Wow congratulations on your achivement!^^ Thats awesome to hear! Isn't
ninjutsu related to ninja martial art, something in regard to stealth i think.
I'm just a mere white belt in kenjutsu though as i just started as a
Co-curricular activity in school this year hahahaha. Trying to learn the way
of the sumurai (sort of) =w=

ninjutsu is the martial art of ninja, and I mean the real ones, we do not spit fire like in naruto XD
Of course there are stealth involved, in the sense that in our technics we often have to hide our intentions and take by surprise, but there are also fighting with all kinds of weapons, due to a whole period where there were on the battlefield with armours. It's really varied^^
Kenjutsu must be great as well, Swords aren't my favorite weapons, they are really complex in their use.

If ninjutsu is similar to that of naruto i would be very terrified hahaha.
It reminds me of a joke in kenjutsu.

So far i've only been to at least 2 lesson, so i dont know much yet. I only learn about footwork and swinging of the katana. Through some sparing session i also learn that the hilt of a katana is still quite useful at blocking blade despite its small appearance, who knows.

Hmm different kinds of weapon you mean like the polearm you drew? I wonder what other kind of weapon there is. Which do you find the most effective?

footwork and how to move is 90% of the job in any technic^^ most people focus on the top half of the body, but the legs are always so underestimated, yet they are the most important
Every part of a katana is important, and most generally, every part of any weapon is important. Even the case of the sword can be used^^ Using a sword is an art in itself.

nearly every kind of weapon you can think of is used in ninjutsu. I could list a few, the most commonly used : Katana, wakisashi, tanto, kunai, shuriken, hanbon (walking stick), jô (a staff as long as the distance from the ground to the armpit of the user) the bô (staff a bit longer than the user), the yari (spear), the naginata (halberd), the blowpipe, plus many you probably haven't heard of^^ feel free to look on google image with the name, it would be too long to explain what it is : kyoketsu shoge, kusari, kusari-gama, shako, ect.

Personnally, I prefer staff-like weapons in general. It's fun to use, it's fast (can easily beat sword, mostly because of the range). But any weapon can be good, it really depends on the situation.

Ninjutsu is an art of adaptation, the first ninja were farmers who had to defend themselves, so basically any tool they had turned into a weapon^^

Hmmm thats alot of weapon to learn. I find what you said to be quite true hahaha. I think another part that play a huge role in the diffrent weapon's strength is the user prefrence as well hahaha.

Hmmm ninja were once farmer.I always know that ninja kept their origin well guarded to the point there is few historical records mention about their origin. But to think they had such humble beggining. They really work hard to gain their name, and really careful in keeping it a secret.

The real secret of using different kinds of weapons is that the movements have all the same basis. You just adapt with the range and some specificities about the weapons, but basically you move the same^^ Though of course, when you dig on the matter, you find many specific uses and movements, but to a beginniner, when you assimilated the way to move and to adapt the distance, you can use the weapon at least correctly

Actually, the most known story isn't that a secret. Theyr were farmer of Iga's province, during the era where many lords wanted to unificate Japan. They simply refused the authority of Nobonaga, the most powerful one. So he threw several armies against them. Outnumbered, they had to use every way to win with the least damages, technics that some could qualify as coward, but actually all the sought was to survive, so honor didn't matter. It ended in a big fight, 10000 ninja against 33000 mens of Nobunaga, and they resisted pretty well, but in the end, the number did the difference. They were almost eradicated, slaughtered.

Though, some of them survived and spread all over Japan, offering their uniques knowledge and services in exchange for a new home. This is how their culture survived. Later, they participated in many battles, and that's where the fight in armour comes from. New technics, new weapons. But you can find many of their fighting style in history. Like, The current armour was invented around 14th century when the portuguese brought guns. They needed something to protect themselves from the bullets. Also, the plates on the belly is due to the spear. the spear is a really nasty thing, it gets in with a lot of strength, and when you twist it, it rips the organs apart.

I could talk about it for hours, but I find the historical side really fascinating^^

Wow. Nobunaga seems to want to unite japan really bad. To send so many soilder against them. The technique they use may not be honorable. But the way they fought till the very end in what they believe in, that was definitely quite admirable, heoric even.

The idea of being speared alive sound extremely painful. Yeouch... im glad armour do exist for those but im not too sure if the current armour is just as effective against bullet.

I heard that shinobi were great spy and assassin back in the days. They are ussually well hidden amoung not the shadow but amoung the people like Kinoichi would diguse themself as maid ans much more..

The history of ninja sure is indeed fascinating.

Well it's also because they had humiliated the first (far smaller) army he sent to them.^^ Plus, a few of them infiltrated a castle where he kept gun powder and made it blow up XD So enough was enough for Nobunaga. In the end, they only tried to defend their lands. Of course, what happened next in history might be a bit less honorable. Spying, assassinating,...

