Greetings

[Stealthy]

Hello,

It has been brought to my attention that the polite thing to do on this site is to kick it off with a wave and a friendly hello so here it is, my friendly hello.

For anybody that is interested I have had an interest in Martial Arts since a very young age which was fueled heavily by the Ninja craze of the eighties. Due to growing up on a farm which was technically company land I had the rare opportunity to partake in all sorts of Martial activities while growing up, ranging from bush craft to catching arrows.

While my true passion was for ninjutsu the first martial artist available to me was a karate black belt. A really nice guy with an unnatural aversion to all things Ninjutsu. After a few years training with him he affilitated with a school so that sanctioned ranks would become available which was kinda cool for me.

After finishing Junior High school and due to leaving the farm to start High school I was forced to leave the club but fortunately a friend had found a good place to train where I was moving to. The class was run by Ray Pistilli and it was an excellent place to train before changing its name from "Cobra" to "Ryushido" in an attempt to ease the bad spin off publicity from the "Karate Kid" (for the uninitiated the "Evil" karate school in the movie was called Cobra). Due solely to the school dissolving around me I elevated to a position which included some teaching duties. During my time with Ray one of his sons and I became great friends(intentionally vague since he has three and I don't really want anyone to work out who I am) and along with just plain hanging out I had the great fortune of regularly sparring with him and receiving his advice(good times).

Over the years I hooked up with various other karate schools along the way. Finally in a year deliberately misheld to reduce the likelihood of my identity being revealed I walked into the Ninjutsu school of my choice and while it was not what I expected(as I was really just looking for good times with friends who shared common interests) it did indeed reset my course in life, no doubt for the better.

My understanding of Ninjutsu is rather limited and if my Sensei is anybody to go by(which he is) I suck, not just a little bit but completely. As in to use it in a sentence you would say "wow, that guy has been here that long, he really sucks ***". Not to worry I am sure there is a good reason for it like I am mildly retarded but everyone I meet is too polite to say it so I have made it thus far through my life without ever finding out.

I train everyday though not always for very long.

At the moment I am in the market for at least one regular sparring partner as I believe my fighting(notice I didn't say Ninjutsu because I suck at it) is at a level where I can seemlessly move from any modality to the next, be that weapons, strikes, grapples or throws and the next step is to drill the alternatives to the point of a conditioned response to any possible attack.

Well that's it, now you know me, or don't however you want to look at it. I wish you all the best, may your training include "good times with friends".

With Respect,
Anonymous.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Stealthy, welcome aboard!

While I try to avoid giving advice in these Meet and Greet threads, I want to offer a couple, if you'll permit. Simply, if you are wanting to get good at Ninjutsu, then you'll need training partners in Ninjutsu, not any other art, otherwise it'll only be counterproductive (no matter how "bad" you think you are at it at present....).

Secondly, while you are perfectly within your rights to remain anonymous, I might suggest simply signing your posts "Stealthy", rather than "Anonymous", as that does give a rather odd impression, and may actually have people wondering more about who you are than if you simply wrote "Stealthy".

Out of interest, who (organisationally) are you with for the Ninjutsu?

 

[Stealthy]

Thanks for the Advice,

I certainly would prefer Ninjutsu practitioners to train with even though my last batch of training partners went to alternate schools leaving a somewhat bad taste in my mouth.

While it is safe to say many of my favourite strategies are not Traditional Ninjutsu, and technically I could just spar with a karateke or train up a karateka to train with I just don't feel right teaching them things which I have learned as a direct result of my exposure to Ninjutsu.

I am sure there will be someone at the local club who would like to get in a little extra training.

Not so sure revealing my Allegiances is the best course of action for me as I have a tendency to say things which may be construed in all the wrong ways and as such I would not like to take anyone else down with me.

Thanks again for your assistance, many would have taken my exposure as an opportunity to attack. I found your brutal honesty exactly what I was looking for.

With Respect,
Stealthy.

 

[Chris Parker]

Glad I could help. When it comes to "revealing your allegiances", it's really nothing of the sort. And, especially as a new student, we would hardly think you are speaking for your club, but if you want to make sure, just make sure you preface things with "I think... I feel that.... it's my understanding that...." etc. The reason I ask about who you're with is that each of the organisations approach things in a slightly different way, so knowing where you're coming from can help us know how to phrase things for you to get the most out of it.

PS That honesty was far from brutal, by the way....

 

[Stealthy]

Ouch, well in that case I am glad I got the sugar coated version.

It's okay, there is no real need to "tune" information for me as if I were to describe my Sensei's then each of them at their core would be a penchance for honesty and that really is all I am ever looking for. I will consider removing one more layer of defence if that is what you think is best.

With Respect,
Stealthy.

 

[stickarts]

Welcome to MT!

