There are several Modern Schools of Ninjutsu that claim to teach martial arts styles descended from the practice of ninjutsu, the historical arts of the Ninja covert agents or assassins of feudal Japan.
One of the earliest modern schools to be established was the Bujinkan Organization in 1978 by martial artist Masaaki Hatsumi. The organization teaches nine different martial arts styles, three of which are named after and claim to be descended from historical ninjutsu styles. Stephen K. Hayes, a student of Hatsumi, took what he learned to the United States in the 1970's, starting his own group of organizations called Quest Centers and his own martial arts style, To-Shin Do. Several other schools of ninjutsu also were created during the 70's, including the Dux Ryu Ninjutsu school in 1975 and the Nindo Ryu Bujutsu Kai federation in 1979, while the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū school began to incorporate believed ninjutsu practices into its curriculum.
During the 1980's, several other schools of ninjutsu also began to be developed across the world, with the Genbukan being founded in 1984 in Japan by Shoto Tanemura, a former friend of Hatsumi, and the AKBAN school being developed in Israel in 1986 by Doron Navon as an offshoot of the Bujinkan Organization. The Banke Shinobinoden school, which claims a long history, began teaching Koga and Iga ninjutsu more popularly with the opening of the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum by Jinichi Kawakami.
Some of the historical claims of these modern schools have been questioned in regards to whether they truly qualify as Koryū.[1] A number of people in the general martial arts community deny the existence of any true ninjutsu being taught today because of these concerns.
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The Bujinkan Organization, founded by Masaaki Hatsumi in 1978, is one of the many organizations claiming to teach ninjutsu as three of the nine martial art schools of Bujinkan are said to be ninjutsu schools.[2] These claims are opposed by historians of koryu arts, as well as by the Iga Ninja Museum of Japan.[3][1]
In Rekishi Dokuhon magazine,[4] Masaaki Hatsumi said he was Takashi Ueno's student from the age of 24 to age 29 only sometimes wrote letters to Toshitsugu Takamatsu who was then Ueno Takashi's teacher;[4] though the certificate Takamatsu gave Hatsumi naming him 34th head of Togakure ryu is dated March 1958.[5] There is no documentation of the previous 33 holders of this title[6]. There are films of them training together over a long period of several years[5] and in interviews with Ryutaro Koyama, Takamatsu confirmed that Hatsumi had been training with him since 1958.[7] Following this, in the Bugeicho (11/1963) Hatsumi states he only trains with Takamatsu once every three months on weekends.[8]
The Bugeicho (11/1963) editor Kiyoshi Watatani states that Hatsumi's ideas and lineage are only his ideas and have no proof to support them.[9] The Kakutogi No Rekishi lists several of the Bujinkan Ryuha and martial arts authority Yumio Nawa also examined and confirmed the Togakure ryu's historical status in his 1972 book Ninjutsu no kenkyu[10] (Ninchibo Shuppansha). Watatani, editor of the Bugeicho who had said that there was no proof to Hatsumi's claims in 1963 then reverses himself and in his work the Bugei Ryuha Daijiten 1978 from then on treats the Togakure ryu as a historical art.
In the more recent Shinobi no sengokushi (08/2004) Hatsumi states he trained with Toshitsugu Takamatsu for 15 years and became master of 9 systems at age 27.[11] Toshitsugu Takamatsu died in 1972, so this would make the year Hatsumi started training with Takamatsu 1957 or 1958. This statement claims the training with Takamatsu having been two or three years longer than can be concluded from Hatsumi's statements from the Rekishi dokuhon 08/1960"[4] and the Bugeicho 11/1963. However, the statement in Shinobi no sengokushi (08/2004) is consistent with Takamatsu's statements to Koyama and the certificate he wrote. In 1983 Shinji Souya wrote that the historical book Genpeisuiseki supported the Togakure ryu history.[12]
In the 3rd edition of the Bugei ryuha daijiten, Watatani (who was a friend of Takamatsu) states that Takamatsu's ninjutsu was made up from childhood ninja games.[13] This was retracted in the 4th edition.
The Quest Centers headed by Stephen K. Hayes who studied under Shoto Tanemura until the latter's falling out with Hatsumi. Hayes then continued under Masaaki Hatsumi and is (claimed to be) the person who first brought ninjutsu to North America, founding a ninjutsu dojo in the Western Hemisphere in Atlanta, Georgia, in the mid-70s. Hayes relocated to Dayton, Ohio around 1980, where he continued to teach the art for a number of years. He now teaches his own Westernized system separated from bujinkan, To-Shin Do .
