Japan's ninja arts hold key to
survival, says first winner of graduate degree
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 [August 03, 2020]
By Akira Tomoshige and Hideto Sakai
IGA, Japan (Reuters) - The mystique of
Japan's once-feared covert warriors, spread by films and fiction, is
embodied today in the world's first winner of a master's degree in
ninja studies, who also grows his own crops, just as many of his
predecessors did.
The modern black-clad ninja is Genichi Mitsuhashi, 45, who says he
realised that ninjutsu, or ninja arts, held the key to survival
after he was held up at gunpoint during a stay in Brazil at the age
of 19.
"You are allowed to use weapons or make use of your enemy's body,"
Mitsuhashi said, describing how he was drawn to learn about ninjas.
"You can use anything you need in order to survive. It's based on
reality. It's liberating and flexible."
Mitsuhashi is the first of seven enrolled students to finish a
two-year programme on ninja history, traditions, fighting and
survival techniques, complete with two days of fieldwork, launched
in 2018 by Mie University, southwest of Tokyo.
While Hollywood movies give the fighters superhuman abilities to run
on water or suddenly vanish, many of them, when not on espionage
missions, lived as humble farmers, secretly honing their skills
through farm chores.
Like the ninjas of old, who sprang from peasantry in feudal times,
Mitsuhashi grows his own rice and vegetables.
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Genichi Mitsuhashi, 45, the first person to hold a degree from Mie
University's graduate course on ninja studies, teaches martial arts
to a guest in a training hall next to his home in Iga, Mie
Prefecture, central Japan July 30, 3020. Picture taken July 30,
2020. REUTERS/Akira Tomoshige
He runs an inn in Iga, a small city traditionally known as the home
of many ninjas, while teaching martial and ninja arts at his own
dojo, offering aspirants a taste of a tradition some experts fear
could die out entirely because of scarce talent.
"We shouldn't pick one aspect, but should aim to learn their way of
life," Mitsuhashi said of ninjas, as he swung a wooden sword.
"This includes self-defence, a sustainable lifestyle...I think we
should aim for a comprehensive way of life, and we should learn this
from ninjas."
(Writing by Ju-min Park; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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