Friends,
I’ve not posted lately, because I’m focusing on my own martial arts training right now and I don’t want to waste much time doing other things. However, this post will take just a moment and I want to share it with you.
The video I’ll be discussing is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l3y3B4cls0&feature=related
If you’d like, you can open it and watch it while reading this blog entry.
The video is “Dim Mak Finger Test,” a video in which Ashida Kim demonstrates “Dim Mak,” which is a famous old martial arts technique that has never been scientifically proven. The technique involves simply touching a certain area of the body to cause death. I've heard some claims say that the effect is instantaneous, and some others claim that it can take two or three days, refered to as the "delayed death touch". Nevertheless, many do claim that it exists, although skeptics say it is nonsense. I’m neutral in that subject, as I do not practice an art claiming to teach it, and I have no interest in it, as it is unlikely that the technique could be actually used in a real violent conflict, even if it was a legitimate technique.
Anyhow, on to the video.
We start out with the typical-looking Ashida Kim, wearing historically incorrect ninjutsu attire. This includes a black karate dogi and a ski mask. He is standing in front of a table with a hunting trap on it, and as the music (which is very odd music for the mood of the video) starts, Ashida picks up the trap and says, “This… is a no. 4 steel trap!” with a very dramatic tone to his voice. He goes on to explain how it is used for trapping small game, and he then picks up a pencil and shows that the trap can easily slice the pencil in half. He begins to talk about the concept of Dim Mak and how it relates to ninjutsu (which is doesn’t historically), and then, guess what? He starts talking about what is apparently his favorite movie, “Bloodsport.” I’ve seen him mention this film several times in his videos, so he apparently likes it quite a lot. Anyway, he talks about how the movie relates to Dim Mak, and then performs a hilariously obvious camera trick. Right at 1:20, he stops the film and evidently switches the trap with an identical duplicate, except that it has a dull edge on it instead of the normal toothed edge, used for painfully cutting into the limb of an unsuspecting animal.
Then right after that, he does something very random. He bends his thumb down to make it look like it was cut off, then shows it to the camera. Odd. Then, at 1:29, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! He theatrically slams his hand into the button, causing the duplicate, dulled trap to slam into his fingers. He then picks up the trap, still attached to his fingers, and proudly shows it is on his hand tightly. He then self-importantly and aggressively says, “Let he who says he is a master of Dim Mak take this test!!!” He then releases the trap and pulls his hand out, saying “This power of the hidden hand, the invisible fist,” etc., etc. It’s funny how Mr. Kim even pretends that there is a connection between ninjutsu and Dim Mak, because according to him, “ninjutsu isn’t about combat, it is about invisibility” yet Dim Mak was used in combat, according to those who believe it is authentic. What’s even funnier is how he thinks that just because your hand can withstand a game trap, you’re a master of Dim Mak. Where’s the connection between a tough hand and a very complex martial arts technique presumably involving proper pressure, angle of pressure, accuracy, etc.? What is funnier yet is how Ashida Kim thinks that using a cheap camera trick of stopping the film and switching prop items is actually going to convince people that his hand is capable of withstanding a game trap.
Nevertheless, he seems very proud of himself.
Stay tuned.
The Truthful Warrior
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Something interesting I found on Ashida Kim's forum...
Friends,
Guess what?! I found something rather amusing on Mr. Kim's forum. He got a little snip from something written by Frank Dux (another ninjer fraud) about the famous martial arts forum, Bullshido. Bullshido is a site where people from all arts gather, but where lots of arguing about whose art is better takes place.
The part from Dux claims that only a "handful of people" operate on Bullshido, pretending to be thousands of different users, and these few people are out for Google money and to attack Dux and other con - err, I mean... martial, artists. Here is the post from Ashida Kim, taken from a writing from Dux:
"From Hanshi Frank Dux:
"For anyone wondering the majority of what is being said on internet that is negative about me stems from a small ring of message boards that are content farms, invent content and controversy to drive traffic to their websites from which they make money off Google Ads. The link below is a recent article that may prove insightful as it exposes the primary culprit bullshido/source for the unreliable source they are.
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Bul....-Scheme/1200441
"To which I would add that this proves there is an active conspiracy in violation of Fair Trade Agreements international.
"But, the law means nothing unless you have an army of lawyers to enforce it."
Interesting, isn't it? I did about 3 minutes of digging (sorry it took so long) and found that http://www.articlesnatch.com/ (where the article is found) is a site with more than 390,000 authors. The user who wrote the article about Bullshido's name is "Vic Nash". The Bullshido article is his only article, and he has no information about himself, his background, how he verified his "proof" that Bullshido is out to get Dux, or anything else for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dux was the one who wrote the article, under the name "Vic Nash."
So I guess we're supposed to accept something as proof when a random internet user with no information about him says it's true?
But nonetheless, Mr. Kim treats this article as if it's the long-awaited proof that he's not a fraud. I'm sorry, but that is pathetic.
It's rather funny, because he claims that a "handful" of people operate the entire site. However, I myself have a profile, three friends I can think of also do, and about ten other people I know of also have accounts. So there we have fourteen people I know personally who have accounts there. So I guess WE are the handful of people and we didn't even know it! Whoa...
Stay tuned, there is more to come.
The Truthful Warrior
Guess what?! I found something rather amusing on Mr. Kim's forum. He got a little snip from something written by Frank Dux (another ninjer fraud) about the famous martial arts forum, Bullshido. Bullshido is a site where people from all arts gather, but where lots of arguing about whose art is better takes place.
The part from Dux claims that only a "handful of people" operate on Bullshido, pretending to be thousands of different users, and these few people are out for Google money and to attack Dux and other con - err, I mean... martial, artists. Here is the post from Ashida Kim, taken from a writing from Dux:
"From Hanshi Frank Dux:
"For anyone wondering the majority of what is being said on internet that is negative about me stems from a small ring of message boards that are content farms, invent content and controversy to drive traffic to their websites from which they make money off Google Ads. The link below is a recent article that may prove insightful as it exposes the primary culprit bullshido/source for the unreliable source they are.
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Bul....-Scheme/1200441
"To which I would add that this proves there is an active conspiracy in violation of Fair Trade Agreements international.
"But, the law means nothing unless you have an army of lawyers to enforce it."
Interesting, isn't it? I did about 3 minutes of digging (sorry it took so long) and found that http://www.articlesnatch.com/ (where the article is found) is a site with more than 390,000 authors. The user who wrote the article about Bullshido's name is "Vic Nash". The Bullshido article is his only article, and he has no information about himself, his background, how he verified his "proof" that Bullshido is out to get Dux, or anything else for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dux was the one who wrote the article, under the name "Vic Nash."
So I guess we're supposed to accept something as proof when a random internet user with no information about him says it's true?
But nonetheless, Mr. Kim treats this article as if it's the long-awaited proof that he's not a fraud. I'm sorry, but that is pathetic.
It's rather funny, because he claims that a "handful" of people operate the entire site. However, I myself have a profile, three friends I can think of also do, and about ten other people I know of also have accounts. So there we have fourteen people I know personally who have accounts there. So I guess WE are the handful of people and we didn't even know it! Whoa...
Stay tuned, there is more to come.
The Truthful Warrior
Friday, June 10, 2011
Staying on Ashida Kim's "Official S*** List" is what I do best...
Friends,
If there's one thing I am good at doing, it's keeping Ashida Kim on his toes. Apparently, he has seen my blog from my link on my YouTube account (www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life) and has been viewing my blog entries furiously, because he's getting angrier and more hateful on his website. This is the new paragraph at the top of his website, changed recently:
"This is the Official Website of the One and Only Ashida Kim. Because the Internet has become so corrupted by trolls and hackers and impersonators, Master Kim does not appear on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any other social networking site. Nor does he participate in any blogs, chat rooms or forums than his own Message Board. Any posts or profiles made in his name or with his likeness are a violation of International Copyright Law and subject to prosecution. DOJO Press is the only legal distributor of Ashida Kim books and videos. There are so-called "file sharing" websites that give away and sell his books in flagrant violation of International Copyright Law. There are at least five publishing firms that have made their fortunes marketing his intellectual property for the last thirty years without paying him even the paltry royalties they promised. We ask all loyal fans and friends of Ashida Kim to boycott these vendors, and report them to us for legal action."
So, as you can see, he's getting a bit irritated at all of us pushing his buttons. "The One and Only Ashida Kim," huh? Well, thank goodness there's only one!
So anyway, right now I'm awaiting a staff member of his forums to give me access to his forums. If he sees this message, he might just deny all of the current users waiting activation to avoid me getting in, but I'll just start over with a different account. This way, unless he wants to cancel his forum (which would be wonderful - I'd be honored to have caused that) completely, he can't stop me.
Once I get in (again - I've been blocked from previous accounts), I will keep this blog updated with all of the lies he is spreading. The last I saw (before I got blocked) was a fake news article saying that websites exposing him like Bullshido were part of a "conspiracy" out to get him. This is a common tactic used by many martial arts frauds throughout history - it's nothing new to fraud-busters like myself.
Until I get in and share the new nonsense, here's a funny ninja-related video from YouTube, originally from http://www.funnyvids.org/. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=391QpIcP2oU
Stay tuned! More to come!
The Truthful Warrior
If there's one thing I am good at doing, it's keeping Ashida Kim on his toes. Apparently, he has seen my blog from my link on my YouTube account (www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life) and has been viewing my blog entries furiously, because he's getting angrier and more hateful on his website. This is the new paragraph at the top of his website, changed recently:
"This is the Official Website of the One and Only Ashida Kim. Because the Internet has become so corrupted by trolls and hackers and impersonators, Master Kim does not appear on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any other social networking site. Nor does he participate in any blogs, chat rooms or forums than his own Message Board. Any posts or profiles made in his name or with his likeness are a violation of International Copyright Law and subject to prosecution. DOJO Press is the only legal distributor of Ashida Kim books and videos. There are so-called "file sharing" websites that give away and sell his books in flagrant violation of International Copyright Law. There are at least five publishing firms that have made their fortunes marketing his intellectual property for the last thirty years without paying him even the paltry royalties they promised. We ask all loyal fans and friends of Ashida Kim to boycott these vendors, and report them to us for legal action."
So, as you can see, he's getting a bit irritated at all of us pushing his buttons. "The One and Only Ashida Kim," huh? Well, thank goodness there's only one!
So anyway, right now I'm awaiting a staff member of his forums to give me access to his forums. If he sees this message, he might just deny all of the current users waiting activation to avoid me getting in, but I'll just start over with a different account. This way, unless he wants to cancel his forum (which would be wonderful - I'd be honored to have caused that) completely, he can't stop me.
Once I get in (again - I've been blocked from previous accounts), I will keep this blog updated with all of the lies he is spreading. The last I saw (before I got blocked) was a fake news article saying that websites exposing him like Bullshido were part of a "conspiracy" out to get him. This is a common tactic used by many martial arts frauds throughout history - it's nothing new to fraud-busters like myself.
Until I get in and share the new nonsense, here's a funny ninja-related video from YouTube, originally from http://www.funnyvids.org/. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=391QpIcP2oU
Stay tuned! More to come!
The Truthful Warrior
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Evaluation of Ashida Kim's video, "Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques - 5 of 5"
Friends,
This is it! The final chapter of our evaluations of Ashida Kim’s “Sentry removal Techniques” series.
This review is of Ashida Kim’s “Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques 5 of 5”.
Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXInxCDRde4
Without further delay, here we go.
The film starts by repeating a clip seen in part 4 from a different angle. This angle makes it harder to see what happened, so I advise you to go back to part 4 to see it better. Basically, Ashida Kim is seen hiding behind a telephone pole, approaching a sentry who has his back turned to Ashida. Ashida, being then ninja master he is, apparently makes a noise and the sentry spins around and points his rifle at Ashida, motioning with his hand for Ashida to come closer. Ashida then takes the gun and flings the sentry to the ground, then knocks out the sentry with the rifle butt.
Let’s break down this technique and find out how practical it is. First of all, the reason Ashida has to get so close to attack the sentry is because Ashida insists on ignoring ninjutsu’s principle of adaptation. Ashida refuses to carry modern weaponry, so he’s stuck in 17th century Japan, carrying nothing but shuriken, cheap Hollywood ninjato, and flour (metsubushi - or as the narrator says in part 1, “Mitsubishi-Ko!” Yep, like the car!). So, Ashida could have avoided the confrontation with the sentry if he’d just brought a silenced rifle with him. Heck, he could even stay in the 17th century and use a fukiya (3-foot blowgun) and avoid the confrontation that way too!
So anyhow, Ashida is seen by the sentry as he tries to approach from behind. The sentry spins around and, instead of calling for back-up immediately like an good sentry would, he actually motions Ashida to come closer. “Hey ninjer, come here so you can reach my gun and take it from me!” Any real sentry would immediately back up to make sure his gun was out of reach. That’s how guns work, you know? You pull the trigger, they go “boom,” and the bullet will fly quite far. I guess the sentry missed that day of firearms training.
