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
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