Famous Ninjas

Hello bloggers! Thank you for the comments. Let me tell you that today I will talk about some “famous” ninjas that you may know. Before starting, I will make you a question. Have you ever seen any kind of ninja on television? I will answer ‘yes’ because I consider that media gives us an idea about ninjas and ninjutsu. Probably on television we have seen ninjas like cartoons or, even more realistic, represented by people. Moreover, ninjas appear in mangas or video games. Well, let’s begin.

The first ninjas that we have are the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. In this cartoon, Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo and Raphael (the 4 ninja brothers) fight against their archenemies, in this case, their worst enemy is Shredder. This cartoon has movies, videogames, and a comic. Actually the cartoon is based on the comic. Moreover, something that caught my attention is the fact that in United Kingdom the name of the cartoon was “Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles” instead of ‘ninja turtles’. According to the web page of the cartoon, the United Kingdom changed the name of the cartoon because the word ‘ninja’ is related to violence and the show is for kids (ninjaturtles.com).

Another ninja that is very famous is “Naruto”. Personally, I have not seen the cartoon but I know that it is based on the manga. Basically, the anime tells the story of Naruto, who wants to be the best ninja in his town in order to be famous. This cartoon also has a lot of games for different consoles. I have not played them but some people told me that they are very entertaining.
This is all for today people, have a nice week. See you soon.

Reference:
This is the webpage of the Ninja Turtles
www.ninjaturtles.com

Here you can read a little bit more about Naruto and the Ninja Turtles:
Ninja Turtles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles
Naruto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto

How to be prepared for your first class of Ninjutsu?

Hello again people!... Annie, sorry for confusing you but yes, Ninjutsu is also called Budo Taijutsu and actually before doing that entry, I did not know that Ninjutsu has also that name as a martial art. Well, today I will talk about how to be prepared for a class of Ninjutsu.

First… you need very comfortable clothes because you are going to sweat (and a lot, believe me) due to a lot of exercise. Exercising is great because it helps you to develop your condition as ninja, but during your first week of training, you will feel the pain in all your body. Actually, even though Ninjutsu classes are practiced 3 times every week (2 hours per day), the muscle pain of the first week is unbearable. This condition will decrease gradually while you continue with your training so don’t worry and take some pills for the pain (they help A LOT).

Second… you will also need a bottle of water while you train. Believe me, when you are training, practicing a technique or something, you will feel thirsty and it is very important to stay hydrated in order to do the techniques correctly. With a liter of water per session you will be fine, unless you drink normally more than a liter of water per day.

Finally, you need to be very constant, no absences to your training, try to improve on your techniques, practice with other students that go to the training, talk with your sensei in order to know in which techniques you should improve and have the goal in your mind that you can learn how to be an excellent ninja.

This is all for today, I didn’t use other sources because I experienced all of this information that I am communicating to you. I hope that you liked the post, see you next week.

Learning Ninjutsu

Hi people, welcome again to the blog. I read the last comments and let me tell you that “yes”, ninjas were a little bit unethical and that is why samurais hate them. Despite this, their techniques (and maybe their culture) were passed through generations and that is why we know some of their practices. On the other hand, today I will talk about how Ninjutsu is taught.

Nowadays, Ninjutsu is taught with Bujinkan, another martial art which includes 3 schools of Ninjutsu and 6 schools of weapons. Bujinkan that involves the use of the body is called Ninjutsu and this is also called Budo Taijutsu. Basically, Budo Taijutsu involves using the fists, fingers, elbows, nails, legs, chokes, evasions, vital points and projections to attack the enemy. (Budo Taijutsu) The main idea here is that the ninja must use the body as a whole in order to injure his opponent.

Furthermore, Ninjutsu is taught among 10 Kyus (which are the basic levels) and 10 Dans (only achieved when a student has completed the previous 10 Kyus). The first 10 Kyus function as the basis for knowing this art. Actually, in every Kyu, the students acquire the knowledge and the skills characteristics of it. The movements that you learn are related with the four elements and try to imitate their characteristics. At the end of the Kyu, the students are evaluated in order to determine if they can continue with the next Kyu or not. Also, some people say that Ninjutsu takes the entire student’s life because a lot of time is needed in order to be considered a Shihan (chief instructor that achieved the 10th Dan).

The only thing that I can say is that this martial art is not so common and maybe is worthwhile to learn it because you can use it as personal defense.

I hope that you liked the post, see you next week!

Reference:

Budo Taijutsu. 27 October 2011 http://www.bujinkancordobadojo.es/budotaij.html.

Rivalry between ninjas and samurais

Hi people, welcome again and let me tell you that I’m glad that you like the posts that I’m uploading. Today, I will talk about the main differences between ninjas and samurais. These differences provoked conflicts within these two cultures and ended in a constant rivalry between ninjas and samurais.

