Which works? Which translations? They aren't all equal. For example, Stephen Hayes sort of took a lot of his early material from Hatsumi, but the filtering process was... Well, it was what it was.
I think this begs the question: relevant to what?
hmm... i actually dont know how i ended up with both of you in this response, i really kinda suck with computers but any way
JKS, i had not heard anything about Hatsumi being regarded suspiciously, but being Soke does kinda mean he gets to shape the art however he chooses, far as I know. and c'mon, how much can we really expect to ever know the true history of Japan, especially the involvement of Shinobi-we're talking about the most secretive members of the most secretive people in the history of the world! would not surprise me if there were deviations. to be fair, i never really got into SKH, he was kinda too 'Mr. Rogers' for me.
Gerry, I thought i gave sufficient answer to this question in the quoted response, the relevance being war, essentially. all martial arts were created during a time when they were needed, to fight for everything people fought for. as civilians in a time so removed from when any of these things happened, do we do ourselves harm or favor by clinging to traditions? if we favor traditions and wish to keep them relevant, how best to do that, with an art like this? focusing on Ninjutsu, without the Ninpo, will only make clever criminals.
the more i think about it, the less i agree with myself, using Ninjutsu as the umbrella term for all of the traditions that still live from this shrouded past is well and good. i always sought to avoid it, if pressed, i was satisfied when they told me they never heard of Ninpo Taijutsu! What always impressed me most was the core philosophy, as i was able to understand it based on the sources and people available, including Hatsumi Soke.e recently writings of Fujita Seiko have been translated too.
I have had people tell me they think Taijutsu is weak. such and such is better, of course. but taijutsu IS weak, without Ninpo, and yeah, a little bit of ninjutsu too.