Library's review
Masaaki Hatsumi, the 34th Grandmaster of Togakure ryu and founder of the International Bujinkan Hombu Dojo, shares with the reader his insights and philosophy of the martial arts. Originally published in Japanese, this unique book is now available in English for the first time.
Grandmaster Masaaki
It was from Toshitsugu Takamatsu that he received the soke-ship of Togakure ryu ninpo, Kukishinden ryu, koppojutsu, kosshijutsu, and other taijutsu traditions. Hatsumi currently resides in Noda, Japan.
Ninpo: Wisdom for Life offers the reader Hatsumi's personal insights regarding physical, mental, and spiritual teachings. As your training in the Bujinkan progresses, these subtle readings will come to take on newer meanings and offer greater wisdom for life.
Any translation issues aside, this English version of Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo is a profound and useful text for a student of the Bujinkan arts.
There have been many books in which Hatsumi sensei is interviewed about or writes regarding the martial arts, but in Ninpo: Wisdom for Life, the number of topics discussed is overwhelming! From diet to personal relationships, the Grandmaster reveals his unique thoughts and views on them all. In addition to philosophy, there are many references to and descriptions of techniques and methods of taijutsu and ninpo.
A friend from Japan sent this note to me:
Just wanted to let you know that I have read the Ninpo: Wisdom for Life book by Hatsumi Sensei and found it to be really great! I attempted to translate it for my own personal use several years ago but got no further than the first chapter. It was very heavy going. Having lived in Japan for over 12 years I found it to be useful because of the references Sensei makes to Japanese society. Once again, it is very well done. -Joe Mauranonio
I have owned Ninpo: Wisdom for Life for a few years and think it is one of my favorite ninja books. Having read all of the English books by Masaaki Hatsumi, I can tell you that this book is page after page of martial arts philosophy! It is great to read about the philosophy behind the art of ninjutsu and having it from the source is excellent. When reading the book I feel like I am reading a Densho [traditional scrool]. -Lisa Ann
Dr. Maasaki Hatsumi is a life-long practitioner and teacher of the Ninja arts. 'Ninpo' is a derivative from 'ninjutsu' but means it in a broader sense, like 'martial arts' and 'martial way'.
Dr. Hatsumi is very good at covering many many different facets of life. In that, he is personifying the all-embracing spirit of the martial way, the Ninpo, which he also claims is the way of peace. There is really not much that he doesn't cover in this small but very terse volume. Some of the stuff is easier to understand like a chapter where he gives us an interview with a long time Western practitioner - very insightful. Others may be more obscure and esoteric - like a chapter outlining different sorts of spirits. Also one may not be able to comprehend the Japanese terminology, which is meant for someone who is familiar with the practice. All in all the book is very interesting, and has some rare insights taken directly from the cultural context. For example, the old gamblers' priceless advice to his younger student 'act intimidated, repeat this mantra and be bold'.) Others include a convers. with the photo correspondent who have claimed to see an ancient samurai spirit in one of the photos that he took during one of the Dr.'s demos. This was attributed to the immense power of the sound/will vibration or 'kiai'.
Translation is good, i liked it and sympathize with the translator, who must ve had a heck of a time translating some Japanese mannerisms. All in all, this book is very well worth reading, but be prepared to use some facets of your intelligence that you are not used to using with most of the books that you usually read. -Reader
I am currently training in bujinkan & have done so in to-shin-do also. This is my personal favorite of all the Hatsumi books I have read. I gives you workable insight without having to decode it from Japanese culture or have to pull philosophy from legend like stories. This is fun also, don't get me wrong. But I never found myself lost reading this. Brilliant. -Mr. Hill
Stemming from his martial studies with his now deceased teacher, the author delves into his new found awareness of the world around him through the insights gleaned from his art. Lessons in the martial arts are drawn from a myriad of subjects, from the Japanese bubble economy to his wife's problems with dental pain, from classical piano performances to baseball team management, from school lectures on being passionate about one's dreams to historical examples of his teacher and others and so on.
It is important to note that this book is a book about the martial arts. All of the stories, anecdotes and experiences it contains ought to be seen as lessons into the nature of the feeling of the martial art that the author is famous for. With this in mind, the ability of the author to find within the world around him knowledge directly related to his martial art is very impressive.
Unlike his more recent books, the writing style of this book only begins to play with the creativity that the author is now known for. One gets the feeling that the author is just starting to wake up to his artistic nature. It is not fully revealed in this book but given what we know through his later works, we can clearly see the first steps being taken.
Unfortunately, and this has proven to be a problem with many of the author's English books, the quality of the translation suffers. When compared with the original Japanese version (Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo), one can find numerous passages that have been translated to mean the opposite of what was intended. This is quite a serious flaw and while it doesn't affect the whole book, it does force one to pay attention to what is being said.
With this in mind, a critical mind will go a long way towards understanding what is written in this book. Perhaps the best advice is given by the author himself when he suggests that readers 'converse with the book'. In doing so, the value of this 'just-before-coming-of-age-book' will become clear. -Pen Name
Contents
Forward to this edition
Introduction Enlightenment derived from hidden living
Chapter One Philosophy of budo and ninpo
Philosophy of budo
Philsophy of ninjutsu
Key points to finding the gokui
Enduring the knowledge
Do not neglect self-training
Devote yourself to training
Something will be born of enthusiasm
Musha shugyo
To become a student
Religion, faith & budo
Strive to know your rank
A view of budo from blue eyes
Identification of spirits, conquest of ghosts
The world of craziness
The evolution of fighting techniques
The Japanese sword and budo
About kiai
Chapter Two World of budo and ninpo
The Densho lives
From ninpo to ninjutsu
Hojutsu and ninjutsu
Similarity between budo performance and drama scenes
Expert control to revive or kill
Development of balttlefield methods emphasizing regional traits
Nage: Not only from the loins
Train your mental energy
Cut and get cut
Footwork reveals your mind and body
Chapter Three Life of perseverance
People who cannot bear life do not live
Endure using kuji
Make ourself invisible
Get rid of your inferiority complex
Do not forget humanity
Learn lessons through your body
Be indifferent toward gossip
Change rather than progress
Do not desire jewelry
Turn three poisons into three medicines
Live your everyday life with the mind of sutemi
If you drink sake, drink budo sake
Lessons we learn from demonstrations of uke and ori
The motivation of pain
It is important to be immovable
Bunt for the fastball
Nervousness protects against failure
Tengu's nose must be broken
Give hard training to reveal the vulnerable pont
Do not think you were under shigoki
Intentionally become a 'bad person'
The businessman's social structure
Make otonashi no kamae
Attack with shin-gi-tai in harmony
Be a tasteful actor
Give advice instead of getting angry from the heart
Teach people evil in order to keep them from evil
Think by yourself
Running is for winning
Be an expert at something
Become a popular person
Be bold, act timid
No not rush to build a house
Sow good seeds in good rich field
Become a person who can us ma
Disguise yourself using bojutsu
Chapter Four Men and women
The attributes of women and methods of self defense
Look for a spoiuse who understands seppuku
The mistakes of love should be dismissed
Deceive and be deceived
Friendship between men and women
Playing and health
From 7 variations to 7 different colors
Love without restriction
A lie is not a sin in love scenes
Good use of risque humor
Deceiving women, kunoichi ninpo
Learning methods to attract a partner
A method to balance love
No reasoning in relationships
Chapter Five Ninja discussion
The concept of Zen ken ichijo
Purpose of shugyo, purpose of life
On divination and fortune telling
From India to China to Japan
Bushido and art theory
Let's go gently
The camera laughs
Moroku kenpo and goketsu kenpo
Ninja popularity and me
Training will still be fun after the master is gone
If you do not have anything, use the shinobi tool
Do not depend on ESP
Gyokko ryu ten ryaku uchu gassho
Live on a ratio of 7.3
When muddy water turns to clear water
Deceptiveness and truth of staring into the enemy
Creation from madness
Dig the grave deep and wide
Cut off your feelings
Newton and the apple
Boys be proud
A certificate of death
Read a book as if you are conversing with it
Do not forget Yamato Damashii
Musashi's counterpunch
Long live Japanese tradition
Write with a candid but inoffensive style
Contemporary literature as seen by martial artists
Listen to experience!
