Okay, I have a few questions.
We know that people called shinobi "Ninja" existed. We know of historically Koga Ryu, Iga Ryu Fuma Ryu etc. That these existed right?
Lets look at this quote from Doctor Friday:
So even though we KNOW Some ryu existed, he says there are no scrolls out there? No Densho?In any event, there is NO extant documentation for ninjutsu ryuha
(including the documents that Hatsumi Masaaki claims to possess) that
independent experts (historians or authorities on diplomatics) have been
able to authenticate as dating from prior to the late 19th century.
So can we assume it was common for these Ryu NOT to write things down?
Is it possible that these arts may have been passed down in the form of Kuden? Just like we have been taught?
What about the idea that MOST people in Japan could not read or write until very recently? That In the olden times only the highest class could read and write? If this is true and it seems to be, then of what use would writing things down be if people could not read it and also most likely the old Soke of these ryu might not have been able to write anyway!
So if we KNOW Ninja existed [and we can not find accoring to Dr. Friday] any documents for ANY of them, then I do not see how NOT having documents for Togakure ryu casts any doubt on its lineage...
We also know that it seems like most ninja were samurai (meaning job title) and Ninjutsu was was used by these people when their job required "Ninjutsu" those people who did this job were called Shinobi. So we can imagine that ninjutsu would be a smaller collection of material seeing as it is specialized and not general.
So maybe a Ninjutsu "ryu" was not a ryu like we think of with kukishin with all of these aspects to it and densho (being more general and broder in scope) maybe a Ninjutsu ryu was passing down specific ways to deal with specialized situations favored by specific clan. meaning everyone had their preferred way of dealing with these situations and these things were passed down.
And, I believe in the form of kuden. You could imagine it, telling someone under your wing somethig like, "okay, in this situation we handle it like this or that, so remember this. Or "we have found it works best to do this like this" or whatever.
When you get to the time of Takamstu sensei, you can imagine Toda sharing with him these ways of doing things, tips, techniques, strategy etc.. And when he felt he told him all of the important things passing that now onto him. maybe saying something like, okay now you know what is important and take that on with you into the future.
You can imagine then that wanting to keep this alive, Takamtsu Sensei choosing to write it down, and also adding some things to it (which as the Soke he has every right to do) from related Ninjutsu found in kukishin ryu etc.And passing this on to Hatsumi Sensei and Fukamoto Sensei.
We KNOW that many "koryu" had a kuden history or were founded by "tengu" and the like and when we add that there are no documents for ANY Ninja Ryu according to friday and the fact most of these people could not read or write, I feel fine with what I have been taught in regards to the history of these schools.
Thoughts?