Okay. I don't want to derail the conversation, although it seems to have been somewhat derailed already, so let's see if we can clear some things up about the good Dr Zhougari, and put this to bed (I like Uechi Ryu, and the rest of this conversation doesn't really have anything to do with it, so let's clear it out in one hit, I think).
Jesse is a dedicated, serious guy, who has a somewhat click-baity youtube channel. Not every video he does is done in the strictest interest of furthering academic and popular education... any number of them are more about getting views for his channel, which, to be fair, is how he's able to then make ones that are more serious and accurate. For probably my favourite of his videos, look to this one:
For my least favourite:
Kacem is... a whole mess of issues. We'll deal with those as we go.
This will be interesting to see how I can describe things within the bounds of the rules of the site, but... well, we'll see how we go, eh?
Heh, Jesse has peddled his own BS "just for viewership"... see the above BJJ tournament video for that...
As far as Kacem, he has a particular following in a certain faction of the Bujinkan, due in no small part to his seemingly "better" technique, and has quite a number of critics, myself amongst them, for what I would consider the superficial "cleanness" covering up for myriad issues in his understanding of a range of aspects, and his usage of his supposed credibility as a PhD to cover deeply flawed practices and basic errors in almost everything he does. But, yes, Jesse absolutely would peddle that BS just for viewership. That's how the youtube business model works, after all...
I'll say this simply: you're listening to the wrong people there. But the actual answer is a fair bit more nuanced. I'm going to go back to your thread regarding the Bujinkan belt to deal with that a bit more there.
In broad strokes, yeah, this is all pretty much correct. Minor quibbles are that there appeared to be some more "dedicated" ninjutsu ryu-ha, however they were incredibly minor, and always attached to other, larger, bodies of information or groups... but it should be understood that pretty much all "ninja" (that term was highly unlikely to have been the one used) were samurai, simply engaging in particular activities.
Kacem's "academic" credentials come from an institution called INALCO (Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales/National Institute of Oriental Civilisations and Languages), a French institution who have offered accreditation essentially by online submission. He first completed a Masters Thesis, entitled "Ninjutsu: It's Form, History, And Essence", basically an exploration of the Bujinkan and it's arts as well as it's claimed histories, and a PhD Thesis, "The History of Movement In The Japanese Martial Arts: Structure, Way of Thought, and Transmission". This was claimed to be a study of classical arts (koryu), with Kacem using old scrolls, and having discussions with (then) current teachers... however, it was not a subject that was possible to be peer-reviewed by the staff at INALCO, which has led to its credibility being, shall we say, questioned? Considering his slip-shod approach to research (as indicated in his book), his frequent basic mistakes and misinterpretations (to be generous), shown in many of his interviews and comments, including those in the above linked videos, and his heavily biased views towards the clearly inaccurate histories presented in the Bujinkan (and other things), I don't put any stock in his Masters or PhD work.
See above...
There's a chance there's a conflagration of persons here... Isshinryuronin is talking about Jesse, you seem to be discussing Kacem... if you're also meaning Jesse, misinformed isn't quite how I'd put it... instead, it's more that he's providing a friendly platform for various persons to present their views... Kacem, on the other hand, yeah... significantly misinformed. And Jesse lets him show it. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Likely, no. There are two people who were the doctoral tutors he submitted it to (worked with?), but, again, the relevant knowledge simply isn't there in INALCO to defend or critique it, let along peer-review.
Oh, I know exactly who Kacem is. He's not anything I would consider an "expert", more a somewhat charismatic individual who has convinced some that he has something of value, which he doesn't. His understanding of movement, distance, weapon usage, power generation, and more are lacking, his grasp of historical research and realities are, in large and small ways, questionable, his skills with language are over-estimated and inflated, his scholarly approach is deeply flawed and highly biased, and, frankly, not worth the attention of serious people. I don't have a lot of time for him.