Do not stop excessive ambition
Grandmaster Masaaki
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Hatsumi was born December 2, 1931 in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from Meiji University, Literature Department and later went on to receive his Doctor degree from a medical school located in Yotsuya. He trained for over fifteen years in kobudo, thereafter becoming apprenticed to the late Toshitsugu Takamatsu who lived in Kashiwara, Nara Province.It was from Toshitsugu Takamatsu that he received the soke-ship of Togakure ryu ninpo, Kukishinden ryu, koppojutsu, kosshijutsu, and other taijutsu traditions. Hatsumi currently resides in Noda, Japan.
Ninpo: Wisdom for Life offers the reader Hatsumi's personal insights regarding physical, mental, and spiritual teachings. As your training in the Bujinkan progresses, these subtle readings will come to take on newer meanings and offer greater wisdom for life.
Any translation issues aside, this English version of Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo is a profound and useful text for a student of the Bujinkan arts.
There have been many books in which Hatsumi sensei is interviewed about or writes regarding the martial arts, but in Ninpo: Wisdom for Life, the number of topics discussed is overwhelming! From diet to personal relationships, the Grandmaster reveals his unique thoughts and views on them all. In addition to philosophy, there are many references to and descriptions of techniques and methods of taijutsu and ninpo.
A friend from Japan sent this note to me:
Just wanted to let you know that I have read the Ninpo: Wisdom for Life book by Hatsumi Sensei and found it to be really great! I attempted to translate it for my own personal use several years ago but got no further than the first chapter. It was very heavy going. Having lived in Japan for over 12 years I found it to be useful because of the references Sensei makes to Japanese society. Once again, it is very well done. -Joe Mauranonio
I have owned Ninpo: Wisdom for Life for a few years and think it is one of my favorite ninja books. Having read all of the English books by Masaaki Hatsumi, I can tell you that this book is page after page of martial arts philosophy! It is great to read about the philosophy behind the art of ninjutsu and having it from the source is excellent. When reading the book I feel like I am reading a Densho [traditional scrool]. -Lisa Ann
Dr. Maasaki Hatsumi is a life-long practitioner and teacher of the Ninja arts. 'Ninpo' is a derivative from 'ninjutsu' but means it in a broader sense, like 'martial arts' and 'martial way'.
Dr. Hatsumi is very good at covering many many different facets of life. In that, he is personifying the all-embracing spirit of the martial way, the Ninpo, which he also claims is the way of peace. There is really not much that he doesn't cover in this small but very terse volume. Some of the stuff is easier to understand like a chapter where he gives us an interview with a long time Western practitioner - very insightful. Others may be more obscure and esoteric - like a chapter outlining different sorts of spirits. Also one may not be able to comprehend the Japanese terminology, which is meant for someone who is familiar with the practice. All in all the book is very interesting, and has some rare insights taken directly from the cultural context. For example, the old gamblers' priceless advice to his younger student 'act intimidated, repeat this mantra and be bold'.) Others include a convers. with the photo correspondent who have claimed to see an ancient samurai spirit in one of the photos that he took during one of the Dr.'s demos. This was attributed to the immense power of the sound/will vibration or 'kiai'.
Translation is good, i liked it and sympathize with the translator, who must ve had a heck of a time translating some Japanese mannerisms. All in all, this book is very well worth reading, but be prepared to use some facets of your intelligence that you are not used to using with most of the books that you usually read. -Reader
I am currently training in bujinkan & have done so in to-shin-do also. This is my personal favorite of all the Hatsumi books I have read. I gives you workable insight without having to decode it from Japanese culture or have to pull philosophy from legend like stories. This is fun also, don't get me wrong. But I never found myself lost reading this. Brilliant. -Mr. Hill
Stemming from his martial studies with his now deceased teacher, the author delves into his new found awareness of the world around him through the insights gleaned from his art. Lessons in the martial arts are drawn from a myriad of subjects, from the Japanese bubble economy to his wife's problems with dental pain, from classical piano performances to baseball team management, from school lectures on being passionate about one's dreams to historical examples of his teacher and others and so on.
It is important to note that this book is a book about the martial arts. All of the stories, anecdotes and experiences it contains ought to be seen as lessons into the nature of the feeling of the martial art that the author is famous for. With this in mind, the ability of the author to find within the world around him knowledge directly related to his martial art is very impressive.
