# Japanese Ninjutsu books



## Albertus (Dec 26, 2007)

Hello, I am looking for good and original Japanese books on Ninjutsu, other than by Masaaki Hatsumi. 
Can somebody give me some names of writers and titles of authentic material on historical Ninjutsu right from the homeland of the Ninja : Japan. :samurai:

And I mean material about Ninjutsu and not about Bujinkan. I also have the feeling that all the english books about the Ninja are just copies of each other so I am looking for something different now!
Hopefully anyone can help me in the right direction. I have a german version of the Shoninki allready.

Thanks for your help


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## arnisador (Dec 26, 2007)

There's the book by Andrew Adams.


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## Albertus (Dec 27, 2007)

I have that book by Andrew Adams, but it is not a direct translation of a Japanese original. It is a report of his research on the Ninja in the seventies. One of the first books about the Art in the West but not what I am looking for. I know there is a French translation of one the books from Fujita Seiko but I don't know the title. There is so much interest in Ninjutsu in the West, there must be more Japanese books that are translated. Please help me because I don't read Japanese and I don't have the time to learn it. I am fascinated by the noble Art of Ninjutsu, and I don't mean Bujinkan, although there are some good books from that front, especially from Masaaki Hatsumi, but in my opinion is Bujinkan not the same as Ninjutsu. According to Amazon.japan there are many books on the Ninja but I cannot read a word from there site. Can you?


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## Bigshadow (Dec 27, 2007)

Albertus said:


> Hello, I am looking for good and original Japanese books on Ninjutsu, other than by Masaaki Hatsumi.
> 
> 
> And I mean material about Ninjutsu and not about Bujinkan.





Albertus said:


> I am fascinated by the noble Art of Ninjutsu, and I don't mean Bujinkan,
> 
> but in my opinion is Bujinkan not the same as Ninjutsu.



:shrug:  Would that be fact or fiction you are looking for?  Also, would this be from a historical perspective?


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## Albertus (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes I am looking for *authentic historical information* about Ninjutsu. When I wrote, other than Hatsumi Masaaki's I didn't mean he has nothing to say about the matter, only that I already have all of his books. But still want more!!! When I said other than Bujinkan, I mean that the Bujinkan sysytem is only partly (and nowadays even less) based on and about Ninjutsu itself. 
Just look at the facts, of the 9 schools of the Bujinkan only *one* is a real Ninjutsu Ryu (Togakure), seven are actually Samurai Ryu, and two are maybe  Ninjutsu Ryu (Kumogakure and Gyokushin). I don't say Hatsumi is a fraud, I like the guy and he teaches awesome stuff, but don't fool yourself with thinking that you are studying Ninjutsu. Because that is something of a totally other dimension. You don't study Ninjutsu or practice it, you were born a Ninja and lived by it, there was no room for any compromise!!!
Today people play that they are a Ninja, as a hobby, a sport or a pasttime or an obsession, but what you learn today is *NOT* real Ninjutsu, maybe some people are still learning it in secret, but it is not available for the general masses or even the public eye.  And information about this Ninjutsu is what I am interested in. So don't get me wrong or be offended. Now we cleared this out of the air, is there anybody who can give me some solid information???


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## Bigshadow (Jan 3, 2008)

Albertus said:


> Yes I am looking for *authentic historical information* about Ninjutsu. When I wrote, other than Hatsumi Masaaki's I didn't mean he has nothing to say about the matter, only that I already have all of his books. But still want more!!!



I understand what you are looking for.   What about Stephen Turnbull's book, Ninja AD 1460-1650 (Warrior)?  I am sure it is not directly translated though.



Albertus said:


> Today people play that they are a Ninja, as a hobby, a sport or a pasttime or an obsession, but what you learn today is *NOT* real Ninjutsu, maybe some people are still learning it in secret, but it is not available for the general masses or even the public eye.  And information about this Ninjutsu is what I am interested in.



Yes, there are people today that are into ninja cos-play. 



Albertus said:


> So don't get me wrong or be offended.



No offense taken.


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## Monadnock (Jan 3, 2008)

Albertus said:


> Yes I am looking for *authentic historical information* about Ninjutsu. When I wrote, other than Hatsumi Masaaki's I didn't mean he has nothing to say about the matter, only that I already have all of his books. But still want more!!! When I said other than Bujinkan, I mean that the Bujinkan sysytem is only partly (and nowadays even less) based on and about Ninjutsu itself.
> Just look at the facts, of the 9 schools of the Bujinkan only *one* is a real Ninjutsu Ryu (Togakure), seven are actually Samurai Ryu, and two are maybe  Ninjutsu Ryu (Kumogakure and Gyokushin). I don't say Hatsumi is a fraud, I like the guy and he teaches awesome stuff, but don't fool yourself with thinking that you are studying Ninjutsu. Because that is something of a totally other dimension. You don't study Ninjutsu or practice it, you were born a Ninja and lived by it, there was no room for any compromise!!!
> Today people play that they are a Ninja, as a hobby, a sport or a pasttime or an obsession, but what you learn today is *NOT* real Ninjutsu, maybe some people are still learning it in secret, but it is not available for the general masses or even the public eye.  And information about this Ninjutsu is what I am interested in. So don't get me wrong or be offended. Now we cleared this out of the air, is there anybody who can give me some solid information???



