Month completed: July 2008

Ages ago (at least two years now) I was reading a magazine that had a feature on a variety of different ninja forms. Most of them seemed similar, and held no appeal for me. And then I read about ninjutsu.

What is ninjutsu, you ask?

Quite simply, ninjutsu is the art of invisibility.

The art form seemed to be more focused on stealth, and remaining hidden, rather than fighting techniques. And given that I like to sneak up on people and give them a fright, and that I am not too keen to get whacked with a sword, this seemed like the ninja form for me.

Last week I went along to my first class, in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. It was a two-hour session, and I initially thought it would be a very long two hours. I was very wrong.

The first thing we did was meditation. Excellent. Hard to fully concentrate though, as I had just come from work.

Next we worked on weapons training. Cool. I had a long stick called a Hambo, and I was partnered with Mr Beattie (everyone was addressed as Mr, so I was Mr Tully – very Matrix-esque) who had a plastic sword. We did a series of moves that involved Mr Beattie coming at me with a sword, and me dodging the sword and then whacking him with my Hambo. He invited me to whack him pretty hard, which was fun. Less so when the roles were reversed, and he did it to me though!

By the way, Mr Beattie has a black belt in ninjutsu. Also by the way, the picture below is not of Mr Beattie, but just a random ninjutsu image I included to break up the text. Just thought you should know.

After weapons training, we moved onto street survival techniques, and specifically using our elbows to knock someone out (plus a bit of reverse kicking, for when the enemy is behind you).

Most people wear a groin guard during the class. Being my first class, I didn’t have one. Mr Beattie forgot this, and kicked me not once, but twice in the groin. Both times it hurt heaps (remember, he has a black belt).

I did survive street survival, which was lucky because the final part of the class was on reflexology, which is a technique of massage based on the belief that different parts of the sole of your feet represent different parts of your body, so massaging that part of the sole will ease any pain in the related body part. Not sure about it, but happy to go along with it if it meant a free foot massage.

Until I realised that after my massage, I would become the massager. Luckily, I only had to use my feet to do the massaging, but regardless I am not a big fan of massaging another man’s feet!

Shortly after, I looked at the clock. We had run overtime, and the two hours was over. I was impressed; the class had run quickly and that probably had something to do with the variety of things we went through.

When I land in London in late August, I now plan to find a club to join, and continue a new-found interest in this very interesting form of ninja. I would highly recommend it to anyone – after just one class, I already feel that I could better defend myself in combat.