Are you trying to learn the art of ninjutsu, but don’t have a Ninja master or dojo near you?
Do you want to know how to train in Ninjutsu when you are training on your own?
Well, you are not alone. In fact, the Path you are walking on, or at least considering entering, is not unique to you or our modern world. People would like to think that to learn ninjutsu, or any other martial art, you MUST go to a formal school and train directly with a teacher.
And while it was once necessary to be in the presence of a teacher, at least for short periods, to learn the lesson, modern technology has created a new paradigm – a new way to get the training you need.
And while a student training on his own a few years ago was quite limited to trying to learn from still images in martial arts books and magazines, today’s student can use the power of video and the internet to gain much of the training they need. And you can do the same to learn ninjutsu.
In fact, you will actually be walking a Path that I, my own teachers, the Grandmaster, and even Takamatsu-sensei, the 33rd Grandmaster of the Togakure-Ryu of Ninjutsu, and the teacher of Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, have walked.
We all participate in individual training to develop most of the skills, competence and knowledge that we possess. Each of us, due to the distance between where we lived and our teacher, spent more time training alone, researching, studying and practicing away from our teachers than in the dojo.
Does that mean we never train with a teacher?
Not.
It means that we were fully responsible for our own progress and development. We were responsible, perhaps even more than the student who lives down the street from the dojo, to make sure that we take the lessons our teacher gave us and make them real, so that they work. Y …
… to show our teacher that we were worth his time and that we are ready for the next lesson when we return to class.
Contrary to popular belief, ancient warriors normally did not have time to devote to study. So what often happened was that a warrior would take time away from the “world”, either intentionally or during his travels, and meet with a teacher for a day or three.
During this time, the warrior may only learn a technique or two: a principle, a concept, or a new way of looking at things. Then it was their responsibility to go and figure it out for themselves, personalize it, internalize the lesson and make it their own.
That’s what Hatsumi-Sensei did during the week between one weekend visit with Takamatsu-Sensei and the next.
That’s what I did between visits to my teacher’s dojo in Atlanta, Dayton, and Noda-city, while living in Germany, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
And that is what Takamatsu-Sensei did at various points in his own development of mastery.
You will undoubtedly need several things to make this Path work for you. Will need:
1) commitment and self-management ability to stay on track
2) basic lessons you can work with that come from a real teacher, and …
3) regular feedback to make sure you are doing things correctly and correcting anything that is wrong before internalizing a bad habit
Neither I nor any other teacher can give you “commitment” or the ability to manage yourself. That is not our job. But what you can and should get from a teacher, as often as possible, even if you train on your own, is a constant supply of basic lessons and feedback on your progress.
Regardless of whether this is done via video, attending seminars or private training sessions on a regular basis, or a combination of the two …
… as a solo student, you are responsible for your training more than anyone else is, has been or will be in the history of this art.
Are you cut out to be a ninja? Do you have what it takes?