Ninjutsu has reached almost mythical status through television and films, which is the sole exposure most people have to a Ninjutsu practitioner, commonly referred to as a Ninja. The practice has been around since the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and is believed to have began in Koga and Iga, two regions of ancient Japan.
Identification
Ninjutsu is not a form of martial arts, but it does incorporate a number of different martial art styles, such as Koto ryu, Togakure ryu and others, as well as training with a number of different weapons. Ninjutsu is viewed as much more than a fighting style, as it was essentially a way of life that not only covered fighting skills, but also incorporated aspects dealing with religion, the mind and body, and a harmonious relationship with nature.
Origins
The practice of Ninjutsu developed as an answer to the class struggles that took place in early Japan. The samurai were the ruling class of the day and were often opposed by the lower classes. It was with these lower-class people that the art of Ninjutsu first began. As Ninjutsu did not correspond with the traditions of the samurai, it was often looked down upon by those in power, and when the Meiji Restoration brought peace to Japan in 1868, martial artists and warriors had less status than before. The practice of Ninjutsu was essentially banished to the background before its resurgence in the 1970s under Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi.
Resurgence
Ninjutsu made a comeback in the 1970s when Dr. Hatsumi established Bujinkan, a martial arts organization that specializes in Nijutsu. One of Dr. Hatsumi's goals was to make Ninjutsu perceived correctly by the Japanese and non-Japanese alike, and Dr. Hatsumi accepted foreign students who wished to learn the ways of Ninjutsu and the Ninja.
Dr. Hatsumi's job was made more difficult by the prevalence of low-grade movies that were released at that time which portrayed Ninjas in unrealistic and oftentimes less than flattering terms. Those movies served to distort the perception of Ninjutsu, and those perceptions have carried to this day.
The Meaning of Ninjutsu
The difficulty in obtaining a direct English translation of Asian words is that often there are no English words that have the same meaning. That is the case with Ninjutsu. There is no English equivalent of the word "nin" which roughly translates to patience or intestinal fortitude. "Jutsu" translates to "technique," therefore Ninjutsu can be roughly translated as "the technique of intestinal fortitude."
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