Reviews for The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art

The average rating for The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-03-11 00:00:00 Jeremy Frommer Hayes has long been one of America's foremost authorities, or at least foremost writers, on ninjutsu and ninjas. My feelings on the man and his writing are mixed: on the one hand, he's written a great deal and he's spent a lot of time in Japan studying under some of the greatest living ninjutsu masters. He ought to know whereof he speaks, certainly. On the other hand, he rose to fame during the ninja frenzy of the 1980s and a lot of his writing has a New Age style of overwrought prose and absurd sense of anticipation that will make you wince. You will gain some useful insight into ninjutsu from this book, certainly, and I admire Hayes as a man who has studied ninjutsu at great length and become a leading figure in contemporary martial arts. The problem is, in order to make a living off the martial arts beyond running your own dojo and writing here and there, you have to consult on films, maybe act in them, open multiple schools . . . all things that Hayes has done. Part of me would just feel more comfortable with a man who went to Japan, became very learned in the art, then returned to the States and ran one dojo and otherwise we'd not heard a peep from since. We learn at the onset of this book, by the way, Sensei Hayes majored in theatre in college . . . perhaps an astute measure given the famed-filled life he would wind up leading. If you're seriously interested in ninjutsu, do read this book and Hayes' other works, but I think like myself you'll find them lacking in detail in many places. I am still searching for a really comprehensive book on the history of actual ninjutsu that also gets far into the tactical details of the art.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-10-24 00:00:00 Brett Piskorowski I liked this book it talked about all the different manifestations. and also the different espionage techniques and the seven disguises