What are some good books out there on the art of ninjitsu?

Question

What are some good books out there on the art of ninjitsu?

Answer 1

Hi there

It is true there are quite a lot of c**p books released about ninjutsu but there are quite a few good ones too. The real problem here is how do you determine which ones have all the good stuff in and what to get from them?

The answer to this one is very simple and applies to all martial arts and not just ninjutsu and is that you have to be training in the art in the first place. Books are only suppliments to actual training.

Ok heres the run down. Dont buy any books unless they have been written by Hatsumi, Manaka or Tanemura. The rest inc Stephen Hayes are not worth the paper there written on. Secondly as for actual books on school kata you will struggle. These types of books have been privately written but are only availble to Shidoshi's and shihans.

So whats good that's commericaly available?

1. understand, good, play by Hatsumi/Cole. This is quite simply the best book but expect to pay around $300 for it!

2. Sick fighting & Advanced stick fighting by Hatsumi. Covers Kukishin ryu hanbo, bo and jo techniques.

3. Japanese sword fighting by hatsumi. This covers Kukishin and Togakure ryu ninja biken sword techniques.

4. The way of the ninja by hatsumi. Covers Togakure ryu and kihon happo.

5. Ninjutsu, history and tradition by Hatsumi. A basic all round general knowledge book.

6. Unarmed fighting techniques of the samurai by a hatsumi. A new book thats not been released yet but looks promising!

The above can all be purchased from amazon and will give you a very general insite as to what is practiced in the Bujinkan, Jinenkan and Genbukan.

As for whats practiced and whats real?  This art is very much real and alive providing you train with the right people that its. You wont catch real practitioners wearing masks, making posions or sneaking around in the dark finger knitting. It has more in common with Jujutsu and Aikido than anything you probably associate with ninjas. TV and media have a lot to answer for!

You only have to look at some of the answers you have received already to see how people interprit what they think this art is about.

Oh dear :-(

Best wishes

idai

Answer 2

There are none...I've ordered and read a lot of this c**p material and it always turns out the same.  These "Ninjitsu Masters" or what ever other label they give them selves produce some of the s**+**iest books you'll ever read.  Seems to me that a lot of them have "mental issues" going on and that they've spent too much time "experimenting with LSD".  Pictures in their books are usually black and white and their so-called 12 techniques of invisibilty and what not is all "Bullshido".  If you want to learn anything close to the real deal join the U.S. Army and Take SERE training.  These books, courses and other BS that these "Ninjitsu Masters" offer are a novelty at best dude.  If you want a good laugh then order one.  You'd think that you could at least find one decent technique out of at least one of these books, but guess what it's all Jujitsu coupled with Iaido and the Jujitsu and Iaido techniques they show in these books are at best "beginner level".  Of course these so-called "Masters" would put a curse on me and I'd die a "voodoo" death if they had their way about it.  Reading a "diary" of how people wronged them and how they will eventually kill them all from beyond the "cosmic dust of cancer" is the funniset part of all of their books.  These "Ninjitsu Masters" are 60's drop outs at best that never came back from their last "acid trip".  

Thank God I already researched these fakes huh? or you may have been out of $199.00 huh?  Don't ever believe their "magical" BS dude.  Do some research and you'll find that "ninjitsu" was just another word for "hired samurai assassin", meaning that these "Ninja" were all just samurai and nothing more.  Worse yet "ninja" were the lowest of all samurai because they were considered "cowards" by the Japanese people of their times.  No Lie!!! research it.  It's the truth.  Ninja = Cowardly back stabbing, face covering, no honor piece of sh*t.  Oh and BTW nun-chucks that you see in "ninja" movies were a early 1900's invention that some "Chinese Farmer" thought of, "feudal Japan's Samurai" were all gone by the 1880's and never once touched a pair of chucks let alone "Chinese" throwing stars.

If you ever tried the poison powders that some of these so-called "Masters" talk about in their stupid books you'd be charged with "terrorism" and thrown into a federal pen. for life. These idiots were just looking for good ways to make a better LSD so that they could drop it by the handfuls and never come off of their trips hence "poison powders"....hehehehe.

Answer 3

anything by dr. haha lung, and ashida kim. ive read almost all of them and i must say they are AWESOME. also try stephen k hayes. hope this was useful at all

Answer 4

Ashisa Kim is a fake big Time.

Stick to Hayes and Hatsumi

They are the real deal

Answer 5

check out any books by Dr. Haha Lung. his books are very informative and give a good glimpse of ninjutsu. in particular Ninja: the Shadowhand is a very good one specifically for ninjutsu, although all of his books even the ones not directly related to ninjutsu are very useful.