The Grandmaster's book of Ninja training

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Charles Daniel, 6th dan
Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi
Charles Daniel has experience in fighting arts from several
countries, and is constantly working to understand the
essential nature of budo.
After Charles passed his fifth dan test, I suggested that he
should put his impressions in writing, to which he replied,
"What is really of significance surely lies in what is not put into
words."—a statement a little reminiscent of Miyamoto Musashi.
He has the makings of a real martial artist.
With no thought for either winning or losing, you just
go all out, regardless. It's utterly simple, but extremely
difficult. Just as my teacher used to tell us,
this kind of transcendence is really vital. In the fifth
dan test, it is said that you go into a state of mu,
nothingness, and this state is intrinsically a transcendental
one. And I want you all to experience and
appreciate this state, this sense of transcending.
The Grandmaster's Book of Ninja Training
However, it happens occasionally that you get involved
in your own feelings and you feel you're unable
to rise above them. At these times, there's no way to
achieve the state of transcendence unless you can let
go and get away from yourself. It's nothing complex
or sophisticated—just very, very simple. That's what
I have done—surrendered myself and dropped entirely
the sense of being Grandmaster. I must distance
myself from the ordinary actions, good or bad,
of everyday life, in order to live an unattached,
unconfined life. This is essential.
This is where those who become teachers all
make a mistake, and the grander they want to be in
other people's eyes, the bigger the error. Those who
are after money are also off the track. Such people
cause all sorts of difficulties, and this is the reason
for the problems that have plagued ninjutsu in
countries around the world. But perhaps now most
aspects of the first "ninja boom" have disappeared
from among my students. Instead, now, we have
some genuine teachers, such as Doron, Charles, and
Jack Hoban. At last, there are now people in other
countries who are searching for and working toward
the real ninjutsu, the true budo. And in Sweden,
too, there are people, particularly Sven-Erik
Bogsater, 2 who are also after the real thing. These
people have really grown and made great progress.
And so I see this as a new period for ninjutsu, in
which people who are interested in genuine ninjutsu
are appearing. I am, of course, teaching ninjutsu,
but I succeeded to the leadership of nine schools. But
the grades that are awarded all over the world
are grades only in ninpo taijutsu. I could also teach
a whole lot of other things, like the daken taijutsu of
the Shinden Fudoryu school, for example, or jujutsu,
and so on, and I do want people all around the world
to know that the Bujinkan dojo is not merely confined
to
fifth dan test, March 1987.
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