This book, part of the Shinrigaku series, is an abridged version of A
Legacy of Lost Arts. It is designed to serve as a quick reference on the
basic mental skills of the shinobi, but excludes the historical context
found in Legacy. In its current form, it can be used as a checklist for
the development and continued maintenance of the disciplines described,
which are a defining component of ninjutsu. If these mind disciplines
are ignored, the physical training in ninjutsu can become almost
indistinguishable from the quotidian block-punch-and-throw combat arts.
This in fact is already the case in those dojo that purport to teach
ninjutsu. Of course, self-defense techniques and combat abilities are
necessary skills, as is the ability to use traditional Japanese
weapons-but ninjutsu is the art of Espionage! Where is the intelligence
gathering? The surreptitious entry and exit methods? The covert
strategies? The counters to the enemy's strategies? The invisible
accomplishment of one's objectives? In short, what do these "ninjutsu"
dojo and seminars offer to set themselves apart from the ubiquitous
jujutsu or self-defense1 schools that teach the same or similar skills?
Is it their black jujutsu uniforms or fancy "ninja" patches that make
what they teach "ninjutsu?" While unarmed and armed fighting arts are a
part of ninjutsu, the art relies on many more arts that are not being
taught in dojo around the world. It is those arts that we will begin to
introduce in this book.