According to Donn F. Draeger (1973), the school of Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū claimed to have been the first to incorporate ninjutsu into its curriculum.[14]
The Nindo Ryu Bujutsu Kai is a martial arts federation founded in 1979, it has a Gendai Ninjutsu division under the direction of Carlos R. Febres, (former student of Shoto Tanemura, T. Higushi and current student of both Ronald Duncan & Bo Munthe). Nindo Ryu Gendai Ninjutsu works around modern applications & modern interpretation of Takamatsuden, Koga (Koka) & Eclectic schools.
Frank Dux established his school of "Dux Ryu Ninjutsu" in 1975. Dux opened his first school in North Hollywood in 1980 while subsequent schools have been owned and operated by his students.[15] The validity of many of his personal claims have been disputed. His claims concerning his martial arts background, fighting in the "Kumite", and prior military service have been alleged as unsubstantiated by the Los Angeles Times,[16] Soldier of Fortune,[17] and various former associates.[18][19]
Genbukan (玄武館) [20] was founded in 1984 by Shoto Tanemura.[21] [22] It is an international organization with over a hundred dojos in circa thirty countries and twenty US states according to it's dojo locator and linked dojo's.[23] Shoto Tanemura stopped training with Masaki Hatsumi in 1984 after a falling out with him. Tanemura is also the head and founder of another organization that operate unders the Genbukan headquarters (Honbu) in Japan: [24]
The Genbukan Ninpo Bugei (玄武館忍法武芸) is divided in 36 categories called the "Ninja Sanjurokkei [25] focusing on Taijutsu, Bikenjutsu and Seishinteki Kyoyo. Other topics of study may include bō jutsu, yumi, naginata, yari, jutte, kusari-gama, shuriken.
The Kokusai Jujutsu Renmei [26] is focused on traditional japanese Jujutsu techniques.
Genbukan also has developed self defense techniques (Goshinjutsu) and training in what they refer to as 'Koryu Karate' and 'Chugoku Kenpo' [27].
AKBAN (founded 1986 in Israel) uses the Bujinkan curriculum the way it was used when Doron Navon, the first foreign Bujinkan shihan, studied under Tanemura and then under Hatsumi when Tanemura left the Bujinkan.[28]
The Banke Shinobinoden group claim to teach Koga and Iga ninjutsu in Japan.[29] Jinichi Kawakami claims to have been taught by Masazo Ishida, who he says was one of the last remaining ninjutsu practitioners alive.[30]
He says he is the 21st head of the Koga Ban family (Iga and Koga Ninjutsu) and is the honorary director of the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum.[31] Kawakami's top student, Yasushi Kiyomoto, is the only one teaching from the Banke Shinobinoden group.[32] Kiyomoto operates a dojo in Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture, but he no longer takes on new students.[33] There are also no branches, contact points and instructors overseas.[32]
However, As Thomas Dillon writes,[34] "No one knows anything about Ishida. How very ninja-like." Also, Kawakami claims to teach not only Iga style ninjutsu, but Koka (Koga) ryu ninjutsu[35]
Ashida Kim (also known as "Radford Davis" and "Chris Hunter" in legal documents[36]) is a writer about and practitioner of modern ninjitsu. No evidence has been advanced to suggest that Kim has ever studied or trained in ninjutsu under anyone else. Demonstrating his martial arts knowledge in a video interview released on youtube, Kim claims that the first five forms learned in Goju Ryu, Shotokan, Wado Ryu, Isshin Ryu, and "hard Korean martial arts" are all identical[37]. Kim's ninjitsu techniques include both levitation and magic[38], as well as the "Dim Mak" (or touch of death).
Staring in the early 1980s[39] Kim has written prolifically about ninjitsu techniques (including Ninja Death Touch, Ninja Mind Control, and Ninja Secrets of Invisibility[40]) as well as several sexually explicit ninja related biographies and books (including X-Rated Dragon Lady, The Amorous Adventures of Ashida Kim, and Dragon Lady of the Ninja[41]). These books are only legally distributed by the publishing company Dojo Press owned and operated by Kim[42].
In a 2003 interview with The Believer magazine, Davis indicates that he has been associated with the Black Dragon Fighting Society (BDFS) since meeting its head Count Dante in 1968. In the same article he also indicates that the BDFS is descended from a 6000 year old Chinese school called the 'Polestar School' which he believes has been preserving knowledge since the fall of Atlantis [43]. Kim also describes his belief that the Earth undergoes a cataclysm every 43,000 years due to the poles shifting.