Friday, June 19, 2009

Ninja Wackiness


"Ninjutsu" is not getting great press these days.


People outside the martial arts community are beginning to make fun of anyone associated with Ninjutsu. Check out Number 8 on this list.


Then Spike TV's Deadliest Warrior pits a Spartan against a Ninja in a death match...


Which the Ninja loses.


Ninjas don't take losing lying down. Just check out this guy's spirited 20 minute intellectual defense steeped in history and artifacts that is spread over two YouTube videos. He's worked himself into a frenzy over a Spike TV show -- he even gets visibly emotional in the second video! Now... there's no doubt this dork has some serious book learning about ninja. If he, or his hair, amuses you in any way: he's got lots more videos in which he gets so frustrated he starts insulting YouTube whipping boy ChosonNinja.


Is there any hope this downward spiral into ninja oblivion will end? Or are we all doomed to get sucked into suckiness?


I found this today on a Bujinkan web forum:

The rest of the martial arts world, and soon the wider world, are increasingly finding our fame-hungry youtube-posting multidan obese cultist egocentric self-promoting ninja masters to be the biggest joke in the universe (we are only one ranking below clowns in the Outright Ridicularity League), and there are more and more examples for them to (often quite rightly) ridicule by the year. Eventually we will lull the world into a false sense of security until the prospect of being faced with engaging in combat with Bujinkan budoka is as frightening as finding a balloon in your garden. But amongst the mediocre, the fantasists, the talkers and Twitterers, the too-deadly-to-spar brigade, the too-deadly-to-diet brigade, will hide the all-too-real menace of real budoka, who don't make excuses, who train hard and honestly for the real world.


Let me sum this up: Train seriously. All else is fluff. And quit making stupid videos.

3 comments:

srb said...

I believe that is at least part of the reason the name was changed from Ninjutsu to Budo Taijutsu. To stop attracting those want to be cool by association with the mystique versus by learning what is effective and training to make it work.

And as for Spike TV's Deadliest Warrior, remember that Spike is the channel that brought us "Manswers". Not the home of quality analysis and information. Forget the "ninja" episode for a moment. Every other episode will annoy and frustrate a logical thinking person. Bottom line is the show is crap. It is Manswers trying to act like they are on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel. The mark is missed.

Don't get me wrong. I like Spike TV. Lot's of enjoyable stuff. Just don't take it seriously.

BTW. He who had returned, and then was again missing, returned again to this mornings training session. I have a few new bruises as evidence of his presence.

jrf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jrf said...

There is a large, and vocal, portion of Bujinkan members who do and say dumb stuff: Learn at Home Video Courses? Needless, erudite defenses to a low-budget TV show clearly intended to be a lark? Pissing matches with fake wannabe neo-ninja? These and other related, questionable behaviors are indeed perpetrated by Bujinkan "fantasists" more interested in attaching themselves to the ninja mystique than serious training.

I have tried to ignore these things. But I have been increasingly annoyed with this behavior. It reflects badly on all of us.

Honestly -- I have been guilty of Fantasy behavior in the past too. I'm sure that is one reason I find it so annoying now in others. As I grow as a martial artist, I want to focus on the things in my training of real worth and value.

I'm sure my annoyance at other's bad behavior is just a phase I'm going through. I'll eventually make my peace with the fact these Fantasists are out there and move on. Ultimately, what others do does not affect my path in the martial arts.

I'm not sure I am adequately expressing how I feel on this topic. That's probably why I'm going through the phase: in order to sort it out. When I can adequately express myself, the phase will be over.