Defining Ninjutsu

[Oniyama]

So how do you define Ninjutsu? The simple answer might be to say that Ninjutsu is the art of perseverance. While that may be true, under that broad, ambiguous definition any martial art might be called Ninjutsu. In terms of martial arts there are always those things that clearly separate one art from another. What to you think defines a martial art as Ninjutsu and what do you think eliminates an art from being Ninjutsu?

[Monadnock]

I've always associated it with those "non-conventional" skills used in warfare. Spying, entering undetected, sabotage, assassination, etc., with a mix of empty hand and weapon arts to assist in completing the intended goal.

I think most, if not all, of these skills are not taught today. If they are, they are most likely reinterpretations from old literature.

Words like Ninjutsu and Karate are becoming used more in the English language. See http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/loanwords.html for more on "loan words."

I think this is why we see more American Karate and American Ninjutsu popping up and being used more loosly; to the chagrin of the traditionalists.

[Gakkousei]

Most, if not all of these skills ARE taught today to SEALS and Special Ops. Maybe not the exact techniques of old, but definitely paths to the same effect(s).

[Prospero]

What to you think defines a martial art as Ninjutsu and what do you think eliminates an art from being Ninjutsu?

Sometimes it is harder to define what something is than what it is not.

In this case, I would say any art that has capturing and forcing the opponent to surrender is not ninjutsu.

Any art that is not from Japan is not ninjutsu. There are plenty of good terms you can use to describe a martial art in your native language- use them instead of a term you don't know! (That was directed at those folks that decide that what they do is some modern form a ninjutsu for marketing sake.)

Any art that can't be done after low crawling all night is not ninjutsu.

Any art that causes you to stand out from others, like the knuckles some karateka get, is not ninjutsu.

Anything created by someone without at least 30 years of regular training with a valid ninjutsu teacher is not ninjutsu.

[ElfTengu]

I think that a modern definition would be that ninjutsu is what is added to bujutsu to make it work against ANY opponent, even if they are a champion martial athlete. That old thing about the art of winning, I take to mean at all costs, I mean think about it, what could you do to defeat a deadly adversary that wouldn't be loosely decribable as ninjutsu? Even dropping a nuclear missile on them would be within the confines of kayakujutsu!

[Oniyama]

I am of the mind that Ninjutsu is a uniquely Japanese martial system, so any art claiming to be Ninjutsu must, at its core, be Japanese. I do not believe that clumping together a bunch of martial arts techniques from a variety of other cultures and then calling that creation Ninjutsu is appropriate or valid.

Certainly there is a strong element of stealth and covert operations that is part of the Ninjutsu definition but that does not meant that all covert operations are Ninjutsu.

Also I feel that if what you are doing was not called Ninjutsu over 100 years ago it probably is not Ninjutsu today.

Where a definition for Ninjutsu comes into play today is in the realm of martial arts schools. People who are engaged in actual modern day covert operations are not worried about what their activites are called. However, those who seek out Ninjutsu as a martial art to study have a reasoable expectation that when they find a Ninjustu class what is taught is legitimately Ninjutsu. To throw a bunch of things together and call what is created Ninjutsu and then offer that as a class, especially for money, is fraud, or at the very least, folly.

[Monadnock]

While we seem to have cleared up what is fraud and folly, I'm now really curious if there is some concensus on what IS "Ninjutsu."

What I've read so far is that is a Japanese martial art of perseverence. Is that correct?

I'm wondering of any of the Shidoshi here may be able to offer a more precise definition of what they are charging money to teach. Although I understand "Budo Taijutsu" to contain only elements of Ninjutsu. My own knowledge [what little there is] is limited to books by Hatsumi, who seems to be the leading authoritative figure on the subject, so I will easily stand corrected by those more in the know.

Kind regards,

[Oniyama]

I think that a safe definition might be as follows:

Ninjutsu is a Japanese martial art that, in addition to armed and unarmed combat skils, in its system includes espionage, infiltration and military strategy. The character Nin translanslates to perserverance so Ninjutsu could also be called the Japanese art of perservering.

I think that is the basics of it. No doubt others may have something to add of clarify but I think that would be a good working definition.

[Prospero]

I think that is the basics of it. No doubt others may have something to add of clarify but I think that would be a good working definition.

I think it is a good start, but not the most complete.

