Fujita Seiko - unpublished documents?

[MisterMike]

In Donn Draeger's Asian Fighting Arts, he references Fujita Seiko's unpublished works in the bibliography. Does anyone know what these were. There was a substantial chapter devoted to the topic of ninjutsu in the book and I am wondering if most of it is specific to Koga Ryu as there were no "Iga" or "Hatsumi" references.

Thanks,
MM

 

[heretic888]

Actually... Draegger does briefly mention Hatsumi-soke in that book, referring to him as a "modern ninjutsu authority". The only thing he references from him is in the early history section, in which he relates that the so-called "original ninja" may have been jizamurai that inhabited Iga and Koga.

Laterz.

 

[Don Roley]

Draeger exchanged letters with Seiko. Some of them quite extensive. I think he was giving credit to Seiko for answering his questions by mail about ninjutsu and such.

 

[MisterMike]

Actually... Draegger does briefly mention Hatsumi-soke in that book, referring to him as a "modern ninjutsu authority". The only thing he references from him is in the early history section, in which he relates that the so-called "original ninja" may have been jizamurai that inhabited Iga and Koga.

Laterz.

Well, he doesn't mention Hatsumi in the Bibliography in my version, just in 2 places in the text, the first as you stated on the jizamurai and in another section later on. I find it curious that he lists Fujita Seiko as one of his "best sources" vs. naming T. Hatsumi.

I'm also curious why he refers to him as T. Hatsumi. Is Masaki Hatsumi not his full name?

Also, there are several types of techniques listed in the text:

10 methods of stepping,
nuki ashi
suri ashi
shime ashi
tobi ashi
kata ashi
o ashi
ko ashi
kokizami
wari ashi
tsune ashi

5 types of escaping - goton no jutsu,
mokuton
katon
doton
katon
suiton

Are these methods as named in the book the ones practiced in the Ryuha Hatsumi leads, or are they from somewhere else? Koga perhaps?

Thanks,

 

[Henso]

Much of the information that appears in the book by Draeger, is duplicated in Fujita's two books on Ninjutsu, Ninjutsu Hiroku (1936) & Doronron: Siago No Ninja (1959). The information is also reproduced in Draeger's own work, Ninjutsu: The Art of Invisibility.

I think most people who are interested in the art will find the work interesting, due to the mysterious persona of Fujita, but, as with so much associated with him, the information is fairly sparse when compared to Hatusmi's works.

As concerns information on Fujita, I would recommend an excellent article by Don Roley, which contains acuurate and factual information, not widely available in English, and my on site, for which you can arrive at your own conclusion. See the links below.

http://www.bujinkanwakodojo.com/bwd_kogaryu_history.html
http://fujitaseiko.tripod.com