ninjutsu dojos and info

[CyberneticDreem]

hey im pretty new to this site and wanted to get some information.

First off, Does anybody know of any GOOD ninjutsu dojos in the Toronto area?
im really interested in the art and learning from books/ videos probably wont do me any good...would they?

second, what does ninjutsu involve? Are there any special physical criterias i must meet? Ive heard strenght is of no importance in this art but sounds like B.S. and wanted to make sure.

thanks in advance!



(P.S.: If you are Robert G...plz don't reply. From what ive seen you might turn this thread into a flame war. No offence or nothin.)

[CyberneticDreem]

Ah ninjustu, the ancient fight art of the ninja!!! Well um actually i know nothing about ninjustu, but i couldnt help chiming in and being a sarcastic bastard. All in good humour though.

umm thanx for the help

anybody have any serious asnwers to my questions?

[CyberneticDreem]

Wtf...

I was giving you a hard time.

man this forum has some f'ed up people...

i know you're just tryin' to have some fun and stuff but i came here for a lil' info. Do you always go messin' up people threads like this?

[CyberneticDreem]

Dude calm down. You may be the f***ed up one if you're getting mad about this. I was just raggin yah a little. Anyways ninjustu from what i hear prehaps somebody else might have a little info.

WTF? i never was mad...just annoyed. If i was mad...you'll know it. i Apreciate your "humour" but "giving me a hard time" kinda makes you look like those annoying people who mess up people threads for no good reason. Im not sayin you are...you probably have a good reason (Not sure what it would be...), but it makes you look like those sorta ppl (ie spammers).

Oh well....no one else is replying anyway so it don't matter....

[bjjrookie]

Cyber,

Here is what I found off of www.ninjutsu.com

Bujinkan Barbarossa Dojo - J. Courtland Elliott II
P.O. Box 7166; Station "A"; Toronto, Canada MSW 1X

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/kageyama

I believe Bujinkan Taijutsu is made up of 8 or 9 family arts. You can get more info from the website or searching on google. Good luck on your studies.

[CyberneticDreem]

Cyber,

Here is what I found off of www.ninjutsu.com

Bujinkan Barbarossa Dojo - J. Courtland Elliott II
P.O. Box 7166; Station "A"; Toronto, Canada MSW 1X

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/kageyama

I believe Bujinkan Taijutsu is made up of 8 or 9 family arts. You can get more info from the website or searching on google. Good luck on your studies.

hmmm...interesting!

thanka for the info...ill check it out.

[Half-Asleep]

second, what does ninjutsu involve? Are there any special physical criterias i must meet? Ive heard strenght is of no importance in this art but sounds like B.S. and wanted to make sure.

It depends on what sorta ninjutsu u do as to what it involves kos origionally it was made up of something like 36 different arts including htings like horseback archery which i doubt u will find many places teach n e more as it isn't particularly useful by todays standings. It does involve learning several weapons, hand to hand, ground as well as standup fighting, joint locks, brakes, pressure points, throws, yadda yadda yadda, u'll find out more when u start as it will prolly depend on where u learn it.
when u start u will find out the physical criteria, as for strength being of no importance that aint true, although u don't need excessive strength or sumthin' u do need it, particularly in your legs, but u need to be in alright shape and just generally strong all over.

[Hikage]

Any good ninjitsu dojos in toronto? I don't know, sorry. U can find dojos by searchingon Google, but that won't help you determine if they are good or not. Sorry, you are on your own for that one and you are going to have to use your own discretion. Get the instructor and ask him / her you questions. If they can't answer you, then move on.

As for what is it? Please read my response (I think it was number 73) under the "What is ninjitsu exactly" question a few threads up from yours.

Do you need strength? No, not at all. I am 5'8 and weigh about 150. I am absolutely no muscle. I'm one of those people who can wash my entire back with a bar of soap because I have absolutely no muscle mass to keep me from doing so. This being said, there is a 6'4 bouncer in my class of similar rank and I have few problems in taking him down. Once you understand how to move your body, it becomes child's play. If you are young, this will be a difficult subject as the young often want to do everything by muscle. There is a banner that hangs in our dojo that reads "It's just not that hard." Making it simple is the hard part.

-Hikage

[masterdan]

yeah, I need help finding a dojo as well.

[masterdan]

I live in laporte Indiana, but Michigan City, Indiana would be good too..... I cant seem to find any good websites with dojo info.

[CyberneticDreem]

thanks for the responses guys.

im lookin forward to this art...sounds great.only problem is that the dojo in the link below is about 45 min from where i live....but ill figure sumtin out. im fairly qiuck on my feet so i dun think ill have an extremely hard time...

how long does this art take to master? since there are so many areas im guessing it takes a while....

[masterdan]

yea, me too, especially if I can't find a dojo closer to me than 90 miles. The closest one ive found is in Indianapolis. Thats no good....

[Hikage]

Mastering Ninjitsu?

thanks for the responses guys.

im lookin forward to this art...sounds great.only problem is that the dojo in the link below is about 45 min from where i live....but ill figure sumtin out. im fairly qiuck on my feet so i dun think ill have an extremely hard time...

how long does this art take to master? since there are so many areas im guessing it takes a while....

It depends on your definition of master. Mastering can take a life time and still not have mastered it. However, we tell our students that after 6 months with us they should be able to "hang" with the average street and be sucessful, but it won't be pretty.

-Hikage

[CyberneticDreem]

It depends on your definition of master. Mastering can take a life time and still not have mastered it. However, we tell our students that after 6 months with us they should be able to "hang" with the average street and be sucessful, but it won't be pretty.

-Hikage

hmmm....i see! Is there any physical conditioning invloved (ie conditioning your body so u can take hits)?

And whats with all the hand symbols? what are those for? (maybe im just watching too many movies...).

[Hikage]

What about hits and the hand symbols?

In regards to conditioning your body to be able to take hits. Many karate schools use pads when they spar each other. I, personally, don't use pads and I don't spar. Instead, the way my dojo practices is
1) when we are working techniques, we work them slowly and with control until we have a good idea what's going on.
2) There are times when we will peform techniques at normal speed, with a realistic impact. This trains you to be able to take hits and to be able to fall and control your body when your limbs are being locked.
This flys in the face of point 1 that I previously mentioned. This isn't something taht the beginner should be doing. However, when a beginner practices, we advocate that they "place their punches." They are not punching with full impact, but are still putting a certain amount of "umph" behind them. When you practice a technique, you don't do it just once, you do it over and over again. After having repeated techniques put on you with a certain amount of "umph" your muscles begin to be tenderized. After a while, you just get used to it and thus you are conditioned. (Does this make sense?)
I mentioned earlier that I didn't care for sparring. I prefer just to have an opponent throw something at full speed, I don't care what, and I'll take him down. Sometime's he'll counter other's he won't. Just depends on how we are working for that day. I personally don't care for sparring (although many have had great success with it and I take nothing from them) because it teaches you to pull your punches and your body doesn't feel what its like to be hit with bare knuckles. Also, it's more of a boxing match than a street brawl. Not to mention that there are rules, and there are no rules on teh street, but I am getting way off subject.

Secondly, you asked about teh hand symbols. I assume you are reffering to the finger weaving. Finger weaving creates an energy about you that can be used for numerous things including peronsal healing. As a beginner, I woulnd't worry about this for now. This is usually something that you pick up when your body is ready for it. Practicing the arts will open your body to different forms of energy. You will probably start by moving a little ball of energy around with your hands and you'll learn how to extend that to several feet around you. Your instructor will let you know when you're ready to get into this.

-Hikage