Lots of ninjas, no Mall Ninjas  though.

• Ninjas are mammals.


• Ninjas fight ALL the time.


• The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

I love with Ninja's with my whole body, even my PP.

I didn't know whether to hide from or make fun of that older dude they had on....

Ninjas are totally sweet, & by sweet I mean cool.

Aside from all of this Mall Ninja quotes and stuff, I have an honest comment to make about Ninjutsu.

I honestly beleive that Ninjutsu as an art is dead. I found a local instructor of Bujinkan Ninjutsu, or so he claimed he couldn't back it up, and some of his techniques seemed good. But he constantly slammed other martial arts and said they were not "combat oriented" and that they were all junk. I thought to myself if ninjutsu was the "ultimate" system as he claimed then there would be tons of people practicing it and no question of it's lineage. But there isn't. So I feel ninjutsu is a lost and dead martial art. And what is practiced now is all speculation and can not be directly traced to the art of the past.

Ninjitsu (Togakure Bunjikan dojo Taijitsu) is not an art, more of a way of life, and it is far from "dead". I must agree that it is dufficult to find a REAL instructor. However, Ed Martin and Bud Malstrom (in Georgia) are two individuals that I would recommend as contacts to find Bunjikan Dojo teachers. Stepehen Hayes has gone his own way with the "quest Center" view of classical Bunjikan teachings, in MY opinion. His teachings are more oriented toward todays modern world than the old scrolls of the Togakure lineage. Yet, he is a good place to start. One of my friends, a Shodan, is in Japan currently learning with Shirashi Sensei and Soke Hatsumi whenever he can. We learn from him what we can during his short visits back stateside. In the old Dojo we actually had Shirashi Sensei teach whenever he came stateside for buisness. It was only a handful of times but they were weekend crash courses from 8am to 10pm Fri/Sat/Sun.

as far as what is practiced tody you are correct about speculation, The only guide to the old ways is throught Hatsumi and the scrolls. Even then, there is subterfuge as to what is really being taught. In a classical sense the scrolls teach a list of technique, a Kata, to those so inclined to use the word. With each technique there are hanka (variations) depending on various factors. However, the core is the same; position, balance, timing, spacing, mindset all matter. Different schools within the system focus on differnt things, thus different Kata. In Gyokko Ryu a more circular system of unbalancing, striking, parrying, "blocking" are taught where in Shinden Fudo Ryu a more lineare approach is emphasised. In the Togakure Lineage there are 9 schools (ryu) and even then a few are specualtive at best as to what the underlying teaching is.