First, samurais are the oldest warriors in Japan. This provoked that samurais gained more military power and therefore, they ended being an elite. On the other hand, ninjas were mercenaries or middle class people who did not have the status of a samurai but were capable enough of learning war strategies or techniques that samurais did not know. Second, samurais’ code of honor stated that they should serve only to one family while ninjas’ code stated that they should serve to every person that pays them. Finally, another important difference is the fighting style of both groups. Ninjas tend to attack from behind, at night and with different tactics to kill their enemies, for example, poison. On the other hand, samurais used to present themselves and then they attacked their enemies with their katana. (Utilidad.com)

Probably, the rivalry between these two groups began because samurais were afraid of being replaced by ninjas because they knew that ninjas had more abilities than them. In addition to this, samurais had conflicts with ninjas because they did not want to lose their military power gained previously in Japan. Also, the code of honor from both groups is very different and this created a variety of opinions among them, making that the conflicts arise. Well that is all for today people, have a nice week, comment and see you soon.

Reference:

Utilidad.com. Principales diferencias entre samurais y ninjas. 2010. 12 October 2011 .

Concluding with wars

Hello people, I read the comments from the last two posts and then I started to research about the name of the war that Bere wants to know, but unfortunately I didn’t find a precise name. The unique moment in Japan’s history which resembles a little bit to the situation that Bere described is when the Genpei War occurred. In this post I will explain more about this conflict, although is not completely related with ninjas, it could have a relationship because samurais are involved in the war also. Moreover, in this post I will try to include the tips suggested by Goyo and I hope that you are prepared to read about Japan’s history. Let’s begin:

First, the Genpei war began in 1180 and ended in 1185 (actually it was a short war). It took place in the late Heian period (exactly! When ninjutsu began to flourish) and basically was caused by a dispute between the clans that had the possible next heir to the throne. These clans were the Tiara and the Minamoto clans. Summarizing the story a little bit, the problem here was that the Tiara’s heir was a kid of two years old and the one from the Minamoto clan was the prince Mochihito. Mochihito hired samurais to begin a war and finally he occupied the throne, establishing the Kamakura shogunate (another period in Japan’s history). Despite samurais intervention, is likely that ninjas were hired for the battle also, because of their tactics. Finally, this war established the colors of Japan’s flag and started to give more power to samurais.

Bere, that is all that I found. Actually it is only related because Mochihito and the kid from the Tiara clan were family. Goyo, I hope that I described with more detail and be patient, eventually I will take the “rivalry” between samurai and ninjas. Well, that is all for today, (and for ninja wars) have a nice weekend and feel free to comment about different focuses for the topic that you would like to read, tips or suggestions. See ya!

Reference:

Wikipedia. Genpei War. 2011. 29 September 2011 .

P.D. Yes, I know that Wikipedia is not 100% reliable but my lack of sources provoked this.

Continuing with ninjas and wars

Hi bloggers, it is great to see that you are interested on knowing more about ninjas so that, I will answer your questions, written in your comments, from the last post. First, Danyel, we can say that ninjas are warriors, but with different values and objectives than stereotypical warriors like samurais. Also, it is important to mention that ninjas participated in wars because they were hired by the Japanese courts that were fighting for the control of the country. Furthermore, Chava and Danyel, be patient, I will comment my experiences in ninjutsu in other posts. And, Chava, actually I heard about techniques that can kill a person instantly, but those types of movements are learned in very advanced levels of ninjutsu (I stayed in green tape, like level 3 out of 10). Even though, I will find them and comment on this further.

Well, retaking the wars in which ninjas have participated, I found that, 70 years after the Nanbukucho Wars, the Onin War broke out. This conflict started in 1467 and finished in 1477. Basically, the war started against the Ashikaga clan, but it then evolved into a civil war. Here, ninjas’ participation was very important because they acted as spies and surprise attackers that distracted the armies in order to give an advantage to the main besieging army that was attacking from the outside of the castles. After this war, a century of fighting started and it is called, Warring States Period (Szczepanski).

I think that it is all for today, next week, we will see the last registered war in which ninjas participated. Keep reading, commenting and see you next week.

Szczepanski, Kallie. History of the Ninja. 2011. 21 September 2011 http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/NinjaProfile.htm.

Ninjas and wars

Hello again bloggers. About the last post… Yes Ale, ninjas and their techniques exist in reality. Actually here in Monterrey there are institutions that can teach ninjutsu (if someone wants to learn, I can give you the facebook account of a sen sei that knows more about this). Danyel, yes, the last reference that I used is related to the Naruto manga but I assure you that this web page is a completely reliable source. Goyo, thanks for the comment, I am glad that you liked it. About your request, I researched about some conflicts where ninjas participated and I decided to make some posts about this. Today’s post will be the first war in which ninjas were involved

The fist war, where ninjas participated was called, the Nanbukucho Wars. These wars started at 1336 and came up to an end until 1396. In these wars, two internal courts of Japan were disputing the control of the country. The Northern Court was leaded by the shoguns (military leaders) and the Southern Court was commanded by Emperor Go-Daigo. Ninjas played an important role here because they were spies from both sides. For example, they infiltrated in the castles and passed the information gathered to one of the Courts in order to have an advantage over the enemy. At the end, the Northern Court won and the Emperor’s fortress was burned by ninjas (Szczepanski). Well, that is all for today, I hope that you liked it. Next week I will talk about other wars involving ninjas. Keep reading and commenting.

Reference

Szczepanski, Kallie. History of the Ninja. 2011. 8 september 2011 http://asianhistory.about.com/od/warsinasia/p/NinjaProfile.htm.