Nick... is a ninja

Ninjas, who were they are, or perhaps a better question is, who are they? Are they still around? If so, where? The art of Ninjutsu (Nehn-Jet-Soo) is a martial art which focuses on stealth and lethality. It is NOT a sport practiced for entertainment, but a martial art which specializes in quick and effective take downs and counters. Ninjutsu began in the Iga Province in Japan. Groups from this area would recruit peasant workers and lower class people and train them in the art of a ninja. Ninjas have been viewed as assassins, theives, and scouts, but one thing remains true, ninjutsu is a martial art that is not to be taken lightly.

Many ninjutsu techninques focus on deflection and pressure point takedowns. There are radom clumps of nervers throughout the human body which serve as points that ninjas can use to disable an oponents arms, legs, and to sometimes knock out an oponent completely.Pressure point techniques require years and years of training, and also require pinpoint precision. Here is a video of a highly trained ninja demonstrating a pressure point knockout.



There is a fabled technique called the hammer punch in which a ninja delivers a swift and lethal blow to the chest directly in front of the heart which is said to be so powerful, that it can stop the heart from beating immediately.

The teachings of ninjutsu are loosely based on eighteen unique principles. Those principles are:

1. Spiritual Refinement
2. Unarmed Combat
3. Sword Techniques
4. Stick and Staff Techniques
5. Spear Techniques
6. Naginata Techniques (a naginata is a staff with a curved blade on the end)
7. Kusarigama Techniques (a Kusarigama is a short sickle on a metal chain)
8. Throwing Weapons Techniques
9. Pyrotechnics and Explosives
10. Disguise and Impersonation
11. Stealth and Entering methods
12. Horsemanship
13. Water Training
14. Combat Tactics
15. Espionage
16. Escaping and Concealment
17. Meteorology
18. Geography

Ninja have made appearance throughout the years. Most of them were not happy ones. Some ninja were so skilled at their art that the were either feared as demons or praised as gods for their almost super human abilities. Common ninjutsu techniques teach about 40 or 50 different ways to kill an oponent with one's bare hands. One thing is for sure: you never, NEVER want to get on the bad side of a ninja.

There are still ninja around today, such as the Iternational Bujinkan Dojo Assosiation which offers a lengthy program that requires years of devotion and a steadfast and habitual love of practicing and training. Of course, there are not really any secret dojos that steal children to train as lethal ninja assassins. That is all Hollywood. We all know that a ninja cannot catch an arrow or dissapate into the shadows, but what we should know, is that ninja are quick, precise, and deadly whenever they need to be.