Who are the modern Ninja?
Who were the historical Ninja? Perhaps this is a better place to start. The question then becomes which era in history, and what exact location. There we go again - time and space - need to be accounted for before the explanation goes forward.
Lets talk in generalities, the ninja were spies. The got in, and got out, and no one was supposed to know they had been there. The movies do a terrible job of portraying the true ninja. They were spies about 90% of the time, and less then 10% of the time did they act like assassins. They were like the "James Bond" characters of their day.
So who are the modern Ninja? Spies, the CIA, NSA, etc...? Green Berets, Navy Seals, other high speed special force groups? What about the average student in the Bujinkan? Are they the modern Ninja? What is our legacy?
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I'd intended to reply to this earlier, but I've been working on a paper comparing fractional, simple, and microscale distillation techniques for the separation of toluene and cyclohexane... Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
ReplyDeleteI think the comparison to 007 is accurate, with the exception that 007 had support. Ninja had to make gadgets on their own and with little or no resources. For this reason, I'd say they were part McGuyver as well.
This isn't the entire picuture either. Even with crafty gadgets and a broad skillset, you still aren't ninja. Ninja used fear and mystery to their advantage. People were terrified of them. They were thought to be not quite human, even demon. For this reason I'm adding in one part Batman. He put the scare into criminals.
So,we have one part 007, one part McGuyver, and one part Batman.
I don't think there are any groups "Seals, Green Berrets, etc." that are guaranteed to have all of this going. I do, however, believe that there are individuals with the whole package. Scarry mofo's.
To live a "ninja-like" lifestyle now is nearly impossible. If it were possible, you wouldn't want anything to do with it. It meant being bullied by into missions on which you may die, be tortured, or have to kill people.
I'm shooting for "warrior scholar". I think this is the most realistic and useful path for a martial practitioner to engage and live out.
Socrates: "You know what the difference is between us?"
Dan Millman: "What?"
Socrates: "You practice gymnastics. I practice everything."