Hello,
I am the author of the article on the Koga ryu
http://www.bujinkanwakodojo.com/bwd_kogaryu_history.html
which many people claiming to be members of the Koga ryu have denounced because they claim that I am "biased." Of course they themselves have a lot more reason for bias in trying to convince others that what they teach is not merely made up by them than I would have in denoucing them. And so far no one has even bothered to check my sources before denouncing them and have not provided sources for their counter claims.
I reject the notion that the article is biased towards destroying the Koga ryu. I think it is silly that anyone would try to claim that I am trying to discredit any other ninja tradition because I am a Bujinkan member. I would love to find another form of ninjutsu to examine it. I have spent a lot of money and time in researching ninjutsu and it's history, and finding a living source of techniques would be a great find. The problem is that every style I have met or examined turned out to trace back to someone outside of Japan who claimed he could not show any proof of the existence of his teacher because of secrecy. This secrecy does not prevent them from sometimes making a good living off of teaching students, or opening web sights, publishing books or aurguing for hours on the internet that they really are nifty keen ninja masters. No, it is only when asked for proof that they actually learned what they do from someone else instead of making it up themselves does the need for "secrecy" pop up.
If anyone can point me to a legitimate ninjutsu style outside of the Takamatsu den to have survived to the modern day, I would appreciate it. But I will not take a person's claim of being a student of a ninjutsu tradition without question. To be qualified as a legitimate ninjutsu tradtion by me I only require one thing.
Dianne Skoss wrote in an article "You want Koryu?", (http://koryu.com/library/dskoss1.html)
"admittedly, there are a very small number of schools that for political reasons fall through the cracks here, but essentially a tradition must be documentable in Japan"
This is all I require. It seems easy and logical enough. Give us proof that the art is or was taught in Japan and the person now teaching it can show a valid link to the person who is/was teaching the art in Japan. The idea of a Japanese- originated art being too secret to be known inside of Japan but taught openly outside of it, as well as being paraded out in front of the whole world via the internet, is too silly for someone who knows the reality of things to contemplate.
I do not require that you belong to any particular orginizations, nor appear in any particular book, or associate with any one person. All I require is that someone in Japan teaches or taught the art and that there is a link with that person by the person making the claim.
It is not neccesary, but it would really please me, if the person, tradition or orginization had been examined by an independent Japanese historian, martial artist scholar or other similar professional and that scholar had announced that the traditions filled all the known facts about ninjutsu and could be called a ninjutsu tradition. I can give you a few names of people I would reccomend, Nawa Yumio, Okuse Hichiro, Tobe Shinjuro, Koyama Ryutaro, Nakajima Atsumi and others who are known to have done considerable research into what the ninja were. And since it is rare when you can get academics to agree 100% on anything, I do not require that all of them agree and would be pleased if you can get even one person who is knowledgable about ninjutsu but has no link to the orginization (which might cloud their judgement) declare that it is a ninjutsu tradition.
Now, both the Togakure ryu and Fujita Seiko fill the second condition. None of the people posturing on the internet can even make the first catagory. I am hoping that someone can prove that they do indeed have a link to someone in Japan teaching the art of ninjutsu. So far, all the claimnants not only can not do so, but the ones I have come in contact with strike me as rather incompetent about the martial arts and ninjutsu in particular.
So if anyone wishes to convince me that they are indeed members of a legitimate ninjutsu syle, all I require is above. I would truely love to converse and meet with such people. However, I can point to at least three different people just off the top of my head who not only claim to teach the Koga ryu, but claim to be the 'only true' teachers of the art. Obviously, someone is not being truthfull and since none of them are acknowledged in Japan I am rather suspicious unless anyone can back up what they say.
So if you are a member of a legitimate ninjutsu style from Japan, please let me know and point me in the direction of confirming your claims for myself. I am really wanting to pick the minds of legitimate ninjutsu practicioners.
I am the author of the article on the Koga ryu
http://www.bujinkanwakodojo.com/bwd_kogaryu_history.html
which many people claiming to be members of the Koga ryu have denounced because they claim that I am "biased." Of course they themselves have a lot more reason for bias in trying to convince others that what they teach is not merely made up by them than I would have in denoucing them. And so far no one has even bothered to check my sources before denouncing them and have not provided sources for their counter claims.
I reject the notion that the article is biased towards destroying the Koga ryu. I think it is silly that anyone would try to claim that I am trying to discredit any other ninja tradition because I am a Bujinkan member. I would love to find another form of ninjutsu to examine it. I have spent a lot of money and time in researching ninjutsu and it's history, and finding a living source of techniques would be a great find. The problem is that every style I have met or examined turned out to trace back to someone outside of Japan who claimed he could not show any proof of the existence of his teacher because of secrecy. This secrecy does not prevent them from sometimes making a good living off of teaching students, or opening web sights, publishing books or aurguing for hours on the internet that they really are nifty keen ninja masters. No, it is only when asked for proof that they actually learned what they do from someone else instead of making it up themselves does the need for "secrecy" pop up.
If anyone can point me to a legitimate ninjutsu style outside of the Takamatsu den to have survived to the modern day, I would appreciate it. But I will not take a person's claim of being a student of a ninjutsu tradition without question. To be qualified as a legitimate ninjutsu tradtion by me I only require one thing.
Dianne Skoss wrote in an article "You want Koryu?", (http://koryu.com/library/dskoss1.html)
"admittedly, there are a very small number of schools that for political reasons fall through the cracks here, but essentially a tradition must be documentable in Japan"
This is all I require. It seems easy and logical enough. Give us proof that the art is or was taught in Japan and the person now teaching it can show a valid link to the person who is/was teaching the art in Japan. The idea of a Japanese- originated art being too secret to be known inside of Japan but taught openly outside of it, as well as being paraded out in front of the whole world via the internet, is too silly for someone who knows the reality of things to contemplate.
I do not require that you belong to any particular orginizations, nor appear in any particular book, or associate with any one person. All I require is that someone in Japan teaches or taught the art and that there is a link with that person by the person making the claim.
It is not neccesary, but it would really please me, if the person, tradition or orginization had been examined by an independent Japanese historian, martial artist scholar or other similar professional and that scholar had announced that the traditions filled all the known facts about ninjutsu and could be called a ninjutsu tradition. I can give you a few names of people I would reccomend, Nawa Yumio, Okuse Hichiro, Tobe Shinjuro, Koyama Ryutaro, Nakajima Atsumi and others who are known to have done considerable research into what the ninja were. And since it is rare when you can get academics to agree 100% on anything, I do not require that all of them agree and would be pleased if you can get even one person who is knowledgable about ninjutsu but has no link to the orginization (which might cloud their judgement) declare that it is a ninjutsu tradition.
Now, both the Togakure ryu and Fujita Seiko fill the second condition. None of the people posturing on the internet can even make the first catagory. I am hoping that someone can prove that they do indeed have a link to someone in Japan teaching the art of ninjutsu. So far, all the claimnants not only can not do so, but the ones I have come in contact with strike me as rather incompetent about the martial arts and ninjutsu in particular.
So if anyone wishes to convince me that they are indeed members of a legitimate ninjutsu syle, all I require is above. I would truely love to converse and meet with such people. However, I can point to at least three different people just off the top of my head who not only claim to teach the Koga ryu, but claim to be the 'only true' teachers of the art. Obviously, someone is not being truthfull and since none of them are acknowledged in Japan I am rather suspicious unless anyone can back up what they say.
So if you are a member of a legitimate ninjutsu style from Japan, please let me know and point me in the direction of confirming your claims for myself. I am really wanting to pick the minds of legitimate ninjutsu practicioners.