Daft Question

Well the description of class style and the location, I would have to assume they were there. It matches.

Maybe they were not lying when they said they went to Japan.
 
Interesting article. However, I get a very different feel of the tone of their meeting when I read the last few sentences.
 
Well the description of class style and the location, I would have to assume they were there. It matches.

Maybe they were not lying when they said they went to Japan.
All of this info is available from the web. Funny how the only pics they've posted from their "Japan trip" are shots of landmarks, and no shots of their group. :rolleyes:
 
All of this info is available from the web. Funny how the only pics they've posted from their "Japan trip" are shots of landmarks, and no shots of their group. :rolleyes:

Kind of what I thought also. Those shots of Soke Hatsumi's Dojo are the same angle I've seen before, in the discription on how to get there if I remember right.
 
I gather but, with description of the way to the Budokan and such. It sounds or looks unplanned. They penned it the way I'd write it.
I couldn't see why they wouldn't be able to show up there for it, it's not like security holds you back.
Mind you I tend to agree about the last few sentences. I'm just playing devls advocate in this.
 
I have been involved in the case of the Konigun and the consensus seems to be that the story is made up. The reasoning is simple; they took pictures of themselves everywhere else they went in Japan and they did not bother to take a picture with Hatsumi or outside of the Bujinden or Ayase. Their story about not knowing that Hatsumi teaches on Tuesdays at Ayase is kind of silly when you consider the training scheduale is availible on the internet. I also don't think they would want to possibly be indentified by certain folks that live here in Japan and would have avoided the Ayase (when people were around) at all costs. And their story of getting to talk with Hatsumi seems a bit strange in that Hatsumi tries to get out of Ayase ASAP after class ends. Any more than a few words is quite out of the question as they close down the building.
 
That is also a very good point.
Hatsumi did depart rather fast from that building. You sort of would expect a picture request if a gift was brought. It would bring more to their case.
However I would say it looks as if they attended the country of Japan at least.
 
While I tend to agree with you all about the pic's smelling fishy the one thing that struck me as having a ring of truth to it was the was their comment about Soke saying all Ninjutsu comes though him ! ?


But there was comment in a simular vein on the Shinobi winds documentary...

But really if you go all that way, why not have yourself taken in the pictures.
 
DonRoley said:
I have been involved in the case of the Konigun and the consensus seems to be that the story is made up.

Exactly, I can't seeing a group of wannabe ninja going all that way and not getting a photo-op with Hatsumi sensei...

I hate to be the party-pooper, but why does anyone care if it actually happened?

The only reason that Hatsumi-sensei (or anyone at Hombu) would have allowed the Konigun crowd to enter the dojo/watch practice/train is that they hid the fact of who they were.

Wow! That's something to write home about!!!

I compare this act (if it happened) to the one that Brandon Alvarez pulled (which did happen) when Alvarez hid the fact that he was a Jinenkan student just so he could get permission to film at Hombu and interview Hatsumi-sensei for his DVD "Shinobi Winds." The person who translated for Brandon was astonished to find out several months later that Brandon had hidden the fact that he was Jinenkan.

Alvarez's reasoning? "It wasn't important enough to mention."

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

If the Konigun crowd did manage to observe/train/whatever, it only occurred because they hid their origins.

Anyone who thinks that Hatsumi-sensei allowing entry/training/whatever under those conditions signifies that he is embracing the Konigun crowd as "brothers in ninjutsu" is seriously kidding themselves.

It's clear that some individuals can use such opportunities to build legitimacy for themselves and so Hatsumi-sensei could be "harmed by association."

My only comment is that people should not allow the same thing to happen a second time.

-ben
 
If the Konigun crowd did manage to observe/train/whatever, it only occurred because they hid their origins.

Which of course kind of makes their statement about talking to him about Konigun an obvious lie.

But there is also the possibility that they told Hatsumi and he just had never heard of them. If I get a chance to talk to Hatsumi I have better things to discuss than the Konigun. I think that goes for everyone else. I doubt Hatsumi even knows who they are.

But I really doubt they showed up at all. Too many problems with the story. They took pictures of themselves with a museum employee and tried to pass it off as their teacher. I just can't imagine them showing up to see training and not having a picture taken with Hatsumi to try to make themselves look more legit.
 
There's one hell of an echo in here... :lol:

Smart people think alike. But certain things need to be repeated so that everyone hears the truth.

In addition, I am fairly certain that the original story has been modified. When the story first came out, I thought that they had shown up to the honbu. Due to the late hour it goes to, I do not go there all that often but made a point of showing up to Ayase when they said they were coming to Japan. I had reason to believe that they had me on their list of people to sue and wanted to look them in the eye when I told them that summons served outside the USA were not valid. :ultracool

But I did not run into them and the reason I can remember is that while I was showing up to Ayase, they seemed to have shown up to honbu. Now the article says they originally showed up to honbu and when told it was closed they went to Ayase. Anyone who has been to both can tell you that if you show up to training at honbu when training is supposed to start you can't turn around and make it to Ayase before it ends.

Yeah, and no photos. These guys can't get enough of photos with various people. I could believe they lied about who they were and sat in on training if they had a photo of them with Hatsumi or in front of the budokan. Otherwise I can't see any reason to believe them.
 
Honestly, I really don't care about the story. Maybe I should have said "Entertaining" rather than "Interesting". I was bored at the time... :p
 
These folks have taken a beating everywhere they posted pictures and scrolls. They, as Don said, posted pictures of an employee from the museum and called him their long lost teacher. They put pictures anyone could get from Hatsumi's dojo. They posted scrolls of things, like calendars and horoscopes that immediately got translated and thrown in their faces. Overall, they are lightweights in the world but there is a reason not to ignore them. They get students all the time and the students are in the age range of 15 to 23 or so. Very vulnerable and very impressionable young people.

I posted some information I learned on Martial Arts Planet. It seems some movies from the early 80's may have provided all the creator of Konigun needed to create his own style. The old movies Ninja Wars and Shogun's Ninja apparently contain much of the events their "shidoshi" incorporated into their own history. It is for this reason that everyone should just be aware of these folks. They like to "borrow" history from others and change their stories on a regular basis.
 
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