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Stealthy,

I'm not asking for your personal instructors names, just the organisation you are training in. I'm going to be blunt here and say that your initial thread, and a few key aspects of this intro, are making me wonder if you are actually training in Ninjutsu (legit), or in a modern made-up system that uses the name, but has nothing to do with the art itself whatsoever. That's really what I'm trying to ascertain, if you train in a legit system, and are a beginner, I can reference Kihon Happo, Sanshin, Ichimonji, and more, if a made-up system, then those terms won't mean anything to you.... and, fair warning, we won't consider it Ninjutsu either. That won't make it bad (for you), it's more just the reality of the situation. As you say, you prefer honesty, and that is something I tend to deal in.

I don't want to scare you off at all, legit system or not, but we have had a fair amount of issues with the latter of recent times, so that's another reason I'm asking. But once again, simply the name of the art itself (particular school, or style), or organisation, rather than "I train under Joe Schmoe". Does that make sense?

 

[Stealthy]

It's cool but I am getting a little scared off already.

As it stands yes, my Allegiances lie with an authentic school though my understanding of it is quite lacking. Considering I have been in the school for over ten years and first discovered what Kihon Happo meant from looking it up a few days ago on the internet I would say "anything" I learn here will be of value.

I know the moves but lacked the attention span to grasp the Japanese terminology while in class. While searching the internet is probably not the best source of information it is a source of information and that is really what I've felt has been missing all these years.

Something like Kihon Happo offers structure which previously I felt were missing. To be honest it has been my belief that either Ninjutsu is just a collection of techniques with no discernable means of selecting them beyond letting "the unconcious mind do it" or something of which I have not been privy to.

But really, I'm just killing time. I want my skills at a level where I don't have to worry about getting kicked out of class anymore. lets face it, you don't spend a decade in a school stagnant without developing a fear of getting kicked out. Especially when I have seen students get kicked out for just that.

But again I will think about it, already though i think this nom de plume is bunk so if I were to appear here with my socially accepted real name then it probably would be seperate from this handle.

With Respect,
Stealthy.

 

[Chris Parker]

Ha, cool. If you're dealing with the Kihon Happo, then you're most likely in the Bujinkan, or a split off from them, so that helps me know what to say. Thanks!

In terms of the Kihon Happo, the basic translation (note: basic!) is Kihon = Fundamental, Happo = literally Eight Directions, with the implication of "all directions". Essentially, it means that the fundamental training drills that make up the Kihon Happo give you methods of moving in endless variation. That said, this year is the year of the Kihon Happo in the Bujinkan, and Hatsumi Sensei has used different kanji to put the concept across, translating as:

季 - Ki - Season

翻 - Hon - Turn over, render

初 - Ha(tsu) - First

萌 - Ho (Po) - Bud, beginning.

I read this as a new beginning, the first buds at the change of seasons. Lovely, really. Although a "hidden" concept may be found in the "Hatsu" kanji, which is the first kanji in Hatsumi Sensei's name, which gives the implication of "the change of the season, starting with Hatsu(mi)", or possibly, if we were to play conspiricy theorists, that "there will be a change of season, with a new budding from Hatsu(mi)", in other words, he is getting ready to name a successor... This is, of course, conjecture based on possible readings of kanji, and should only be taken as light, possibly somewhat interesting ideas, certainly nothing definate or real (yet)...

So don't get frightened off, there's still lots of conversation and fun to be had!

 

[WC_lun]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Stealthy]

or possibly, if we were to play conspiricy theorists, that "there will be a change of season, with a new budding from Hatsu(mi)", in other words, he is getting ready to name a successor... This is, of course, conjecture based on possible readings of kanji, and should only be taken as light, possibly somewhat interesting ideas, certainly nothing definate or real (yet)...

Wow, that would make for some interesting news.

 

[Yondanchris]

Welcome to MT!

 

[K-man]

Welcome. If you are looking for training partners you might need to be more specific as to your location.

At the moment I am in the market for at least one regular sparring partner

I mean, Australia's a big place. :asian:

 

[Stealthy]

Wow, good point. I didn't even think to mention it as I was not specifically looking here for a Training partner, I came here looking for information on Ninjutsu. Thanks for the heads up.

I am in Brisbane, while my karate is quite rusty these days I would definately appreciate getting in a little sparring.

Only semi-contact so hits to the solar plexus, throat or groin are cool but no punching in the face.

Contact is not necessary though as I would still enjoy some non-contact workouts.

With Respect,
Stealthy.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

Hello, and welcome to MT!

 

[OKenpo942]

Welcome, Stealthy.

 

[Ping898]

Welcome!

 

[Kemposhot]

Welcome! I'm new here myself, there's a wealth of information on here. The search function can turn up topics on almost anything you can think of!