Anybody know who Glen Levy "ninjitsu expert" is?

[Carol]

I'm not buying it, especially when Glen Levy's own website is ThatNinjaGuy.com

 

[Bigshadow]

I would like to reiterate, nobody is saying he isn't a talented, friendly, and nice person. The gist of this whole thread is that what he did on the Fight Science show was simply NOT Ninjutsu. Whether or not it was the directors or him, the fact remains it wasn't Ninjutsu. He was the subject matter "expert" the directors called in for Ninjutsu, therefore his (not the directors) credibility will automatically be in question by those who do train in the art.

As Carol pointed out... I don't buy it.

 

[kaizasosei]

i can see it being a very tricky and sensitive thing when it comes to traditions...usually people make up their own styles once they have become well founded in some reputable martial art. i can appreciate if someone is humble and doesnt even show some belts. but to be truly humble i wonder if one could so easily ignore or put aside the traditional elements of the subject at hand.
i mean i think i saw this show...when i saw it i had no idea who he was and just assumed he was a from bujinkan xkan...? aside from complete and authentic skills, i would think definately better to get a legitamate reputation before venturing out into the world of ninja ignorance.
when i saw the show, i thought it was cool because to anyone who knows nothing or little of ma, the socalled ninja was able to cross the poles whilst i think all others failed. so as far as advertising goes, it might have been a little positive or some glory for the ma of ninjutsu...-still i think shows like this don't say much in my opinion and are grossly lacking in information and objectivity. but maybe someone could get some inspirtation...? so might not be that bad. his movements were fairly catlike and stable- i can understand everyones opinions, but i personaly don't really have much of an opinion as to whether he be real or fraud. if i held belts in bujinkan or xkan, i could see myself maybe being little more protective or investagative.



j

 

[jks9199]

I would like to reiterate, nobody is saying he isn't a talented, friendly, and nice person. The gist of this whole thread is that what he did on the Fight Science show was simply NOT Ninjutsu. Whether or not it was the directors or him, the fact remains it wasn't Ninjutsu. He was the subject matter "expert" the directors called in for Ninjutsu, therefore his (not the directors) credibility will automatically be in question by those who do train in the art.

As Carol pointed out... I don't buy it.

Or, quite simply, if he had simply said "I'm not a ninja guy."

If National Geographic, CNN, YouTube, or anyone else knocks on my door, and offers me money to be a ninja master on a documentary style show -- I'm gonna tell 'em I can't help 'em. I'll be glad to do what I do (Bando) -- and call it that -- but I won't go on the show as "the ninja." And I won't set up a website calling myself "That Ninja Guy" unless I'm using it clearly and definitely to debunk the connection falsely made.

Dale Seago was recently on Mythbusters. Everything he did is recognizable part of the instruction students are receiving today in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (aka ninjutsu for discussion purposes). He's not responsible for the myths the show's producers chose and hosts tested. He's got legitimate, highly respected, ties and ranking within the Bunkinkan; that's what he showed. He'd have been as wrong or as off had he presented his material as "kung fu" or "karate" or "Bando".

 

[blood shadow]

I dont think anybody out of bujinkan would have done a better job on the plum flower poles.

 

[kaizasosei]

i bet there are hundreds within bujinkan that could cross the poles just the same and maybe some even better. the poles werent even that challenging. rather than being so skillfull, it was the disadvantaged competition that made it look so good.

no big deal really. after all, it was all national geographic idea, the ninjadude has nothing to do with it. he sacrificed his own teachings for those of the tvshow.

j

 

[RONIN]

Hello humble readers,

I'm new here and I just happened to stumble on this thread.

I know the last post was a few months ago but I thought I would add my thoughts here anyway for what its worth.

I have given some thought as to Glen Levy’s claims of being “that ninja guy”.

Firstly, why am I even remotely qualified to comment on this? Well I have been associated with the Bujinkan in Australia on and off for 18years.

Now to Glen Levy. If Glen is originally from New Zealand and he refers to what he was taught as Togakure Ryu Ninjustsu then he was probably a student of the Wayne Roy Dojos in the late 1980s early 1990s. That's what it was called back then when Roy first started teaching it. Before the name was changed to Bujinkan.

From Glen Levy's sloppy kamae like ichimonji (did anyone else notice that?) I would guess he probably did a couple of years with Roy dojos and then moved on to something else. The way kamae was taught in Roy’s dojo was dodgy to say the least. I should know I was there for 6 years and I had to unlearn all those bad habits when I went to a real Bujinkan school.

