Customer Reviews

Ninpo: Wisdom for Life

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A friend from Japan sent this note to me:
Just wanted to let you know that I have read the Ninpo: Wisdom for Life book by Hatsumi Sensei and found it to be really great! I attempted to translate it for my own personal use several years ago but got no further than the first chapter. It was very heavy going. Having lived in Japan for over 12 years I found it to be useful because of the references Sensei makes to Japanese society. Once again, it is very well done.

Any translation issues aside, this English version of Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo is a profound and useful text for a student of the Bujinkan arts.

There have been many books in which Hatsumi sensei is interviewed about or writes regarding the martial arts, but in Ninpo: Wisdom for Life, the number of topics discussed is overwhelming! From diet to personal relationships, the Grandmaster reveals his unique thoughts and views on them all. In addition to philosophy, there are many references to and descriptions of techniques and methods of taijutsu and ninpo.

I have owned Ninpo: Wisdom for Life for a few years and think it is one of my favorite ninja books. Having read all of the English books by Masaaki Hatsumi, I can tell you that this book is page after page of martial arts philosophy! It is great to read about the philosophy behind the art of ninjutsu and having it from the source is excellent. When reading the book I feel like I am reading a Densho [traditional scrool].

If you train in the Bujinkan, or the martial arts this is a book that will grow with your training as you do. So many times I've just opened it and started reading from any point and there is always something new, another layer to look at what sensei is saying.

This book offer's lots of advice on life and insights to training. It's an important addition to any warrior's library.

I am currently training in bujinkan & have done so in to-shin-do also. This is my personal favorite of all the Hatsumi books I have read. I gives you workable insight without having to decode it from Japanese culture or have to pull philosophy from legend like stories. This is fun also, don't get me wrong. But I never found myself lost reading this. Brilliant.

Stemming from his martial studies with his now deceased teacher, the author delves into his new found awareness of the world around him through the insights gleaned from his art. Lessons in the martial arts are drawn from a myriad of subjects, from the Japanese bubble economy to his wife's problems with dental pain, from classical piano performances to baseball team management, from school lectures on being passionate about one's dreams to historical examples of his teacher and others and so on.

It is important to note that this book is a book about the martial arts. All of the stories, anecdotes and experiences it contains ought to be seen as lessons into the nature of the feeling of the martial art that the author is famous for. With this in mind, the ability of the author to find within the world around him knowledge directly related to his martial art is very impressive.

Unlike his more recent books, the writing style of this book only begins to play with the creativity that the author is now known for. One gets the feeling that the author is just starting to wake up to his artistic nature. It is not fully revealed in this book but given what we know through his later works, we can clearly see the first steps being taken.

Unfortunately, and this has proven to be a problem with many of the author's English books, the quality of the translation suffers. When compared with the original Japanese version (Hiden Togakure Ryu Ninpo), one can find numerous passages that have been translated to mean the opposite of what was intended. This is quite a serious flaw and while it doesn't affect the whole book, it does force one to pay attention to what is being said.

With this in mind, a critical mind will go a long way towards understanding what is written in this book. Perhaps the best advice is given by the author himself when he suggests that readers 'converse with the book'. In doing so, the value of this 'just-before-coming-of-age-book' will become clear.