"They call me the last ninja" because there is no other person who has received all the skills transmitted directly from the masters of five centuries ago," says Jinichi Kawakami, a 63-year-old engineer who holds for many the honor of being the last shinobi in the world. history, to the newspaper 'The Daily Mail'.
This heir of the historic group of Japanese mercenaries believes that the techniques of the ninjas do not fit with the modern world and has made the harsh decision that his wisdom is lost the day he dies: "We can not kill or poison anyone. Although we have the instructions to make a poison, there is no way to prove it. " For this teacher "at the time of the civil wars during the Edo period, the abilities of the ninjas to spy and kill or mix medicines would have been useful. But now that we have weapons, Internet and medicoos much better the art of ninjutsu has no place, "he tells to BBC News.
You can not separate martial arts from ninjas, but belonging to them goes way beyond martial arts
It is impossible to learn in a few minutes the centuries of martial science that Kawakami could reveal to us. Before the wisdom of such warriors is left alone in memory, let us go for a few moments to the brief lessons we can extract through their statements in different media.
The authentic ninjutsu
Of a nature totally contrary to the samurai, the ninjas were trained to practice unorthodox ways of waging war such as murder, espionage, sabotage or guerrilla warfare. In a society where the functions of each member were clearly delimited, the daimio, or feudal sovereign, could not expose his military elite to such unscrupulous labors, so he substituted the samurai for these other warriors, who generally came from classes lower social
Kawakami claims to be the twenty-first grandmaster of the Koga Ban clan, a dynasty of spies whose history goes back five hundred years. It also has a dojo, that is, a training place, in the city of Sagamihara, although the paradox is that it no longer accepts new students. Interestingly, his main disciple so far, Yasushi Kiyomoto, is owner, along with other partners, of the only official headquarters of the school outside of Japan, founded in the city of Valencia.
His training in the art of ninjutsu began at the young age of six, under the instruction of his rigorous mentor Masazo Ishida. The journalist Thomas Dillon, who has followed in the footsteps of this teacher, questions this fact: "Nobody knows anything about Ishida and, therefore, there is no evidence that what Kawakami defends is true."
All in all, Kawakami enjoys a great reputation and currently holds the honor of being an honorary curator at the Ninja Museum in Igaru. How has your prestige been built? What are your techniques? "You can not separate martial arts from ninjas, but being a ninja goes far beyond martial arts," Kawakami tells The Japan Times. Although it looks like something out of a fiction movie, its abilities range from having an ear so sharp that it can hear the sound of a needle in the next room, to disappear after a cloud of smoke, passing through the most advanced techniques of murder as Cut the neck of a victim with a shuriken, the throwing weapon that characterizes these warriors.
To improve your concentration, one of the trainings carried out by the last ninja consists of something as simple as contemplating for hours the flame of a candle and feeling that he and the fire are a single entity.
Mix chemicals to generate smoke and explosions, prepare to overcome extreme situations of heat and cold, spend days without eating or drinking anything ... "The training was hard and painful. It was not fun, but I did not think much about why I was doing it. It was carried out to be part of my life, "says Kawakami.
Beat stronger enemies
There is no need to see, however, in these warriors an example of brute force. Quite the contrary, for Kawakami the main value of the ninjas lies in their ability to surprise the enemy by distracting their attention. The objective is to obtain a definite advantage and thus overcome the most powerful opponents: "Just throw a toothpick to the ground so that everyone looks in that direction and have the opportunity to flee."
It may seem that the solution to not being warned is to become invisible in some way. However, the best technique is sometimes based on the opposite, on being too "opaque": "We have a saying that ensures that you can escape death by hanging from the enemy's eyelashes: it means that you are so close that you do not really he can see you. "
Will there be a successor to Kawakami in the future? Will he truly become the last ninja in history? As with any mythical figure, there is a certain aura of mystery about him. As the journalist Thomas Dillon rightly states, it is not possible to be a ninja if there are no secrets behind