When I saw that weird kata he was doing on NatGeo I couldn't help but think that looked very familiar and then it dawned on me it look suspiciously like the rubbish Ashida Kim does. Do a search on you tube for Ashida Kim death touch kata or some garbage like that, it looks almost the same.

This is all my speculation of course but it wouldn’t surprise me if the actual series of events that led to Glen Levy’s tenuous association with Ninjutsu went something like that.

See you in the shadows………… or not.

 

[Dean Whittle]

Ronin,

As a fellow old timer (been training for 21yrs in Australia) I was wondering who you trained with, and are training with?

Also if Glen Levy trained in New Zealand then he probably trained under Michael Gent or one of his guys.

With respect

 

[allenjp]

If anyone here saw the spot, he obviously claimed to be a ninjutsu practitioner, while he was performing his convulsions he was saying things like "THIS is ninjitsu..." and the like. And the fact that he is an actor and stunt double in my opinion makes him suspect from the word go...just MHO.

 

[Obi Wan Shinobi]

This really shows how much research the National Geographic Channel did in regards to Ninjutsu. That program was really disappointing.

 

[dark artificer]

Just some clarifications, does it mean to say that not everything National Geographic shows are scientifically accurate? They have been around for ten successful years already and i don't think they would show something to the public that is inaccurate. In the show Fight Science, they have scientists from different fields analyzing the data. Could the data be scripted and the results a scientific hoax? Some of the shows i really like are Megastructures, Air Crash Investigation & Perfect Weapons. Are some of the infos they provide tends to be misleading? i believe it takes them several months of preparation and well out research before conducting a show. Hope somebody can shed a light on this issue.

 

[nitflegal]

Just some clarifications, does it mean to say that not everything National Geographic shows are scientifically accurate? They have been around for ten successful years already and i don't think they would show something to the public that is inaccurate. In the show Fight Science, they have scientists from different fields analyzing the data. Could the data be scripted and the results a scientific hoax? Some of the shows i really like are Megastructures, Air Crash Investigation & Perfect Weapons. Are some of the infos they provide tends to be misleading? i believe it takes them several months of preparation and well out research before conducting a show. Hope somebody can shed a light on this issue.

To be blunt, they picked a ninja practitioner who doesn't appear to have studied much ninjutsu. NG does a generally good job but at least in my field of amateur research (WW2) they've done some real howlers as far as capabilities and such. Not nearly as bad as the "History" channel but still. Hoax is a strong word but having spent a fair chunk of time with people who've been part of such documentaries (get some of the Higgins armory guys to talk about portrayals of western medieval martial arts of the people at the Patton museum on tanks) they are done quickly, relatively inexpensively, and they are geared for entertainment first and information second. If one has to be sacrificed, it's not the one that get viewer share.

NG is supposed to do a very good job on anthropological documentaries. Even then, examples such as their skew on their Judas documentary a few years ago, show that they're not perfect. Also, remember that in most cases there is a script for the documentary before there is anything filmed. In this case, you've got a documentary crew working off a script and a small budget doing the best they can. They find a local "ninja" who looks good, does some visually impressive things (ever watched good taijutsu? Boring as heck for a spectator in many cases.) and doesn't need plane fare. The fact that their ninja does things that people who've spent 2+ decades in the art say isn't part of any established lineage and who nobody can trace back to advanced training in any of the accepted schools casts a bit of a shadow on the guy's expertise. I strongly doubt it's a hoax, probably just a guy working his tail off to get a documentary in the can who had a guy with a rep who fit what he needed when he just didn't have the time to dig further.

Matt

 

[Obi Wan Shinobi]

Well I just watched the Fight Science on Special Forces and MMA. To be honest we all know that Special Forces and MMA are some real badazzes. But this program makes them seem almost superhuman. With dedication and hard training and "believing" in your training will always bring out the best in anyone. But as for this Glen Levy guy I just looked at his website and saw that he pretty much blended a variety of martial arts to make his Hyoujutsu. But it does not mention Togakure Ryu at all....

 

[aguy]

I found this thread whilst looking for something else.

Although it's an old thread I would like to add to the discussion.

I'm a student of Bujinkan Ninjutsu and I also happen to work in Television and Film Production. I have worked on producing shows for National Geograpic and I can tell you that these shows are barely accurate in their presentation of stuff ... calling them infotainment is almost a stretch. Often times people who appear on these shows are just cases of "I know a guy who knows a guy who can do it"

The last show I worked on we finished a scene by grabbing a guy from the cafeteria who was making a coffee and chucked a hardhat on him and put him in the show as an "Engineer" discussing the item in question.