Unlike his more recent books, the writing style of this book only begins to play with the creativity that the author is now known for. One gets the feeling that the author is just starting to wake up to his artistic nature. It is not fully revealed in this book but given what we know through his later works, we can clearly see the first steps being taken.
Unfortunately, and this has proven to be a problem with many of the author's English books, the quality of the translation suffers. When compared with the original Japanese version (Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo), one can find numerous passages that have been translated to mean the opposite of what was intended. This is quite a serious flaw and while it doesn't affect the whole book, it does force one to pay attention to what is being said.
With this in mind, a critical mind will go a long way towards understanding what is written in this book. Perhaps the best advice is given by the author himself when he suggests that readers 'converse with the book'. In doing so, the value of this 'just-before-coming-of-age-book' will become clear. -Pen Name
Contents
Forward to this edition
Introduction Enlightenment derived from hidden living
Chapter One Philosophy of budo and ninpo
Philosophy of budo
Philsophy of ninjutsu
Key points to finding the gokui
Enduring the knowledge
Do not neglect self-training
Devote yourself to training
Something will be born of enthusiasm
Musha shugyo
To become a student
Religion, faith & budo
Strive to know your rank
A view of budo from blue eyes
Identification of spirits, conquest of ghosts
The world of craziness
The evolution of fighting techniques
The Japanese sword and budo
About kiai
Chapter Two World of budo and ninpo
The Densho lives
From ninpo to ninjutsu
Hojutsu and ninjutsu
Similarity between budo performance and drama scenes
Expert control to revive or kill
Development of balttlefield methods emphasizing regional traits
Nage: Not only from the loins
Train your mental energy
Cut and get cut
Footwork reveals your mind and body
Chapter Three Life of perseverance
People who cannot bear life do not live
Endure using kuji
Make ourself invisible
Get rid of your inferiority complex
Do not forget humanity
Learn lessons through your body
Be indifferent toward gossip
Change rather than progress
Do not desire jewelry
Turn three poisons into three medicines
Live your everyday life with the mind of sutemi
If you drink sake, drink budo sake
Lessons we learn from demonstrations of uke and ori
The motivation of pain
It is important to be immovable
Bunt for the fastball
Nervousness protects against failure
Tengu's nose must be broken
Give hard training to reveal the vulnerable pont
Do not think you were under shigoki
Intentionally become a 'bad person'
The businessman's social structure
Make otonashi no kamae
Attack with shin-gi-tai in harmony
Be a tasteful actor
Give advice instead of getting angry from the heart
Teach people evil in order to keep them from evil
Think by yourself
Running is for winning
Be an expert at something
Become a popular person
Be bold, act timid
No not rush to build a house
Sow good seeds in good rich field
Become a person who can us ma
Disguise yourself using bojutsu
Chapter Four Men and women
The attributes of women and methods of self defense
Look for a spoiuse who understands seppuku
The mistakes of love should be dismissed
Deceive and be deceived
Friendship between men and women
Playing and health
From 7 variations to 7 different colors
Love without restriction
A lie is not a sin in love scenes
Good use of risque humor
Deceiving women, kunoichi ninpo
Learning methods to attract a partner
A method to balance love
No reasoning in relationships
Chapter Five Ninja discussion
The concept of Zen ken ichijo
Purpose of shugyo, purpose of life
On divination and fortune telling
From India to China to Japan
Bushido and art theory
Let's go gently
The camera laughs
Moroku kenpo and goketsu kenpo
Ninja popularity and me
Training will still be fun after the master is gone
If you do not have anything, use the shinobi tool
Do not depend on ESP
Gyokko ryu ten ryaku uchu gassho
Live on a ratio of 7.3
When muddy water turns to clear water
Deceptiveness and truth of staring into the enemy
Creation from madness
Dig the grave deep and wide
Cut off your feelings
Newton and the apple
Boys be proud
A certificate of death
Read a book as if you are conversing with it
Do not forget Yamato Damashii
Musashi's counterpunch
Long live Japanese tradition
Write with a candid but inoffensive style
Contemporary literature as seen by martial artists
Listen to experience!
Do not stop excessive ambition
Show Less
ISBN
972773800
Publication
Kihon Press P.O. Box 146 Yonkers, NY 10710