So what exactly IS ninjutsu?


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## Obi Wan Shinobi (Jan 3, 2008)

Well Hatsumi is the only authority on "Ninjutsu" in the modern world. Unless you visit Japan and go to the Iga and Koga museums there really isn't much around about "Ninjutsu" except for books on Koga Ryu but the authors are sometimes if not all the time...questionable. Also in Bujinkan there are 3 Ninpo Ryuhas Togakure Ryu, Kumogakure Ryu and Gyokushin Ryu. There are two ryu's in Bujinkan that didn't begin as Ninpo but was later absorbed into the ninja's taijutsu....Gyokko and Koppo Ryu. Also the remaining four Ryu has were of Samurai class bujutsu but do have ninjutsu roots within. I get the feeling that you aren't so much interested in the Taijutsu aspect of "Ninjutsu" but rather the espionage/secret squirrel aspect of it?


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## arnisador (Jan 3, 2008)

Obi Wan Shinobi said:


> Well Hatsumi is the only authority on "Ninjutsu" in the modern world.



Has he produced no students who are also experts?

Are there no academic experts--an historian at a Japanese university who is not a martial artist but a scholar of Japan's military history?


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## Obi Wan Shinobi (Jan 3, 2008)

"Has he produced no students who are also experts?"

To answer your question...yes he has. But he is considered as the "Source" he holds all the scrolls and had trained with O'Sensei Takamatsu who tested his skills in battle while in China. He does have students who are experts but they aren't the leading authority on the matter.


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## Bigshadow (Jan 4, 2008)

arnisador said:


> Has he produced no students who are also experts?
> 
> Are there no academic experts--an historian at a Japanese university who is not a martial artist but a scholar of Japan's military history?



FWIW, there are Bujinkan students who could be considered Ninjutsu historians, I suppose.  Then there are those like Stephen Turnbull who seems to have studied Japanese military history in depth and has written books about the samurai and ninja, but in a historical and academic fashion.  I do not believe that Stephen Turnbull is a martial artist.

However, when it comes to learning Ninjutsu, Hatsumi is THE leading source.  Although, I do not believe that is the interest of the OP.


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## kcs (Jan 4, 2008)

paul richardson from the uk knows a lot about the history of the bujinkan.  www.budoya.org is one of the sites.  he has done a lot of research.





Bigshadow said:


> FWIW, there are Bujinkan students who could be considered Ninjutsu historians, I suppose. Then there are those like Stephen Turnbull who seems to have studied Japanese military history in depth and has written books about the samurai and ninja, but in a historical and academic fashion. I do not believe that Stephen Turnbull is a martial artist.
> 
> However, when it comes to learning Ninjutsu, Hatsumi is THE leading source. Although, I do not believe that is the interest of the OP.


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## benkyoka (Jan 10, 2008)

There are a lot of books in Japanese about Ninja.   To name a few: 

Ninja no Seikatsu (Ninja Lifestyle) by Yamaguchi

Ninja no Subete (roughly: everything about Ninja) by several writers: Hatsumi Masaaki, Nawa Yumio, Tobe Shinjuro, and Okuse Heishichiro

Ninja no Rekishi (history of Ninja) by Okuse Heishichiro

Togakure no Ninja (self explanatory) by Shimizu

Doronron Saigo no Ninja by Fujita Seiko

Etc.  If you can read japanese, and you can find the books, have fun!


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## Albertus (Feb 8, 2008)

No I cannot read Japanes, that is the whole point. But there are a lot of good and interesting books out there in Japanese about Ninja and Ninjutsu, but who can read them?
I know there is a massive interest in information about Ninjutsu but nobody is translation these books. Why not? There are so many practitioners here in the West but so few good books. I think that a translation into English of any book from Nawa Yumio, Fujita Seiko or Okuse Heishichiro will be automatically a best seller!!! 
Like the books from Hatsumi Masaaki (apparantly the only ones that are being translated).
So Ninjutsu enthousiasts who do read Japanese please translate these books!!!! Many thanks...


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## Albertus (Mar 8, 2008)

Has anybody found any translated Japanese Ninjutsu books yet ? I know of the books by Masaaki Hatsumi and I have Ninpo secrets by Shoto Tanemura but surely there must be more. And I don't mean english books on the subject but *pure Japanese works* translated into english or german, spanish or french for that matter, I can read all these lenguages, only no japanese:idunno:

Thanks for your help


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