Yes the show would have insisted on calling him "Ninja Master"

Many of the other people in this series would just have been someone from whatever local dojo could come and show some stuff.

Watching these shows and expecting any sort of factual realism is a waste of time - they are there to show exciting stuff to people who dont know any better and to sell ads.

- a

 

[snyderkv]

Am I just late or can nobody collectively agree on who is a real ninja master?

Regardless of how you or the ninja master spells it, or whatever kids show he's been in, I'd like to know who a real master is who at the same time can fight in real life and has a school open.

Otherwise, everyones ASSumptions about this guy are just that. Personally, I think everyone here is just embarrased to say that guy represents my style (anything less than a disapearing flying ninja)

Once you all can admit that "real" ninjitsu is just the crap you see everyday, we can move on and notice the talent in people like Glen Levy. I thought his forms looked pretty awsome, he punched hard and had great balance. I'm sorry that he didn't disapear in a cloud of smoke or throw ninja stars.

 

[Muawijhe]

Am I just late or can nobody collectively agree on who is a real ninja master?

You are just late. Masaaki Hatsumi, Tanemura, or Manaka I would believe can be, for the most part, collectively considered as a "real ninja master" in their respective organizations.

Regardless of how you or the ninja master spells it, or whatever kids show he's been in, I'd like to know who a real master is who at the same time can fight in real life and has a school open.

The spelling is important. If you'd like to know who a real master is with a school, perhaps a new thread, or using the Search feature for similar threads, would benefit you well. Also, a bit off topic, what is with peoples' hang-ups on putting "martial arts", "ninjutsu", and "fighting" together like they are synonomous?

Otherwise, everyones ASSumptions about this guy are just that. Personally, I think everyone here is just embarrased to say that guy represents my style (anything less than a disapearing flying ninja)

Represents your style or my style? As far as I know, he does not represent the "style" of anyone on this forum.

Once you all can admit that "real" ninjitsu is just the crap you see everyday, we can move on and notice the talent in people like Glen Levy. I thought his forms looked pretty awsome, he punched hard and had great balance. I'm sorry that he didn't disapear in a cloud of smoke or throw ninja stars.

That first sentence just reeks of misunderstanding of Ninjutsu and possible an agenda to just troll (so not sure why I'm really bothering responding to this). Plus,regardless of Mr. Levy's form and ability to punch or maintain balance, what he does is not Ninjutsu.

If you do not have a troll agenda, hope some of that helps. If not, then I apologize to everyone else here for feeding the troll. >.<

EDIT - Seems snyderkv brought up Levy before here: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1316635#post1316635 and has a "Tangerine belt in crazy". I feel I just wasted my time with the post above... =/

 

[Bruno@MT]

The show on nat geo was pukingly bad. The guy even had a ninja-to (the straight hollywood ninja sword which did not historically exist).

As for ninja grandmasters: the answer is simple. Even if we ignore the spelling issue, something can only be called ninjutsu if it was a direct transmission of something that was actually practiced by actual ninja, right? This has absolutely nothing to do with who can kick whom's ***. There are only 4 people alive who can make a claim to teach actual ninjutsu. Those people are Hatsumi sensei, Tanemura sensei, Manaka sensei, and Kawakami sensei.

Any system not deriving from one of them cannot be considered ninjutsu, if only because that system is something which no actual ninja actually used. Judo, jujutsu, karate, systema, etc are all great fighting styles, but no serious judoka or karateka would pretend that whatever it is the do is ninjutsu.

 

[yorkshirelad]

The show on nat geo was pukingly bad. The guy even had a ninja-to (the straight hollywood ninja sword which did not historically exist).

As for ninja grandmasters: the answer is simple. Even if we ignore the spelling issue, something can only be called ninjutsu if it was a direct transmission of something that was actually practiced by actual ninja, right? This has absolutely nothing to do with who can kick whom's ***. There are only 4 people alive who can make a claim to teach actual ninjutsu. Those people are Hatsumi sensei, Tanemura sensei, Manaka sensei, and Kawakami sensei.

.

What about Hayes Sensei?

 

[tenzen]

And Otake Risuke?

 

[EWBell]

What about Hayes Sensei?

Nope, because Mr. Hayes holds no menkyo kaiden in any ninjutsu ryu-ha.