Taijut tsu&Th heNinja a

FromTh heWayoftheNinjabyMassak kiHatsumi Intheo orynoninjashouldla ackskillinninpotaiju utsu,butt theactualt trainingdif iffers from school to sch hool. Havin ng said thi is, all ninja a have to b be equally agile and light intheirmovements.Theyal lsoneedto obeexcelle entleapers sP.104 f the first skills tha at is show wn and pr racticed in n our trai ining is ca alled One of taihenju utsu the art a of chan nging the body, b whic ch involved d ways of landing on n the ground(rolling),avoiding a at ttacksandleaping. ility to lea ap six feet t is a good d start, an nd a good goals to strive for, but The abi ultimate ely one wants w to cu ultivate the ability t to leap at least nine e feet or e even more. l soimportant t? Whyisleaping From th he perspec ctive of nin njutsu and our training there a are two rea asons why y it is importa ant Thefirstisthatisquicklytakesyouou utofthepa athofdangersome ethingfallin ngat you, or coming at t you, clear the dista ance and le eap away. Once you u are away y and haveso omedistancebetwee enyou,one ecanthenassessthe esituationandescap pe.

The sec cond reaso on is that leaping is s a way to o control t the distan nce, and ninpo taijutsuisALLabo outmanipu ulatingthedistance. ning is very y importan nt in the m martial arts s, and we w want to be e the Physical condition best tha at we can in terms of strength, speed, and flexibility for ou ur age and d life situation,butwedontwanttorelyon ntheseatt tributesinninjutsu. Why? f you find yourself y in n a situatio on where s somebody else is big gger, faste er, or What if stronge erthenyou u? You can nt control how big, fast, or str rong anoth her person n or situation is, but t you CANcon ntrolthedistance. d Distancenegatestheseattri ibutes. uation sud ddenly gets s too close e to you, a and you ne eed to exp pand If a person or situ the dist tance to a safe place e, leaping is the way to do it in n one quick and effic cient movement. w leaping is relat ted to the martial ar rts in that it is a con ncept skill that In this way, allowsthe t studenttoseeho owotherte echniquesthattheylearnover rtimework. When you y understand the e distance e you can n manipula ate the distance, w while keeping gyourselfsafe. s

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