It is kind of like if we were to define what would qualify someone as a doctor. We could not do it. We don't know enough about medicine and the process to determine everything they need to be a doctor and could only give general descriptions.

But if we say some guy running around, chanting and using leaches to try to heal someone, we can pretty much say that the guy is not a doctor.

There is a lot more involved with the art and we don't know everything- yet. That is not to say that we can't look at a lot of folks who do tae kwon leap in black pajamas and say that they are not doing anything close to ninjutsu.

[ElfTengu]

I am of the mind that Ninjutsu is a uniquely Japanese martial system, so any art claiming to be Ninjutsu must, at its core, be Japanese. I do not believe that clumping together a bunch of martial arts techniques from a variety of other cultures and then calling that creation Ninjutsu is appropriate or valid.

Absolutely. To apply ninjutsu to a real life scenario, and such a scenario need not necessarily be violence related, it could surveillance of a retail premises or hiding in a bush when you see someone coming along the footpath that you don't want to speak to, you must be a student of one of the organisations that teach ninjutsu as part of a wider syllabus. If someone isn't a student of one of those orgs then whatever they are doing it isn't ninjutsu.

Certainly there is a strong element of stealth and covert operations that is part of the Ninjutsu definition but that does not meant that all covert operations are Ninjutsu..

And even those of us in the X-kans probably spend less than 1% of our training time on 'stealth', including Soke and the shihan these days.

[Tsujimoto]

Ninjutsu is a Japanese martial art that, in addition to armed and unarmed combat skils, in its system includes espionage, infiltration and military strategy.

Personally, I think the majority of ninjutsu was espionage, infiltration and military strategy. Or, tactics based around these concepts (yo-nin, in-nin). I'm not sure just how many combat skills were actually unique to the ninja and "ninjutsu". A lot of koryu incorporate the use shuriken and other kakushi buki. I think the uniqueness of ninjutsu was based around unconventional/subterfuge tools. Not so much armed and unarmed combat as we often practice it.

[poryu]

I am of the mind that Ninjutsu is a uniquely Japanese martial system.

If your going to use the word 'Ninjutsu' only to describe this collection of skills then its correct, but as Ninjutsu is an auxillary system similar to modern special forces and spies etc etc, then its incorrect.

Today's special forces are the closest you will get to their anscestoral cousin the ninja.

Its too wide a subject to define in my opinion. Each ryu was different to another some had fighting skills some didnt.

Is the SAS and Delta force the same? - not they are similar.

I think the only way to define ninjutsu is to compare each school and then draw up similarities between them. Difficult as its a dead system (in the old view point)

[imarubber]

I think natural movement, moving with nature, however you want to say it, is a major factor in separating ninjutsu from other arts. It just doesn't look like your average kung fu or karate-based art.

[Prospero]

Today's special forces are the closest you will get to their anscestoral cousin the ninja.

I don't think they are even close. Even if it were so, would you think that the modern Japanese Self Defense forces would be considered modern samurai?

Cayce has it right I think. The art just looks different than anything else. If you look at an aikidoka and jujutsuka you should be able to tell they move differently. But people with no experience might think they are doing the same thing. As they get more experience with the subject matter, they see more of the differences. Many of us just can't see the differences between Gyokko ryu koshijutsu and Togakure ryu Tonsogata, but that does not mean they are not there. We just have to get more experience and learn more about the subject matter.

[Kagemaru]

Ninpo, simply put, is the art of being. And Ninjutsu is the art of expressing that being-ness combatively. To that end, there were a number of traditional schools of thought (both physical and meta-physical) that were perfected in Japan during it's history of war and isolation which are unique, and which make up the canon of traditional Japanese ryu-ha associated with Japanese Ninpo / Ninjutsu.

On the other hand, a bird by any other name is still arguably a bird, meaning that there are modern expressions of Ninjutsu that may be only remotely related to the traditional forms of the art, but remain true to the essence of the art. In these arts you can see the impression of the parent arts of Japan as well as influences from the adoptive culture. These should not be mistaken for the traditional arts and should be classified as what they are (maybe we should come up with a universally recognized term for modern Ninjutsu that has links to Japan, like Jiu-Jitsu versus Ju-Jutsu).

And then there's !!!!!!!!. And !!!!!!!!, by any other name, is still !!!!!!!! (See Choson Ninja for a sample).