Was Ninjutsu EVER Effective?

[shirobanryunotora]

Unfortunately for many the sad truth is, so called "modern attacks" are not modern at all and unless "modern science" can be debunked and it can be proven that hundreds of years ago humans did not come with two arms and two legs as they do now then the fact remains that "street fights" have remained essentially unchanged for tens of thousands of years.

Granted over the course of history the choices of weapons have undergone minor refinements like the advent of iron instead of bronze culminating with a particularly game changing inclusion of firearms.

To assume that Feudal Ninja somehow faced attacks different to what are found on the streets today is sheer fantasy.

The fact remains if you walked into a public drinking hole at any time in Earths history and got in a fight you would be greeted with exactly the same techniques that you would find today as human bodies have not discernably changed.

In fact to assume fighters trained in Ninjutsu techniques somehow now face problems which they did not in Feudal Japan is to assume that they ONLY ever fought Samurai, which if it is the truth is rather bizarre and ultimately a waste of learning how to fight as, well lets face it, that is to assume you are spending years learning how to fight but still have less ability than some random street brawler out for a night of heavy drinking.

Where a martial arts club/specialty would fit in historically(as they should today) is as an entity/group which possessed the ability to train it's members to the point of actually being able to fight off not just common thugs but also preferrably some of the more advanced threats as well. Which according to popular pulp fiction for the Ninja would entail Samurai(who for arguments sake are assumed to be elite fighters with highly advanced systems of combat).

Since there are SO many clubs allegedly altering techniques to make Ninjutsu "work" on the streets today leads me to ponder if my belief in Ninjutsu is a fantasy or is it just that the heart of the art truly is lost.

So which is it, was Ninjutsu a truly effective fighting system of which the majority of practitioners today are no longer privy to, or has Ninjutsu never been effective, with the Scrolls written by people that would get hammered by any random street brawler, kung fu student or MMA fighter?

For the record I am not an X-kan fan boy,it is not my intention to put clubs practicing the "modernization" of their art in disrepute(as I am a firm advocate of modernization) but rather this is a calling to ALL schools to come clean with your beliefs. "Do you believe in your hearts that Ninjutsu did work?" if so what has gone wrong?

With Respect,
Anonymous.
　
　
　
　

greetings and kudos for approaching this touchy subject in a respectful manner.for me-having worked in the security field for many years(retired now) bujinkan ninpo techniques taught to me by the likes of soke hatsumi and shihan nagato-i began training in bujinkan in 1983 btw-only needed slight tweaking to be street and personal effective- this tweaking involved simply changing form depth to suit modern combat situations etc whilst the techniques suited unarmed and weapon attacks quite admirably-til the next rr

 

[shirobanryunotora]

more on this subject-much of my security work involved handling drunks-the way that worked for me was to keep in motion at all times-this upset their targeting and balance enough that their attempts at attacks were often inept and unco.etc; then using basic bujinkan techniques of locks holds and body manipulations worked very well with lil need for any real combat adaptions etc-i do find myself agreeing with chris parker though in regards to modern combat and ninpo techniques elsewhere needing refinement to be effective still-his answer is long etc but valid-many factors need to be taken into account when adapting older styles and approaches-but thats what training is for