# Why is it...



## Bruno@MT (Jan 12, 2010)

I thought of putting this on my blog, but traffic here is down so I decided to start it as a thread. Who knows what good may come of it?
Last week I accidentally zapped into a tv show called 'deadliest warrior' which is an entertainment show comparing warriors from different cultures. Interesting concept but bad execution. As it happened, It was 'Ninja' vs 'Spartan'. 'COOL'... I thought. 'I know a bit about this'... I thought.
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And then the guy in the hollywood ninja suit brings out the 'ninja-to' that we all love to hate, explaining how this was the traditional sword of the ninja.
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<GROAN>  <GROAN>

At least the Spartan completely crushed the ninja. Too bad he didn't get to do that with the actual ninja wannabee Lou Klein. By the time the show ended (I watched it till the end out of a morbid sense of curiosity) I felt like that would have been appropriate.

And this is not the first time **** like this happens. So I wonder: if people are making a show and want to include some actual history and weaponry, why  don't they take a couple of minutes to actually find a legit ninjutsu practisioner (more than enough of those in the states) who knows what he is ****ing talking about?


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## wushuguy (Jan 12, 2010)

You mean that guy wasn't a real ninja??? :duh: have to stop taking TV shows as reality facts. ... next I'll probably find out that Jedi are not real either...


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## Omar B (Jan 12, 2010)

Yeah, that show's pretty dreadful.  Some of the best of the worse include Mafia Vs Yakuza, IRA Vs Taliban, Green Beret Vs Spetznatz.


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## celtic_crippler (Jan 12, 2010)

wushuguy said:


> You mean that guy wasn't a real ninja??? :duh: have to stop taking TV shows as reality facts. ... next I'll probably find out that Jedi are not real either...


 
These are not the ninjas you are looking for.... :jediduel:


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## Dale Seago (Jan 12, 2010)

> And this is not the first time **** like this happens. So I wonder: if people are making a show and want to include some actual history and weaponry, why don't they take a couple of minutes to actually find a legit ninjutsu practisioner (more than enough of those in the states) who knows what he is ****ing talking about?



MythBusters did in the first of their 2 "ninja specials", but still insisted on mainly covering BS.

Some clips from this one at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9b8az_mythbusters-78-bujinkan-parts_sport


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## Bruno@MT (Jan 13, 2010)

And it's not just ninjutsu mind you.
When national geographic did a documentary on 'the ultimate weapon', guess who got to test the katana...

Was it a Japanese headmaster of a traditional system?....    NO.
Was it a westerner with a master level license in a traditional system? ...    NO
Was it anyone who practised iado at a reasonably high level? .... NO

It was a self-important TKD guy who made the most ridiculous faces and sounds while posing with the katana, and then proceeded to HACK (not cut, but hacking like with a 2 handed machete) the dummy.

It was so bad it was nauseating. It could have been so wonderful to analyse scientifically measured cutting tests performed by an expert. Instead, we get an XMA idiot hacking at the dummy with a katana as if he was Joe Pesci with a baseball bat.


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## Tensei85 (Jan 13, 2010)

wushuguy said:


> You mean that guy wasn't a real ninja??? :duh: have to stop taking TV shows as reality facts. ... next I'll probably find out that Jedi are not real either...


 
Hey btw, nice AV for "shen diao xia lu" &#31070;&#38613;&#20384;&#20387;, that drama's awesome! Have you seen the remake of &#23556;&#38613;&#33521;&#38596;&#20256; yet?


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## wushuguy (Jan 13, 2010)

Tensei85 said:


> Hey btw, nice AV for "shen diao xia lu" &#31070;&#38613;&#20384;&#20387;, that drama's awesome! Have you seen the remake of &#23556;&#38613;&#33521;&#38596;&#20256; yet?



Thanks. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to get that series next time I'm in chinatown.


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## Tsuki-Yomi (Jan 13, 2010)

> MythBusters did in the first of their 2 "ninja specials", but still insisted on mainly covering BS.


I wasnt able to catch those episodes but Shihan Joel had made an announcement that he was supposed to appear in the show.  If it ever happened?

There also used to be a show called Fight Quest.  One guy was an x mma stylist and the other(Bill) was an x pro football player.  Anyway, they would travel around the world and train in various martial arts for about a week then one of the guys would have to square off against a higher ranked blackbelt in that paticular art at the end of the show.  One of the episodes they went to Japan to train at various so called top secret ninja camps, and spent about two days with Soke Hatsumi.  At the end of the show the x mma guy ( Jason) faced off against Doug and word spread like a wildfire that Doug lost the match and this and that to someone that had no real experience in the Bujinkan.  I enjoyed that show, but once again they put more emphasis on the fantasy side of things instead of the real deal.


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## Ken Morgan (Jan 13, 2010)

Bruno@MT said:


> And it's not just ninjutsu mind you.
> When national geographic did a documentary on 'the ultimate weapon', guess who got to test the katana...
> 
> Was it a Japanese headmaster of a traditional system?.... NO.
> ...


 
For those of us that have been training in the JSA for many, many years this is always so frustrating. Just go to youtube, there are tonnes of people doing all kinds of nasty things with a sword.

It seems every MAist thinks because they can do x, y or z, they can use a sword as well, so they incorporate various made up kata into their systems.

I wouldn't even think of making up an unarmed kata, just because I can use a sword. Why do so many think the reverse is OK?