The sentry lets go of the gun with one hand so he can motion for Ashida to come closer. Ashida quickly steps forward and grabs the gun, and takes it (unrealistically easily) and knocks the sentry out. Mr. Kim then promptly adjusts his mask. We don’t want any sentries to see my face! That would be baaaaad. For some reason, all through this video, a loud noise keeps cutting in and out. It sounds like a helicopter or something. Anyway, next we see Ashida slipping along the horizontal supports of a fence. I’m not sure why one would risk this. Of course it’s useful if there is a railway with no ground beside it, but Ashida has a very welcoming-looking ground just below him, yet he thinks it is necessary to risk making a heck of a noise should a support break with his weight, by climbing onto a fence. To be fair, if it were a dirt floor that might be an okay thing to do to avoid footprints. But Ashida wouldn’t have to avoid footprints if he used a disguise to get into camp, but that’s covered in an earlier post.
The “Spider Climb” is demonstrated next. Although this climb looks impressive to the untrained eye, it is one of the most useless techniques ever devised by Mr. Kim. The technique is used to climb a wall, but if you look at the film footage, Ashida Kim has two two-by-fours to hold onto and to grip with his feet. These boards are just the right distance from each other for Ashida to hold onto and climb with. So, unless Ashida Kim plans on infiltrating a location and is hoping that there just happens to be a few boards at exactly the right distance from each other, and at exactly where he wants to climb, then he’s out of luck. I would bet that Ashida even had to buy a few boards and nail them to the wall, just for that climb.
Kim even speaks of this climb in a book of his like it is magical or something. He claims that by practicing “climbing” on a horizontal floor for three years, then practicing climbing a wall with bricks protruding for three years, that someone can develop the ability to climb completely flat surfaces. I hope with all of my might that no one has ever been gullible enough to waste six years trying that.
We then go back to the “Wall-Walking Technique,” and the narrator lies by saying that it takes great finger strength to accomplish. It doesn’t - I’ve tried it.
Next, Ashida is seen climbing around the upper supports of a barn. He then finds a nice little hole and stays there. Just like the Spider Climb, this technique looks cool but isn’t useful. It is too high a distance to leap onto someone without injuring yourself, it would be difficult to shoot at someone from up there (the hands are mostly busy balancing the body and the aim would be off), and espionage should be done with disguises, not with hiding in a barn.
Next, we cut back to a clip seen in part 1. Ashida descends from a roof onto the top of an open door, and leaps onto a sentry, knocking him out.
This technique isn’t useless, but the way Ashida does it is. First of all, Ashida is on a tin roof. A roof like that will make far too much noise for a sentry directly below not to hear you. Also, instead of leaping directly from the rooftop, he descends first to the top of an open door. This move is risky. If someone were to close the door, Ashida would take a hilarious fall. Also, the door’s hinge may swing with Ashida’s weight, also causing a fall.
Ashida then demonstrates some ukemi. His ukemi has improved since previous parts, but he’s still no better than a beginning parkour student. His rolls are fit for sport, but are not tactical for ninjutsu. See my youtube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life and find a video called “Bujinkan Ukemi: Zigzag rolls demo” for ninjutsu rolling. The head should never touch the ground (Ashida’s head most definitely does touch), and the eyes should remain forward throughout the entire roll (see my video).
While the ukemi is being performed, the narrator mentions that a kneeling stance is useful for distorting the human silhouette. This doesn’t make any sense - the kneeling stance is just as distinctive as the standing silhouette. Trying rolling up into a tight ball if you want to distort your silhouette, not kneeling - especially not like how Ashida kneels.
More footage from part 1 is played again, and video quality is horrible. It’s as if Ashida played a scratched VHS (remember those!?) and filmed his TV as it played.
And of all clips, it’s the clip of Ashida stealthily moving in front of, instead of behind like a good ninjer should, a nice-looking patch of woods. He clumsily rolls back into the woods and branches can be seen shaking noisily from it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ashida wouldn’t need to roll back there if he was already back there. I guess he was two wrapped up in his mystic mumbo-jumbo.
Next, another scene from part 4 is shown again. Ashida is seen crawling underneath an elevated porch. Those elevated porches are hard to come by first of all, and also, he is evidently fleeing after having bowed to the sleeping fat man and stolen some bottles (see my earlier posts if that doesn’t make any sense). So why would he flee so slowly? The man inside is asleep, so RUN!!! And take your mask off - you look like a terrorist!
Next, Ashida ascends to the rooftop. In this situation, it is more practical because the roof appears to be a shingle roof, which is quiet enough to ascend without arousing suspicion through noise. But if you look to the bottom left corner of the film from 3:29 to 3:30, you can see a car driving down the road. Since Ashida is in a populated neighborhood, someone who sees a masked figure on a rooftop is likely to call the police. This is where hensojutsu comes in handy (see an earlier post).
Ashida then descends the roof via a wireless antenna, and leaves fingerprints on it. Also, look at the zoom-in at 3:50 until 3:53. At the left of Ashida’s head, a bright security light that Ashida set off shines in his face. Did he really think his viewers wouldn’t notice it?
Next, some footage from part 2 is shown again. Ashida ducks underneath two windows with the blinds closed, then rises his body high as he passes by the window with the blinds up. He then pretends to pick a lock, and gets his nasty fingerprints all over it.
And finally, the painful series reaches an abrupt end.
Whew! That was a long series. I would give part 5 of his series a 4 out of 10, his highest rating yet. The ranking of 4 out of 10 is described as “Horrible. Not completely useless though, as it is good for laughs.”
Ashida Kim is, well, a con artist. His entire series of “ninja sentry removal techniques” consists of nothing more than low-budget camera tricks, terrible actors performing impractical techniques, and the occasional technique that isn’t completely useless, but still is nothing more than common sense.
As of now I have next to no subscribers to this blog, but the point of this blog isn’t to become popular, it is to get out as much information about Ashida Kim is possible. People need all of the facts, so they can stay away from frauds like this man. So as long as an occasional Ashida-worshipper finds this blog and it opens his/her eyes, I’m doing my job.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the series of my blog, “Evaluations of Ashida Kim’s ‘Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques.’” Have a great day.
Stay tuned, more to come.
The Truthful Warrior
This is it! The final chapter of our evaluations of Ashida Kim’s “Sentry removal Techniques” series.
This review is of Ashida Kim’s “Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques 5 of 5”.
Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXInxCDRde4
Without further delay, here we go.
The film starts by repeating a clip seen in part 4 from a different angle. This angle makes it harder to see what happened, so I advise you to go back to part 4 to see it better. Basically, Ashida Kim is seen hiding behind a telephone pole, approaching a sentry who has his back turned to Ashida. Ashida, being then ninja master he is, apparently makes a noise and the sentry spins around and points his rifle at Ashida, motioning with his hand for Ashida to come closer. Ashida then takes the gun and flings the sentry to the ground, then knocks out the sentry with the rifle butt.
Let’s break down this technique and find out how practical it is. First of all, the reason Ashida has to get so close to attack the sentry is because Ashida insists on ignoring ninjutsu’s principle of adaptation. Ashida refuses to carry modern weaponry, so he’s stuck in 17th century Japan, carrying nothing but shuriken, cheap Hollywood ninjato, and flour (metsubushi - or as the narrator says in part 1, “Mitsubishi-Ko!” Yep, like the car!). So, Ashida could have avoided the confrontation with the sentry if he’d just brought a silenced rifle with him. Heck, he could even stay in the 17th century and use a fukiya (3-foot blowgun) and avoid the confrontation that way too!
So anyhow, Ashida is seen by the sentry as he tries to approach from behind. The sentry spins around and, instead of calling for back-up immediately like an good sentry would, he actually motions Ashida to come closer. “Hey ninjer, come here so you can reach my gun and take it from me!” Any real sentry would immediately back up to make sure his gun was out of reach. That’s how guns work, you know? You pull the trigger, they go “boom,” and the bullet will fly quite far. I guess the sentry missed that day of firearms training.
The sentry lets go of the gun with one hand so he can motion for Ashida to come closer. Ashida quickly steps forward and grabs the gun, and takes it (unrealistically easily) and knocks the sentry out. Mr. Kim then promptly adjusts his mask. We don’t want any sentries to see my face! That would be baaaaad. For some reason, all through this video, a loud noise keeps cutting in and out. It sounds like a helicopter or something. Anyway, next we see Ashida slipping along the horizontal supports of a fence. I’m not sure why one would risk this. Of course it’s useful if there is a railway with no ground beside it, but Ashida has a very welcoming-looking ground just below him, yet he thinks it is necessary to risk making a heck of a noise should a support break with his weight, by climbing onto a fence. To be fair, if it were a dirt floor that might be an okay thing to do to avoid footprints. But Ashida wouldn’t have to avoid footprints if he used a disguise to get into camp, but that’s covered in an earlier post.
The “Spider Climb” is demonstrated next. Although this climb looks impressive to the untrained eye, it is one of the most useless techniques ever devised by Mr. Kim. The technique is used to climb a wall, but if you look at the film footage, Ashida Kim has two two-by-fours to hold onto and to grip with his feet. These boards are just the right distance from each other for Ashida to hold onto and climb with. So, unless Ashida Kim plans on infiltrating a location and is hoping that there just happens to be a few boards at exactly the right distance from each other, and at exactly where he wants to climb, then he’s out of luck. I would bet that Ashida even had to buy a few boards and nail them to the wall, just for that climb.
Kim even speaks of this climb in a book of his like it is magical or something. He claims that by practicing “climbing” on a horizontal floor for three years, then practicing climbing a wall with bricks protruding for three years, that someone can develop the ability to climb completely flat surfaces. I hope with all of my might that no one has ever been gullible enough to waste six years trying that.
We then go back to the “Wall-Walking Technique,” and the narrator lies by saying that it takes great finger strength to accomplish. It doesn’t - I’ve tried it.
Next, Ashida is seen climbing around the upper supports of a barn. He then finds a nice little hole and stays there. Just like the Spider Climb, this technique looks cool but isn’t useful. It is too high a distance to leap onto someone without injuring yourself, it would be difficult to shoot at someone from up there (the hands are mostly busy balancing the body and the aim would be off), and espionage should be done with disguises, not with hiding in a barn.
Next, we cut back to a clip seen in part 1. Ashida descends from a roof onto the top of an open door, and leaps onto a sentry, knocking him out.
This technique isn’t useless, but the way Ashida does it is. First of all, Ashida is on a tin roof. A roof like that will make far too much noise for a sentry directly below not to hear you. Also, instead of leaping directly from the rooftop, he descends first to the top of an open door. This move is risky. If someone were to close the door, Ashida would take a hilarious fall. Also, the door’s hinge may swing with Ashida’s weight, also causing a fall.
Ashida then demonstrates some ukemi. His ukemi has improved since previous parts, but he’s still no better than a beginning parkour student. His rolls are fit for sport, but are not tactical for ninjutsu. See my youtube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life and find a video called “Bujinkan Ukemi: Zigzag rolls demo” for ninjutsu rolling. The head should never touch the ground (Ashida’s head most definitely does touch), and the eyes should remain forward throughout the entire roll (see my video).
While the ukemi is being performed, the narrator mentions that a kneeling stance is useful for distorting the human silhouette. This doesn’t make any sense - the kneeling stance is just as distinctive as the standing silhouette. Trying rolling up into a tight ball if you want to distort your silhouette, not kneeling - especially not like how Ashida kneels.
More footage from part 1 is played again, and video quality is horrible. It’s as if Ashida played a scratched VHS (remember those!?) and filmed his TV as it played.
And of all clips, it’s the clip of Ashida stealthily moving in front of, instead of behind like a good ninjer should, a nice-looking patch of woods. He clumsily rolls back into the woods and branches can be seen shaking noisily from it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ashida wouldn’t need to roll back there if he was already back there. I guess he was two wrapped up in his mystic mumbo-jumbo.
Next, another scene from part 4 is shown again. Ashida is seen crawling underneath an elevated porch. Those elevated porches are hard to come by first of all, and also, he is evidently fleeing after having bowed to the sleeping fat man and stolen some bottles (see my earlier posts if that doesn’t make any sense). So why would he flee so slowly? The man inside is asleep, so RUN!!! And take your mask off - you look like a terrorist!
Next, Ashida ascends to the rooftop. In this situation, it is more practical because the roof appears to be a shingle roof, which is quiet enough to ascend without arousing suspicion through noise. But if you look to the bottom left corner of the film from 3:29 to 3:30, you can see a car driving down the road. Since Ashida is in a populated neighborhood, someone who sees a masked figure on a rooftop is likely to call the police. This is where hensojutsu comes in handy (see an earlier post).
