While brainstorming some cool sayings for our T-shirt collection over at WCIDragonsDen.com, one of my team members came up with this one:
"Everyone wants to be a Ninja, Until it's time to do Ninja Shit!"
And he was right because, not only did that become a T-shirt design... it's also something I've noticed across the years since I started training in this self-protection and life-mastery system in 1981.
In fact, one of the things that attracted me, and a WHOLE bunch of other professional law enforcement and security, military, and others who needed something beyond the conventional offerings of the time...
...was the
diversity of skill sets. And, I don't just mean fight skills either. I mean skills for handling a wide variety of hazards and dangerous (as well as "life" situations).
But, as we humans tend to do when we want something... but only if it's the way WE think it should be... or at least good enough for the work we're willing to put in... things changed.
But, they didn't just change... things were dropped, and continued to be "discarded" until we
have what we have today... a mere shadow of the shadow warrior's art... if that's even possible. Some have even used the term "watered down."
But, while many have gone the way of turning Ninjutsu into a "style," there are those few of us (called "Old School" by those making fun of us) still hold onto the art as it was originally passed down, and before it spread to the masses. Back when the art included training in:
Wilderness survival
skills
traditional and modern weapons
esoteric studies for better understanding of one's self
water and other outdoor scenario-based training
stealth and henso-jutsu (disguise and impersonation)
Kuji and Mikkyo
...and, trust me... a LOT more!
Things that REALLY
gave a Ninja more than an advantage in a fist fight... but the ability to survive... whatever came his or her way (Takamatsu-Sensei's first real lesson to Hatsumi)! "Can You Survive?"
If this "old school" training is something you're interested in, you may have heard of a training framework from the old days (I mean, like Sengoku Jidai'Warring States' period, old days) called the 8 Gates of the Ninja, or the Ninja no Hachimon. And...
...while you can certainly look up the list on probably a hundred different websites, what most can't
give you is the historical context converted to principles and concepts that can then be translated into today's world of the 21st century.
That's exactly what I did when I created my very first online Ninjutsu training program (if it wasn't the first online Ninjutsu program... it was easily in the first THREE) by the same name. It answers the question:
How can you truly train in something that you don't fully understand?
You can
check out all the details HERE. It contains well over 18 hours of training across 10 modules and... if you grab it between now and Sunday, June 30th, you can use coupon code: NINJA33 and save a third off the regular tuition rate.
Either way, if you haven't already done so, do a Google search on this ancient framework that was an absolute requirement for determining what was, and what was NOT authentic Ninjutsu by the past Masters. That way you'll
know if that's what you're really doing, or if it's just a part of the full power and legacy of the Ninja Night Warrior's we all strive to live up to and become!
See you on the other
side!
To your achievement of personal and Warrior Mastery!
Dai-Shihan Miller
PS - Save over $95 off the full cost of this powerful, enlightening, and life-changing program, designed to insure that you understand the history, reasons why, and modern application of the MINIMUM set of training areas within authentic Ninjutsu. Just use code:
NINJA33 to save 33% OFF between now and Sunday!
2346 N. Susquehanna Trail
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USA