Skills...

[Cryozombie]

I recently watched the Bujinkan Video Soke Hatsumi released about Takamatsu Sensei. One of the things he showed in the video were the scrolls passed down by Takamatsu, and he talked about their contents. He showed some with information on building hidden castles, provincial governing, etc... and it made me think...

Does anyone train in their school/dojo on non-combat skills? First aid, survival, or any other more esoteric skills?

 

[Bujingodai]

Yes, we have annual survival camps where we will import talent to come and train us in skills of trap setting, fires, first aid, rock climbing etc. Besides this we have cross trained in some fun stuff like chanbarra (sp) Makes demos interesting. When we go on our trip to see my sensei we spend much of it in the bush and climing rock forms. Often we will discuss weather and geography and how it affects certain strategies etc etc. Lots o fun.

 

[Silent Nightfall]

I think an even more interesting question might be whether or not anyone actually practices the techniques of survival and such specifically mentioned in the scrolls that are on the video and contained within the X-kans. I know of many people who train in modern-day survival methods, but I would find it interesting if any actual "Ninjutsu" methods were discussed in any dojos here or abroad.

 

[Bujingodai]

You mean like using yoko aruki and so on for your movements and seeing how that affects results. OK. Well, when we do such training we try as much as possible to use such techniques so to prove the practical application.

 

[Silent Nightfall]

Exactly the kind of thing I was beginning on, Bujingodai. I've always been interested in things like herbal remedies and such from long ago as well. I believe that over time, some valuable survival methods that could have once been common to the Ninja may have disappeared. I would love to hear whether or not anyone has ever gotten exposure to actual methods from densho or a similar source.