For the bullets of the time, it probably was, they didn't have snipers or famas, or other well evolved guns^^

Of course the kunoichi were well employed at the time, seducing targets to slaughter them in their sleep for example. But the shinobi sometimes went undercover as priests or merchants to accomplish their tasks as well. That's what I love about ninjutsu, it doesn't discriminate, it teaches you how to get the best out of your natural talents/affinities whatever they are. I even saw a 15th dan with a prostetic leg, and I heard there's a lady who's blind and still practices. Ninjutsu can be a great metaphorical way to make you understand that when you have something less, it usually means you also have something more. Personally, I wouldn't even try to fight the blind lady, I can't imagine how she would surprise me.^^

Wow congratulations! I stopped after first dan to get more involved with school. I've been wanting to retrain myself. That is awesome to achieve in 6 years of practice and the fact it took that amount of time shows that your teacher and you are both great practitioners.

My teacher is known to be a bit of a brute, like, he really throws punches and often make you feel pain. But that's why I think he's a great teacher in his way, because this is no simulation, he makes you feel the real effects of the technics, and you learn better how to move, how to react. I sincerely think that in a real fight, I would mostly be surprised to actually not feel so much pain if someone punches me XD As for me, I don't consider myself as great, I just try to do my best and to have fun in what I do. I'm not much of a fighter, so I mostly enjoy the beauty of the art itself, and how it makes me a better man in my everyday life. I can feel how I'm more relaxed, less scared, and nicer with people. Martial art really transforms someone, if we practice it seriously

Indeed, honestly if it weren't for my teacher I probably wouldn't have chosen to become a chiropractor. Seeing him work on different people and explaining so much about the human body and it's little quirks are what really got me interested. Watching him heal people after a Tai Chi class with just his hands when these were people who were taking notable amounts of advil per day was really inspiring for me.

A teacher that explains each technique and works with students to really improve and introduce new attributes to the art as the student moves up is someone who really knows their stuff, at least from my point of view.

The healing side of ninjutsu is something I would love to learn, but unfortunately, there are too few teacher for that, and it would imply to get the budget to travel^^ I think the nearest teacher for that is in the UK. But reanimation points, energy manipulation, these things attract me more than how to kill. I'm not much of a fighter, I love this martial art for the understanding of the human body, on how to manipulate it, I think it would be awesome to learn how to heal it.

For the rest, I find myself quite lucky to have so competent teachers, plus the ninjutsu community is so far the friendliest I've ever seen^^ In the end, martial art is more a philosophy of life than how to hurt^^

It's great to hear someone else finally talk about how the martial arts have helped them in more ways than being able to break a board and being fit. In the time I've practiced I've come to see that the better or "stronger" practitioner has no need for trying to prove themselves and is generally much more peaceful.

Yes learning how each point of the body is connected with another is one of the reasons I became much more interested in the "natural" ways of healing the body instead of popping a pill. I've seen too much damage done by pharmaceutical drugs to think that it heals in any way. It really makes me happy to see that learning the art has influenced you in such a positive way. Keep on training :)

Personnally, if someone start to ask if I think I'm better than them at combat or wants to fight to prove if what I say is right, I generally turn them down. I don't practice to fight, I certainly don't want to try my technics for real (also because they are quite deadly if I succeed, I don't want to hurt by mistake) If they want to prove they are better than me, I simply tell them they most certainly are. What ninjutsu taught me is that the best victory is in the fights we avoid, and I certainly do not feel ashamed if I run away instead of fighting. The difference between a warrior and a hero is that the hero is in the graveyard, the warrior survives.

If someone wants to steel my wallet by threatening me with a knife, I give him my wallet. If someone clearly wants my life though, or the life of a close one, well in this case, that would be his last mistake.

And I would say that simply not caring and doing what we like is so much more relaxing XD

On pharmaceutical, I kind of have the same view... I sincerely think that they heal the symptoms and not the cause. The mind and the knowledge of the body is much more powerful for long term healing.

I've often been told that we practice ninjutsu to heal ourselves, not to hurt

For the un-initiated like myself, mind explaining what "2nd dan" implies?

in ninjutsu, you start mukyu (means nothing), white belt without rank.
then when you get the first rank, 9th kyu, you switch to green belt (for guys) or red belt (for gals). The following ranks goes decreasing without switching belt : 8th kyu, 7th kyu, ect.
when you're 1st kyu, the next rank is shodan (black belt, 1st dan). You'll keep the black belt forever, and you start getting dan at each rank, 2nd dan, 3st dan... ect. until 15th dan which is the highest rank.
However, the rank is just an indicator, like, getting black belt just means you got the basis and start really working on improving your technics. Even between the 15th dan, you have big differences in the mastering of the art. To me, it mostly implies that I quite improved, and I'm glad to^^ It's a neverending learning