after you.