Ashida then descends the roof via a wireless antenna, and leaves fingerprints on it. Also, look at the zoom-in at 3:50 until 3:53. At the left of Ashida’s head, a bright security light that Ashida set off shines in his face. Did he really think his viewers wouldn’t notice it?
Next, some footage from part 2 is shown again. Ashida ducks underneath two windows with the blinds closed, then rises his body high as he passes by the window with the blinds up. He then pretends to pick a lock, and gets his nasty fingerprints all over it.
And finally, the painful series reaches an abrupt end.
Whew! That was a long series. I would give part 5 of his series a 4 out of 10, his highest rating yet. The ranking of 4 out of 10 is described as “Horrible. Not completely useless though, as it is good for laughs.”
Ashida Kim is, well, a con artist. His entire series of “ninja sentry removal techniques” consists of nothing more than low-budget camera tricks, terrible actors performing impractical techniques, and the occasional technique that isn’t completely useless, but still is nothing more than common sense.
As of now I have next to no subscribers to this blog, but the point of this blog isn’t to become popular, it is to get out as much information about Ashida Kim is possible. People need all of the facts, so they can stay away from frauds like this man. So as long as an occasional Ashida-worshipper finds this blog and it opens his/her eyes, I’m doing my job.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the series of my blog, “Evaluations of Ashida Kim’s ‘Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques.’” Have a great day.
Stay tuned, more to come.
The Truthful Warrior
Friday, May 27, 2011
Evaluation of Ashida Kim's video, "Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques - 4 of 5"
Friends,
Today we’re going to look at Ashida Kim’s Sentry Removal Techniques 4 of 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc1sN7eeyvM
The first bit of the video shows Ashida Kim exiting the house he’s been infiltrating for the last two parts of his videos. He is employing a technique for exiting through a doorway as seen in his “Secrets of the Ninja” book. The technique involves placing your hand on the door’s high-frame as you walk through the crack of the door, making a barrier out of your arm so less light can get through the doorway. Ashida is doing his own technique incorrectly; he gets his footwork mixed up and lots of light gets through the doorway because of it. Because he’s such a short little guy, he can’t even reach the top of the door either - adding to the fail-factor of his technique.
Also, recall that he “picked” the lock upon entering the house a few videos ago without wearing gloves, leaving fingerprints on the doorknob.
Next, he places his hands on the railing by the door (leaving fingerprints again) and hops over it. He then begins to sneak around the house into the garden, for whatever reason. All this happens while a scene from Part 1 of the series with the sentry shooting the pond keeps cutting in and out. I’m not sure who was put in charge of the sound-effects for this video, but they should be fired. The sentry by the pond keeps shouting “HWA!!!” (sounding identical every time, obviously a sound-effect) and his gun is evidently being fired before he is finished aiming it (a poorly-timed sound effect). Also, at 0:21, as Ashida Kim leaps over the railing, the sound-effect of glass breaking can be heard. I’m sorry, Mr. Kim - it appears you broke an invisible sheet of glass while leaping over the fence. Either that, or the sound-effects unit is having a bad day. At 0:53, the actor portraying the sentry by the pond is seen making hand gestures and nodding his head at the camera, apparently asking questions about what he should do to portray the sentry better or something. Poor editing and trimming, I must say.
Next, we see Ashida amusingly trying to hide behind a telephone pole. The sentry opposite of him spins around to see him, and shouts the exact same “HWA!!!” sound effect heard by the other sentry, while motioning for Ashida to step closer. I guess “HWA!!!” is sentry-jargon for “come here, ninjer!”. This new sentry, wearing some kind of camouflage that looks like a leopard skin, decides that it is a good idea to take one hand off his rifle, then step close enough so that Ashida Kim can touch it. Ashida Kim heroically knocks out the foolish sentry, something that no one but a highly-trained ninja could do - I mean, how tactical was the sentry’s strategy? Impressive.
Next we see Mr. Kim performing some horrible ukemi. He tries to do a back-roll but ends up smashing his head on the ground first. Luckily, he was in the grass - if he was on pavement he’d have a concussion. He then does a horrible front break-fall and then starts rolling around the grass like he’s having a seizure. He gets up by doing a Kung-Fu style leg-spring, and demonstrates it from different angles - apparently, he’s quite proud of himself. This is probably his famous “ninja bullet-evading techniques”, since there are a lot of fake-sounding gunshot sound-effects playing while he’s flailing around. Next, while continually cutting in and out of the scene with the sentry by the pond, Ashida begins to strike very ninja-like postures. From 2:00 to 2:07, one of the worst editing jobs I’ve ever seen takes place. Ashida Kim poses in front of that tool shed seen in Part 1, and apparently tries to make you think he vanished into thin air. The film was stopped, Ashida got out of the frame, and the film was rolled again. It would have looked kind of cool, except the cameraman decided it would be funny to change the angle of the tool shed in between shots, so it just looks like two totally different filming sessions instead of a smooth transition. Oh well - sorry Ashida, did you think that we were that gullible?
Next, Ashida Kim descends from a rooftop via some sort of wireless antenna (leaving more fingerprints). His strategy wouldn’t be all that bad, if only there wasn’t a bright security light shining in his face , attached to the wall of the house. Look just a few inches to the left of Ashida while he’s on the antenna and you will see it. In the daylight he’s totally visible, but his strategy of using rooftops would be ruined even after dark if he didn’t account for the motion-detecting security light. He then flees the house by crawling underneath the house’s porch. Not a bad idea, except you leave obviously flattened grass where you crawled. And don’t set off that pesky light next time, got it?
Next, we get to see him crawl through very tall grass again. Have you ever tried crawling through tall grass? If not, go try it right now - or not, but I recommend it sometime. Notice how flattened the grass is after you crawl on it? It’s not advisable to do that because it leaves such an obvious trail. Especially watch from 4:48 to 4:56, there is a huge clump of grass that he bends down, leaving an amusingly visible trail of evidence. But I guess since Ashida Kim is a ninja master and we’re not, we’re not suppose to know that. Oops. Sorry Ashida, I’ll shut up.
Ashida starts crawling closer to the pond, and the narrator talks about using water for stealth, calling it kitsune-gakure-no-jutsu incorrectly (suiton-no-jutsu is correct). Ashida is shown putting the edges of his tabi in the water, then the scene ends - maybe the water was too cold for Ashida’s taste. Next we get to watch him rub his hands together from where they have dirt on them. I guess you’ll have to deal with it, Princess Kim - you’re going to get a bit dirty crawling around in a field.
After wiping his hands, he begins to exit the field. Of course it is foolish to wear a black dogi and a ski mask in the middle of a field in broad daylight on enemy territory, but should you be caught in such a situation, it is advisable to get out of the field as quickly as possible. Ashida, being the ninja master he is, takes a few steps, then stops to kneel down and look around. Then he takes a few more steps, and repeats. I’m sorry, but if a sentry wearing camouflage is watching you from the woods surrounding the field, you’re not going to see him from the center of the field. Ashida is wasting his time looking around so much - he should briefly observe his options from where he is, then run as fast as he can to get out of the field. I can just picture a sentry with binoculars watching Ashida prance around the field, laughing so hard it takes him a moment before he’s able to call for back-up.
At 6:20, we get to see Ashida do his version of a military ambush tactic. Ashida has covered himself with a tan blanket in the middle of the field, and is ready to leap up for an ambush attack. This technique can prove to be effective (after all, it originates with the military), but the way he does it is a bit flawed. The original tactic involves several team members covering one person (the ambusher) with natural foliage - leaves, sticks, dirt, etc until he looks like a clump of natural vegetation. The team members then leave for their own plans and the ambusher is ready to strike. Ashida Kim’s method involves using a thick tan blanket for cover. For one thing, doing that in the middle of a field in the hot sun can give someone heat exhaustion, and the blanket is also an extra thing to carry. Ashida’s location is also not strategic - sentries patrol on trails (well, real ones, at least), while Ashida is just in the middle of a field. Since he’s using a Hollywood ninjato for a weapon, the sentry would have to pass within a foot or so for Ashida to be able to attack him. Ashida should have done this right beside a trail used by sentries so he is more likely to succeed and not lay out in a hot field all day covered in a thick blanket. Also, if you pay attention to Ashida’s body movement as he leaps up, it looks like he was just crouched. This would mean that he would have had to dig a hole for himself before the technique could be used. However, this is probably the coolest-looking technique used by Mr. Kim so far, so I guess I have to give him credit for that.
Finally, to end Part 4 of Ashida Kim’s Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques 4 of 5, we see Ashida Kim climb up and sit on a wall while the narrator is blabbering gibberish. Ashida then sits cross-legged and pretends to meditate, and, using another poor editing technique, another fake ninja appears out of nowhere to sit beside of Ashida Kim. At the last second as the film is fading out, Ashida can be seen dropping is head quickly, as if showing frustration or exhaustion (from climbing up that little hill to get to the wall, maybe?). For Ashida’s own sake, I wish they had edited that part out.
This concludes part 4 of 5.
Stay tuned! An evaluation of part 5 is on the way.
The Truthful Warrior
Today we’re going to look at Ashida Kim’s Sentry Removal Techniques 4 of 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc1sN7eeyvM
The first bit of the video shows Ashida Kim exiting the house he’s been infiltrating for the last two parts of his videos. He is employing a technique for exiting through a doorway as seen in his “Secrets of the Ninja” book. The technique involves placing your hand on the door’s high-frame as you walk through the crack of the door, making a barrier out of your arm so less light can get through the doorway. Ashida is doing his own technique incorrectly; he gets his footwork mixed up and lots of light gets through the doorway because of it. Because he’s such a short little guy, he can’t even reach the top of the door either - adding to the fail-factor of his technique.
Also, recall that he “picked” the lock upon entering the house a few videos ago without wearing gloves, leaving fingerprints on the doorknob.
Next, he places his hands on the railing by the door (leaving fingerprints again) and hops over it. He then begins to sneak around the house into the garden, for whatever reason. All this happens while a scene from Part 1 of the series with the sentry shooting the pond keeps cutting in and out. I’m not sure who was put in charge of the sound-effects for this video, but they should be fired. The sentry by the pond keeps shouting “HWA!!!” (sounding identical every time, obviously a sound-effect) and his gun is evidently being fired before he is finished aiming it (a poorly-timed sound effect). Also, at 0:21, as Ashida Kim leaps over the railing, the sound-effect of glass breaking can be heard. I’m sorry, Mr. Kim - it appears you broke an invisible sheet of glass while leaping over the fence. Either that, or the sound-effects unit is having a bad day. At 0:53, the actor portraying the sentry by the pond is seen making hand gestures and nodding his head at the camera, apparently asking questions about what he should do to portray the sentry better or something. Poor editing and trimming, I must say.
Next, we see Ashida amusingly trying to hide behind a telephone pole. The sentry opposite of him spins around to see him, and shouts the exact same “HWA!!!” sound effect heard by the other sentry, while motioning for Ashida to step closer. I guess “HWA!!!” is sentry-jargon for “come here, ninjer!”. This new sentry, wearing some kind of camouflage that looks like a leopard skin, decides that it is a good idea to take one hand off his rifle, then step close enough so that Ashida Kim can touch it. Ashida Kim heroically knocks out the foolish sentry, something that no one but a highly-trained ninja could do - I mean, how tactical was the sentry’s strategy? Impressive.
Next we see Mr. Kim performing some horrible ukemi. He tries to do a back-roll but ends up smashing his head on the ground first. Luckily, he was in the grass - if he was on pavement he’d have a concussion. He then does a horrible front break-fall and then starts rolling around the grass like he’s having a seizure. He gets up by doing a Kung-Fu style leg-spring, and demonstrates it from different angles - apparently, he’s quite proud of himself. This is probably his famous “ninja bullet-evading techniques”, since there are a lot of fake-sounding gunshot sound-effects playing while he’s flailing around. Next, while continually cutting in and out of the scene with the sentry by the pond, Ashida begins to strike very ninja-like postures. From 2:00 to 2:07, one of the worst editing jobs I’ve ever seen takes place. Ashida Kim poses in front of that tool shed seen in Part 1, and apparently tries to make you think he vanished into thin air. The film was stopped, Ashida got out of the frame, and the film was rolled again. It would have looked kind of cool, except the cameraman decided it would be funny to change the angle of the tool shed in between shots, so it just looks like two totally different filming sessions instead of a smooth transition. Oh well - sorry Ashida, did you think that we were that gullible?
Next, Ashida Kim descends from a rooftop via some sort of wireless antenna (leaving more fingerprints). His strategy wouldn’t be all that bad, if only there wasn’t a bright security light shining in his face , attached to the wall of the house. Look just a few inches to the left of Ashida while he’s on the antenna and you will see it. In the daylight he’s totally visible, but his strategy of using rooftops would be ruined even after dark if he didn’t account for the motion-detecting security light. He then flees the house by crawling underneath the house’s porch. Not a bad idea, except you leave obviously flattened grass where you crawled. And don’t set off that pesky light next time, got it?
