Ninja Secrets from the Grandmaster [Paperback]

Masaaki Hatsumi (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Contemporary Books (November 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809253291
• ISBN-13: 978-0809253296
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #431,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ideal Relationship Between Teacher and Disciple, December 28, 2002

By 

C. J. Hardman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ninja Secrets from the Grandmaster (Paperback)

Hayes has done us an incredible favor in offering a glimpse of what a relationship between a teacher and a disciple should be. This volume is one long interview between Hayes and his teacher, Bujinkan Taijutsu (ninjutsu) Headmaster Masaaki Hatsumi. The dialogue is occasionally spiced with interjections from Mrs. Hatsumi and Hayes' wife Rumiko, as topics ranging from medicine, fighting, Tibetan martial arts, ninpo history, theory, philosophy, mikkyo Buddhism, women in martial arts, rank, and many other concepts. This volume more than any other will answer those funny little questions that puzzle your teacher (in other words, this moves far beyond basics into meaning and understanding).

It is honestly a treat to see between two serious martial scholars a relationship built on love, repect, and encouragement without a lot of formal digression. Stephen Hayes also talks about his early days of involvement in the martial arts. Hatsumi, a bonesetter (doctor) by trade, is a seasoned martial artist and one of the foremost ninpo scholars alive today. This volume is excellent when read in sequence with Hatsumi's other book, "Essence of Ninjutsu", and "The Grandmaster's Book of Ninja Training", although this is probably the easiest for a non-Bujinkan person to digest. Keep in mind this is NOT a how-to-be-a-ninja book (no sequence pictures of guys in black stalking about with straight-bladed ninja sword!), most of the volume is dialogue with some still shots of Hayes, Hatsumi, etc. thrown in. If you're looking for knowledge, this is the book. It is just a pity that there aren't more works written by such fascinating people in this manner.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, January 31, 2002

By 

"seigiryu" (MD, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ninja Secrets from the Grandmaster (Paperback)

As a practitioner in the Bujinkan, I find this book by Soke very enlightening, although no book can take the place of real training! Great read!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, February 18, 2003

By 

Octavio Barrera "OohRaa" (Las Cruces, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ninja Secrets from the Grandmaster (Paperback)

As a bujinkan member, this book is very interesting and shows you that ninjutsu is not made up of a bunch of assasins. Great book this is how every relationship should be between teachers and students throughout Martial arts.