Its all entertainment, $$ and showmanship.


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## MMcGuirk (Jan 13, 2010)

Tsuki-Yomi said:


> I wasnt able to catch those episodes but Shihan Joel had made an announcement that he was supposed to appear in the show. If it ever happened?
> 
> There also used to be a show called Fight Quest. One guy was an x mma stylist and the other(Bill) was an x pro football player. Anyway, they would travel around the world and train in various martial arts for about a week then one of the guys would have to square off against a higher ranked blackbelt in that paticular art at the end of the show. One of the episodes they went to Japan to train at various so called top secret ninja camps, and spent about two days with Soke Hatsumi. At the end of the show the x mma guy ( Jason) faced off against Doug and word spread like a wildfire that Doug lost the match and this and that to someone that had no real experience in the Bujinkan. I enjoyed that show, but once again they put more emphasis on the fantasy side of things instead of the real deal.


 
LOL, yeah people see what they want to see on that episode. Never mind the fact this is for television and the MMA guy was "killed" multiple times before Doug dropped his weapons to enter in unarmed. 

If people look at the video again you'll see Doug hesitate. This was because he remembered he wasn't supposed to go in unarmed and that's when he is thrown. I know one of the guys who were there for the filming and everyone was cool about it there. Also if you watch Doug's ukemi he never actually gets stabbed by the short sword. Only the slaggers have issues with it.

I admit I watched Human Weapons other episodes because I found it entertaining. If one notices though, the hosts usuallycame out of it looking decent. C'mon is two weeks or less worth of training going to make you on the same level as someone with years of experience. Oh yeah,there was an episode where the ex football player gets knocked out by the Tae Kwon Do guy.  I think the Korean guy did it on purpose.  

There was also another show on the Discovery Channel that had two guys doing the same thing. But on every episode of that show the two guys got their butts handed to them. (I thought this was more realistic) It's entertainment but I found this show to be better not because the hosts were beat up but the realism you are not going to learn an art in two weeks or less and do as well as they did.

There was an episdode with them training with the Israeli army and a Krav Maga instructor who was a woman. One of the guys got riot control and weapon retention training with the army and the other guy got loads of unarmed training with the Krav Maga instructor.

The unarmed guy training was berated for always wanting to take the fight to the ground. The Krav Maga instructor told him in real life she'd stomp on him and rub the dirt from the ground on his face. He was supposed to be taking on multiple attackers in a gauntlet so going to the ground was bad idea.  Especially if you crowd control and a riot breaks out.

Personally I would have listened carefully to both as the training was based on real life. Sorry I don't remember the name of the show but it was on youtube. Don't know if it's still there but maybe a search on the Human weapons episode will point you to a link.


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## masurai (Jan 13, 2010)

MMcGuirk said:


> Sorry I don't remember the name of the show but it was on youtube


If i underatnd right you are looking for the name of the show that was on discovery, right? If so it was Fight Quest


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## Tsuki-Yomi (Jan 13, 2010)

Somehow I got the two mixed up.  MMcGuirk was correct on Bill/ex football player, and Jason/ex MMA stylist being the two that visited Hatsumi Sensei and Jason faced off against Doug/Ju-Godan at the end.

The other show I think he was saying he forgot the name but was very similar was called Fight Quest.


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## Dale Seago (Jan 13, 2010)

Tsuki-Yomi, you can see Joel in the clips I linked above: He and several of his folks came in from Sacramento to help out.


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## Sukerkin (Jan 13, 2010)

By the way, as Dale is too modest to mention it, for those who don't know or who didn't follow the link, the 'Ninja' that helped the MythBusters with some of their research was none other than his good self :bows:.


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## Tsuki-Yomi (Jan 14, 2010)

> Tsuki-Yomi, you can see Joel in the clips I linked above: He and several of his folks came in from Sacramento to help out.


Adam got introduced to the mats pretty quickly!


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## ElfTengu (Feb 6, 2010)

I came home from a 'real' training session (well, a class in which we looked at aspects of Sanshin no Kata, if not 'ninjutsu' per se), and thought I would stay up to watch the instant repeat on the Virgin+1 channel. In the end I had to switch off halfway through as it was just too painful.

Where did they get their bug-eyed 'ninjutsu expert' from and who was that gobby little Chinese guy with the crap paper tiger kicks that were exposed for the crap they are in the first MMA events?

I liked the Apaches in the previous episode though, at least they were real Apaches, and not some fat nerd claiming to be one and dressed up as Hiawatha. Why they couldn't afford the same attention to detail when finding someone to represent the ninja is anyone's guess, I imagine Dale, Doug et al on those other shows just weren't theatrical enough for the intended teenage audience of Deadliest Warrior, so next time maybe throw in a couple of backflips and smoke bombs and they may give you a call guys!



wushuguy said:


> next I'll probably find out that Jedi are not real either...


 
Jedi is an accepted religion in the UK now, as the requisite number of people listed it on the official census, so you can be safe in the knowledge that Jedi are indeed real! (We're still working on lightsabres though).


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## Cryozombie (Feb 7, 2010)

Ken Morgan said:


> For those of us that have been training in the JSA for many, many years this is always so frustrating. Just go to youtube, there are tonnes of people doing all kinds of nasty things with a sword.



Yeah, a little OT but I cringed when I saw the guy on OCC "chopping" baseballs in half in the shop with the Katana.


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