Next, we get to see him crawl through very tall grass again. Have you ever tried crawling through tall grass? If not, go try it right now - or not, but I recommend it sometime. Notice how flattened the grass is after you crawl on it? It’s not advisable to do that because it leaves such an obvious trail. Especially watch from 4:48 to 4:56, there is a huge clump of grass that he bends down, leaving an amusingly visible trail of evidence. But I guess since Ashida Kim is a ninja master and we’re not, we’re not suppose to know that. Oops. Sorry Ashida, I’ll shut up.
Ashida starts crawling closer to the pond, and the narrator talks about using water for stealth, calling it kitsune-gakure-no-jutsu incorrectly (suiton-no-jutsu is correct). Ashida is shown putting the edges of his tabi in the water, then the scene ends - maybe the water was too cold for Ashida’s taste. Next we get to watch him rub his hands together from where they have dirt on them. I guess you’ll have to deal with it, Princess Kim - you’re going to get a bit dirty crawling around in a field.
After wiping his hands, he begins to exit the field. Of course it is foolish to wear a black dogi and a ski mask in the middle of a field in broad daylight on enemy territory, but should you be caught in such a situation, it is advisable to get out of the field as quickly as possible. Ashida, being the ninja master he is, takes a few steps, then stops to kneel down and look around. Then he takes a few more steps, and repeats. I’m sorry, but if a sentry wearing camouflage is watching you from the woods surrounding the field, you’re not going to see him from the center of the field. Ashida is wasting his time looking around so much - he should briefly observe his options from where he is, then run as fast as he can to get out of the field. I can just picture a sentry with binoculars watching Ashida prance around the field, laughing so hard it takes him a moment before he’s able to call for back-up.
At 6:20, we get to see Ashida do his version of a military ambush tactic. Ashida has covered himself with a tan blanket in the middle of the field, and is ready to leap up for an ambush attack. This technique can prove to be effective (after all, it originates with the military), but the way he does it is a bit flawed. The original tactic involves several team members covering one person (the ambusher) with natural foliage - leaves, sticks, dirt, etc until he looks like a clump of natural vegetation. The team members then leave for their own plans and the ambusher is ready to strike. Ashida Kim’s method involves using a thick tan blanket for cover. For one thing, doing that in the middle of a field in the hot sun can give someone heat exhaustion, and the blanket is also an extra thing to carry. Ashida’s location is also not strategic - sentries patrol on trails (well, real ones, at least), while Ashida is just in the middle of a field. Since he’s using a Hollywood ninjato for a weapon, the sentry would have to pass within a foot or so for Ashida to be able to attack him. Ashida should have done this right beside a trail used by sentries so he is more likely to succeed and not lay out in a hot field all day covered in a thick blanket. Also, if you pay attention to Ashida’s body movement as he leaps up, it looks like he was just crouched. This would mean that he would have had to dig a hole for himself before the technique could be used. However, this is probably the coolest-looking technique used by Mr. Kim so far, so I guess I have to give him credit for that.
Finally, to end Part 4 of Ashida Kim’s Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques 4 of 5, we see Ashida Kim climb up and sit on a wall while the narrator is blabbering gibberish. Ashida then sits cross-legged and pretends to meditate, and, using another poor editing technique, another fake ninja appears out of nowhere to sit beside of Ashida Kim. At the last second as the film is fading out, Ashida can be seen dropping is head quickly, as if showing frustration or exhaustion (from climbing up that little hill to get to the wall, maybe?). For Ashida’s own sake, I wish they had edited that part out.
This concludes part 4 of 5.
Stay tuned! An evaluation of part 5 is on the way.
The Truthful Warrior
Monday, May 9, 2011
Authentic ninjutsu-related links of interest...
Friends,
In today's post, we'll take a break from the negativity of debunking Ashida Kim, and instead look at something positive: authentic ninjutsu.
Here are some links of interest related to authentic ninjutsu:
http://www.bujinkan.com/ The official website of the Bujinkan dojo, a martial arts organization that claims to teach historical ninjutsu. Some people don't believe the claims because they can't be proven, but many do believe in the claims. I personally do, and I have compared the techniques taught by the Bujinkan with proven historical ninjutsu found in the Shoninki, and I see quite a lot of similarity, so I believe in its authenticity.
http://www.genbukan.org/ The Genbukan is an organization similar to the Bujinkan - the founder, Shoto Tanemura, was a student of Soke Hatsumi, founder of the Bujinkan. The Genbukan teaches the same martial arts as the Bujinkan, but in a slightly different fashion - more emphasis is put on rough, hard training.
http://www.jinenkan.com/ The Jinenkan is an organization that, again, teaches the arts from the Bujinkan, but again in a different fashion. The Jinenkan puts less emphasis on the combat skills, and more emphasis on the ninjutsu skills such as stealth, weapons and tools, and deception. The Jinenkan is headed by Manaka Unsui.
www.youtube.com/user/scottbaioisdead This fellow's attitude generally makes people hate him, but he is no less than an expert at Japanese history and culture, and, like myself, debunks martial arts frauds.
www.youtube.com/user/orovalleydude This is the account of a Bujinkan dojo in Arizona, perhaps one of the best Bujinkan dojo in the country. They have some training footage that I recommend.
www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life This is my own youtube channel. I am a professional musician so you'll see some of that on there, but mostly I have authentic ninjutsu and Bujinkan training on there. Lots of stealth stuff, if you are interested in that.
http://www.ninjainformationdatabase.com/ My favorite ninjutsu website! One of the best on the internet. This website compiles some of the best ninjutsu information out there and crams it all into one site. It also has military, law enforcement, parkour, etc footage. I am a moderator for the site (username ninpo4life) and I highly recommend it to all.
That's all for today, folks.
Stay tuned!
The Truthful Warrior
In today's post, we'll take a break from the negativity of debunking Ashida Kim, and instead look at something positive: authentic ninjutsu.
Here are some links of interest related to authentic ninjutsu:
http://www.bujinkan.com/ The official website of the Bujinkan dojo, a martial arts organization that claims to teach historical ninjutsu. Some people don't believe the claims because they can't be proven, but many do believe in the claims. I personally do, and I have compared the techniques taught by the Bujinkan with proven historical ninjutsu found in the Shoninki, and I see quite a lot of similarity, so I believe in its authenticity.
http://www.genbukan.org/ The Genbukan is an organization similar to the Bujinkan - the founder, Shoto Tanemura, was a student of Soke Hatsumi, founder of the Bujinkan. The Genbukan teaches the same martial arts as the Bujinkan, but in a slightly different fashion - more emphasis is put on rough, hard training.
http://www.jinenkan.com/ The Jinenkan is an organization that, again, teaches the arts from the Bujinkan, but again in a different fashion. The Jinenkan puts less emphasis on the combat skills, and more emphasis on the ninjutsu skills such as stealth, weapons and tools, and deception. The Jinenkan is headed by Manaka Unsui.
www.youtube.com/user/scottbaioisdead This fellow's attitude generally makes people hate him, but he is no less than an expert at Japanese history and culture, and, like myself, debunks martial arts frauds.
www.youtube.com/user/orovalleydude This is the account of a Bujinkan dojo in Arizona, perhaps one of the best Bujinkan dojo in the country. They have some training footage that I recommend.
www.youtube.com/user/ninpo4life This is my own youtube channel. I am a professional musician so you'll see some of that on there, but mostly I have authentic ninjutsu and Bujinkan training on there. Lots of stealth stuff, if you are interested in that.
http://www.ninjainformationdatabase.com/ My favorite ninjutsu website! One of the best on the internet. This website compiles some of the best ninjutsu information out there and crams it all into one site. It also has military, law enforcement, parkour, etc footage. I am a moderator for the site (username ninpo4life) and I highly recommend it to all.
That's all for today, folks.
Stay tuned!
The Truthful Warrior
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Evaluation of Ashida Kim's video, "Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques - 3 of 5"
Friends,
Today, let’s look at part 3 of Ashida Kim’s “Sentry Removal Techniques”.
Here is the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkuj-h3JZUI
Starting out, the narrator says that hiding in corners is an “excellent” place to observe the enemy. This is not completely incorrect, but Ashida Kim is in someone’s house. In a house, you don’t want to try to conceal yourself (Look at the evaluation of part 2 for a complete explanation of how you want to disguise yourself when doing urban stealth instead of sneaking around) anywhere. It’s foolish, be cause the lights of the house will nearly always be on. So hiding in a corner isn’t any better than sitting on the kitchen counter eating a cabbage.
Next, we cut to a scene showing a few students practicing some kenjutsu drills that were ripped off from the Bujinkan, then done incorrectly and choreographed ridiculously and unrealistically. What’s amusing is the narrator calls it Iaijutsu (which he incorrectly pronounces as “eye-jitsoo”), when they aren’t drawing their swords at all, just taking baseball bat-style slugs at each other.
After we try to endure the horrible kenjutsu for awhile, we go back to Ashida Kim who demonstrates the “forward pivot”. This extremely difficult technique involves taking a step forward and turning around. I have yet to master this master-level technique - I believe it is on the black belt test so I’d better get to work. The narrator then says “Stay low”, and Ashida Kim immediately drops low - as if the narrator were telling Ashida Kim what to do as he went along.
We have to endure lots of footage of how to get across a hallway without being detected. Another technique is called “ducking out of sight”. Another ridiculously-hard technique.
Next, we get to some footage of Ashida breaking into a file cabinet while the narrator is solemnly rambling nonsense such as “To follow the moonlit pat, take with you a lamp and a map. Learn to become small... when Draco is rising below the moon, look for round circles of light to mark your path... this is the way of the rat...” and other such strange wording. I guess this was filler-narration while Ashida tried to get into the file cabinet. He finally does, and takes out a little box. Upon opening it, he finds something in it, then puts it down and gets out a package out of the cabinet, then puts it back, and grabs a little bottle. All this is happening while the narrator talks about nonsense like gods and genies and walking through walls.
Upon doing all of this, Ashida sneakily leaves the room, goes back to that dreading hallway where we have endured much ridiculous footage. Next, he goes to a little room and sneaks through it, and the footage fades out. A sigh of relief can be heard from the narrator, solaced that he has made it through the film without laughing.
This footage gets another 1 out of 10. Ashida Kim does not demonstrate any useful stealth in this film.
Stay tuned! Part 4 is coming soon.
The Truthful Warrior
Today, let’s look at part 3 of Ashida Kim’s “Sentry Removal Techniques”.
Here is the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkuj-h3JZUI
Starting out, the narrator says that hiding in corners is an “excellent” place to observe the enemy. This is not completely incorrect, but Ashida Kim is in someone’s house. In a house, you don’t want to try to conceal yourself (Look at the evaluation of part 2 for a complete explanation of how you want to disguise yourself when doing urban stealth instead of sneaking around) anywhere. It’s foolish, be cause the lights of the house will nearly always be on. So hiding in a corner isn’t any better than sitting on the kitchen counter eating a cabbage.
Next, we cut to a scene showing a few students practicing some kenjutsu drills that were ripped off from the Bujinkan, then done incorrectly and choreographed ridiculously and unrealistically. What’s amusing is the narrator calls it Iaijutsu (which he incorrectly pronounces as “eye-jitsoo”), when they aren’t drawing their swords at all, just taking baseball bat-style slugs at each other.
After we try to endure the horrible kenjutsu for awhile, we go back to Ashida Kim who demonstrates the “forward pivot”. This extremely difficult technique involves taking a step forward and turning around. I have yet to master this master-level technique - I believe it is on the black belt test so I’d better get to work. The narrator then says “Stay low”, and Ashida Kim immediately drops low - as if the narrator were telling Ashida Kim what to do as he went along.
We have to endure lots of footage of how to get across a hallway without being detected. Another technique is called “ducking out of sight”. Another ridiculously-hard technique.
Next, we get to some footage of Ashida breaking into a file cabinet while the narrator is solemnly rambling nonsense such as “To follow the moonlit pat, take with you a lamp and a map. Learn to become small... when Draco is rising below the moon, look for round circles of light to mark your path... this is the way of the rat...” and other such strange wording. I guess this was filler-narration while Ashida tried to get into the file cabinet. He finally does, and takes out a little box. Upon opening it, he finds something in it, then puts it down and gets out a package out of the cabinet, then puts it back, and grabs a little bottle. All this is happening while the narrator talks about nonsense like gods and genies and walking through walls.
Upon doing all of this, Ashida sneakily leaves the room, goes back to that dreading hallway where we have endured much ridiculous footage. Next, he goes to a little room and sneaks through it, and the footage fades out. A sigh of relief can be heard from the narrator, solaced that he has made it through the film without laughing.
This footage gets another 1 out of 10. Ashida Kim does not demonstrate any useful stealth in this film.
Stay tuned! Part 4 is coming soon.
The Truthful Warrior
Friday, February 25, 2011
Evaluation of Ashida Kim's video, "Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques - 2 of 5"
Today, we’ll look at Ashida Kim’s “Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques”, section 2 of 5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCaZmajZ_g4
The clip begins showing Ashida Kim with his back against the outside wall of what looks like an abandoned home. Ashida peeks around a corner, staying low and “observing at an unusual angle”. The narrator, for dramatic effect, uses the words “enemy castle” to describe the location - instead of “ghetto house”. After this, the narrator notes that, to avoid detection, a shinobi should not pass in front of open windows. As he says this, Mr. Kim ducks underneath two windows with the blinds closed, then rises his body high enough to be seen from the window to the left of the door - the one with the blinds pulled up.
Ashida then pretends to pick the lock, and enters through the door sneakily. The narrator uses the dramatic line, “once inside, the ninja becomes a living shadow”. After this, the scene cuts to what looks like a biker thug in a cheap hakama and dogi top, who is wielding a broom handle, presumably using it as a makeshift rokushaku bo. This individual’s martial skills are even more of a nightmare than Ashida Kim’s, which is saying a lot. He appears to be proficient in baton-spinning, but if he is trying to learn how to fight with a staff, I wish him all the luck in the world - he needs it. He has no control over the staff. He is leaving many open spots that are vulnerable to attack, and he seems to think that spinning a staff is just to make it look impressive, because the way he spins it is not tactical at all. Take a look at 2:42 - the staff slips from his hands and he clumsily flails out to grab it. If I were him, I would have cut that part out. Whatever. This scene cuts in and out throughout the video, and I’m not sure why. It has no relevance to the rest of the film whatsoever, or even to any of Ashida Kim‘s material outside of these videos.
The scene shows Ashida inside the house (with the lights conveniently turned off so it is dark), peeking through a door throughout several seconds, and finally doing a little bunny hop to get past the door. He then sneaks into an overweight person’s bedroom while they are sleeping. He eyeballs their cheaply-made ninjato and katana on display, then runs over and “hides” in front of, and then behind, the curtain. This is wasting time - a well-done mission would be done as quickly as possible. That doesn’t involve playing hide-and-seek with the curtains in the enemy’s bedroom. The narrator even goes on to mention, “it is this ability to hide one‘s self completely, that gives rise to the legend that the ninja can become invisible at will.” As he says that, Ashida’s legs stick out from behind the curtain, and the rest of his body can be seen as a large clump of mass behind the curtain. I’m not sure what the connection is between legends of ninja disappearing at will, and a grown man in a black costume and ski mask playing with an old man’s curtains.
Next is one of the most amusing parts of the video. Ashida takes out a flashlight and shine’s it in the sleeping enemy’s face to, as the narrator says, “observe the depth of his slumber.” While it is possible to do this by paying attention to the pupil dilation, it is simply foolish to do this to someone when the consequences of waking them up could mean death. What is the use of risking waking them up just to find out how deeply asleep they were? It doesn’t make any sense at all. The narrator also makes note that if a ninja needed to cover any sounds he might make, he would imitate the sound of a cat or other small animal. This is practical outdoors, as animals could be anywhere there. However, doing it in a man’s bedroom might arouse even more suspicion than a small noise a shinobi might make - what if the man did not own a cat? It is too risky and is not even needed, providing the shinobi is skilled enough to not make any noise to start with. Besides, the enemy is asleep, so making extra noise might wake him up.
After this, Ashida Kim takes the ninjato on display, and begins to perform a ceremony he calls “The Ceremony of the Secret Sword”. The narrator notes that the ceremony must be performed in exactly the manner shown. I’m not sure how specific he’s being - does “exactly the same way” include having to do it in front of an overweight person’s bed? The ceremony involves sitting in seiza and drawing the sword, while “inspecting” the edge for flaws. I’m not sure what an individual performing this would do if the blade weren’t satisfactory - wake up the sleeping man and tell him to buy you a new sword? At any rate, the narrator begins using lines that sound like they’re straight out of a low-budget Kung-Fu film from Hong Kong, such as “I conjure thee, O Sword of Swords! Be thou, my fortress and defense!” Ashida Kim then bows respectfully to the sleeping fat man, strikes a stealthy pose, and the video ends soon after.
This concludes part two.
Now that I’m finished describing the video, let’s talk about Ashida Kim’s strategies so far and how they could be improved.
To explain things, think about a modern agency that commonly sends field agents to infiltrate criminal groups such as gangs, terrorists, drug dealers, etc - the FBI. Their field agents are trained in methods that could be considered a modern counterpart to the shinobi. If you know anything about them, you will know that a common strategy involves the agents disguising themselves as new members being recruited to the criminal group. I can attest to the fact that they do not send their agents into the homes of the criminals in black suits and ski masks, hiding behind curtains trying to not be seen. They use disguises. Ashida Kim, as usual, is stuck in the idea of wearing his cute ninja costume and refuses to use profile shifting. A 100% better strategy Ashida could have done would be to move into the target’s area as a new resident, get to know the resident, befriend them, and visit their home as a friend. This way, you can get to know what your surroundings will be when you begin your task. You can move freely about the house without arousing suspicion. This is likely one option the FBI would consider. Using Ashida Kim’s method, all someone has to do is see you and you’ll probably end up looking down the barrel of a 12-gauge. And judging by the weapons Ashida has used so far, he will be carrying a Neanderthal’s club instead of a silenced 9mm to fight the person with the shotgun.
The Shoninki, in the fourth chapter of the first scroll, notes “When an opportune moment arises, the shinobi will feign an illness in front of the gate of the house he wishes to sneak into. He will lie down pretending to be too weak to move, and ask for medicine or for hot or cold water to drink… after having obtained water and pretending that you feel better, you should seize this opportunity to be taken inside the house and make the acquaintance of the master of the household while presenting a respectful attitude, and then leave the house.”
We should keep in mind that this book was written in the 1600s, when culture was much different. You obviously wouldn’t follow this instruction word-for-word, but the concept of befriending someone to gain entrance to their house still applies.
You would think, with all of the secret ninja training Ashida Kim has had, that he would know something about disguises. However, I have looked through many of his books (many of which contain duplicate content), and not one of them has ever even remotely mentioned disguises. Even his books that plagiari- er... I mean, borrow from Stephen K. Hayes’ (an early personal student of Soke Hatsumi) material don’t mention it. This puzzles me greatly.
To put it bluntly, Ashida Kim’s entire strategy is atrocious. Sneaking around a neighborhood and then into a house - I mean, “enemy castle” in a ski mask is a sure-fire way to get killed.
I would give part two of his “Sentry Removal Techniques” a 1 out of 10. Ashida’s urban stealth methods are even less practical than his rural stealth methods. On a humorous note, Ashida Kim doesn’t "remove" a single sentry in part two of his “Sentry Removal Techniques” video.
Stay tuned! An evaluation of part 3 is on the way.
Works cited
Masazumi, Natori. Shoninki. Iga region, Japan:
Destiny Books, originally written in the 17th century.
Modern translation published in 2010.
P. 57. Print.
The Truthful Warrior
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Evaluation of Ashida Kim's video, "Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques - 1 of 5"
Friends,
Alrighty, let’s take a look at Ashida Kim’s stealth techniques and see how “invisible” they would really make you.
Here is Ashida Kim’s “Sentry Removal Techniques”, part 1 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNRh9M9OAI
Notice the first few seconds, the narrator talks about using tunnels, and hiding underground. He seems to think that it is practical to dig a tunnel underground and crawl through it. Not only would this take days to accomplish, but the risk of it caving in is very dangerous.
Lets think about what the essences of the art of ninjutsu are. Perseverance, stealth, endurance, and adaptation. Ashida Kim seems to think that a shinobi should only use weapons from feudal Japan, while all of the sentries in the video have rifles, pistols, and crossbows. Do I sense a disadvantage to Ashida Kim here? One of the core principles of ninjutsu is adaptation. Ashida Kim is not adapting to the 21st century - he is using weapons from the 17th century.
Next, lets look at what Ashida Kim is wearing in the big grassy field. He starts out with a tan blanket on himself while he’s crawling around sinisterly, then he takes it off to reveal that he is wearing a black dogi (martial arts uniform) and a ski mask. In a field. In broad daylight.
According to the Shoninki (a ninjutsu manual on concealment from the 17th century), a shinobi in feudal Japan would wear a hakama with leg ties, a jacket tucked in with overlapping lapels, and an amigasa, or straw hat. They would then hide kaginawa (a rope with a hook) and other tools somewhere on their body. These clothes are what everyone in Japan would have worn during that time period - so a shinobi could pass as your everyday person. Depending on what the mission called for, they would use hensojutsu - or profile shifting (disguises). Profile shifting allows you to not have to conceal your presence at all, only to conceal your intentions.
So, the fact that Ashida Kim is wearing a black suit and a ski mask in a field would be seen as very foolish by an actual ninjutsu artist. A disguise is much better than just sneaking around, and not a single time has Ashida kim ever mentioned using a disguise. Even though black would be better at night then at day, keep in mind that a well-guarded area like Ashida Kim seems to be penetrating would have spotlights all around it. No matter what time of day or night, clothing that is the color of your surroundings (camouflage) is best. If you were wearing black in the pitch dark you would be fine. But once someone shined a flashlight on you, you would stick out like a sore thumb.
Ashida Kim seems to go out of his way to eliminate the sentry in the field which is pointless in itself, but if necessary, a much better approach to the technique of removing the sentry would be to use a sniper rifle and ghillie suit. Either that, or to wear camouflage clothing to get close to the sentry, remove him from there, and then take his clothing and his weaponry so he could move about the grounds freely without arousing suspicion.
Right at 0:22, Ashida Kim throws a rock in the close-by pond to distract the sentry. The sentry then fires a round into the water for no reason. A sentry would not waste a bullet every time he heard a noise - he would run out of ammunition in about 20 minutes. However, since this sentry did fire a shot, he just alerted every other sentry within a mile or so who would then contact this sentry via radio to ask if everything is okay. By this time, Ashida Kim would have presumably have killed the sentry. When the other sentries called in and got no response, they would come check on the sentry to find him dead or missing (depending on how well Ashida Kim hides his body). From there, they would start a search party and likely find Ashida Kim.
After Ashida Kim theatrically (and unrealistically) “kills” the first sentry, notice at 0:43, he gets out his tan blanket and covers the sentry’s body with it to conceal it, when there is a large body of water right beside the sentry. The strategic thing to do would have been to throw the sentry’s body in the water so he could keep his blanket for concealment. The sentry's tools and ammunition would have weighed his body enough to sink it. Of course, Ashida wouldn’t need his blanket if he were wearing camouflage clothing instead of a black suit and ski mask.
Starting at 1:03, Ashida Kim begins wasting time by somersaulting around the field. The narrator mentions that this is to conceal the footprints and leave no evidence. Not only is Ashida Kim’s roll horrible technique-wise (see this individual's channel for proper rolling and other falling methods for ninjutsu: http://www.youtube.com/user/orovalleydude ), but it would leave grass pressed-down which would be more noticeable then walking in this case. He is in a field where sentries walk around in, so footprints would not be unusual.
He goes on to demonstrate the “Serpent Step”, which is just a poorly-done army-style crawl. Next, the exciting “Heng Pu”, or Cross-Step. Note that both of these are slow (the narrator mentions moving “swiftly”, when Ashida is barely moving enough to be noticeable), and they would be completely unnecessary if he had stolen the sentry’s uniform when he had killed him.
At 2:21, he theatrically does a backwards roll into the woods to “vanish” from an approaching sentry. Let’s keep in mind that this wouldn’t be necessary if Ashida had been in the woods to start with - he was so busy doing his “Heng Pu” in front of the big woodland patch that he evidently didn’t realize he had all of the cover he needed right behind him. When he performs his backroll, notice that some branches shake - he apparently bumped them when he did his roll. This would cause noise which could reveal his presence. A much better thing to do instead of blindly backrolling into a patch of woods noisily would have been to just crawl back there if necessary.
Starting at 2:43, he demonstrates “cross-stepping behind”, apparently used to stalk a sentry. He seems to pay no attention to his feet - his eyes stay level and he keeps bumping noisily into plants with his legs, which the sentry would hear as Ashida got closer.
After the narrator incorrectly pronounces “Metsubushi” as “Mitsubishi-Ko” (yes, like the car) and Ashida throws flour into the sentry's eyes, Ashida clumsily and noisily wrestles the sentry to the ground and apparently knocks him unconcious with a poorly-done high kick. Historically, Metsubushi would have consisted of iron filings, crushed glass if available, hot pepper, etc. It was also used when attempting to escape, as opposed to just throwing it in someone’s eyes to fight them. Also note that Ashida seems to think that he has to confront the sentry and fight him clumsily instead of just slitting his throat. Soke Hatsumi has noted “if a shinobi were detected, his mission had already failed”. The point is to not be detected. Ashida goes out of his way to be seen by the sentry, noisily wrestle him, and finally steal his gun (Wow! He finally caught up to the 21st century). After this, he flees to “hide in the shadows”. Note the poor quality of the filming - if it were an HD camera, Ashida Kim would be clearly visible with his black suit, even in the shadows.
At 3:52, the narrator notes “Avoid creating a distinctive silhouette”, after which, Ashida Kim... well, creates a distinctive silhouette. He peeks around a tree trunk, and the human silhouette is clearly visible because of the sunny background. If he had stayed low where it was darker, he still would have been seen, but not as obviously. Ashida then runs through a patch of grass and rolls in it to “leave no footprints”, then immediately walks across a loose dirt road and... You got it! Leaves footprints! If you look closely, you can see the loose dirt rising in the air as his feet move across. This would have been the only time necessary to actually avoid footprints, because they would be clear enough on loose dirt to reveal that he was wearing tabi, which would obviously arouse suspicion if noticed.
At 4:38, we see a tough-looking sentry with a crossbow come out of what looks like either a very large outhouse or a tool shed. Next, the scene cuts to Ashida Kim running sneakily right beside of the fence, clearly visible, when he has an entire forest of cover behind him that could have been used for concealment.
And again, he goes out of his way to eliminate the sentry. He goes to lots of trouble to climb the shed, which has a tin roof - much too loud to be realistically crossed silently. Also, when he is climbing, notice that he conveniently has a few two-by-fours right at arm's length to hold onto. Without those, he could not climb. Besides, other options other than climbing were available - draw the sentry in by making a noise, then when he comes around a corner, eliminate him quickly from there. And again, Ashida Kim doesn’t take the sentry’s clothing - he just drags the sentry’s body into the shed, closes the door, and runs off.
That concludes part one.
So there you have it - part one of Ashida Kim’s sentry removal techniques taken apart and evaluated.
I would give him a 2 out of 10. He is not completely useless, but he has a long ways to go to be a "Supreme Grandmaster".
I have been fortunate to have had wonderful Bujinkan instructors who have taught me extremely proficient authentic ninjutsu-style stealth, and I have also cross-trained with people from the military and law enforcement. I am far from an expert at the stealth and evasion sciences, but I am proficient enough to know what is practical and what isn't, and how a stealth assignment can be accomplished effectively. Ashida Kim does not know what he is doing. I hope the content of this entry made this clear.
When I find the time, I will evaluate the next four parts of Ashida Kim’s “Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques”.
Stay tuned. More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
Alrighty, let’s take a look at Ashida Kim’s stealth techniques and see how “invisible” they would really make you.
Here is Ashida Kim’s “Sentry Removal Techniques”, part 1 of 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNRh9M9OAI
Notice the first few seconds, the narrator talks about using tunnels, and hiding underground. He seems to think that it is practical to dig a tunnel underground and crawl through it. Not only would this take days to accomplish, but the risk of it caving in is very dangerous.
Lets think about what the essences of the art of ninjutsu are. Perseverance, stealth, endurance, and adaptation. Ashida Kim seems to think that a shinobi should only use weapons from feudal Japan, while all of the sentries in the video have rifles, pistols, and crossbows. Do I sense a disadvantage to Ashida Kim here? One of the core principles of ninjutsu is adaptation. Ashida Kim is not adapting to the 21st century - he is using weapons from the 17th century.
Next, lets look at what Ashida Kim is wearing in the big grassy field. He starts out with a tan blanket on himself while he’s crawling around sinisterly, then he takes it off to reveal that he is wearing a black dogi (martial arts uniform) and a ski mask. In a field. In broad daylight.
According to the Shoninki (a ninjutsu manual on concealment from the 17th century), a shinobi in feudal Japan would wear a hakama with leg ties, a jacket tucked in with overlapping lapels, and an amigasa, or straw hat. They would then hide kaginawa (a rope with a hook) and other tools somewhere on their body. These clothes are what everyone in Japan would have worn during that time period - so a shinobi could pass as your everyday person. Depending on what the mission called for, they would use hensojutsu - or profile shifting (disguises). Profile shifting allows you to not have to conceal your presence at all, only to conceal your intentions.
So, the fact that Ashida Kim is wearing a black suit and a ski mask in a field would be seen as very foolish by an actual ninjutsu artist. A disguise is much better than just sneaking around, and not a single time has Ashida kim ever mentioned using a disguise. Even though black would be better at night then at day, keep in mind that a well-guarded area like Ashida Kim seems to be penetrating would have spotlights all around it. No matter what time of day or night, clothing that is the color of your surroundings (camouflage) is best. If you were wearing black in the pitch dark you would be fine. But once someone shined a flashlight on you, you would stick out like a sore thumb.
Ashida Kim seems to go out of his way to eliminate the sentry in the field which is pointless in itself, but if necessary, a much better approach to the technique of removing the sentry would be to use a sniper rifle and ghillie suit. Either that, or to wear camouflage clothing to get close to the sentry, remove him from there, and then take his clothing and his weaponry so he could move about the grounds freely without arousing suspicion.
Right at 0:22, Ashida Kim throws a rock in the close-by pond to distract the sentry. The sentry then fires a round into the water for no reason. A sentry would not waste a bullet every time he heard a noise - he would run out of ammunition in about 20 minutes. However, since this sentry did fire a shot, he just alerted every other sentry within a mile or so who would then contact this sentry via radio to ask if everything is okay. By this time, Ashida Kim would have presumably have killed the sentry. When the other sentries called in and got no response, they would come check on the sentry to find him dead or missing (depending on how well Ashida Kim hides his body). From there, they would start a search party and likely find Ashida Kim.
After Ashida Kim theatrically (and unrealistically) “kills” the first sentry, notice at 0:43, he gets out his tan blanket and covers the sentry’s body with it to conceal it, when there is a large body of water right beside the sentry. The strategic thing to do would have been to throw the sentry’s body in the water so he could keep his blanket for concealment. The sentry's tools and ammunition would have weighed his body enough to sink it. Of course, Ashida wouldn’t need his blanket if he were wearing camouflage clothing instead of a black suit and ski mask.
Starting at 1:03, Ashida Kim begins wasting time by somersaulting around the field. The narrator mentions that this is to conceal the footprints and leave no evidence. Not only is Ashida Kim’s roll horrible technique-wise (see this individual's channel for proper rolling and other falling methods for ninjutsu: http://www.youtube.com/user/orovalleydude ), but it would leave grass pressed-down which would be more noticeable then walking in this case. He is in a field where sentries walk around in, so footprints would not be unusual.
He goes on to demonstrate the “Serpent Step”, which is just a poorly-done army-style crawl. Next, the exciting “Heng Pu”, or Cross-Step. Note that both of these are slow (the narrator mentions moving “swiftly”, when Ashida is barely moving enough to be noticeable), and they would be completely unnecessary if he had stolen the sentry’s uniform when he had killed him.
At 2:21, he theatrically does a backwards roll into the woods to “vanish” from an approaching sentry. Let’s keep in mind that this wouldn’t be necessary if Ashida had been in the woods to start with - he was so busy doing his “Heng Pu” in front of the big woodland patch that he evidently didn’t realize he had all of the cover he needed right behind him. When he performs his backroll, notice that some branches shake - he apparently bumped them when he did his roll. This would cause noise which could reveal his presence. A much better thing to do instead of blindly backrolling into a patch of woods noisily would have been to just crawl back there if necessary.
Starting at 2:43, he demonstrates “cross-stepping behind”, apparently used to stalk a sentry. He seems to pay no attention to his feet - his eyes stay level and he keeps bumping noisily into plants with his legs, which the sentry would hear as Ashida got closer.
After the narrator incorrectly pronounces “Metsubushi” as “Mitsubishi-Ko” (yes, like the car) and Ashida throws flour into the sentry's eyes, Ashida clumsily and noisily wrestles the sentry to the ground and apparently knocks him unconcious with a poorly-done high kick. Historically, Metsubushi would have consisted of iron filings, crushed glass if available, hot pepper, etc. It was also used when attempting to escape, as opposed to just throwing it in someone’s eyes to fight them. Also note that Ashida seems to think that he has to confront the sentry and fight him clumsily instead of just slitting his throat. Soke Hatsumi has noted “if a shinobi were detected, his mission had already failed”. The point is to not be detected. Ashida goes out of his way to be seen by the sentry, noisily wrestle him, and finally steal his gun (Wow! He finally caught up to the 21st century). After this, he flees to “hide in the shadows”. Note the poor quality of the filming - if it were an HD camera, Ashida Kim would be clearly visible with his black suit, even in the shadows.
At 3:52, the narrator notes “Avoid creating a distinctive silhouette”, after which, Ashida Kim... well, creates a distinctive silhouette. He peeks around a tree trunk, and the human silhouette is clearly visible because of the sunny background. If he had stayed low where it was darker, he still would have been seen, but not as obviously. Ashida then runs through a patch of grass and rolls in it to “leave no footprints”, then immediately walks across a loose dirt road and... You got it! Leaves footprints! If you look closely, you can see the loose dirt rising in the air as his feet move across. This would have been the only time necessary to actually avoid footprints, because they would be clear enough on loose dirt to reveal that he was wearing tabi, which would obviously arouse suspicion if noticed.
At 4:38, we see a tough-looking sentry with a crossbow come out of what looks like either a very large outhouse or a tool shed. Next, the scene cuts to Ashida Kim running sneakily right beside of the fence, clearly visible, when he has an entire forest of cover behind him that could have been used for concealment.
And again, he goes out of his way to eliminate the sentry. He goes to lots of trouble to climb the shed, which has a tin roof - much too loud to be realistically crossed silently. Also, when he is climbing, notice that he conveniently has a few two-by-fours right at arm's length to hold onto. Without those, he could not climb. Besides, other options other than climbing were available - draw the sentry in by making a noise, then when he comes around a corner, eliminate him quickly from there. And again, Ashida Kim doesn’t take the sentry’s clothing - he just drags the sentry’s body into the shed, closes the door, and runs off.
That concludes part one.
So there you have it - part one of Ashida Kim’s sentry removal techniques taken apart and evaluated.
I would give him a 2 out of 10. He is not completely useless, but he has a long ways to go to be a "Supreme Grandmaster".
I have been fortunate to have had wonderful Bujinkan instructors who have taught me extremely proficient authentic ninjutsu-style stealth, and I have also cross-trained with people from the military and law enforcement. I am far from an expert at the stealth and evasion sciences, but I am proficient enough to know what is practical and what isn't, and how a stealth assignment can be accomplished effectively. Ashida Kim does not know what he is doing. I hope the content of this entry made this clear.
When I find the time, I will evaluate the next four parts of Ashida Kim’s “Ninja Sentry Removal Techniques”.
Stay tuned. More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
Monday, February 21, 2011
Ashida Kim-related links of interest...
Friends,
There is no better place to go for Ashida Kim's... well, interesting view of things then his own website:
http://www.ashidakim.com/
There you can see his Official Sh*t List, his $10,000 Challenge, the whole kaboodle.
Other links of interest include Ashida Kim Exposed:
http://ashidakimexposed.blogspot.com/
The author of this blog goes by the name William Aguiar, who we know to be current president of the Black Dragon Fighting Society. Whether or not it actually is him I am not sure, but the site has some revealing information about Mr. Kim. If it really is Aguiar, he sure has a hateful tone in his writings so if you are offended by profanity, be aware.
Another link of interest is a video review from a famous martial artist and article writer named Phil Elmore. I'm not too familiar with him, but I do know that this review is very nice. Mr. Elmore reviews "The Amorous Adventures of Ashida Kim" with a very nice touch of humor. It is a two-part interview.
Here is part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsrdymWN3f0
And here is part two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzLNydCzH5c
One other link of interest is the Martial Checkmate. They are a small but great site that professionally evaluates controversial martial artists such as Ashida Kim. This site was provided to me by Mr. Phil Elmore, so I'd like to thank him for that.
See their website here:
http://martialcheckmate.com/
And of course, we can't forget Ashida Kim's Youtube channel. On his channel, you can see all of his videos of him practicing "ninjitsu" as he calls it. The footage speaks for itself - this man does not know what he is doing.
Ashida Kim's Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/skssystems?blend=2&ob=1
More links and an evaluation of Ashida Kim's stealth abilities to come,
The Truthful Warrior
There is no better place to go for Ashida Kim's... well, interesting view of things then his own website:
http://www.ashidakim.com/
There you can see his Official Sh*t List, his $10,000 Challenge, the whole kaboodle.
Other links of interest include Ashida Kim Exposed:
http://ashidakimexposed.blogspot.com/
The author of this blog goes by the name William Aguiar, who we know to be current president of the Black Dragon Fighting Society. Whether or not it actually is him I am not sure, but the site has some revealing information about Mr. Kim. If it really is Aguiar, he sure has a hateful tone in his writings so if you are offended by profanity, be aware.
Another link of interest is a video review from a famous martial artist and article writer named Phil Elmore. I'm not too familiar with him, but I do know that this review is very nice. Mr. Elmore reviews "The Amorous Adventures of Ashida Kim" with a very nice touch of humor. It is a two-part interview.
Here is part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsrdymWN3f0
And here is part two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzLNydCzH5c
One other link of interest is the Martial Checkmate. They are a small but great site that professionally evaluates controversial martial artists such as Ashida Kim. This site was provided to me by Mr. Phil Elmore, so I'd like to thank him for that.
See their website here:
http://martialcheckmate.com/
And of course, we can't forget Ashida Kim's Youtube channel. On his channel, you can see all of his videos of him practicing "ninjitsu" as he calls it. The footage speaks for itself - this man does not know what he is doing.
Ashida Kim's Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/skssystems?blend=2&ob=1
More links and an evaluation of Ashida Kim's stealth abilities to come,
The Truthful Warrior
New messages from Ashida Kim to me...
Friends,
I sent Ashida Kim a new offer yesterday, offering him to give up his lying ways. In truth, I am sick of him making videos of himself, proclaiming he is a master of the ninja. Well, he replied to my message.
Here is my message I sent him. As always, I will censor out personal things such as private names and places. "Subject: A new offer
"Mr. Davis,
"Hello. I hope you are well. My name is ****** and I also go by the username
********** on Youtube, and I went by the username ********** on your forum before I was blocked. A sent you a private message via Youtube inbox quite awhile ago, offering you to train in the Bujinkan. I said that you would gain much respect if you admitted your wrong ways and moved on from them. You thanked me but you declined my offer, and did what I would consider admitting that you are a fraud. I accused you of being a fraud and you did not deny it in your response, so I thank you for that.
I realize that in a decade or so you will be into your elderly years, and I would be greatly bothered knowing that you had died surrounded by your own lies. I will live to see your passing, and I consider all life sacred and I believe that all life deserves to die peacefully. So if you are able to die peacefully knowing you had deceived thousands of people and were considered a fraud by 95% of the martial arts community, so be it. But I truly do not want to see you go like that.
"On your "Official Sh*t List" on your site, you note "The Warrior strives to reach above himself, his false perceptions, his adversaries... His highest achievement is not one of victory, but one of absolute truth." This are powerful words, master. I wish you would truly live by them. It is not too late. The simpler path is to die in a lie, but the more rewarding path is to admit your wrongdoings, knowing that God would bless you and forgive you for your con-artist-like actions. Heck, you could even admit it in a humorous way if that is easier. You could create a new interview similar to the one you have on your skssystems account. You could have the interviewer ask the question "You are considered a very controversial figure in the martial arts community. Is it true that you are a fraud?" Your response could be something like "Oh, honey I made that ninja sh*t up all by myself 30 years ago! What else do you want to know?" People would really love that! They'd respect you, and they'd be so surprised. Have you seen some of the comments left about you on other people's videos of you? Have you read reviews of your books on Amazon.com? Check them out:http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Ninja-Ashida-Kim/product-reviews/0806532467/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0
I wrote one myself, entitled "Buy this book! It's hilarious!" I realize I was a bit disrespectful in my review, so I apologize. I also left a comment on this person's review: http://www.amazon.com/review/RI5HZ436HLIRR/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0806508663&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful
But my point is, you are no longer fooling anyone. Anybody who does any research about anything to do with you will quickly realize how much of a fraud you are. So you have nothing to gain from still pretending to be a ninja, but much respect and peace of mind to gain if you admit that you are a fraud.
"I realize that with you being in your later years, you can't take too much physical training. So scrap the idea of training real ninjutsu. That's fine. You could just admit your wrongdoings and live the last few decades of your life in peace, respect, and honor. That is my wish. Please consider it.
"I just want to help. If you need anything let me know.
"A friend in the martial arts"
Take a look at his reply:
"Hello ******,
I am afraid that my tour dates are all booked up for this year. Unfortunately none of the seminars that I will be offering will be in **. However, there is one in October in **** ****** *****, Florida which is not too far from you. As you have so kindly extended an invitation to train with Shidoshi **** ******* and his group in the past. I would like to do the same as a gesture of charity and goodwill. Myself and the other Grandmasters of the Black Dragon Fighting Society will be putting on our annual event there. If you would be interested in coming and training with us for a few days, you may get a better perspective on what is happening with us and our training. There is no experience that beats real experience. By all means, this invitation is extended to your teacher and any students or friends you may have that would also like to attend. It is a great 3-5 day training event and it doesn't even have to cost your group anything but travel expenses.
Thanks again for your deep concern the Martial Arts."
Notice how he completely refuses to acknowledge my offer and instead changes the subject. This was very frusterating to me, as I worked hard writing the message I sent him.
I sent him a reply:
"Mr. Davis,
"Thank you for the offer. I will consider it, please consider my own."
I felt compelled to stay on his good side, seeing that perhaps I'm one of the few who was able to get past his fraud side without him blocking me. I cannot afford to lose this ability now, but I brought back up my offer as you can see.
Again, his reply did not talk about my offer at all:
"Great, let me know and I will send you all the information.
"Take care"
I probably should have expected this. Instead of thanking me for the offer and making an honest attempt to accept it, he tries to offer me to a seminar he is hosting. I'm not sure why he thinks I will attend. Honestly, I would love to attend as an anonymous student and have a chat with him. However, I'm not sure I can afford the trip to Florida.
More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
I sent Ashida Kim a new offer yesterday, offering him to give up his lying ways. In truth, I am sick of him making videos of himself, proclaiming he is a master of the ninja. Well, he replied to my message.
Here is my message I sent him. As always, I will censor out personal things such as private names and places. "Subject: A new offer
"Mr. Davis,
"Hello. I hope you are well. My name is ****** and I also go by the username
********** on Youtube, and I went by the username ********** on your forum before I was blocked. A sent you a private message via Youtube inbox quite awhile ago, offering you to train in the Bujinkan. I said that you would gain much respect if you admitted your wrong ways and moved on from them. You thanked me but you declined my offer, and did what I would consider admitting that you are a fraud. I accused you of being a fraud and you did not deny it in your response, so I thank you for that.
I realize that in a decade or so you will be into your elderly years, and I would be greatly bothered knowing that you had died surrounded by your own lies. I will live to see your passing, and I consider all life sacred and I believe that all life deserves to die peacefully. So if you are able to die peacefully knowing you had deceived thousands of people and were considered a fraud by 95% of the martial arts community, so be it. But I truly do not want to see you go like that.
"On your "Official Sh*t List" on your site, you note "The Warrior strives to reach above himself, his false perceptions, his adversaries... His highest achievement is not one of victory, but one of absolute truth." This are powerful words, master. I wish you would truly live by them. It is not too late. The simpler path is to die in a lie, but the more rewarding path is to admit your wrongdoings, knowing that God would bless you and forgive you for your con-artist-like actions. Heck, you could even admit it in a humorous way if that is easier. You could create a new interview similar to the one you have on your skssystems account. You could have the interviewer ask the question "You are considered a very controversial figure in the martial arts community. Is it true that you are a fraud?" Your response could be something like "Oh, honey I made that ninja sh*t up all by myself 30 years ago! What else do you want to know?" People would really love that! They'd respect you, and they'd be so surprised. Have you seen some of the comments left about you on other people's videos of you? Have you read reviews of your books on Amazon.com? Check them out:http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Ninja-Ashida-Kim/product-reviews/0806532467/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0
I wrote one myself, entitled "Buy this book! It's hilarious!" I realize I was a bit disrespectful in my review, so I apologize. I also left a comment on this person's review: http://www.amazon.com/review/RI5HZ436HLIRR/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0806508663&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful
But my point is, you are no longer fooling anyone. Anybody who does any research about anything to do with you will quickly realize how much of a fraud you are. So you have nothing to gain from still pretending to be a ninja, but much respect and peace of mind to gain if you admit that you are a fraud.
"I realize that with you being in your later years, you can't take too much physical training. So scrap the idea of training real ninjutsu. That's fine. You could just admit your wrongdoings and live the last few decades of your life in peace, respect, and honor. That is my wish. Please consider it.
"I just want to help. If you need anything let me know.
"A friend in the martial arts"
Take a look at his reply:
"Hello ******,
I am afraid that my tour dates are all booked up for this year. Unfortunately none of the seminars that I will be offering will be in **. However, there is one in October in **** ****** *****, Florida which is not too far from you. As you have so kindly extended an invitation to train with Shidoshi **** ******* and his group in the past. I would like to do the same as a gesture of charity and goodwill. Myself and the other Grandmasters of the Black Dragon Fighting Society will be putting on our annual event there. If you would be interested in coming and training with us for a few days, you may get a better perspective on what is happening with us and our training. There is no experience that beats real experience. By all means, this invitation is extended to your teacher and any students or friends you may have that would also like to attend. It is a great 3-5 day training event and it doesn't even have to cost your group anything but travel expenses.
Thanks again for your deep concern the Martial Arts."
Notice how he completely refuses to acknowledge my offer and instead changes the subject. This was very frusterating to me, as I worked hard writing the message I sent him.
I sent him a reply:
"Mr. Davis,
"Thank you for the offer. I will consider it, please consider my own."
I felt compelled to stay on his good side, seeing that perhaps I'm one of the few who was able to get past his fraud side without him blocking me. I cannot afford to lose this ability now, but I brought back up my offer as you can see.
Again, his reply did not talk about my offer at all:
"Great, let me know and I will send you all the information.
"Take care"
I probably should have expected this. Instead of thanking me for the offer and making an honest attempt to accept it, he tries to offer me to a seminar he is hosting. I'm not sure why he thinks I will attend. Honestly, I would love to attend as an anonymous student and have a chat with him. However, I'm not sure I can afford the trip to Florida.
More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The struggle of my attempts: Trying to convince Ashida to admit publicly that he is a fraud
Friends,
I have long attempted to get word out that Ashida Kim is a fraudulent martial artist. This post deals with my attempts so far.
My first attempt was an exciting step for me. I was boldly fighting for truth. I had created a profile on Ashida Kim's forum back when I was a follower of his, so I went to sign in for the first time since finding out of his fraudulent ways. I went to a thread and, in a polite way, said that I wished Ashida Kim would show his scrolls that his teacher passed down from him. I said if they existed, why couldn't he show them to us? In about an hour, I logged back in and found a furious message from Ashida Kim himself *cue drumroll...*
He deleted all the messages so I cannot paste them here, unfortunately. What I wouldn't give to expose how childish he acted. Keep in mind that my post was simply requesting that he back his claims up. He claims to be a master of "Koga Hai Lung Ryu Ninjitsu" publicly, so he should prove that he is a master of it, just as publicly as he makes his claims. That is nothing more than logic. Don't publicly claim something if you won't back it up just as publicly for everyone.
I got no answer to my request, only a hateful, childish, insulting message back from Ashida. He preached to me about honor and respect, and actually told me that he didn't feel like "swatting my mosquito *ss" in the same paragraph. I'll leave it at that and just say that the next time I tried to sign into his forum, I found out that I was blocked.
With no Ashida Kim forum to use to contact him, I found his Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/skssystems?blend=2&ob=1 and I messaged him there.
I still have the messages in my inbox, so I will paste them here.
Note that my username on Youtube is different from what my username was on his forum before I was blocked, so he had no way of telling that I was the same person as the one who made an effort to expose him on his own forum.
When I paste messages here, I will censor personal things such as names, places, etc for privacy purposes. Here is my initial message I sent him:
"Subject: An offer
"NOTE: This message is intended to go to Ashida Kim. If you are not him, please let me know and I will not bother you again. I apologize.
"Hello Ashida. My name is ******. I have an offer for you. Why don't you come train with the Bujinkan? I'm from ****** **** Bujinkan in *********, **, and I'm sure most teachers of Bujinkan dojos will accept anyone who wishes to train. Yes, I know you're not authentic, you have no scrolls, you can't say who trained you because nobody did, and you are a scam artist. But I think we all make bad decisions and you deserve another chance. But be aware that if you continue to write books and rip people off, you will most likely not be allowed to train with anyone. I have your book "secrets of the ninja" and I have to admit it is pathetic. You really should be ashamed of yourself. People all over the internet are making jokes about the "ninja wannabe". You. But I think that if you find a Bujinkan Dojo, they will take you in for a second chance. Its up to you. I know your in your 60s and you can't take a lot of physical effort, but I think you'd enjoy it and you could finally be free. Free from all your lies. If you really had the guts to say publically "I am a scam artist, and I'm sorry", people would respect you.
"I may be wrong about you; what I'm saying mean not mean a thing to you, but I hope you will consider doing this. Thank you and have a great day."
So, I sent him this message a few years ago - notice the grammatical mistakes, and the unprofessional writing style. He sent me a reply the next day.
Here is his reply. Again, I will censor some names and places for privacy."Hello ******,
"Thank you for your gracious offer. Your honor shows though the darkness that is Martial Arts politics. However, I must decline your offer. 'For it is better to serve in Heaven, than rule in Hell'
"I remain,
"Ashida Kim"
Notice that he is polite and very business-like, yet he declines my offer without much hesitation. Also, notice his twisted quote from the poet/historian/scholar John Milton. John Milton originally said "For it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven", yet Kim twists it apparently to sound more politically correct.
I sent him a reply back the next day, resisting my desire to ask him why he declined my offer. The only true answer would have been "Because I am a coward".
Here is my reply to the above message:"I understand completely. Someday I hope everyone will stop bothering you; you really are a nice person and a true warrior when it comes to your attitude. Have a great day!"
As you can see, I did not argue with him. I tried to stay on his good graces, knowing that if he gets mad at me, that would ruin my chances of convincing him to give up his lying ways.
So, our messaging stopped for awhile. However, I recently sent him a new message with a new offer. It is live right now - I'm awaiting his reply. I will post my message and his when his comes in.
The Truthful Warrior
I have long attempted to get word out that Ashida Kim is a fraudulent martial artist. This post deals with my attempts so far.
My first attempt was an exciting step for me. I was boldly fighting for truth. I had created a profile on Ashida Kim's forum back when I was a follower of his, so I went to sign in for the first time since finding out of his fraudulent ways. I went to a thread and, in a polite way, said that I wished Ashida Kim would show his scrolls that his teacher passed down from him. I said if they existed, why couldn't he show them to us? In about an hour, I logged back in and found a furious message from Ashida Kim himself *cue drumroll...*
He deleted all the messages so I cannot paste them here, unfortunately. What I wouldn't give to expose how childish he acted. Keep in mind that my post was simply requesting that he back his claims up. He claims to be a master of "Koga Hai Lung Ryu Ninjitsu" publicly, so he should prove that he is a master of it, just as publicly as he makes his claims. That is nothing more than logic. Don't publicly claim something if you won't back it up just as publicly for everyone.
I got no answer to my request, only a hateful, childish, insulting message back from Ashida. He preached to me about honor and respect, and actually told me that he didn't feel like "swatting my mosquito *ss" in the same paragraph. I'll leave it at that and just say that the next time I tried to sign into his forum, I found out that I was blocked.
With no Ashida Kim forum to use to contact him, I found his Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/skssystems?blend=2&ob=1 and I messaged him there.
I still have the messages in my inbox, so I will paste them here.
Note that my username on Youtube is different from what my username was on his forum before I was blocked, so he had no way of telling that I was the same person as the one who made an effort to expose him on his own forum.
When I paste messages here, I will censor personal things such as names, places, etc for privacy purposes. Here is my initial message I sent him:
"Subject: An offer
"NOTE: This message is intended to go to Ashida Kim. If you are not him, please let me know and I will not bother you again. I apologize.
"Hello Ashida. My name is ******. I have an offer for you. Why don't you come train with the Bujinkan? I'm from ****** **** Bujinkan in *********, **, and I'm sure most teachers of Bujinkan dojos will accept anyone who wishes to train. Yes, I know you're not authentic, you have no scrolls, you can't say who trained you because nobody did, and you are a scam artist. But I think we all make bad decisions and you deserve another chance. But be aware that if you continue to write books and rip people off, you will most likely not be allowed to train with anyone. I have your book "secrets of the ninja" and I have to admit it is pathetic. You really should be ashamed of yourself. People all over the internet are making jokes about the "ninja wannabe". You. But I think that if you find a Bujinkan Dojo, they will take you in for a second chance. Its up to you. I know your in your 60s and you can't take a lot of physical effort, but I think you'd enjoy it and you could finally be free. Free from all your lies. If you really had the guts to say publically "I am a scam artist, and I'm sorry", people would respect you.
"I may be wrong about you; what I'm saying mean not mean a thing to you, but I hope you will consider doing this. Thank you and have a great day."
So, I sent him this message a few years ago - notice the grammatical mistakes, and the unprofessional writing style. He sent me a reply the next day.
Here is his reply. Again, I will censor some names and places for privacy."Hello ******,
"Thank you for your gracious offer. Your honor shows though the darkness that is Martial Arts politics. However, I must decline your offer. 'For it is better to serve in Heaven, than rule in Hell'
"I remain,
"Ashida Kim"
Notice that he is polite and very business-like, yet he declines my offer without much hesitation. Also, notice his twisted quote from the poet/historian/scholar John Milton. John Milton originally said "For it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven", yet Kim twists it apparently to sound more politically correct.
I sent him a reply back the next day, resisting my desire to ask him why he declined my offer. The only true answer would have been "Because I am a coward".
Here is my reply to the above message:"I understand completely. Someday I hope everyone will stop bothering you; you really are a nice person and a true warrior when it comes to your attitude. Have a great day!"
As you can see, I did not argue with him. I tried to stay on his good graces, knowing that if he gets mad at me, that would ruin my chances of convincing him to give up his lying ways.
So, our messaging stopped for awhile. However, I recently sent him a new message with a new offer. It is live right now - I'm awaiting his reply. I will post my message and his when his comes in.
The Truthful Warrior
My personal history with Ashida Kim's "ninjitsu"
Friends,
I first found out about Ashida Kim when I was only 13. I had gotten really into the "ninjas are cool" phase of my life, and while most other people my age went to Naruto, I went to see if anyone really taught the art. I searched through martial arts catologs and the author who stood out was a mysterious-looking man named Ashida Kim. He seemed perfect - an expert at the ninja arts, as he claimed. The Supreme Grandmaster of "Ninjitsu". I went to his Youtube account and watched him take out drugged-looking sentries, and I was hooked. That Christmas I bought a mainstream $25 "Shinobi Shozoku", some inexpensive velcro tabi and shuko that hurt my hands too much to climb with.
No sooner had February come following that Christmas when I found a book at my local library entitled "How to become a ninja: secrets from Ashida Kim's training camp". I was intriuged so I checked out the book, and read it cover-to-cover several times. The author was "anonymous", which made it very mystifying. The book began with the author detailing a morning ceremony in the first day of the camp. One of the teachers explained the symbolism of sunrise in Japanese culture (Or should I say, in cheap Kung-Fu Thriller Novel culture). The camp was complete with teaching a ninja how to run 80 miles a day, how to use "ninja bullet evading techniques", how to sleep on a tree branch without falling out, and more exciting topics. Toward the end of the book, the mysterious author detailed the last night of camp which involved sleeping outside and meditating. While the author was meditating in the night, a sinister-looking black-garbed figure (presumably Ashida Kim) appeared and communicated with the author via physic mind-reading. The black-garbed figure told the author that he had done well and had truly understood the path of the ninja, unlike the other students attending. Having said that apparently to give the author a big ego, the mysterious figure vanished.
This book kept me intruiged for a very long time. I checked it out numerous times at the library, and finally bought another book by him, "Secrets of the Ninja". I read through this book and found it pretty exciting, although lots of the techniques in it were also covered at the secret training camp in the other book. I also noticed something subliminally that made me a bit suspicious. I noticed that Ashida Kim's writing style was identical to the anonymous author who wrote "How to become a ninja". I eventually realized that Ashida Kim had simply written "How to become a ninja", put "anonymous" as the author, and made up the entire content in the book. I was crushed that no-such training camp existed. But that didn't stop me! "It's still a good, useful book," I said to myself.
Soon I took my Ashida-studying online. I found his website (http://www.ashidakim.com/) and was interested in a few things... his $10,000 Challenge, his Official Sh*t List, and his Instant Self-Defense free E-book. I also became a member of his forum, but I was later blocked (I'll talk about that in another post).
I went to Youtube to study his videos more, and then went to Amazon.com to read reviews about his books. I was disgusted at the negative reviews, talking badly about the last ninja master. How dare they! The more I read, the more I thought, "Maybe they're right..." and the more I blocked that out, the more I couldn't stand doing so.
So, I left Ashida Kim, once and for all. I found the Bujinkan.
Since then, I have trained in true warrior disciplines and I've made a vow to do all I can to help other aspiring martial artists find real martial arts, real honorable teachers, and not con-artists who sell the idea of being a ninja.
More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
I first found out about Ashida Kim when I was only 13. I had gotten really into the "ninjas are cool" phase of my life, and while most other people my age went to Naruto, I went to see if anyone really taught the art. I searched through martial arts catologs and the author who stood out was a mysterious-looking man named Ashida Kim. He seemed perfect - an expert at the ninja arts, as he claimed. The Supreme Grandmaster of "Ninjitsu". I went to his Youtube account and watched him take out drugged-looking sentries, and I was hooked. That Christmas I bought a mainstream $25 "Shinobi Shozoku", some inexpensive velcro tabi and shuko that hurt my hands too much to climb with.
No sooner had February come following that Christmas when I found a book at my local library entitled "How to become a ninja: secrets from Ashida Kim's training camp". I was intriuged so I checked out the book, and read it cover-to-cover several times. The author was "anonymous", which made it very mystifying. The book began with the author detailing a morning ceremony in the first day of the camp. One of the teachers explained the symbolism of sunrise in Japanese culture (Or should I say, in cheap Kung-Fu Thriller Novel culture). The camp was complete with teaching a ninja how to run 80 miles a day, how to use "ninja bullet evading techniques", how to sleep on a tree branch without falling out, and more exciting topics. Toward the end of the book, the mysterious author detailed the last night of camp which involved sleeping outside and meditating. While the author was meditating in the night, a sinister-looking black-garbed figure (presumably Ashida Kim) appeared and communicated with the author via physic mind-reading. The black-garbed figure told the author that he had done well and had truly understood the path of the ninja, unlike the other students attending. Having said that apparently to give the author a big ego, the mysterious figure vanished.
This book kept me intruiged for a very long time. I checked it out numerous times at the library, and finally bought another book by him, "Secrets of the Ninja". I read through this book and found it pretty exciting, although lots of the techniques in it were also covered at the secret training camp in the other book. I also noticed something subliminally that made me a bit suspicious. I noticed that Ashida Kim's writing style was identical to the anonymous author who wrote "How to become a ninja". I eventually realized that Ashida Kim had simply written "How to become a ninja", put "anonymous" as the author, and made up the entire content in the book. I was crushed that no-such training camp existed. But that didn't stop me! "It's still a good, useful book," I said to myself.
Soon I took my Ashida-studying online. I found his website (http://www.ashidakim.com/) and was interested in a few things... his $10,000 Challenge, his Official Sh*t List, and his Instant Self-Defense free E-book. I also became a member of his forum, but I was later blocked (I'll talk about that in another post).
I went to Youtube to study his videos more, and then went to Amazon.com to read reviews about his books. I was disgusted at the negative reviews, talking badly about the last ninja master. How dare they! The more I read, the more I thought, "Maybe they're right..." and the more I blocked that out, the more I couldn't stand doing so.
So, I left Ashida Kim, once and for all. I found the Bujinkan.
Since then, I have trained in true warrior disciplines and I've made a vow to do all I can to help other aspiring martial artists find real martial arts, real honorable teachers, and not con-artists who sell the idea of being a ninja.
More to come,
The Truthful Warrior
Intro to my blog: Chronicles of debunking Ashida Kim
Friends,
The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my attempts to help Ashida Kim out of the hole of lies he's been trapped in since the 1980s. Ashida Kim has written many books on the subject of "ninjitsu" and has made reasonable money doing so. I was fooled by him for years and wasted considerable money on his products, so I feel it is my duty to inform other aspiring martial artists with all of the information on Ashida Kim, and they can make their own choices from there. He unfortunately appears to refuse to give up his lying ways, but I will continue my efforts to get the word out that he is a fraud who does not deserve your hard-earned money. I will post entries as often as I can, but be aware my schedule is very busy so it may end up being once a week or even less.
Please watch your language and keep an intelligent attitude when commenting on my blogs. I don't have respect for Ashida Kim, but that doesn't mean that calling him profane names will help my side of the argument. Please consider this.
Have a great day, all.
The Truthful Warrior
The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my attempts to help Ashida Kim out of the hole of lies he's been trapped in since the 1980s. Ashida Kim has written many books on the subject of "ninjitsu" and has made reasonable money doing so. I was fooled by him for years and wasted considerable money on his products, so I feel it is my duty to inform other aspiring martial artists with all of the information on Ashida Kim, and they can make their own choices from there. He unfortunately appears to refuse to give up his lying ways, but I will continue my efforts to get the word out that he is a fraud who does not deserve your hard-earned money. I will post entries as often as I can, but be aware my schedule is very busy so it may end up being once a week or even less.
Please watch your language and keep an intelligent attitude when commenting on my blogs. I don't have respect for Ashida Kim, but that doesn't mean that calling him profane names will help my side of the argument. Please consider this.
Have a great day, all.
The Truthful Warrior
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