Hi,
Well, there's been a lot of action here in the last 24 hours or so... let's see if we can sum up (and hopefully put this to rest). To begin with, I might quote myself:
"Size vs Skill - well, obviously size is the biggest determining factor in the development and ability of any martial artist; after all, Ueshiba, Funakoshi, Kano, Mifune, Sokaku Takeda et al. were all giants, with big rippling muscles, right? I mean, Ueshiba Sensei was what, almost 5 whole feet tall? Hmmm, might have to re-think that..."
"The terms "jutsu" and "jitsu" are different words, different kanji, and have different meanings. "Jutsu" has a translation in most Kanji dictionaries I have read of "practical art", whereas "jitsu" is translated as "truth", or "real" (sorry, my computer doesn't like me trying to post the kanji themselves...), and is never used to describe a Japanese artform - in fact, the only readily acceptable use of this mis-spelling is Brazilian JiuJitsu, which has been moving away from it's Japanese roots since Maeda first taught the Gracies and Machados nearly a century ago. Oh, and for the record, I am refering to the Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary, edited by Jack Halpern for my reference if you want to check them out yourself.
The site refered to by Tsuki Yomi seems to be more of a "well, we don't mind how you say it" kind of approach, rather than an in depth look at the language, but if you want to check it out, try to find a copy of Tanemura Sensei's old Panther Jujutsu series, number 6 (History and Traditions), where he illustrates in no uncertain terms the fact that the words are pronounced JU JUtsu, not JIU JUtsu, JU JItsu, or any other combination. He shows the different characters, and explains the different meanings pretty well there."
Emilio, the facts are: You have no training in ninjutsu (see above to see why we are so definate on the spelling...) whatsoever. None. Zilch. Nada. Accept that your imaginings do not equate with knowledge, understanding or ability.
Your only actual background is in competitive arts and a bit of military training. If you ever visited an authentic school, you may notice that there is no competitive aspect to ninjutsu training at all. So your background, limited as it is, has absolutely no relevance to ninjutsu, yet you seem to feel that it shows you understand ninjutsu better than those who train it? You even go so far as to imply that it trumps such meaningless things as historical accounts of genuine ninjutsu, scrolls of authentic ninjutsu tactics, techniques, and training, and then state that although there are schools near you, you have not the time, money, nor desire to visit and train?!
And, for what it's worth, even Hayes has stated on a number of occasions that his research into the Himalayan spiritual traditions has very little to do with ninjutsu. He describes it as "his own personal Stephen Hayes-trip" (for citation, see the interviews in the final chapters of volume 4 and 5 of his Ninja Warrior series of books...). The story goes that Hatsumi Sensei off-handedly mentioned that Takamatsu mentioned at one time that the Shugenja may have had some influence of the Ninja. Hayes asked about it, and Hatsumi basically said "If you're interested, go find out what you want to know". As an aside, there have been numerous occasions where senior Japanese instructors have been asked by young, impressionable Western students about things like Mikkyo, usually to get the illusion-shattering answer "What's Mikkyo?"
As for "our instistance that Ninjutsu has to be Japanese to be authentic, when it 'clearly' has Himalayan origins...", the musical traditions of Jazz and Blues have their roots in the African and slave music of those brought to the Americas, but it's very hard to argue that those two forms of music are anything but American. The origins may be removed, but the locale in which the arts matured and developed into their own expression is considered their homeland.
So what we end up with is a 38 year old man, with children of his own, no less, still living in a childish fantasy world, having bounced from school to school, never staying long enough to really either internalise the art, or challenge your own fantasy images of martial art training, reading old books, only really taking in anything that you can twist or shape to fit your fantasy, and ignoring or attacking (by pretending to be attacked) anything that doesn't fit. Pretty classic projection, really (as has been remarked).
Emilio, I wish you well in visiting Brians' training group... but I'm not sure about how he's going to feel about it. After all, he DOES train in authentic Ninjutsu, you are going to him to learn, and you're not taking advantage of this opportunity to get real first-hand knowledge of the art you imagine you know something about? Honestly, if you were to come to my school, you would not invited in.
So, to sum up:
No training in Ninjutsu.
No training in anything close to Ninjutsu.
No knowledge of anything authentic to do with Ninjutsu.
No willingness to learn or train in Ninjutsu.
Limited experience in sport grappling systems, sport systems being the antithesis of Ninjutsu.
No knowledge of how to spell Ninjutsu (hopefully this one is put to bed now).
No willingness to discuss your system in any detail, as you feel that you "don't need to prove anything".
No real testing of your system (just some references to "what feels right" and "what works for you" in the guise of competitive arts and randori [ps, judo term, by the way, just been adopted by a number of others] which has little if anything to do with the realities of street or battlefield violence.
A childs creation created by a child (because this is only based in your childhood fantasies... after all, that's where you got the name, pretty big clue, there).
That should pretty well sum up the authentic side of things... Care to comment?
