Grandmaster book of ninja training - masaaki hatsumi

The
Grandmaster's
Book of
Ninja Training
Dr Masaaki Hatsumi
Translated by Chris, W. P. Reynolds

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hatsumi, Masaaki, 1931The grandmaster's book of ninja training / Masaaki Hatsumi.
p. cm. Includes index.
ISBN 0-8092-4629-5 (paper)
1. Hand-to-hand fighting, Oriental. 2. Ninjutsu. 3. Hatsumi,
Masaaki, 1931I. Title.
U167.5.H3H358 1987613.7'1—dc19
87-35221
CIP

TRANSLATION
NOTE

Published by Contemporary Books
A division of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc.
4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood (Chicago), Illinois 60712-1975 U.S.A.
Copyright © 1988 by Masaaki Hatsumi
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
International Standard Book Number: 0-8092-4629-5
02 03 04 05 BH 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7

Although some of the Japanese of these interviews
was capably translated at the time it was given by
DoronNavon, the entire text has been retranslated
from the original.
Unnecessary repetitions, inaudible phrases, etc.,
have been edited out. Dr. Hatsumi's manner of speaking is by no means always straightforward, and little
attempt has been made to reproduce it, since it was
felt that this would be too confusing and barely readable. However, efforts have been made (including
consultation withHatsumi Sensei himself) to clarify
the many points that required it. Only a few of his
very frequently used interjected phrases (expressions
like "you see," "right?," etc.) have been retained, just
for the sake of naturalness; and for the same reason,
some of the broken sentences and changes of direction characteristic of informal speech have been retained, as long as the meaning is clear. This isnot to
say that Dr. Hatsumi speaks in simple, informal
language. fo r his sentences are peppered from time
to

Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi

ith sophisticated diction, abstruse technical
nd even words that are not to be found in any
ry!
r deficiencies of expression and language difof non-native speakers of English who were
g in English have been altered where possible
re natural sentences.sional footnotes have been added by the transhere they might be helpful.
ese words (except "sensei," "ninjutsu,"
" names, and words like "judo" and "kimono"
ve become part of English) have been italias have Sanskrit words ("mudra"), Chinese
"yin," "yang"), stressed words, book titles, etc.
ral of the word "dan," used to refer to people
grade, was a problem, since Japanese does not
theplural. Accordingly, being an English
"dans" was used unitalicized. The Japanese
ave been retained for shodan and nidan, and
er, expressions such as "third dan" have been
Chris W. P. Reynolds
Tokyo, Japan

FOREWORD

This volume is the second in a series of can
glimpses of the art and thought of my martial
teacher, ninjutsu grandmaster Masaaki Hatsu
The material was translated from a seriesof sp
taneous question-and-answer sessions taped in
Hatsumi's home during a succession of visits w
non-Japanese friends and students. As is charact
tic of Dr. Hatsumi, he often replied to the quest
and comments of his visitors in this book with co
ful and sometimes humorous answers that refle
his state of mind and point of view at the very
ment the conversation was being taped. As ischaracteristic of Masaaki Hatsumi, his point of v
altered substantially with his recognition of the v
ing needs of the individual with whom he was
versing at any given moment.
D r. Hatsumi remains a totally unparalleled
often enigmatic figure in the contemporary mar
arts scene, a unique character composed of a wide
range of sometimes seemingly contradictory com

VI

Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi...